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Point of Convergence

091 - A Reality of Dreamscapes

Oct 15, 2023
Philosopher Bernardo Kastrup shares his unique perspective on the intersection of hard sciences and metaphysics. He discusses their journey from working on a data acquisition system at CERN to embracing idealism as a philosophical model. The speaker recounts a childhood experience with a UFO-like object and reflects on their lack of curiosity at the time. The chapter delves into the distinction between our perceived reality and the actual nature of reality. Exploring the concept of synchronicity and its relation to Carl Jung's work.
01:00:36

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • Philosophers need to seek empirical grounding to prevent drifting into pure abstraction and must actively integrate the hard sciences.
  • Reality may be better understood as a cognitive world of meaning associations rather than conforming to traditional physicalist or dualist frameworks.

Deep dives

Bernardo Castro's unique perspective on bridging the gap between the hard sciences and metaphysics

Bernardo Castro discusses the advantage of having a background in both the hard sciences, such as physics, and philosophy. He emphasizes the importance of grounding oneself in empirical evidence, citing his experience at CERN where his fascination with finding supersymmetry was not supported by the results. Castro argues that philosophers need to actively seek empirical grounding to prevent drifting away into a world of pure abstraction. Furthermore, he reflects on his work in artificial intelligence and how attempting to create consciousness through AI led him to question the notion that consciousness is generated by material arrangements. This realization sparked his journey towards idealism, where he now sees reality as fundamentally mental and the physical world as an external appearance of mental processes.

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