Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal Donald Hoffman Λ Joscha Bach on Consciousness, Free Will, Gödel, and Computational Reality
63 snips
Feb 7, 2022 
Donald Hoffman, a professor at UC Irvine, specializes in consciousness and evolutionary psychology, while Joscha Bach is a cognitive scientist known for his groundbreaking work in AI. They delve into the mysteries of consciousness and free will, discussing revolutionary ideas about reality beyond traditional space-time. The conversation tackles Gödel's incompleteness theorem and its implications for truth, the nature of self-identity in early childhood, and how computational limits might redefine our understanding of existence and agency.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Science's Limits
- Scientific theories make assumptions without explaining them.
- They precisely define derivations, but there's always a deeper, undiscovered truth.
Consciousness is Not Physical
- Physicalist theories of consciousness try to derive subjective experience from space-time.
- Hoffman believes this approach is flawed as space-time isn't fundamental, according to physics and evolution.
Against Mysterianism
- Joscha Bach argues against mysterianism, suggesting our minds can understand reality.
- He views physicalism as reality emerging from a causally closed mechanical layer, rejecting consciousness as primary.
