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New series of podcasts

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PeterDF
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Re: New series of podcasts

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This is where the podcasts get controversial… and spicy.
Here’s a scary thought: Do we have a genetically imposed “Deep Nature” that makes us think, believe and act in certain ways?
Do we think the way we do because we are animals, and our kind of animal was programmed to think like this? What about our nearest evolutionary cousins, how do they see the world, what is their Deep Nature like, and what does it mean for the way we see our own kind?
Episode Six in of my “Not 42” series of podcasts: “Diving into Deep Nature,” is live now:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2001904/11261760
If you would prefer to read the episode instead, just click on the transcript tab. If you, understandably, don't want to click on an external link, let me know and I'll post a summary of the episode. This episode contains adult material.
The Not 42 podcasts are ad free, I have chosen not to be paid for them. They are about the ideas not me.
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Interbane

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Re: New series of podcasts

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Interesting topics, I may indulge. Do you use the word Supervenience in the podcast on consciousness? And epistemology in the podcast on Truth?

I'll return if something catches my ear, thanks for the content.
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” - Douglas Adams
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PeterDF
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Re: New series of podcasts

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This is where the podcasts get controversial… and spicy.
Here’s a scary thought: Do we have a genetically imposed “Deep Nature” that makes us think, believe and act in certain ways?
Do we think the way we do because we are animals, and our kind of animal was programmed to think like this? What about our nearest evolutionary cousins, how do they see the world, what is their Deep Nature like, and what does it mean for the way we see our own kind?
Episode Six in of my “Not 42” series of podcasts: “Diving into Deep Nature,” is live now:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2001904/11261760
If you would prefer to read the episode instead, just click on the transcript tab. If you, understandably, don't want to click on an external link, let me know and I'll post a summary of the episode. This episode contains adult material.
The Not 42 podcasts are ad free, I have chosen not to be paid for them. They are about the ideas not me.
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PeterDF
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Re: New series of podcasts

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Interbane wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 7:44 am Interesting topics, I may indulge. Do you use the word Supervenience in the podcast on consciousness? And epistemology in the podcast on Truth?

I'll return if something catches my ear, thanks for the content.
Thanks, Interbane, I would certainly welcome any comments you would want to make.

I don't use the word "supervenience" in the episode about consciousness. I don't pretend to be able to answer the question of what consciousness is, but I suppose I wouldn't argue too strongly with the idea that subjective experiencing could be said to supervene on neural activity. Although, as I am committed to the use of reason and evidence to answer the questions I address, I would want to deny any supernatural/transcendental aspects to it.

I haven't used the word "epistemology" in the podcasts either, because I've tried to keep the language simple, although Episode One does definitely set out the epistemological foundation for the approach I've used in the rest of the series. (I have used the word, in emails to correspondents about the podcasts.)
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PeterDF
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Is patriotism a good thing?
Could it be that Vladimir Putin is really a soft, soppy, old sentimentalist?
In the penultimate episode of the “Not 42”, series of podcasts, “Putin, Patriotism and Peacocks”, we will find out.
In this episode I’m going to explore what I’ve called human “deep nature” and why it evolved. I will ask why it is that human beings have such massive brains compared to other animals, and we’ll also find out, surprisingly, that humans have not one but two sex drives.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2001904/11261812
If you would prefer to read the episode instead, just click on the transcript tab. If you, understandably, don't want to click on an external link, let me know and I'll post a summary of the episode.
The Not 42 podcasts are available on all the most popular podcast providers, and they are ad free. I have chosen not to be paid for them. They are about the ideas not me.
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Re: New series of podcasts

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Finally, we have reached the last episode of my new “Not 42” series of podcasts.

In this episode, I will return to the question of God, and I will try to show why theism is incredibly dangerous.
Another question discussed is whether our species might be “terminally ill with the genetic disease of patriotism?” Could there be a relationship between patriotism and religion? We’ll find out.
Here are some quotes from the transcript:
“No matter how powerful and profound feelings of belief are, they are still feelings. Best guess reasoning takes us inevitably to the conclusion that the feeling that there is something beyond is part of our deep nature. If this is true, the transcendence argument for God completely collapses.”
“We cannot assume that that the best explanation for reality is the one we might wish it to be, no matter how strong that wish is.”
“…the 9/11 hijackers were doing what they thought their god wanted. The loyal battalion commander of faith seems to have been the main supporter of Major-General Tribalism throughout all of human history.”
“…we seem to know intuitively that patriotism is a good thing, but how can this be true if its only useful role is to counter more extreme versions of itself?”
“…it is only due to our deep nature that we feel the need for nation states […] They only exist because we can’t seem to escape the need for an identity group, otherwise all that really exists are people.
When confronting, say racism, homophobia and religious discrimination like anti-Semitism kind, good-hearted, decent people say: “There is more that unites us than divides us.” But this is a lie, a bare faced, monstrous lie, because nothing divides us. All humans share the same deep nature. […] we have lying, conniving genes that have built into our deep nature the feeling that we are different from others when actually we are the same.”
“Our nature need not be deep any longer. We now have the ability to see what it is to be human with more clarity than ever before. Understanding that, and seeing [down] through our awareness horizon, will give us an incredible insight, and the tools that might help lift us up, to leave our animal heritage behind us, and turn us truly into intelligent beings.”
The episode is available now at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2001904/11262076

Because of the concepts I needed to cover in this episode, it is longer than the others at 47 minutes.
If you would prefer to read the episode instead, just click on the transcript tab. If you, understandably, don't want to click on an external link, let me know and I'll post a summary of the episode.
(The Not 42 podcasts are available on all the most popular podcast platforms, and they are ad free. I have chosen not to be paid for them. They are about the ideas not me.)
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Re: New series of podcasts

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If you have time for a long book that is slow reading, you might appreciate Iain McGilchrist's "The Master and his Emissary", which explores the interaction between left brain, instrumental processes, and right brain, holistic perception processes. I am about half way through it. My takeaway is that religion operates on metaphor, which is the kind of connection the right brain works with (art, literature, drama, personal acquaintance) while logic and evidence work within left brain processes that are remarkably intolerant of the other kind. After all, the left brain is designed to check "correctness" and therefore its priorities must be the correct ones.
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