CM memes

I talk about the mind as a strange 'compass', leading our way towards unexpected (and perhaps trans-personal) goals.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ...

I tried to report and record what is going on in mind while doing my daily 20 minutes of 'free-style' meditation.

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.

In this improvised episode, I talk about the beauty and danger of reductionistic worldviews.

I struggle (again) with the Buddhist concept of emptiness and offer a (preliminary) interpretation from my naive perspective as a scientific idealist.

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.

I first talk about the vagueness of notions like matter and mind, then about perplexity as a desirable mind state.

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'. 

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.

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 ...

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.

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.

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.

I first comment on a listener email and then talk about micro stress, caused by checkmark thinking and bad law making.

[Topical Review, Part 4: Minimalism, Jazz and Good Life]. I talk about these three topics and finally explore an analogy between food and information.

[Topical Review, Part 3: Buddhism] I start with my life-long interest in Buddhism and end up with sharing a recent dream.

[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 (-:

[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.

Get your weekly dose of idealism and open your mind for crazy stuff, too.

Response to a listener comment.

After reporting a recent 'anxiety attack', I discuss the possibility that science might even work better under idealism.

Reply to listener comments; New evidence for the 'Desktop' and 'Software' metaphors of mind and body.

Updates on UFOs and consciousness, plus remarks on instrumental music.

A rant on the Clubhouse app and my opinion on Unidentified Areal Phenomena.

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.

On free will, consciousness beyond mere witnessing, and false scientific security.  

Random thoughts on the psyche, EEG, drugs, sounds, and useful plants.

Good and bad tech, exploring local nature.

Some people mentioned: Michael Levin, Stephen Wolfram, Donald Hoffman, Tim Freke.

Getting rid not only of matter, but also of consciousness as a carrier or generator of experiences.

Meditation and the deconstruction of our world model. Mindfulness versus Zen. Self inquiry as a guide to nonduality. [Reference to Rupert Spira and Adyashanti].