CM memes
By Claus Metzner
CM memesJun 27, 2021
E059 Free will and the pull of the future
I talk about the mind as a strange 'compass', leading our way towards unexpected (and perhaps trans-personal) goals.
E058 Phase Transitions Of Consciousness
After reminding the materialists among my listeners on the distinction between physical reality and experience, I speculate that the physical world may be a rigid phase of consciousness that helps people minimize their anxiety.
E057 From Science To Handcraft
I start talking about what goes wrong in modern science. In particular I discuss the difficulty of getting reliable data from complex systems and the problems that creates in society. I finally 'discover' traditional handcraft as a superior way of interacting with the world and of handling complexity. For a master craftsman, data gathering, model building and corrective action are unified to a single, continuous, subconscious process.
E056 Minds, Yetis & laughters ...
This is the first time I publish a genuine live conversation - with my old 'philosopher friend' Willi Schroll. No cuts, no edits. We talk about whether idealism is still stuck in misleading metaphors and discover our slightly different interpretations of 'existence'.
E055 From my notebook
This episode is a mixed bag. After some announcements, I talk about my 'rediscovery' of room stereo, explorative habit changes, Twitter, my repeated knocking down of open doors, non-metacognitive consciousness, binaural beats and self-hypnosis.
E054 Some Clarifications
In response to recent listener comments, I try to clarify the 'screen of perception'-metaphore and to substantiate my naive goal of short-term happiness maximization.
E053 Practical Idealism (2)
After some of my usual detours and personal anecdotes, I further explore the practical aspects of Idealism: How to live when subjective experience (instead of knowledge, abstract ideas, power and material property) are of central importance ? To be continued ...
Bonus Episode: A 'Meditation'
I tried to report and record what is going on in mind while doing my daily 20 minutes of 'free-style' meditation.
E052 Practical Idealism (1)
I first reflect on my recent experiment with having a time-delayed interview on the show. Then I review the steps that let to my flip to idealism, in order to answer a listener question about how idealism has changed my daily life. Finally, I start to explore a new, 'practical' way of 'living' idealism - a topic some future episodes of this podcast may return to. References: The Lagrangian of the Standard Model (Ugly stuff) and Ian Miller's blog (Beautiful stuff).
E051 Conversation with Arthur Franz (Part 2)
We start to talk about the theoretical possibility of top-down-causation, using arguments from cybernetic control theory. We end with an hypothetical agent that dreams up the world and has a bias for simplicity.
E050 Conversation with Arthur Franz (Part 1)
In this first non-solo episode, I have a (time-delayed) conversation with Dr. Arthur Franz, who is devoting his time to built a 'thinking machine' - a generally intelligent agent that can create deep models of the world. This episode mainly serves a test case for the 'new' podcast format and to introduce Arthur and his way of thinking. Further conversations are planned in the future where we will dive deeper into Artificial General Intelligence and related scientific and philosophical topics. You can visit Arthur's WEBSITE to learn more about his unique approach.
E049 The danger of Occam's razor
In this improvised episode, I talk about the beauty and danger of reductionistic worldviews.
E048 From Emptiness to Google Glass
I struggle (again) with the Buddhist concept of emptiness and offer a (preliminary) interpretation from my naive perspective as a scientific idealist.
E047 Teaching without knowledge
Motivated by a listener comment, I first reflect on whether it is a problem to talk publicly about topics without (much) knowledge. Finally, as part 1 of a new mini series on Buddhist concepts, I talk about Emptiness.
E046 Confusion and Perplexity
I first talk about the vagueness of notions like matter and mind, then about perplexity as a desirable mind state.
E045 Creation and survival algorithms
I start with new theories of natural evolution, touch on the limits of present AI, and end with new interpretations of prediction error minimization. LINKS
E044 From multiple realities to mental firewalls
I respond to two important listener comments on existence (W.S.) and artificial consciousness (C.M.), ending up with the speculation that the brain is actively preventing us from leaving the 'human subspace of consciousness'.
E043 On Existence
Motivated by a listener comment, I end up trying to define 'existence' from the standpoint of an idealist (naively, with a beginner's mind). Finally I talk about the incompleteness of science.
E042 Science in a mental universe
I first provide some background information for my new listeners and then (re-)consider the role of science under idealism. Finally, I start to think about the minimum required ingredients for a scientifically transparent idealist worldview. To be continued ...
E041 Selfs, Whirlpools and Predictive Brains
A Twitter user raised the topic of experiencing without experiencer. I approach the question first introspectively, then from the viewpoint of analytic idealism. This brings me to the predictive processing model and the notion of pure information.
E040 From Plato to silence
After a comment on the 'bit string universe', I speculate about a possible link between Platonic ideal forms and cosmic evolution, and then present highlights from podcast interviews with Elon Musk and Gordon Hempton.
