The My Ghost in the Machine podcast will be launched this week! 

The podcast is intend to explore such broad topics as metaphysics, existentialism, the world of psychedelics, abnormal perception, altered-states-of-consciousness, discoveries made in neuroscience, philosophy of mind, dreaming, transhumanism, hybrid-states-of-awareness, religion, morality, culture, and more. Topics are rigorously researched and contextualized in their broader historical and cultural setting in such a way as to make them accessible to anyone who is interested in the world of ideas. No prior scientific or philosophic training is required to engage with the content of this podcast. 

The first episode, entitled, On My Ghost in the Machine is intended to give the listener a general idea about what to expect from this podcast, as well as a bit of background knowledge regarding the origins of the name “My Ghost in the Machine”. The name is a play on Gilbert Ryle’s articulation of the “dogma of the ghost in the machine” and the name of Arthur Koestler’s book The Ghost in the Machine (1967). 

Ryle coined the phrase “the ghost in the machine” in his 1949 book Concept of the Mind. The phrase was an attempt to ridicule one of the core pillars of Cartesian philosophy, namely, dualism. Cartesian dualism was formulated by the French Philosopher Renée Descartes (1596-1650) in an attempt to reconcile the experience of individual consciousness in a fundamentally material (“clockwork”) universe. Descarte’s dualist philosophy divides the world into two substances, mind and matter. These two essences were posited to become imbricated (or combined) in the pineal gland. As such, Descartes envisioned the human soul as an “immaterial homunculus” that entered the body through the pineal gland and operated it through the metaphorical equivalent of “cranks”, “handles”, and “levers” —a bit like a crane operator would operate a crane. 

Strangely, Descartes reserved the existence of immaterial homunculi only to humans. In his view, all other forms of life were purely mechanistic systems. Animals, according to Descartes, do not feel pain or any other type of emotion. When a dog squeals, it squeals as a mere “reflex”. It does not experience pain or any other type of internal mental life because it lacks a “soul”. In fact, Descartes took great pride in performing regular vivisections on dogs and other animals to demonstrate his belief that animals do not feel pain. Moreover, he would regularly test just how committed his followers were to his philosophy based on the degree of cruelty they exhibited towards lab animals.

It should suffice to say that Cartesian dualism is both a logically incoherent and ethically dubious system of thought. First, it is unclear why Descartes argued that immaterial homunculi are exclusive to humans. Indeed, dogs, cats and most other animals also possess pineal glands. Second, it is unclear how two different essences (i.e., the material and immaterial) can interact and come together in the pineal gland. In fact, even traditional European religions had long posited that the physical and spiritual exist on the same plane (they were never dichotomized into different essences). Think about stories from antiquity where such otherworldly figures as gods, angels and demons are routinely depicted as engaging in no lesser physical activity than intercourse with humans (the rape of Leda, Europa, Danaë, by Zeus in Greek mythology or the rape of the “daughters of men” by the Nephilim in Genesis 6 are just two among many such examples that have made their way to us from antiquity). 

Cartesian dualism does not make sense outside of its historical context. Why would Descartes argue that the mind and body are two separate t...