Donald Hoffman: Reality is an Illusion - How Evolution Hid the Truth | Lex Fridman Podcast #293

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:

EPISODE LINKS:
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PODCAST INFO:

OUTLINE:
0:00 - Introduction
1:12 - Case against reality
12:40 - Spacetime
37:04 - Reductionism
57:30 - Evolutionary game theory
1:25:53 - Consciousness
2:21:13 - Visualizing reality
2:33:48 - Immanuel Kant
2:36:30 - Ephemerality of life
2:44:56 - Simulation theory
2:50:37 - Difficult ideas
3:05:39 - Love
3:09:14 - Advice for young people
3:11:33 - Meaning of life

SOCIAL:

[lexfridman]

Here are the timestamps. Please check out our sponsors to support this podcast.
0:00 - Introduction & sponsor mentions:
1:12 - Case against reality
12:40 - Spacetime
37:04 - Reductionism
57:30 - Evolutionary game theory
1:25:53 - Consciousness
2:21:13 - Visualizing reality
2:33:48 - Immanuel Kant
2:36:30 - Ephemerality of life
2:44:56 - Simulation theory
2:50:37 - Difficult ideas
3:05:39 - Love
3:09:14 - Advice for young people
3:11:33 - Meaning of life

[vibrationalmodes]

I just want this video to go viral so I can finally talk about this with others without being perceived as possibly being literally insane at best… :(

[kromeknifemind]

Public school may have failed me but it certainly never stopped me from continuing my education on the things I was never taught. I am grateful to have lived during this time.

[cashglobe]

I left dozens of comments for you to please get this man on the show. My wishes have come true. Much appreciated, Lex. Looking forward to this one 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[LetsgoB]

I was going to buy his book but he said it’s not real.

[ObeyaCorpsArmory]

imagine being a character in a book trying to understand your way out of the book into the higher dimension. thats what hes talking about

[coisasnatv]

Bob Monroe with his "Hemi-Sync" in the 70's talk about the exact same thing, that reality in fact is an illusion, that there is something else. We are much more that we think we are.

[haleynunya]

I almost died when I was 29 . Twice within 3 weeks . I almost bled to death the first time and I wasn’t scared when I accepted that I was going to die . I was calm . The second time I had a pulmonary embolism which most likely was from the prior instance. Again I felt extremely peaceful and I have four kids . But I knew everyone was going to be alright without me . I felt they would hurt for awhile but they would live on until they too accepted their own deaths .. changed my life . I realized how much time I was wasting in the illusion of our reality . I am still in an illusion but my illusion consists of nature . I try to live everyday to the fullest and to experience as much as I can . We are only here for so long .

[_-_]

Indian scholars have been debating these philosophies for over 1400 years. What Hoffman describes as one consciousness is what Advaita Vedanta calls Brahman or Atman literally translated as soul. It’s not just limited to living beings. Aham Brahmasmi translates to I am the universe (all atoms, stars, galaxies, rocks, all of us people are really just an illusion, a projection of one “true” consciousness). We are all one.

[naadaguerra]

“So…. Are you ever worried about breaking your brain?” 😂😂 Lex Always asking the real questions we all want to know 😁

[benjamininkorea]

Between Robin Hanson's interview and this one, my brain has been battered into a quivering mess. I love it.

[NCRE]

The fact that lex can even keep up and challenge this man’s theories is why I’m such a big fan 🔥🤘

[mathquir]

For me reading Nietzsche was a relief. For some people it's an anxious moment to realize that life is just a preparation to death and, even there, isn't much. The experience to be happy with what we've done or will do experience is the thing... I mean just realizing that we don't matter, there's no attachment, just a big release, just the moment. For sure, being highly handicapped with chronic pain help to let it go until there's not much no more than myself trying to deal with it peacefully. That's my only life goal dealing with it with happiness and being into life's contemplation. Life is so beautiful in itself and we don'T dare to look at it. Nature ! So much precious to me to watch it. Learning ! Same. Endless moments of happiness. Sometime even just to examine pain and live it is joy.

[timemanagementisinvesting]

As a child I wondered if we all saw a color the same, I.e., “Red”, or if we saw the color uniquely but all associated the seeing with the word “Red”; therefore, we’re still able to communicate effectively.

[tamaspopovics]

1:13:28 "I think we have let go of the word obviously in this conversation" - I laughed up at that. I love your humour Lex.

[SpiderHacksaw]

I love Lex Fridman because he allows his guests to talk. He doesn't suck up the time with host bull and talking about himself and over complementing the guests, like all the other interviewer shows. Lex gets to the point and lets the guest get to the point. I wish more hosts would be like Lex. He keeps things simple and on point.

[asf]

My perception of reality after watching this video is that I am stupid.

[treeroot]

Started this several weeks ago and just came back to it yesterday. Maybe the most fascinating episode of any podcast ever. Thank you gentlemen!

[Kevin-kjth]

“You will find either madness or truth and you won’t know which is which” wow that sure is exact to my experiences

[JGjdg]

One of my very favorite Donald Hoffman interviews! I only wish I had friends to talk about this stuff with. 😞