E039 The bit-string universe
In this episode, I argue that some people misunderstand what is consciousness and what is physicality. I discuss the idea that the physical universe can be seen as pure evolving information, an abstract string of (q)bits, which our mind renders into structured experiences.
E038 From minimalism to self-extension
In this multi-topic episode, after some meta-talk about podcasting, I argue that minimalism will not work for everyone, that bodily health is not the only important goal in life, and that physicists and life scientists have a different notion of 'understanding a system'. Finally I present an idea from Michael Levin about the almost inevitable evolution of intelligence.
E037 Quantum nudging
I first talk about our difficulties as humans to update our beliefs properly. I then discuss possibilities how our seemingly deterministic universe could be manipulated from outside our known reality. I then relate this idea to the latest trends in the UFO community. Link to a thought provoking comment of Luis Elizondo. Link to the conference video of 'Our future in Space'.
E036 Checkmark Thinking
I first comment on a listener email and then talk about micro stress, caused by checkmark thinking and bad law making.
E035 Information hygiene (TR4)
[Topical Review, Part 4: Minimalism, Jazz and Good Life]. I talk about these three topics and finally explore an analogy between food and information.
E034 The price of a more open mind (TR3)
[Topical Review, Part 3: Buddhism] I start with my life-long interest in Buddhism and end up with sharing a recent dream.
E033 Meaning of Life (TR2)
[Topical Review, Part 2: Philosophy] I start with the question 'Is Idealism a functional worldview ?' and end with a speculation about the meaning of life (-: I start with the question 'Is Idealism a functional worldview' and end with a speculation about the meaning of life (-:
E032 The sound of a brain (TR1)
[Topical Review, Part 1: Science] I talk about my current research project, the life as a scientist, and about having fun with 'fringe science'. Also play the 'sound of a sleeping brain'. Mentioned: Michael Levin, Mike McCulloch, Paul LaViolette and Thomas Townsend Brown, Kaluza-Klein theory.
E031 Linking Physics to Consciousness
I talk about Stochastic Electrodynamics (SED), the Zero Point Field (ZPF), and the ideas of Joachim Keppler, who links these concepts from physics to consciousness.
E030 Non-zero priors
Get your weekly dose of idealism and open your mind for crazy stuff, too.
E029 Health and the health care system
Response to a listener comment.
E028 Is science compatible with idealism ?
After reporting a recent 'anxiety attack', I discuss the possibility that science might even work better under idealism.
E027 The beliefs of mainstream physicists
A long-time listener, A.T., asked for my opinion on a talk between John Horgan and Sabine Hossenfelder. This episode is (part 1 of) my reply.
E026 The unreasonable effectiveness of small molecules
Reply to listener comments; New evidence for the 'Desktop' and 'Software' metaphors of mind and body.
E025 A short sign of life
References to 'That UFO podcast', an interview of Luis Elizondo on the 'Theories of Everything' podcast, an interview of Kevin Knuth also on TOE, and an interview of Sarah Walker on the Lex Fridman podcast.
E024 Officially real weirdness
Updates on UFOs and consciousness, plus remarks on instrumental music.
E023 Clubhouse & UFOs
A rant on the Clubhouse app and my opinion on Unidentified Areal Phenomena.
E022 Working Errors
Private News (Covid progress, Sleep research, Lucid dreaming); The common ground of materialism/physicalism and idealism; Idealism and scientific knowledge; The gap in our worldview; Reference to Max Tegmark: The universe IS mathematics . Really ???; Becoming agnostic about the 'Matrix'; The arrogance of present science; The independence of technological success and correct understanding.
E021 Ways out of the well
Markov models of human behavior (Reference to video on computer composition); The strange persistence of the universe; Escaping the boring trap of materialism
E020 During Windows Updates and Father's day
On free will, consciousness beyond mere witnessing, and false scientific security.
E019 The 'Hans Berger' synchronicity
Random thoughts on the psyche, EEG, drugs, sounds, and useful plants.
E018 Quantum mechanics and decoherence
Why the measurement problem has still not been solved. Watch this excellent, simple video on Decoherence Theory.
E017 Stability of Matter
Video demonstration of Gradual Change Blindness
E016 Sunday
Good and bad tech, exploring local nature.
E015 Restarting
Some people mentioned: Michael Levin, Stephen Wolfram, Donald Hoffman, Tim Freke.
E014 Life as a graph
Getting rid not only of matter, but also of consciousness as a carrier or generator of experiences.
E013 The DBN dream world
E012 Intro to Idealism
Some personal news and a short introduction to the philosophy of Idealism. See also my essay and watch the following video segment from a talk of Rupert Spira.
E011 Back to the origin
Meditation and the deconstruction of our world model. Mindfulness versus Zen. Self inquiry as a guide to nonduality. [Reference to Rupert Spira and Adyashanti].