Donald is a Scottish-born cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist and author, known for his work in integrating modern cognitive-behavioral therapy with Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, particularly Stoicism. He is the CEO and founder of the Plato’s Academy Center in Athens and the author of several best-selling books such as “How to Think Like a Roman Emperor” and “Stoicism and the Art of Happiness”.His latest book “How To Think Like Socrates” is the best book I’ve ever read on Socrates! It’s a delightful blend of biography, novel, philosophy and psychology and as Donald said, it’s the book he wishes he had about Socrates growing up and I’m very glad that he has written it. Highly recommend picking up a copy if you are interested in philosophy, history, psychology or just fancy a good read:https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Think-Like-Socrates-Philosophy/dp/1250280508In this conversation, we discuss the relevance of Socratic philosophy in today's world, particularly in the context of modern democracy and social media. Donald emphasises the importance of the Socratic method as a form of dialogue that serves as a therapeutic tool for self-knowledge and understanding biases. The dialogue emphasizes the importance of cognitive flexibility, the dangers of rigid thinking, and the need for a nuanced approach to self-help advice, ultimately advocating for a Socratic approach to learning and understanding.Watch the full conversation 👇https://youtu.be/DztbWigcO-UChapters:00:00 Socratic Inspirations: A Journey Through Philosophy10:20 The Socratic Method: Dialogue as Therapy20:44 Socrates and the Athenian Democracy: A Timeless Relevance30:14 Social Media and the Modern Sophists: A New Age of Rhetoric41:50 The Impact of Social Media on Perception43:25 The Importance of Critical Thinking45:50 Socratic Method and Its Relevance Today48:09 Socrates: A Model of Courage and Wisdom50:57 Reinterpreting Socratic Dialogues for Modern Readers54:31 The Role of Self-Help Literature in Personal Development57:50 Cognitive Flexibility and Its Importance01:01:10 The Dangers of Rigid Thinking01:03:45 Navigating Self-Help Advice Wisely01:08:01 The Socratic Approach to Learning and UnderstandingWant to support the mission of the Wisdom Dojo to provide philosophical training for the digital age? Then consider sharing this post or becoming a supporter below 👇https://www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe?gift=true Get full access to Wisdom Dojo at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe

The first lecture of the Plato's Republic course.This will be the first of eleven lectures, the following lectures tracking each of the ten books of the Republic 🏛️This lecture is an introduction to Plato and his Republic through the lens of John Vervaeke’s concept of a Meaning Crisis.Expect to learn about:👉 Plato's context: the Peloponnesian war, natural philosophers and the Sophists.👉 The Meaning Crisis from @johnvervaeke and how the fall of golden age Athens is similar to the modern age👉 Why the meaning crisis fuels existential issues, the mental health crisis and the rise of pseudo-religious ideologies👉 How Socrates, Plato and Aristotle offer a solution to the meaning crisis through the pursuit of wisdom and rationalityThis lecture and lecture series draws will draw on important secondary works on Plato such as "Plato's Critique of Impure Reason" by DC Schindler, The Awakening From the Meaning Crisis series by John Verveake and Michael Sugrues's YouTube lectures on Plato.If you’re picking up a copy of the Republic recommend getting the G.M.A Grube edition (edited by CDC Reeves) or the Allan Bloom translationChapters:00:00 Introduction to Plato's Republic00:46 The Historical Context of Plato's Republic02:31 The Rise of the Sophists03:55 The Meaning Crisis in Ancient Athens04:29 The Modern Meaning Crisis08:53 The Greek Solution: Socrates and Plato09:43 Socrates' Life and Philosophy15:11 Plato's Life and Legacy16:32 Interpreting Plato's Dialogues19:24 Conclusion and Next StepsThe next lecture will be available towards the end of February. If you want to support the provision of free philosophical education and transformation, consider becoming a supporter, sharing the dojo with a friend or leaving a comment👇 Get full access to Wisdom Dojo at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe

