Donald Hoffman received a Ph.D. from MIT and is a Professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He is an author of over 120 scientific papers and three books, including The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes. He received a Distinguished Scientific Award of the American Psychological Association for early career research, the Rustum Roy Award of The Chopra Foundation, and the Troland Research Award of the US National Academy of Sciences. His writing has appeared in Scientific American, New Scientist, LA Review of Books, and Edge, and his work has been featured in Wired, Quanta, The Atlantic, Ars Technica, National Public Radio, Discover Magazine, and Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. He has a TED Talk titled “Do we see reality as it is?”
Website
Other book: Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See
Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.
Transcript of this interview.
Interview recorded May 9, 2020
Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.
YouTube Video Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump with Donald Hoffman
00:04:52 - Meditation as an Exploration
00:09:08 - The Process of Transformation and the Endless Exploration
00:13:08 - Safety First
00:17:22 - The Illusion of Space-Time
00:22:25 - The Limitations of Space-Time and Measurement
00:26:32 - The Observer and the Observed
00:31:40 - The Oneness of Ultimate Reality
00:36:35 - The Illusion of Objective Reality
00:41:47 - Humility and Precision in Science and Spirituality
00:46:03 - Challenging Dogmatism & the Split between Science and Spirituality
00:50:57 - Rethinking Reductionism and Fundamental Reality
00:55:56 - The Role of Science and Reason in Spiritual Exploration
01:01:03 - The Humility of Scientific Spirituality
01:05:36 - Godel's Candy Store Theory of Consciousness
01:10:03 - The Dynamics of Consciousness
01:14:07 - The Nature of Scientific Progress
01:19:03 - The Science Game and Precision in Spiritual Experiences
01:23:23 - Exploring Consciousness beyond Space-Time
01:27:33 - The Fundamental Dynamical Principle of Consciousness
01:31:38 - The Fictions of Space-Time and Extraordinary Experiences
01:35:20 - Consciousness as Fundamental
01:39:32 - The Evidence for Consciousness as Fundamental
01:43:21 - The Dance Between Precision and No-Concepts
01:47:08 - The Importance of Avoiding Sloppy Thinking
01:51:20 - The Conscious Agent and Unity Consciousness
01:55:58 - The Nature of Consciousness and Emotions
02:00:16 - The Infinite Nature of Consciousness and Godel's Theorem
02:04:41 - Exploring Infinite Possibilities within the Source
02:08:20 - The Playfulness of Exploration
02:11:29 - Consciousness as Fundamental
