Meditations on life, the universe, and everything
It is cliché to say that we are living through a period of drastic historical change: every period reflects the perennial ebb and flow of history, nothing ever remaining static. But sometimes this change is extraordinary in both intensity and impact. And if any historical junction deserves such a characterisation, it is the one we are living through right now. For a number of never-before-seen…
Rupert has asked me to publish his rejoinder to the previous post in this blog, wherein I defended myself against his attack on Analytic Idealism . Here is his response, in the form of a letter, in full and unedited. I've added a link to it from my previous post. Dear Bernardo, I regret the tone of my remarks in my interview with Curt Jaimungal, because I greatly respect you and your work. I am…
06-Dec-2024 update: Rupert's rejoinder to the response below has now been published and can be found here . Over the past several days, multiple people have commented in my blog and social media spaces about criticisms of Analytic Idealism made by Dr. Rupert Sheldrake in the Theories of Everything podcast/YouTube channel. Before today, I hadn't seen the video and thus had largely dismissed most of…
Believing the right thing—the right theory, idea, or principle—for the wrong reasons can sometimes be as bad, or even worse, than believing the wrong thing. The right belief for the wrong reasons is never truly transformative, never really sinks into the core of our being, and may even create cognitive dissonances that make it harder to navigate life than under the guidance of untrue beliefs. In…
Philosophers of mind talk much about the so-called 'Hard Problem of Consciousness.' But is it a real, objective problem to be solved, or just the subjective reflection of a confused way of thinking? And in the latter case, where and how, precisely, does the problem arise? In this essay, you will be surprised at how obvious and quaint the thought error is that underlies the hard problem, and…
Today’s generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications are impressive. Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT , easily pass the Turing Test and are thus indistinguishable from humans in an online text conversation. They are used in professional settings to handle customer inquiries, draft legal texts, and a variety of tasks that, until recently, only humans could manage. Other…
Over the past 15 years or so, I have engaged in a number of debates with other scholars, as I believe strongly that this kind of interaction is an excellent way to question and improve our culture's mainstream views. In this post, I'd like to highlight the more adversarial of these debates. By 'adversarial' I don't mean unfriendly; some may be, but many aren't. I mean simply that these…
A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Sam Parnia released a new mini-documentary about Near Death Experiences (NDEs), which he now coined a new term for: REDs, for 'Recalled Experiences of Death.' His argument is that, physiologically, these people weren't merely near death, but actually died and were resuscitated thanks to modern medical technology. Indeed, defining death as a state one can never return…
Editorial note: I originally intended to publish the essay below in an (online) magazine, not my own blog. I still have this intention, but opted to publish the complete draft here first for several reasons: (a) most magazines will place the essay behind a paywall (I already tried to negotiate this out, but it is not negotiable); (b) most magazines will require me to significantly shorten the…
You may have noticed that, since Essentia Foundation started in earnest in the summer of 2020, my philosophical output essentially ground to a halt. Indeed, my latest published book to-date, Science Ideated , was finished in April of 2020, even though it only came out in 2021. The reason for this is that Essentia Foundation took all my time in its first years. Starting a new organisation and team…
I recently was invited by Curt Jaimungal, of the Theories of Everything podcast, to debate philosopher Tim Maudlin on issues of philosophy of physics. I accepted after briefly looking up Maudlin's name and seeing that he was an academic. The result of this attempted debate, however, was a complete and unqualified disaster: As much as this unfortunate event is deserving of forgetting, I think I owe…
I have just participated—literally 10 minutes ago as I write these words—in an online debate organized by the IAI , in which Donald Hoffman, Susan Schneider and I discussed the possibility that computers become conscious in the future, with the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). My position is that they won’t. Susan’s position is that they very well may, and Don’s position is that this…
YouTubing physicist Sabine Hossenfelder has now replied to my criticism of her debate performance against me, published yesterday on this blog. Her reply can be found here . As you read it, try to keep in mind the context. Namely, in my criticism I focused on the following statement that Hossenfelder made during the debate: I argued that this was simply not true: in the papers she referred to as…
My debate with YouTuber physicist Sabine Hossenfelder is now available in video format: This was originally motivated by an essay I wrote a couple of weeks ago criticizing Hossenfelder's 'hidden variables' theory as fantasy. Since then, I offered further criticism in parts of a more recent essay. As such, the point of the present post is not to rehash arguments already presented, but to tackle one…
I am often asked if psychedelic or meditative insights have inspired my philosophical views, or at least confirmed them in some way. They did, but not in the way—or for the reasons—that most people would imagine. Indeed, I have a very ambiguous, dubious relationship with first-person revelations. I think they are very useful in a certain way, but should seldom be taken on face-value. This is what…
Every year, for the past four years or so, I give a four-week-long course on idealism in collaboration with the UK's Psychedelic Society. Today, a short clip extracted from the latest edition of that long course was published. Have a look at it below. In the clip, I argue that past and future exist solely in the present, and that the present moment is infinitely small, a singularity. Therefore,…
This summer lots of exciting new literature on Analytic Idealism is coming out, some of which you may already have noticed. If not, this brief post provides an overview. My new book, Science Ideated , is coming out. Like my earlier Brief Peeks Beyond , it is a collection of re-edited, previously published essays. Many of the original essays are now behind pay- or registration-walls, so the book…
In a series of recent social media posts, I've criticized Sam Harris for his horrendous strawmannning of idealism in a recent podcast interview: What a spectacularly sophomoric misrepresentation of idealism @SamHarrisOrg displays here. He conflates personal consciousness with consciousness as ontic category, idealism with solipsism, and it's a train wreck from there. (1/2) https://t.co/QTOmYAIwmM…
© Sidney Harris, The American Scientist , 1977. My endorsement, promotion and defense of physicist Carlo Rovelli's Relational Interpretation of quantum mechanics has been very overt and public for years, on Scientific American and other publications. I have also never hid my personal liking and admiration for Rovelli as a scholar and a person: I find him exceptionally thoughtful and open, a bit of…
Today my new book, Decoding Jung's Metaphysics , is being published. To celebrate the occasion, I am reproducing below Chapter 1, 'Prelude,' of that work. Enjoy! Prelude Call it not vain—that lofty thought Which peoples heaven with visioned lore, So that each star of light is fraught With some fair chronicle of yore:— Call it not vain, though earthly vision May not peruse that page Elysian, But…
A more complete, revised and final version of the essay originally published here is now available at: https://iai.tv/articles/a-strange-perspective-on-the-practice-of-science-auid-1712?_auid=2020 Vickers portrays the practice of science as a subjective exercise driven by majority opinions, prejudices and vulgar associations. It is almost embarrassing to have to respond to such a piece, but here…
I have a Google Alert calibrated for more-or-less relevant occurrences of my name in Internet traffic. The idea is to remain aware of what people may be saying about my work, so I can adjust my communication strategy accordingly. Every now and then, however, some pearls pop up in that alert; things that aren't really relevant in and of themselves, but which betray the ways in which I am impacting…
By Stephen Davies (This is a guest essay submitted to the Metaphysical Speculations Discussion Forum , where it was extensively reviewed and critically commented on by forum members. The opinions expressed in it are those of its author.) Galileo Galilei. Source: Wikimedia Commons. British philosopher Philip Goff describes how early Italian scientist Galileo Galilei sought to explain the whole…
It's not really my style to write a post about multiple subjects that have only tenuous connections with one another. I tend to prefer focused, coherent meditations about a given topic of importance to me, which lead to clear conclusions. Yet, the last time I defied my own instincts and wrote a rather open-ended, 'mixed bag' post , it somehow shot straight to the position of most popular essay in…
By Stephen Davies (This is a guest essay submitted to the Metaphysical Speculations Discussion Forum , where it was extensively reviewed and critically commented on by forum members. The opinions expressed in it are those of its author.) Photo source: Wikimedia Commons. Philosopher of mind Daniel Dennett has a theory that if I deny it, he will say I don’t understand it; if I posit an alternative…