The Meaning Code

Justin Wells, maker of documentaries, adjunct professor teaching documentaries, YouTuber analyzing story and narrative, daily winner of Twitter (@onejwells) Justin's Morning Coffee, 7 Basic Plots on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@justinsmorningcoffee Intro to This Little Corner with Justin Wells and Grim Griz https://youtu.be/ivl_SlzbeW8

Chad comes to John with a very specific question. Seeing the way institutions fail when they are lacking or when they have discarded their natural constraints. The dangers of transplantation, transference, loss of tradition, monetization, radical simplification or coercive ordering of complexity. What can we in This Little Corner do to prevent these dangers and to improve our ability to dance the ineffable freedom of jazz and the "snarky puppy": https://youtu.be/L_XJ_s5IsQc Earlier conversation with Chad's story, including the story behind the mask: https://youtu.be/4XdgA1PZO48

Ted Stiritz introduces the work of Daniel Toma, a new framework within which to understand developmental biology. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 4:05 The flat ontology of materiality 12:55 Introduction and Overview of Daniel Toma's Ideas 22:15 The tadpole wrong face "knows" how to develop into a proper frog face 24:00 Ted Stiritz discusses his background and interest in regenerative agriculture and earthworks. 29:07 Developmental biology is amazing 34:22 Material cause and formal cause The Impact of Human Ideas and Values on Landscape 49:50 The entire hierarchy of the living is about self giving 50:49 Discussion on Creation and Redemption in Art and Construction The Redemptive Process of Intelligence and the Nonlinear Development of Organisms The Influence of Environment on Development Daniel Toma's Hierarchy of Being and the Gift of Life The Importance of Understanding the Formal and Final Cause of Cells Discussion on Toma's idea of the relationship between common human experience and the scientific endeavor. 1:03:25 Dr. William Beaumont's Experiments on Digestion Toma's Arguments on Geometric Knowledge and Immortality of Intellect Discussion on the Whole Being Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

Kyle McNease, Nate Hile (A Grail Country) and Luke Thompson join Karen for a discussion of That Hideous Strength and The Abolition of Man, two books by C. S. Lewis that speak to our current moment. The lecture by C. S. Lewis that was mentioned regarding punishment or remediation: https://youtu.be/xP4_dVs_Ks4 timestamps 00:00 Intro and Directions for the conversation 08:35 The Cosmology of That Hideous Strength 16:00 The roadblocks that inculcate you into "the club" 23:50 Unity and Diversity 31:58 Virtue terrorism 38:10 What to do about it? 44:00 NICE's sorceress approach 51:30 Venus in her proper mode 1:00:50 Beckoning back to Babel, the power channeled through Merlin 1:15:00 C S Lewis' experiences from WWI and WWII incorporated 1:24:00 We're all cyborgs now anyway 1:30:55 What true knowledge really is 1:41:20 Siloed thinking

Tayo, from the UK, had the opportunity to attend the Quest for a Spiritual Home conference in Chino last month. Finding a family in the community that makes up this corner of the internet, Tayo is especially thankful for Estuary groups and the commitment of friendship within the groups. See Timestamps below for topics covered. Timestamps 00:00 Intro and Tayo's life story 16:00 How Tayo found the corner 19:30 Finding a church 24:00 Talking about Estuary 33:45 Speaker's Corner 38:00 The experience of the Estuary at Chino, the "as if" feeling, the assumption of trust 45:00 John Vervaeke and his 4 P's of knowing 49:30 Another conception of Estuary. Its telos is friendship and the freedom to play. Is there an "out of bounds"? 52:00 Tayo's description of The Meaning Code channel as a place for scientists to "play" with ideas. 55:50 A discussion of a previous conversation with Justin Wells, art and narrative structure 1:02:05 The Meaning Code builds a bridge to bring new ideas into the corner 1:04:00 Getting corn plants to generate their own nitrogen 1:07:00 Tayo's illustration of John Vervaeke's emanation/emergence dance! 1:11:00 The autodidact space 1:13:00 N. T. Wright's role in Tayo's journey 1:27:30 Seeing demotion as an opportunity, the frame of gratitude and humility 1:31:45 God has got His reasons A link to the Justin Wells conversation that Tayo mentions enjoying so much: Documentaries with Justin Wells: Looking Down to Look Up: https://youtu.be/XqOhjRS072Y

