Do Explain with Christofer Lövgren

Christofer and executive coach Joe Hudson speak about emotional fluidity in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss fishing in Alaska, the value of being impartial in conversation, connection, repressed emotion and physical tension, rationality vs. emotion, improving decision making, cognitive deconstruction, enlightenment, non-duality, the self, depersonalization and zen sickness, and other related topics.Joe Hudson is a sought after executive coach and creator of The Art of Accomplishment, an online learning platform for personal development.  As a venture capitalist Joe found that the most rewarding aspect, and the part he was most successful at, was the mentorship and coaching of the leadership of his portfolio companies. This insight moved him to his present role as a coach, business consultant and teacher. He now coaches 12 CEOs and leaders in prominent companies and runs transformative programs for both individuals and businesses. He is practicing a craft that makes big, lasting, and overwhelmingly positive impacts on the lives of people in his programs and in the companies he works with.Timestamps:(1:54) - Who Joe is and what he does(4:13) - Lessons from fishing in Alaska(7:42) - What is impartiality and the VIEW state of mind? (17:45) - Imperfection and oscillation(22:48) - Emotional fluidity(27:40) - Are emotions rational? (33:14) - Prejudice against emotions(38:30) - Bottling up and bodily tension(44:27) - Intellectual and emotional deconstruction(49:14) - Different methodologies for achieving emotional fluidity(55:44) - Stages of the sense of self(1:04:14) - Every epiphany leads to a rut(1:08:10) - The phenomenology of being Joe Website: https://artofaccomplishment.com/Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-accomplishment/id1540650504Support the podcast at:https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)Find Christofer on Twitter:https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer

Christofer, Walter Veit, Dennis Hackethal, and Matt Guttman speak about whether animals are sentient in this episode of Do Explain. Walter argues "yes", Dennis argues "no" and Matt argues that the hard problem really is hard. They discuss the difference between sentience and consciousness, the special way humans learn, consciousness as a binary jump vs. gradually evolving, animals as mere robots, information processing and computation, the hard problem of consciousness, anthropomorphism, panpsychism, different animal behaviors, and other related topics.Walter Veit is a theoretical scientist and philosopher with interests stretching widely across science and philosophy. His primary research interests are located at the intersection of the biological, social, and mind sciences in addition to empirically informed philosophy and ethics. Website: https://walterveit.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/wrwveitDennis Hackethal is a software engineer and intelligence researcher in Silicon Valley, California. He hosts a podcast called Artificial Creativity about how to create AGI and also writes regularly about philosophy on his blog. Website: https://blog.dennishackethal.com/Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/dchackeTwitter: https://twitter.com/dchackethalMatt Guttman is a software engineer and analyst in Chicago, Illinois. He holds degrees in philosophy, business management, English literature, and education, and have an active and intriguing online presence on Twitter, @RealtimeAI. Links provided by Dennis: - https://www.windowonintelligence.com/- https://blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/animal-sentience-faq- https://blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/buggy-dogs- https://blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/evidence-is-ambiguousStudies provided by Walter:Browning, H. & Veit, W. (2021). The Measurement Problem of Consciousness. Philosophical Topics. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.23082.75207Veit, W. & Browning, H. (2021). Phenomenology Applied to Animal Health and Suffering. In S. Ferrarello (Ed.), Phenomenology of Bioethics: Technoethics and Lived-Experience, pp. 73-88. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65613-3_6Veit, W. & Huebner, B. (2020). Drawing the boundaries of animal sentience. Animal Sentience 29(13). http://doi.org/10.51291/2377-7478.1595Browning, H. & Veit, W. (2020). Is Humane Slaughter Possible? Animals, 10(5), 799. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10050799Veit, W., Dewhurst, J., Dołega, K., Jones, M., Stanley, S., Frankish, K. & Dennett, D.C. (2019). The Rationale of Rationalization – Behavioral and Brain Sciences 43, e53. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X19002164Support the podcast at:https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)Find Christofer on Twitter:https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer

Christofer joins Josh Levent on the Humans podcast (Josh's episode description below): "Christofer Lövgren calls himself the irrevocably curious dickhead. Born and raised in Sweden, he grew up playing with Legos, Gameboy and Trading Cards. When he was 5 he picked up the guitar from his granddad and fell in love with it.He only gave it up at age 19, when his workout addiction led to extreme pain in his hands and forearms making guitar-playing impossible.Luckily he’s now again at a place where he can play guitar and is even playing with a band.Christofer is someone who loves conversations. He told me that exploring the outer world doesn’t interest him much, because he is so fascinated by his own and others’ inner worlds, which he can tap into through conversations.One of the places he does this is on his podcast, Do Explain, which he started 2 years ago to explore the work of David Deutsch and Critical Rationalism more broadly.At school, Christofer loved maths when he had fun textbooks until 6th Grade. At that point the serious textbooks with fewer interesting pictures and colours, and a separate book for doing the work made him lose interest. He now says that anyone having fun is learning, even if just on an inexplicit level.While we also talked about serious and difficult topics related to mental and physical health, at the end, we had a lot of fun recording this episode and you will hear us laughing a lot. And at the end that encapsulates Christofer’s personality completely for me. He is deep, and a great conversationalist for serious topics, but he will always make it fun as well."Support the podcast at:https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)Find Christofer on Twitter:https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer

Christofer joins Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani on the Increments podcast (their episode description below): "Christofer Lövgren, host of the marvelous Do Explain podcast and the world's most famous Swede (second perhaps only to that Alfred fellow with the peace prize), joins us on the pod to teach us how podcasting is really done. And how to pronounce his last name. When we're not all sobbing, we touch on:Does Deutschian epistemology give us with Free Will?Should one identify as a critical rationalist?Does membership in a community, or identification with a label, affect our ability to give and receive criticism?How has reading Deutsch and Popper changed our lives?Can trauma get stored in the body?How often do we cry?Check out Chris on twitter (@ReachChristofer) and Do Subscribe to Do Explain.References:The Beginning of Infinity by David DeutschBehave by Robert SapolskyLecture on Depression by SapolskyDo Explain episode with Chris and Matt Goldenberg on emotional processingTemple Grandin discussing the "black-hat" horse.Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der KolkSir Peter Brian Medawar whom Richard Dawkins referred to as 'the wittiest of all scientific writers'.Blow your nose, dry your eyes, and send us a tear-stained email at incrementspodcast@gmail.com."Support the podcast at:https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)Find Christofer on Twitter:https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer

Christofer and writer Jake Orthwein speak about the interaction between self and the world in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss Jake's Youtube-channel, the tension behind your face, nonduality, monism and Cartesian dualism, embodiment, the difference between conjectural knowledge and knowledge by acquaintance, representation, existential benefits of CR, and other related topics.Jake Orthwein is a writer and filmmaker based in Santa Monica, CA. He studied film and cognitive science at the University of Southern California and currently works as Director of Media for the Psychology of Technology Institute, an academic non-profit focused on improving research on the human-technology relationship. He is also a long term meditator.Twitter: https://twitter.com/JakeOrthweinTimestamps:(2:20) - Jake’s new YouTube venture(5:56) - Chris’ favorite meditation tweets by Jake(16:01) - Chris’ experience of no-self when hiking(20:44) - Nonduality vs monism(27:54) - Embodiment and the boundary between self and other(33:28) - Gay thought afternoon(37:31) - The nature of life(44:17) - Psychedelic experiences of unity(49:50) - What is consciousness? (51:27) - Knowledge by description and by acquaintance(59:03) - The dualism within CR (1:06:20) - Reifying the creative program(1:10:50) - Existentialism and CR (1:16:52) - Embodiment and the brain in the vat(1:22:14) - Ideas and propositionsSupport the podcast at:https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)Find Christofer on Twitter:https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer

In this discussion, Ben Chugg, a research fellow at Stanford Law School with expertise in math and computer science, dives into intriguing philosophical topics. They explore Pascal's mugging and the pitfalls of probability, questioning traditional decision-making. The conversation shifts to cliodynamics, highlighting the unpredictability of history. Ethical implications of AI and immortality spark reflections on societal values and mental health. Lastly, they confront the complexities of suffering and longtermism, critiquing effective altruism's direction.

Christofer and podcaster Ben Chugg speak about evolutionary psychology in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss listening to podcasts at faster speed, information addiction, the role of neurobiology, impatience, the fun criterion, universal explainers, the salience of memory/speed in intelligence, and other related topics.Ben Chugg is a research fellow at Stanford law school. He has a background in math and computer science and, along with Vaden Masrani, hosts the increments podcast. He also writes insightful philosophy articles at Medium. Website: https://benchugg.com/Medium: https://benchugg.medium.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BennyChuggPodcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/increments/id1514221797Timestamps:(6:43) - Ben’s Twitter bio(9:28) - Listening to audio at above 1x speed(14:58) - The urge for constant improvement(21:28) - The pressure for productivity(26:10) - The skill of enjoying non-productivity(29:30) - The fun criterion and dopamine(35:06) - Universal explainers vs. evolutionary psychology(42:50) - The definition of evolutionary psychology(49:58) - Cultures and institutions (56:12) - On not dismissing fields as scientism(59:26) - Why is evolutionary psychology incompatible with Popperian epistemology?(63:45) - Quantitative and qualitative differences in intelligenceSupport the podcast at:https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)Find Christofer on Twitter:https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer

Christofer and CEO Mathias Sundin speak about how the world is getting better in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss bitcoin, anti-dancing laws, Starcraft, why Mathias got into politics, bad criticism, human potential, law of Jante, echo chambers, social media, AI, the importance of progress, extreme poverty, colonizing space, idea sex, moral relativism, liberal democracy, fact-based optimism, the Warp Institute, and other related topics.Mathias Sundin is co-founder and executive chairman of the Warp Institute Foundation, whose mission is to connect optimistic, forward thinking people in communities to make the future come sooner. He is also a former Member of Parliament and former Deputy Mayor, a TEDx and international keynote speaker, and a fact-based optimist.  Website: https://www.warpnews.org/Twitter: https://twitter.com/MathiasSundin TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIOJ5sOBEwwTimestamps:(2:29) - The first political candidate to accept Bitcoin donations only(9:32) - Protesting Swedish laws through illegal dancing(14:19) - Starcraft(18:34) - Getting into – and out of – politics(26:05) - Non-constructive criticism(30:41) - The influence of David Deutsch(36:08) - The law of Jante and the principle of mediocrity(46:46) - Almost anyone can be an expert in almost anything(51:45) - Is the world getting better?(55:09) - Western pessimism about progress(1:02:56) - The benefits of social media(1:08:33) - Echo chambers and filter bubbles(1:13:14) - Does AI pose a risk?(1:20:50) - Why use resources on space travel instead of on Earth?(1:27:03) - The Warp Institute(1:30:21) - The importance of freedom of speech for progress(1:41:59) - Beyond Atlas and a new age of exploration(1:46:57) - What we can achieve by working together(1:51:33) - What project would you focus on more if you could?(1:57:50) - What is something that encourages you about humankind's recent progress?Support the podcast at:https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)Find Christofer on Twitter:https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer

Christofer and writer Sarah Fitz-Claridge speak about romantic relationships in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss problems with open relationships, why the standard take on monogamy is mistaken, the importance of commitment, relationship as a knowledge-creating institution, depth vs. breadth of knowledge, sexual connection, cheating, genetic impulses, love and acceptence, non-coercion, boundaries, and other related topics.Sarah Fitz-Claridge is a Popperian writer, editor, coach and speaker with a background in Psychology and an irrepressibly optimistic, freedom-oriented world view. She started the journal that became Taking Children Seriously in the early 1990s and is currently working on her book on the subject.Website: https://www.fitz-claridge.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/FitzClaridgeShout-out links: https://amarokoberle.com/ https://www.cgbessellieu.com/https://twitter.com/optimysticismTimestamps:(2:27) - Sarah's historical view(7:32) - Problems with open relationships(12:28) - Monogamy as a knowledge-creation institution(17:07) - Common misunderstandings of monogamy(20:35) - Is a committed marriage for everybody?(22:11) - Cheating and sex (30:55) - Is sex fundamental? (32:31) - Possessiveness(37:14) - Selling out on your relationship(43:30) - What makes monogamy better than singledom?(48:19) - Epistemology of sex (52:04) - Attachment(54:56) - [TQ] Is self-love essential for good relationships?(57:04) - Your perfect match(1:01:35) - Being best friends with your partner(1:03:24) - The role of love(1:04:50) - Non-coercion and acceptance(1:07:40) - The importance of boundaries(1:12:00) - Are relationships necessary for a good life?(1:16:32) - [TQ] Relationships and political systems(1:18:25) - [TQ] When should a relationship end?(1:19:56) - Deep disagreements and having childrenSupport the podcast at:https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)Find Christofer on Twitter:https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer

Christofer and writer Jake Orthwein speak about the mind and introspection in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss meditation, empiricism, suffering, the self, dzogchen vs. vipassana, non-duality, free will, perception, computation, logic, correspondence theory of truth, and other related topics.Jake Orthwein is a writer and filmmaker based in Santa Monica, CA. He studied film and cognitive science at the University of Southern California and currently works as Director of Media for the Psychology of Technology Institute, an academic non-profit focused on improving research on the human-technology relationship. He is also a long term meditator.Twitter: https://twitter.com/JakeOrthweinTimestamps: (1:12) - Jake's history with meditation(3:26) - Dzogchen (5:24) - Why is nonduality desirable? (8:30) - Noticing subjectivity (11:30) - Epistemology of nonduality(16:24) - 'The thinker' is another thought  (19:36) - Self  (22:46) - Shades of agency (27:15) - Creativity in involuntary feats of perception (35:56) - Perception as a computation (39:34) - The logical asymmetry of verification and falsification (41:26) - Jake's thoughts on CR (42:49) - David Deutsch's theory of truth Support the podcast at:https://www.patreon.com/doexplain (monthly)https://ko-fi.com/doexplain (one-time)Find Christofer on Twitter:https://twitter.com/ReachChristofer