Jack Roycroft-Sherry

Michael Levin's reality-bending biological discoveries are forcing him to look to a non-physical realm of patterns—discussed by philosophers like Plato—for explanations.In this podcast, we explore why philosophers posit a non-physical realm, how biology taps into it, the mathematics governing life, the creation of artificial organisms, the desires of non-physical minds, the shape and properties of realms beyond the physical, the agency in non-physical patterns, and much more…Timestamps:00:00 The Platonic Realm of Patterns03:02 Biology’s Access to Non-Physical Patterns09:31 Non-Physical Ingressing Minds14:00 The Space of Possible Minds18:35 Unexpected Competencies in Dumb Algorithms24:00 Anthrobots & Strange Biology28:38 Why is Platonic Space the way it is?32:06 Are Unorthodox Morphologies Subjectively Desirable?35:23 The Agency of Non-Physical Patterns37:50 The Intersection of Science and Cosmology41:56 Dynamic Nature of Non-Physical Patterns43:19 Psychological Perspectives on Identity and Agency48:33 Strange Discoveries in Biology50:36 Shifting Beliefs and Understanding of IntelligenceJACK• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0DGVMa1qAI1huc87xNDrgy?si=62c281d9e8274694• X: https://twitter.com/jack_roycroft• Substack: https://substack.com/@jackroycroftsherry?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-pageMICHAEL• Blog: https://thoughtforms.life/• Platonic space symposium: https://thoughtforms.life/symposium-on-the-platonic-space/• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uwREFERENCED PODCASTS• The structure of genotype space w/Andreas Wagner: https://youtu.be/BhUaeh6DyO0• God & Patterns in the Universe w/Matt Segall: https://youtu.be/RIl4paND5QI• Intelligence beyond brains w/Damiam Kelty-Stephen: https://youtu.be/X9FmMuU2HCw

In this episode, cognitive scientist and Jungian depth psychologist Anderson Todd is back to explain his magical practice, his experiences with psychedelic drugs such as Tabernanthe iboga and DMT, ancient alchemical mind-altering techniques, Carl Jung and astronomy, the rise of synchronicity in the last few years, Christ as a symbol of the self, magical manipulation from modern media in the world today, and much more...Timestamps:00:00 Anderson Todd's Magical Practice07:51 How "Psychotechnologies" Transformed the Human Mind11:00 Magical Correspondences & Summoning Gods 23:35 Emotional Systems & the Gods 31:48 Navigating Risks in Magical Practices35:07 The Power of Synchronicity in Magical Practice39:11 Exploring Altered States of Consciousness44:49 The Dual Nature of Psychedelic Experiences49:01 Iboga and Its Transformative Effects53:37 Personalized Symbols in Depth Psychology01:03:59 Jung's 'Ion' and the Future of Consciousness01:09:56 The Alchemical Journey of the Psyche01:11:38 Christ as the Symbol of the Self01:15:25 The Process of Letting Go and Transformation01:22:01 Exploring the Intersection of Magic and Psychotherapy01:26:58 The Role of Myth and Symbolism in Modern Society01:34:39 AI and the Pseudo-Synchronistic ExperienceFind Anderson Todd: https://www.youtube.com/@AndersonToddOur previous conversations:Round 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=256d2PZ1huw&t=5447sRound 2: https://youtu.be/mXR3LBCpLkwFind Jack:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0DGVMa1qAI1huc87xNDrgy?si=62c281d9e8274694X: https://twitter.com/jack_roycroftSubstack: https://substack.com/@jackroycroftsherry?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page

5-MeO-DMT is a powerful psychedelic produced by the Sonoran desert toad. It fascinates philosopher and metaphysician at Exeter University, Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, because of what the dissolution of all experience that the drug induces says about the nature of reality.Learn about why 5-MeO-DMT is interesting (and frightening), how different psychedelics change our views of reality, how 5-MeO-DMT makes Spinoza's pantheism (that God is nature) likely, Bergson's views on matter and memory, atheism vs. pantheism, exotic forms of experience, the true nature of ultimate reality, and more...Timestamps: 00:00 The Intrigue of 5-MeO-DMT02:38 Exploring Consciousness and Existence06:17 Psychedelics and Metaphysics12:11 The Ethical Implications of Metaphysical Experiences18:02 The Nature of God and Reality22:30 Bergson and Spinoza: Philosophical Connections28:43 Spinoza's Philosophy: Physical and Psychological Causation30:08 The Nature of Good and Ethics in Spinoza's Thought31:32 Understanding God and Nature: A Unitive Experience33:09 Spinoza's Controversial Relationship with Religion35:15 Pantheism vs Atheism: Clarifying Misconceptions37:16 Exploring Other Aspects of Reality39:31 Qualia and Perception: Different Ways of Experiencing Reality42:33 The Nature of Existence: Perspectives on Agency43:35 Immanence vs Transcendence: Understanding Spinoza's God46:50 Sin, Determinism, and the Nature of God49:29 Evaluating Metaphysics: Truth and Knowledge54:36 Current Projects and Future DirectionsFind Peter:-Mind-at-Large project: https://ctr4process.org/mind-at-large/-Recent books: Modes of Sentience (2021); Philosophy and Psychedelics: Frameworks for Exceptional Experience (2023)-Upcoming book: The Psychedelic Experience Manual

Are demonic possessions real? Psychiatrist Richard Gallagher has been investigating them for over 25 years, becoming convinced after starting as a deep skeptic.We discuss the scientific understanding of these cases, how to differentiate demonic possessions from ordinary biological illness, how people become possessed, the dangers of psychedelics like ayahuasca today, the nature of evil in the world, demons in different religions, and more...Timestamps:00:00 Origins Investigating Demonic Possession05:05 The Journey from Skepticism to Belief09:17 Understanding Possession and Oppression13:58 Remarkable Cases and Experiences18:27 The Intersection of Science and Spirituality23:04 The Nature of Good and Evil27:56 Conditions Leading to Possession32:14 The Role of Psychedelics and Modern Culture36:57 Awareness and Caution Regarding Demons41:31 Conclusion and Reflections on the SubjectFind Richard: -Book: Demonic Foes: My Twenty-Five Years as a Psychiatrist Investigating Possessions, Diabolic Attacks, and the Paranormal. Amazon link: https://a.co/d/5sDHWt9

Whitehead had some "heretical" views on the nature of God, consciousness, evil, and the future of reality. I wanted to explore these ideas with renowned philosopher Matt Segall, author of the blog "Footnotes2Plato." Topics we discuss are: How Whitehead re-conceptualized God as within reality, Consciousness and experience as being embedded throughout the universe, Bergson and the strange nature of time; God's memory and the storing of value, the cosmic trajetctroy of the cosmos, and more...Timestamps:00:00 Exploring Whitehead's Concept of God04:10 The Primordial and Consequent Nature of God08:28 Relational View of the Trinity12:01 The Problem of Evil and Evolutionary Cosmology21:10 Whitehead's Dual Poles of God25:15 Metaphysical Reality and Human Cognition32:53 The Living Universe and Consciousness38:56 Humanity's Unique Contribution to the Universe39:05 The Nature of Consciousness41:29 Human Experience and Freedom44:32 Responsibility in the Cosmos48:08 The Future and Divine Possibilities50:58 Memory and Time01:05:09 The Role of God in Evolution01:12:53 Worship and Divine Participation

We often think of cognition as a grand, strange, and magical thing. However, what if it was actually pretty basic, simple, and pretty much everywhere? Such that even rocks, economies, or cells perform "cognition."My guest today is Benjamin Lyons, who has written a paper with the Michael Levin on the nature of intelligence. They argue that intelligence works much like an economy (Benjamin is an economist by training), whereby local-level parts each do their own little thing, and then aggregate all of it together. In the economy's case, this produces everything that we need in our daily lives. But as a general theory of intelligence, we can apply the same logic to get insights into brains, organisms, life, diseases, emotions, and more...Timestamps: 00:00 Rethinking Cognition02:56 Cognition Can Happen Anywhere06:12 Paper w/Michael Levin: Price System & Intelligence09:51 Bioelectricity vs. Price Systems12:00 The Role of Agency in Cells and Organisms14:48 Survival Instincts: Cells, Corporations, and Human Behavior18:03 The Nature of Goals: Beyond Survival and Reproduction25:35 Exploring Agency in Biological Systems28:27 Cognition and Embodiment: A Unified Perspective30:12 The Body as a Coordinating System34:32 Love, Sacrifice, and Biological Existence37:15 Complexity in Human Cognition and Coordination39:39 Emotions: Choices or Hard-Coded Responses?41:37 Optimization Principles in Physics and Biology42:49 Disease Models: Economics and Biology IntersectFind Benjamin:-Substack: https://interestingessays.substack.com/-https://x.com/BenjaminLy61243-Paper with Mike Levin: https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/osfxxx/3fdya.html (title: Cognitive Glues Are Shared Models of Relative Scarcities: The Economics of Collective Intelligence)Find Jack: -X: https://x.com/jack_roycroft -Substack (where I'll be writing soon): https://substack.com/@jackroycroftsherry

Joscha Bach is a cognitive scientist and AI researcher.Animism is the view that everything in the universe is alive and conscious. Is such a worldview absurd? Or might it help make sense of life, evolution, and consciousness?In this podcast, learn how Joscha came to understand spirits as "self-organizing software agents", how life is animated by non-physical software patterns, how non-physical patterns animate societies, as well as where emotions actually come from, the nature of consciousness, the future of AI consciousness, God and the deep nature of ultimate reality, and more...Timestamps:00:00 Joscha's Realization about Spirits04:16 Software & Brains07:08 Mind vs. Brain12:04 Where are Spirits before Incarnation?14:20 Software at Different Layers of Reality18:14 Ghosts22:42 Humans vs. Computers26:39 Artificial Intelligence28:45 The Hard Problem of Consciousness29:05 Understanding Consciousness and Its Implications32:05 The Nature of Consciousness36:52 Emotions, God, & The Outer Mind41:48 Hemispheric Differences in the Brain45:45 Conscious AI48:30 Collective Agents and Societal Dynamics52:38 Metaphysics & God53:30 Martyrs in Cells and Humans59:10 Origins of RealityFind Joscha:X: https://x.com/PlinzCalifornia Institute for Machine Consciousness: https://cimc.ai/Liquid AI: https://www.liquid.ai/Find Jack:Substack: https://substack.com/@jackroycroftsherryX: https://x.com/jack_roycroft

Anderson Todd is a cognitive scientist and a Jungian psychoanalyst.Remarkable experiences happen in our dreams every night, and bizarre, meaningful coincidences (synchronicities) are reported in waking life. Can science make sense of all this?In this podcast, we explore whether there is meaning in our dreams, Anderson's personal experiences with lucid dreaming, Carl Jung's model of the Self, how to interpret your own dreams, dissociated alters in our mind, how to explain strange synchronicity experiences, the metaphysics that might explain synchronicities, and much more... • Timestamps00:00 The Meaning of Dreams06:43 Exploring Lucid Dreaming19:00 The Therapeutic Potential of Lucid Dreaming25:09 Understanding the Psyche and Internal Models42:00 The Interplay of Self and Others46:59 Exploring Altered States and Connectivity50:12 The Role of Dissociation in Experience51:01 Parenting and the Impact of Influence53:04 Evolution, Compromise, and Self-Development55:31 Navigating Problems and Intentional Self-Development57:53 The Risks and Rewards of Conscious Intervention58:51 Understanding Dreams and Their Interpretation01:01:15 The Nature of Dreams: Immersion vs. Messages01:03:07 Transjective Symbols in Dream Interpretation01:05:32 Specificity in Dream Symbols01:09:22 The Paradox of Dream Interpretation01:12:01 The Role of Dream Journals01:16:45 Interpreting Personal Dreams01:21:04 Jung's Model of the Self and Anima/Animus Dynamics01:35:57 Mediating the Unconscious: Persona and Anima01:38:02 The Dynamics of Projection in Relationships01:41:10 Understanding the Self: Center and Totality of the Psyche01:51:46 Exploring Synchronicity: Meaningful Coincidence and A-Causality02:10:02 The Role of Magic: Psychotechnologies and Synchronicity •Find Anderson Todd:-His Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@AndersonTodd-Our previous conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=256d2PZ1huw&t=5447s

Brant Elwood is a Social-Organizational Psychologist and consultant.Aodhán Moran is a psychologist and entrepreneur.Are myths just made-up stories? Or do they tell us something important about our psychology and our world today, and the unconscious dynamics going on every day in groups, families, organizations, and societies?In this podcast, learn how myths describe eternal patterns in human history, the role myths have played in human biological evolution, mythological patterns at play in our political world today, the ontological reality of collective group minds, the unconscious forces that shape our everyday decisions, and more....Timestamps:00:00 Mythology Meets Group Psychology 01:49 Are Mythological Stories Real? 12:53 The Role of Myths in Group Formation23:53 Leadership and Group Dynamics31:12 The Maverick Archetype and Its Implications32:48 Creation as Rebellion: The Role of Disruption34:35 Trust and Group Dynamics35:31 Disruptors: Messiahs or Scapegoats?37:44 Unconscious Group Behavior41:18 Extreme Ownership: Leadership and Accountability51:56 Game Theory and the Unconscious in Group DynamicsFind Brant & Aodhán: X: @aodhanpmoran X: @TheGroupLens Book: Gods, Heroes and Groups - https://www.karnacbooks.com/product/gods-heroes-and-groups-relational-dynamics-through-mythic-archetypes/97812/?MATCH=1 See Brant and Aodhan at a Jungian Psychology event this June: https://heresyprogrammes.podia.com/alchemy25

Damian Kelty-Stephen is a cognitive scientist and psychologist.What if cognition was not limited to neurons and brains, but rather everything from cells to molecules to groups of people could all do cognition?In this podcast, learn about the intelligence capacities of organisms with no neurons, how scientists are re-thinking DNA's role in the body, how even molecules and proteins have a kind of cognition, radical ways to build computers, archetypes and patterns instantiating unconscious influence across individuals, new perspectives on how evolution works, and more...Timestamps:00:00 Intelligence in Single Cell Organisms 00:02:15 Michael Levin & New Perspectives on DNA 05:25 What does DNA Actually Do?07:54 DNA Can't Encode for All Intelligence09:39 Weird Competencies of DNA15:20 Everything has Agency (to a degree)18:08 False Subjective-Objective Dichotomy19:38 The Reality of Myths and Archetypes23:20 Cognition in Groups and Societies26:20 How Cognition Works: Generalizing Cognition from Physics to Brains36:08 Alan Turing's Strange Ideas and Evolution of Computing38:11 The Nature of Symbols and Continuous Flows41:40 Self-Organization and Symbolic Structures43:35 Turing's Mercury Computer50:02 Cognition and Computation: A Dual Perspective56:10 The Interplay of Genes, Cognition, and Evolution01:00:57 Understanding Consciousness and Experience01:12:58 Current Research and Future Directions in NeuroscienceFind Damian: Our previous podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwj9TZDguwc Website: https://sites.google.com/site/foovian/Find me: X: https://x.com/jack_roycroft Substack (where I'll be writing soon): https://substack.com/@jackroycroftsherry