Lucas Vos was introduced to Karen Wong's channel through his brother and was interested in her conversations with Wolfgang Smith and John Vervaeke. He was born in 2001 and grew up in a rural area in the Netherlands with a Protestant church-going family. Not interested in church, drinking and partying in high school drove him to ask how his parents still offered unconditional love. His own desire to better himself led him to the self-help section of Youtube, which eventually led him to Jordan Peterson. Links below timestamps: Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:15 Lucas details his journey from rebellion to faith, his interest in history, philosophy and Eastern and Christian worldviews. 12:25 Exploring the Impact of Self-Help and Psychedelic Experiences on Faith 12:35 Self-help as a gateway to Jordan Peterson 16:20 Psychedelics and Christianity 24:58 The asymptote 28:00 The impact of Participatory Practices, Ayahuasca and John Vervaeke 34:20 The power of having a grounded tradition instead of just a spiritual experience 39:00 The benefits of boundaries and commitment in relationships 50:18 The journey toward marriage 53:20 Egyptology - Joe Rogan and Graham Hancock, Immanuel Velikovsky, war in the heavens and a worldwide flood 1:01:47 The Relationship between Jesus, the Bible, and the Truth, the Way, and the Life. Truth found in Chinese characters and artifacts in other languages and cultures.1:07:00 Discussion of Monotheism and Polytheism in Ancient Egypt 1:12:26 Lucas asks Karen about how she became a Christian (conspiracy theories and fear v. Faith and peace) 1:26:10 Transforming through faith 1:28:06 Introducing Lucas’ new YouTube channel on meaning and metaphysics. If you have an idea for a title, drop it in the comments:-) Karen's talks with Paul VanderKlay, a good introduction to The Meaning Code channel. Art, Chaos, Information, Jesus is the Axis: https://youtu.be/HlMgGkwWUNY From Hippie Prepper to Christian Artist: https://youtu.be/ZC03aNsPHOQ Immanuel Velikovsky - https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Velikovsky&crid=21KJX4MQQK5Z4&sprefix=velikovsky%2Caps%2C140&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 Links from Lucas: His Ayahuasca experience: https://youtu.be/oGW8piXqFao Lucas' channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Lucasvoz The song we talked about, In the Valley, He Restoreth My Soul - various versions This one because the comments below the video are awesome: https://youtu.be/TunsbrLBxiA This one is fresh and young:-). https://youtu.be/WXJvNfoxskU Including this one because the lyrics and many wonderful verses are in the description section below the video: https://youtu.be/r_a014JObkI And for those who prefer a male voice: https://youtu.be/LL90MDww5Ew The vertical and horizontal discussed on The Meaning Code with Jeremy Firth: Jeremy on Structure and Flexibility, The Two Great Commandments: https://youtu.be/6IfWU3zQRjI

Jump to 3:20. If you want the intro of my guests, start at the beginning. Episode is also on YouTubeDr. Michael Levin, developmental biologist and pioneer in the area of morphogenesis and regenerative possibilities meets with Matthew Segall, a philosopher who sees Alfred North Whitehead's cosmology as a way forward in healing the rift between philosophy and science. They discuss the role of behavior, environment, time and necessity in shaping life. Timestamps and links follow description. The relationship between philosophy and science is tied together now by the work in developmental biology. Advances in science can help to sharpen philosophical categories. Plato's static view of forms and Aristotle's great chain of being need to be revolutionized to account for the emergence of forms in evolutionary history. Mechanistic science has been successful in terms of instrumental knowledge, but has left out formal and final causes. Whitehead's view of evolution as an accumulation of facts in the past and a field of possible forms in the future was discussed, as well as the agency that is needed to search this field of possibilities. Perhaps the environment is massively underdetermined, but pattern memory can be visualized and rewritten. Finally, Levin posited that "proof of humanity" must be related to the level of compassion, ability and existential struggles that humans have. Timestamps are from YouTube video and will be off by 15 seconds.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 03:20 Question regarding Michael Levin's view of the relationship of philosophy and science. 06:15 Developmental biology is the key to looking at the relationship between philosophy and science. 22:30 Whitehead's injunction to take self-organization seriously 28:30 Free energy principle and the agency of the environment 28:50 The environment is massively under-determined 32:45 Engineering protocols. What do I need to know in that spacetime environment to most optimally relate to that system? 33:45 How Whitehead might relate to the idea of cognitive light cones 47:55 Anomaly 51:30 Determinism is a side effect of the deistic hangover of Newton and Descartes The Observer is within the world being observed, and has an impact on it. 55:40 Mechanistic cosmology is deism, basically. We need a new metaphysic. 58:30 We are more than just perceiving beings 1:01:45 Every cell is trying to behavior shape its neighbors 1:11:00 The Logos as ordering principle 1:13:20 Ingression of relevant novelty The relationship between perception, agency, and intelligence as collective efforts. 1:16:10 Does the prompting of the oak tree leaf presuppose that the subroutine that creates the gall is already present in the leaf? 1:20:00 When a salamander regrows a limb, is that a memory capacity? 1:22:50 Energetic transmission is a kind of vector feeling (Whitehead) What is the Place of Thinking, Feeling, and Willing in Nature? 1:23:50 The project is the sentience of physics and the physics of sentience 1:24:34 The distinction between control and relationship The Paradigms of Control v. Relationship The Spectrum of Persuadability Levels of Controllability 1:28:50 Ethical considerations and the movement from force to persuasion Michael Levin's website: https://allencenter.tufts.edu Matthew Segall's website: https://footnotes2plato.com Books by Matthew Segall: https://footnotes2plato.com/books/ Michael Levin's TAME paper (scroll down for Figure 1): https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2022.768201/full

Balazs Kegl, a computer scientist with a PhD in AI joins today for a discussion about recognizing the danger inherent in the fears that surround the rapid development of AI. Also available on Youtube.A wide ranging conversation that includes ideas that come from the following resources: Balazs Kegl's Substack: https://balazskegl.substack.com/p/the-case-for-aligning-the-ai-scientist The AI Dilemma: https://youtu.be/xoVJKj8lcNQ Alignment experiments, here both the text and the video are vital. https://community.openai.com/t/agi-alignment-experiments-foundation-vs-instruct-various-agent-models/21031 John Vervaeke on AI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-_RdKiDbz4 Quote from Martin Shaw: "Limit is the difference between growth and death."

Matt Segall weaves together the thought of Descartes, Kepler and Alfred North Whitehead in a deep synthesis with biology, physics, cognitive science and theology. Timestamps in comments. Matt Segall's website is full of great resources, videos, articles, online classes, etc. https://footnotes2plato.com/about/ His article, the Universe as a Work of Art: Images of the Cosmos in Plato Descartes and Kepler: https://footnotes2plato.com/2011/08/16/the-universe-as-a-work-of-art/ Matt's conversation with John Vervaeke from 2020: https://youtu.be/FHkIi1KZ_qk Karen's discussion of sacrifice, actuality and potential: https://youtu.be/6cbq4u2C8dk Books by Matt Segall: The Re-Emergence of Schelling https://www.amazon.com/Re-Emergence-Schelling-Philosophy-Time-Emergency/dp/3659524247/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1YUDK81UL6L8H&keywords=Matthew+Segall+books&qid=1659564534&sprefix=matthew+segall+books%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-5 Physics and the World Soul https://www.amazon.com/Physics-World-Soul-Whiteheads-Adventure-Cosmology/dp/1948609363/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2KBIGXS0BZ3YN&keywords=Matt+Segall&qid=1659564377&sprefix=matt+segall%2Caps%2C163&sr=8-4 The simplification of Wolfram's Theory by Mark Jeffery: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClX6kNQ9Kt3LL6kLd4hC7sQ/videos

Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 05:32 Geeky Kid to Engineer: Ian Glendinning's Journey Ian Glendinning is an engineer from the northeast of England who has had a long career in the energy business. He grew up as a geeky kid, reading Jacob Bronofsky's Ascent of Man and excelling in STEM subjects. 14:41 Exploring the Complexities of Information Management Ian Glendinning and Karen Wong discuss the complexities of information management, from the physical technology mismatch between office-based design and hands-on construction to the need for digital twins and sophisticated models to capture the relationships between physical items. They also explore the challenges of using AI to discover patterns and relationships in free-form text. Managing Information23:41 Exploring the Difference between a Spade and a Shovel and how this difference can be used to illustrate the complexity of writing specifications. They also explore the implications of this complexity in the civil engineering and aerospace industries, and how it has led to a shift in thinking about physical models of the world. 28:09 Exploring the Concepts of Cybernetics and Systems Thinking, including the differences between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order thinking, the role of feed forward and feedback loops, and the functional relations between internal and external systems. The application of these concepts to the example of a watch, and the difficulties of multitasking with multiple screens. Cybernetics 35:03 Exploring the Relationship between Physical and Functional Relationships including the idea that physical relationships are better thought of in terms of what they do, rather than what they physically are. They explore the concept of scalability, and how it applies to metaphysics and pre-intellectual societies. They also discuss the idea of mutuality in experiencing, and how it relates to observer disturbance. Functional Relationships 43:11 Examining the Relationship Between Actions and Beliefs Values are betrayed by one's actions, and that in the last few hundred years, people have become more focused on intellectual identification than on direct participatory actions. They also discuss the importance of understanding the intent behind a piece of information, and the potential for hidden agendas. 46:43. Comparing the Perspectives of Iain Mcgilchrist and Mark Solms on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness They note that the two are friends, but have not referenced each other's work in any published paper or book. Ian Glendinning suggests that the two are both right, but have slightly different perspectives on the matter. They also discuss the scalability of this kind of thinking and how it relates to industrial information modeling..