#293 – Donald Hoffman: Reality is an Illusion – How Evolution Hid the Truth

Donald Hoffman is a cognitive scientist at UC Irvine and author of The Case Against Reality. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Donald’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/donalddhoffman
Donald’s Website: http://cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/
Documents & Articles:
1. Could a Neuroscientist Understand a Microprocessor?: https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005268
2. Conscious Agent Networks: https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/CA-circuits-CSR-rev2.pdf
3. The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Argument in Quantum Theory: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-epr/
Books:
1. The Case Against Reality: https://amzn.to/3MhW4Wt
2. Vision: https://amzn.to/3Q4ibTm

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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
(08:04)– Case against reality
(19:33)– Spacetime
(43:57)– Reductionism
(1:04:23)– Evolutionary game theory
(1:32:46)– Consciousness
(2:28:06)– Visualizing reality
(2:43:23)– Ephemerality of life
(2:51:48)– Simulation theory
(2:57:30)– Difficult ideas
(3:12:32)– Love
(3:16:07)– Advice for young people
(3:18:26)– Meaning of life