Episode

#191 – Daniel Schmachtenberger: Steering Civilization Away from Self-Destruction
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4:21:41
Published: Mon Jun 14 2021
Description

Daniel Schmachtenberger is a philosopher interested understanding the rise and fall of societies and individuals. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Ground News: https://ground.news/lex - NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour - Four Sigmatic: https://foursigmatic.com/lex and use code LexPod to get up to 60% off - Magic Spoon: https://magicspoon.com/lex and use code LEX to get $5 off - BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off EPISODE LINKS: Daniel's Website: https://civilizationemerging.com/ The Consilience Project: https://consilienceproject.org/ PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (08:05) - Aliens and UFOs (26:50) - Collective intelligence of human civilization (34:46) - Consciousness (46:08) - How much computation does the human brain perform? (49:47) - Humans vs ants (57:04) - Humans are apex predators (1:04:08) - Girard's Mimetic Theory of Desire (1:24:05) - We can never completely understand reality (1:27:29) - Self-terminating systems (1:37:52) - Catastrophic risk (2:08:04) - Adding more love to the world (2:35:29) - How to build a better world (2:52:41) - Meaning of life (3:00:23) - Death (3:06:04) - The role of government in society (3:23:29) - Exponential growth of technology (4:09:10) - Lessons from my father (4:14:46) - Even suffering is filled with beauty

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Truth-seeking
Summary

The truth can be discovered by reading multiple perspectives on a single event and integrating them to gain a nuanced understanding.

Episode
#191 – Daniel Schmachtenberger: Steering Civilization Away from Self-Destruction
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psychedelics
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The possibility of integrating psychedelics into therapy, specifically services like BetterHelp, is discussed. Companies are compared to living organisms in which there are basic units, individuals, as well as groups that collaborate and work together.

Episode
#191 – Daniel Schmachtenberger: Steering Civilization Away from Self-Destruction
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This episode discusses the possibility of extraterrestrial life and how their perspective of our planet would be given our current state.
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Extraterrestrial life
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This episode discusses the possibility of extraterrestrial life and how their perspective of our planet would be given our current state. It also touches on how the building blocks of life may be more different than we think.

Episode
#191 – Daniel Schmachtenberger: Steering Civilization Away from Self-Destruction
Podcast
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In this podcast, the speaker contemplates the perspective of alien intelligence on human civilization.
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Human civilization
Summary

In this podcast, the speaker contemplates the perspective of alien intelligence on human civilization. The discussion includes the idea of humans as individual organisms versus a collective intelligence, as well as the tribal history of the species as one entity or a collection of individuals.

Episode
#191 – Daniel Schmachtenberger: Steering Civilization Away from Self-Destruction
Podcast
Lex Fridman Podcast
The nature of first person and third person perspectives is not reducible to either, but rather co-evolve in complexity.
32:21 - 46:13 (13:52)
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Co-evolution
Summary

The nature of first person and third person perspectives is not reducible to either, but rather co-evolve in complexity. Consciousness is seen as fundamental, while free will is believed to be an illusion by some, who are able to remove themselves from its experience for long periods of time.

Episode
#191 – Daniel Schmachtenberger: Steering Civilization Away from Self-Destruction
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In this wide-ranging conversation, Joe Rogan and Eric Weinstein explore topics such as complexity science, emergent phenomena, and the implications of technology on society and governance.
46:13 - 4:06:56 (3:20:42)
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Complexity science
Summary

In this wide-ranging conversation, Joe Rogan and Eric Weinstein explore topics such as complexity science, emergent phenomena, and the implications of technology on society and governance.

Episode
#191 – Daniel Schmachtenberger: Steering Civilization Away from Self-Destruction
Podcast
Lex Fridman Podcast