Brandon Griggs is the author of the Tech For Life Substack (check it out here https://www.techforlife.com/) exploring the central question: How do we get good at godlike technology?In this podcast, we delve into the multifaceted relationship between technology and society, exploring the ethical implications of digital advancements, the challenges faced by digital natives, and the necessity for a universal ethical framework. The conversation emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of the digital landscape and the role of community in shaping ethical norms.Chapters:00:00 Exploring Technology's Impact on Humanity06:42 The Accidental Nature of Technology12:43 Navigating Between Digital and Non-Digital Worlds18:43 The Challenge of Emotional Literacy in a Digital Age24:21 Active Inference and Digital Behavior30:23 The Future of Ethical Education in a Digital World40:18 Contextual Understanding in Digital Spaces45:38 Business Incentives and Algorithm Control52:10 Trial and Error in Digital Infrastructure57:40 Planetary Scale Computation and Governance01:03:54 Ethics and Technology in a Complex WorldWant to support the Substack? You can become a paid subscriber below 👇https://www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe?gift=trueBest,Mahon. Get full access to Wisdom Dojo at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe

Ben White, a Leverhulme-funded PhD candidate at the University of Sussex, dives into the 'meaning crisis' and its interplay with technology and neuroscience. He discusses how active inference can help us understand our relationship with the environment and the implications for education. The conversation highlights the dual role of technology—scaffolding meaning yet potentially diminishing human agency. Ben also explores the challenges of addiction and social media, advocating for a more authentic technological landscape that fosters genuine well-being.

Alicia Juarrero is President and co-founder of VectorAnalytica, Inc., and Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Miami. She is the author of Dynamics in Action (MIT Press) and recently, Context Changes Everything: How constraints create coherence (2023). Grounding her work in the problem of causation, Alicia challenges previously held beliefs that only forceful impacts are causes. Constraints, she claims, bring about effects as well, and they enable the emergence of coherence.Get the book 👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262545667/Summary:In this conversation, we discusses 'Context Changes Everything' and the dismissal of context in philosophy. She highlights the role of context in intentions, behavior, identities, and more. Juattero explains how the reductionist worldview and the focus on bottom-up causality have led to the neglect of top-down causality and the inability to understand coherent wholes. She explores the importance of understanding wholes as emergent properties and the need to rethink ontology and epistemology. The conversation also touches on topics like artificial intelligence, evolvability, and the limitations of the mechanistic metaphor for the mind.Full podcast 👇https://youtu.be/a14Q1-q-NP8Timestamps:00:00 Introduction and Framing03:05 The Dismissal of Context in Philosophy08:47 The Neglect of Top-Down Causality15:00 Rethinking Ontology and Epistemology21:01 The Limitations of Artificial Intelligence22:59 The Failure of the Mechanistic Metaphor for the Mind35:05 Imagination and Coordination41:42 Ethics and Constraints49:06 The Interface between Principle and Practice54:07 The Attentional Infrastructure Get full access to Wisdom Dojo at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe

New podcast with Colin Deyoung & Adam Safron on their integration of Cybernetic Big five Personality theory and the Active Inference Framework to model persons for therapeutic purposes and possibly the creation of better AI.Colin Deyoung is a personality psychologist, personality neuroscientist, the creator of the Cybernetic Big Five Personality theory and the associate professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, and a former student of Jordan Peterson.Adam Safron, Ph. D., is a Cognitive Scientist and psychologist who studies the nature of preferences and motivation from mechanistic, developmental, and evolutionary perspectives. Recently, he has proposed a model of embodied agency and free will and is working on a unified mechanistic account of psychedelics.Check out their paper!!!https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/653wpWatch the full conversation 👇https://youtu.be/ldrtI9CrlSUChapters:00:00 Introduction to Cybernetics and the Free Energy Principle11:07 The Big Five Theory in Personality Psychology14:24 Integrating Cybernetics and the Free Energy Principle21:08 The Motivation for Integrating Cybernetics and Personality Psychology22:57 Personality Traits as Control Parameters in Cybernetic Systems27:21 The Contextual Nature of Personality Traits30:34 The Relationship Between Personality Traits and World Models35:59 The Interplay Between Stability and Plasticity in Personality Traits40:42 Relevance Realization and Personality Traits43:07 The Role of Personality Traits in Solving the Frame Problem47:13 Inactivism and Computationalism51:20 The Role of Representation54:41 Embodiment and Extended Cognition59:02 Examining the Homunculus and Cartesian Theater01:04:39 The Role of the Hippocampus01:08:03 The Connection Between the Hippocampus and Narrative01:12:37 Understanding Cortical Gradients01:14:44 The Complex Relationship Between Embodiment, Self-Modeling, and Consciousness Get full access to Wisdom Dojo at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe

Ben White graduated from the University of Edinburgh’s flagship Mind, Language, and Embodied Cognition MSc. He is a Leverhulme-funded PhD candidate at the University of Sussex under Andy Clarke's mentorship, where his research focuses on neuroscience and digital technology. Mark Miller is a philosopher of Cognition: Prediction, Well-Being, and Technology and a Research Fellow at Monash University's Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies and lab manager at the Consciousness and Wisdom studies lab UoT.In this podcast, we discuss active inference and its application to social media and technology. Ben and Mark explain how active inference provides a framework for understanding how our beliefs and expectations shape our reality. They discuss the potential dangers of social media, such as the manipulation of beliefs and the addiction to social validation. They emphasize the importance of developing attention skills, finding meaning in life, and changing ourselves and our microcultures to mitigate the negative effects of social media. Finally, the conversation explores the concept of ambient smart environments as a potential solution to the meaning crisis caused by technology addiction.Read the "digital being" paper: https://academic-oup-com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/nc/article/2024/1/niae008/7631816#444593589Read "ambient Smart Environments": https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-024-04679-9Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Mark and Ben's Collaboration05:02 Active Inference as a Framework for Understanding Social Media16:03 The Dangers of Manipulation and Addiction in Social Media23:13 Reforming Social Media: Regulation and Business Model Changes26:35 Mitigating the Negative Effects of Social Media: Attention Skills and Meaning31:02 Changing Ourselves and Our Microcultures to Counteract Social Media33:51 Ambient Smart Environments: A Solution to the Meaning Crisis36:13 Cultivating Wisdom and Skills in the Modern World41:46 Therapeutic Applications of Ambient Technology49:29 Designing Technology for Human FlourishingKey Takeaways:* Active inference provides a framework for understanding how our beliefs and expectations shape our reality.* Social media platforms can manipulate our beliefs and create addictive behaviors.* Reforming social media platforms may require regulation and changes in business models.* Developing attention skills and finding meaning in life can help mitigate the negative effects of social media.* Changing ourselves and our microcultures is essential for reducing the impact of social media on our well-being. Ambient smart environments, owned by individuals, can be a solution to technology addiction and the meaning crisis.* Cultivating wisdom and developing skills are essential for navigating uncertainty and volatility.* Ambient technology can be used in therapeutic applications, such as dementia care and mental health.* Technology should be designed to support and enhance human flourishing. Get full access to Wisdom Dojo at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe

We are back with a final conversation in this AI series, bringing together John Verveake and Sam Tideman to discuss the limits of artificial intelligence.For me, this conversation is a watershed moment in the AI debate. Based on John’s work (read the paper here ), there is a fundamental difference between the AI/computer science paradigm and human intelligence, which the current genre of artificial intelligence cannot cross! So we can stop worrying about the machines replacing us! But we need to start worrying about the delusions of those who think they’re making humanity 2.0…This conversation delves into the profound difference between AI algorithms and relevance-realizing agents, sparking thought on the concept of relevance realization and its pivotal role in organismic agency, cognition, and consciousness. It underscores that organismic agency and cognition transcend computational nature and cannot be fully encapsulated by algorithmic approaches.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction and Background08:20 The Role of Relevance Realization in Organismic Agency and Cognition14:16 The Limitations of Current AI Models in Comprehending Purpose25:12 Exploring the Potential for Artificial Life and Relevance Realization in AI33:31 AI: Neither Just a Tool nor a Full-Blown Agent37:10 The Deflation of AI and the Search for Purpose39:29 Caring for the True, Good, and Beautiful44:54 The Difference in Caring48:31 Starting at the Pinnacle of Cultural Ratcheting53:31 The Limitations of Imitation55:47 Relevance Realizing Machines01:02:57 Theological Considerations01:06:38 The Sin of Displacement01:10:45 Philosophical and Theological Reflection Get full access to Wisdom Dojo at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe

Sam Tideman is the host of Transfigured, a profound religious and philosophical thinker, and a Google data engineer.Check out Sam's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@transfigured3673In this podcast, we are talking about the limits of artificial intelligence, social media, evolution and the cult of trans-humanism.Chapters:00:00 Introduction and Skepticism of AI's Capabilities09:12 The Challenge of Quantifying Wisdom and Enlightenment in AI33:23 The Limitations of AI and the Need for Human Intervention52:44 The Risks of AI Cults and the Importance of a Religious FrameworkPS want to support the Wisdom Dojo?You can sign up for a one-time gift or a monthly donation, and all funds are used to cover the running costs of the pod 👇www.mahonmccann.com/gift Get full access to Wisdom Dojo at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe

D. C. Schindler is professor of metaphysics and anthropology at the John Paul II Institute, Washington, DC. He is the author of eleven books, including Freedom from Reality: The Diabolical Character of Modern Liberty (University of Notre Dame Press, 2017) (get his books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/D-C-Schindler/e/B001JRTOAU)The podcast discusses the ontology of stories, fact vs fiction, materialism, perception, naive realism, platonism, Christianity and more.Chapters:00:00 The Ontological and Epistemological Status of Stories03:34 The Separation Between Fact and Fiction07:27 The Reductionist View of Truth10:25 The Role of Stories in Mapping Reality13:07 The Limitations of the Scientific Model of Reality15:21 The Journey of Knowing and Understanding19:06 The Misuse of the Term 'Artificial Intelligence'21:45 The Breakdown of the Bond Between Reality and Truth23:28 The Influence of the Enlightenment25:45 The Role of Nominalism in the Shift in Perception of God27:07 The Journey Towards the Really Real29:53 The Self-Defeating Nature of Denying All Truth31:44 Starting with What People Care About31:57 The Inescapability of the Good33:03 The Significance of a Troubled Conscience34:15 The Connection Between Universal and Particular Stories35:12 The Role of Transcendent Goodness in Drama37:07 The Presence of Goodness in Characters38:29 The Dramatic Power of Forgiveness39:21 The Revelation of Character in Decisions40:34 The Role of Goodness in Decision-Making41:25 Truth as Disclosure and Revelation43:30 The Loss of Meaning and the Need for Stories44:29 The Connection Between Stories and Tradition45:45 The Disconnect from Tradition and the Search for Meaning46:13 Christianity as the Ultimate Story46:56 The Parallels Between Christianity and Plato's Philosophy48:22 The Distrust and Loss of Meaning in a Secular Culture50:30 The Difference Between Story and Entertainment51:50 The Relevance and Universality of Meaningful Stories52:31 The Connection to Tradition and the Bigger Order of Things53:27 The Anti-Traditionalism of American Culture55:20 The Truncated Sense of Tradition in Modern Culture57:21 The Disconnect from Wisdom and Deep Stories58:26 The Need for a Recovery of Tradition and MeaningPS want to support the Wisdom Dojo?You can sign up for a one-time gift or a monthly donation, and all funds are used to cover the running costs of the pod 👇 Get full access to Wisdom Dojo at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe