Mahon McCann Podcast Wisdom Dojo

D. C. Schindler is professor of metaphysics and anthropology at the John Paul II Institute, Washington, DC. He is the author of eleven books, including Freedom from Reality: The Diabolical Character of Modern Liberty (University of Notre Dame Press, 2017) (get his books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/D-C-Schindler/e/B001JRTOAU)
The podcast discusses the ontology of stories, fact vs fiction, materialism, perception, naive realism, platonism, Christianity and more.
Chapters:
00:00 The Ontological and Epistemological Status of Stories
03:34 The Separation Between Fact and Fiction
07:27 The Reductionist View of Truth
10:25 The Role of Stories in Mapping Reality
13:07 The Limitations of the Scientific Model of Reality
15:21 The Journey of Knowing and Understanding
19:06 The Misuse of the Term 'Artificial Intelligence'
21:45 The Breakdown of the Bond Between Reality and Truth
23:28 The Influence of the Enlightenment
25:45 The Role of Nominalism in the Shift in Perception of God
27:07 The Journey Towards the Really Real
29:53 The Self-Defeating Nature of Denying All Truth
31:44 Starting with What People Care About
31:57 The Inescapability of the Good
33:03 The Significance of a Troubled Conscience
34:15 The Connection Between Universal and Particular Stories
35:12 The Role of Transcendent Goodness in Drama
37:07 The Presence of Goodness in Characters
38:29 The Dramatic Power of Forgiveness
39:21 The Revelation of Character in Decisions
40:34 The Role of Goodness in Decision-Making
41:25 Truth as Disclosure and Revelation
43:30 The Loss of Meaning and the Need for Stories
44:29 The Connection Between Stories and Tradition
45:45 The Disconnect from Tradition and the Search for Meaning
46:13 Christianity as the Ultimate Story
46:56 The Parallels Between Christianity and Plato's Philosophy
48:22 The Distrust and Loss of Meaning in a Secular Culture
50:30 The Difference Between Story and Entertainment
51:50 The Relevance and Universality of Meaningful Stories
52:31 The Connection to Tradition and the Bigger Order of Things
53:27 The Anti-Traditionalism of American Culture
55:20 The Truncated Sense of Tradition in Modern Culture
57:21 The Disconnect from Wisdom and Deep Stories
58:26 The Need for a Recovery of Tradition and Meaning
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John is a professor of cognitive science and cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto and the creator of "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis." (check out his channel here and the PP and RR integration talk here ).
In this podcast, we are discussing
* predictive processing
* John’s integration of predictive processing and relevance realisation
* the nature and function of attention
* Attention’s relation to agency and meaning in life
* How can this new understanding of human beings be used to create aligned AI
Chapters:
00:00 The Quest for Inner Peace and Optimal Agency
00:23 Welcoming John Verveke: A Dialogue on Attention and AI
00:32 Unveiling the Intricacies of Attention
00:45 Predictive Processing and Relevance Realization: A Deep Dive
01:51 Exploring the Spotlight Metaphor of Attention
02:35 Beyond the Spotlight: A New Understanding of Attention
04:04 Attention as Cognitive Unison: A Revolutionary Perspective
05:21 The Interplay of Attention and Relevance Realization
06:35 Precision Weighting: Bridging Predictive Processing and Relevance Realization
07:30 From Cause Theories to Effect Theories of Attention
09:19 The Emergence of Agency and the Role of Relevance Realization
10:13 Predictive Processing: A Framework for Anticipation
10:40 The Meta Problems of Anticipation and Relevance Realization
14:46 Predictive Processing and the Sensory Motor Loop
18:39 The Bias-Variance Trade-off in Predictive Processing
20:34 Opponent Processing and Optimal Grip: A New Model of Attention
22:52 Enhancing Agency and the Potential for Self-Deception
25:26 Agency Emerges: Autopoietic Correction and Self-Organization
27:17 Meaning as Optimal Agency: The Confluence of Predictive Processing and Relevance Realization
29:12 The Autopoietic Nature of Mind and Body
29:55 Plato's Insights on Internal Coordination
30:33 The Quest for Optimal Agency and Inner Peace
31:12 Predictive Processing and Motivation
32:23 The Role of Persuasive Technologies
32:44 Anticipation in Spatial and Temporal Contexts
34:56 Optimal Agency and Collective Intelligence
36:00 The Platonic Proposal for Human Flourishing
37:55 AI as Agents vs. AI as Environment
42:32 The Potential of AI to Foster Human Enlightenment
43:45 Mentoring Machines for a Better Future
45:18 The Challenge of Social Media Reform
46:22 The Wicked Problem of Relevance Realization
51:25 Stealing the Culture: A Bottom-Up Approach
52:36 Historical Precedents for Cultural Transformation
53:35 The Advent of a New Sacredness
57:35 Redefining Success and Addressing Existential Questions
01:01:21 The Silicon Sages: A Vision for AI
01:01:37 Concluding Thoughts and Hopeful Outlook
PS want to support the Wisdom Dojo?
You can sign up for a one-time gift or a monthly donation, and all funds are used to cover the running costs of the pod 👇
www.mahonmccann.com/gift


Get full access to Wisdom Dojo at www.mahonmccann.com/subscribe

Adam Safron, Ph. D., is a Cognitive Scientist and psychologist who studies the nature of preferences and motivation from mechanistic, developmental, and evolutionary perspectives. Recently, he has proposed a model of embodied agency and free will and is working on a unified mechanistic account of psychedelics.
This podcast discusses free will and embodied agency, the key role of attention and imagination, and the consequences of an individual's pursuit of meaning in life.
Check out Adam's website 👇
https://www.adamsafron.com/
Google Scholar 👇
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dZOoilgAAAAJ&hl=en
The Paper discussed on embodied agency 👇
https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/23/6/783
Chapters:
00:00 Struggling with the Question of Free Will
04:14 Starting from the Fundamental Mechanics
06:34 Understanding How Agency Works
09:46 Unifying Physicalism and Idealism
12:24 Bridging the Gap Between Religion and Science
17:48 Tracing the Mechanics of Action Selection
18:16 The Evolution of Inhibition and Mental Simulation
22:19 Conscientiousness and the Ability to Inhibit Distraction
25:32 Embodied Self Models and Conscientiousness
28:02 The Connection Between Conscientiousness and Conscience
31:14 The Development of Imaginative Capacity for Agency
35:02 The Connection Between Embodied Self Models and Meaning
39:03 The Pursuit of Developmental Meaning
42:43 The Disconnect Between Fitness in Reality and Digital
43:51 The Normative Constraint of Imaginative Capacity
45:28 The Destination of Agency: Enslavement to the Highest Good
46:38 Neoplatonic Philosophy and Predictive Processing
50:29 Distributed Cognition and Democracy
51:13 Unity of the Soul and the Polis
52:11 Practical Applications of Understanding Agency
54:08 Creating Benevolent Agents
55:22 Ethics and Principles in Technology
56:19 Mission and Conclusion


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Rick Repetti is a philosophy professor, meditation teacher, and author of several publications on free will (find more of Rick's work below).
Rick’s website: https://www.rickrepetti.com/
Awaken to meaning: https://awakentomeaning.com/
American Philosophical Practitioners Association: https://appa.edu/
In this podcast, we are critiquing Sapolski’s “determined” steel manning his case with the philosophy of determinism and showing how human beings possess the “degrees of freedom worth having” and how wisdom and spiritual traditions offer tools to enhance our agency.
Check out the conversation 👇
https://youtu.be/AJGyeZkGFLo
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction and Sapolsky's Argument
04:19 Critique of Sapolsky's Argument
07:31 Legacy of Newtonian Causality
09:45 Determinism and Free Will
11:13 Indeterminism and Free Will
16:46 The Dialogical Self
19:40 Meditation and Self-Conditioning
26:28 Ultimate Moral Responsibility
32:37 Self-Forming Actions and Free Will
37:18 The Dialogical Self and Agency
42:02 Attention and Agency
48:00 Cultivating Agency through Meditation
51:05 Opponent Processing and Evolution
52:07 Attentional Flexibility and Imaginary Attention
53:01 Simulating Other Minds and Counterfactual Reasoning
54:07 Simulating the Future and Rational Deliberation
55:07 Taking Processes Offline and Online
56:32 Rational Agency and Thinking
57:03 Liver Enzymes and Rationality
57:29 Simulating Ideas and Writing
58:25 Inhibition and Simulation
59:33 Attentional Deficit and Meditative Practices
01:00:15 Organizing Behavior Across Time
01:01:14 Prudential Reasoning and Agency
01:02:11 Debating Sapolsky and Future Projects
01:03:37 Philosophical Practitioners Association and Book Club
01:05:43 Philosophy of Meditation Series and APA Courses
01:06:08 Weekly Meditations and Starter Ecology of Practices


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Jelle Bruineberg is an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Media, Cognition and Communication.
Read his paper ‘Adversarial Inference: Predictive Minds in the Attention Economy’: 
https://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2023/1/niad019/7251284
In this podcast, we discuss the attention economy, the psychology and cognitive science of attention, predictive processing, AI and the future of the internet. 
Watch the full conversation 👇
https://youtu.be/W8BAXZVNph0
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to the Attention Economy and Adversarial Inference
06:37  Limitations of the Broadbandian Conception of Attention
08:14 The Role of Action in Attention
11:51 The Relationship Between Attention and Executive Function
15:36 External and Internal Triggers in Attention
17:28 The Role of Self-Modeling in Attention and Agency
20:28 The Impact of Digital Environments on Attention and Concentration
25:06 Precariousness of Agency and Environmental Scaffolding
27:46 The Role of Positive Affect and Dopamine in Attention
31:59 Designing Environments to Support Attention and Agency
36:29 The Influence of AI on the Attention Economy and Agency
47:17 The Role of AI in Society
48:44 The Impact of Technology on Affordances
49:13 Regulating Digital Technologies
50:12 Building Agency-Enhancing Technologies
51:30 The Need for a New Philosophy
53:55 The Challenge of a Unified Theory of Attention
55:59 Attention as a Core Cognitive Process
56:45 Rebuilding the Internet
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Matthew David Segall, Phd, is a transdisciplinary researcher, writer, teacher, and philosopher applying process-relational thought across the natural and social sciences and to the study of consciousness. He is the Associate Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Program at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA and the Chair of the Science Advisory Committee for the Cobb Institute.
Get his new book ‘Crossing The Threshold: Etheric Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead’.
Check out his youtube channel Footnotes2Plato
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and the Kantian Divide
04:59 Kant's Epistemological Dualism
07:34 The Role of Imagination in Kant's Philosophy
12:00 The Impact of Nominalism on Imagination
17:28 The Connection Between Imagination and Self-Transcendence
21:07 Whitehead's Cosmology and the Role of Imagination
25:26 Transcendental Apperception and Contextualization
29:16 Whitehead's Philosophy in Historical Context
36:53 Whitehead's Panentheistic View of God
46:06 Whitehead's View on Free Will and Determinism
50:04 Whitehead's View on Human Agency and Evolution
51:08 The Open Universe and Free-will
52:16 The Vegetable Universe
56:22 Life Precedes Matter
58:07 Death as Part of Life
59:32 Overcoming the Meaning Crisis
01:00:38 The Role of Religion in Finding Meaning
01:03:38 Translating Complex Ideas


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