Ep 70 | UTOKing with Bonnita Roy | Notes on Transcendent Naturalism
Aug 14, 2023
auto_awesome
Gregg welcomes Bonnita Roy, an award-winning author, philosopher, and insight guide. They discuss the analysis and critique of Transcendent Naturalism, Bonnie's vision of 'Fierce Naturalism', language and communication analysis, and the nature of abstraction. They also explore concepts like emergence, cross-modal synesthesia, mind simulations, Newtonian causality, and spirituality. Excitement builds for their upcoming meeting with John in France.
Complexification is driven by the growth of habitats, where cells contribute to overall complexity.
Swimming in language and simulation disconnect us from the real world.
Fierce naturalism emphasizes reconnecting with nature without supernatural beliefs.
Deep dives
Complexification through compound individuals
Complexification is driven by the iterative growth of habitats and habitats. This process can be seen in the compound individual concept, where cells within a human body have agency and contribute to the overall complexity of the organism.
Language as a swimming pool of subjectivity
Swimming in language and the ability to simulate oneself within the justification system creates a form of subjectivity that can profoundly disconnect us from the real world. As we increasingly swim in language and simulate ourselves within it, our perception of the real habitat diminishes.
The spiritual direction of fierce naturalism
In a spiritual sense, fierce naturalism emphasizes a deep connection to nature without the need for transcendent or supernatural beliefs. It encourages us to reconnect with the natural world, view ourselves as part of it, and appreciate the ongoing complexification process within our habitats.
The emergence of cells and holistic processes
The podcast discusses the emergence of cells from biochemistry and the importance of understanding holistic processes that cannot be reduced to their individual parts.
The self as a pure abstraction
The podcast explores the concept of the self as a pure abstraction, not limited to the ego or psychological schematic self. It suggests that the self is an intuitive recognition of a real aspect at all levels of the universe, and that it transduces multiple incoming and outgoing potential states.
In episode 70, Gregg welcomes Bonnita Roy. Bonnita is an award-winning author, philosopher and insight guide. She is well-known in this corner of the internet and currently runs the Pop-Up School, an innovative online educational platform. In this episode, Bonnita shares with Gregg her analysis and critique of the Transcendent Naturalism Cognitive Science Show Series that Gregg has been doing with John Vervaeke. She raises some questions and possible critiques of the concepts of emergence and transcendence, and Gregg offers some clarifications. They also discuss Bonnie’s vision of “Fierce Naturalism” and her analysis of language, communication, and the nature of abstraction. This conversation adds richness and diversity to the picture that Gregg and John have been laying out in the TN series and there likely will be additional conversations with Bonnie going forward.