Psychologist Todd Rose debunks 8 myths so mainstream we all believe them.

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Can psychedelics solve the ‘hard problem’ of consciousness? Johns Hopkins professor Matthew Johnson explains.

Chapters for easier navigation:

0:00 Defining consciousness

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What do physicists actually mean when they talk about the Multiverse? Sean Carroll explains.

Chapters:

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**🌍 Feeling hopeless about climate change? You're not alone — but the data tells a more hopeful story.**

Oxford researcher Hannah Ritchie was once overwhelmed too. But by zooming out and studying centuries of progress, she discovered something remarkable: humanity *has* solved massive environmental problems before — and we can do it again.

She breaks climate change down into four critical battlegrounds: **energy, transport, food, and construction**. The good news? We already have the tools — solar and wind are now cheaper than coal, EVs are surpassing gas cars in sales, and we can cut land use and emissions by rethinking how we farm and eat. Even cement, a notoriously dirty material, is seeing exciting innovations.

But this isn't blind optimism. It's what she calls **"urgent optimism"** — knowing that change is possible, but only if we fight for it.

🔥 We’ve passed the tipping point on some trends — the rest is up to us.

👉 *Ready to see how technology, policy, and people power can rewrite our future?*

Timestamps:

0:00 - An ‘insurmountable’ problem?

1:10 - 4 key targets to solve climate change

04:27 - How we reduce our emissions

09:36 - Being an ‘urgent optimist’

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In today’s world, people are more open than ever to discuss their emotions, largely due to the growth in self-help literature and efforts to destigmatize therapy. However, this openness has also resulted in certain misconceptions about emotions, which neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett aims to clarify.

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Carrie Berk reveals how she transformed her struggle with anxiety and internet fame by changing her perception and finding her true voice as a writer.

Carrie Berk, author, journalist, and social media influencer with nearly 4 million TikTok followers, shares her journey through anxiety, internet fame, and personal growth.

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Sabine Hossenfelder investigates life's big questions through the lens of physics, particularly Einstein's theory of special relativity. She highlights the relativity of simultaneity, which states that the notion of "now" is subjective and dependent on the observer. This leads to the block universe concept, where past, present, and future all exist simultaneously, making the past just as real as the present.

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Could solar energy be the key to unlocking a future free from fossil fuels and extreme poverty? Casey Handmer, founder and CEO of Terraform Industries, believes so. His company is pioneering technology that could revolutionize how we produce and consume energy, potentially solving climate change and global energy inequality in one fell swoop.Terraform Industries is developing machines that create synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air. It sounds like science fiction, but the technology is rooted in simple chemistry and powered by the rapidly advancing field of solar energy.But Handmer's vision extends beyond just replacing fossil fuels. He sees solar energy as the catalyst for a new era of human progress. By providing cheap, abundant energy to every corner of the globe, we could potentially eliminate extreme poverty within our lifetimes. It's an ambitious goal, but one that Handmer believes we have a responsibility to pursue.

Chapters For Easier Understanding:0:00: Introduction1:20: The future of energy1:50: Solar vs. Nuclear2:45: Solar deployment3:23: Solar vs. Fossil fuels4:50: What is a fuel?6:52: The terraformer 7:49: Industrial Revolution

In this episode, Casey Handmer, CEO of Terraform Industries, discusses how solar energy has become drastically cheaper and predicts it will power 95% of humanity by 2042. He explains how his company is developing technology to create synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air, potentially replacing fossil fuels. Handmer emphasizes the rapid growth of solar, its economic advantages over nuclear, and the urgency of using this technology to combat climate change.

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🌍 **Mother Nature doesn’t care if we’re happy.**

Her only goal? Survival. She wired us to seek food, safety, and reproduction — not happiness.

In fact, 😟 **negative emotions serve a purpose**. Fear, anger, and sadness are evolutionary tools to keep us alert and responsive to threats. Mother Nature *needs* us to be uncomfortable sometimes.

But here's the twist: **Happiness is our responsibility.**

It's a human — maybe even divine — pursuit.

🧘‍♂️ Enter Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher. Contrary to the common image of indulgence, his idea of happiness was simple:

👉 **Eliminate suffering**.

By reducing sources of pain — toxic relationships, stressful habits, unnecessary friction — we can create space for peace. It's not about chasing pleasure, but avoiding harm. And that idea has echoed through history.

Today, we’re living in what some call an **“epicurean age.”**

We overprotect kids from pain, shield students from uncomfortable ideas, and try to bubble-wrap life. But here's the problem...

⚠️ **Avoiding suffering doesn’t eliminate unhappiness.**

It just weakens us. We still experience negative emotions — without the growth that comes from hardship.

🌓 As Carl Jung put it:

> “We only know what good is because we’ve seen bad.”

By avoiding discomfort, we also rob ourselves of contrast — the very thing that gives joy its meaning.

So ironically, in shielding ourselves from pain,

we may be shutting the door on bliss.

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**🌍 Humanity Stands at the Shore of a New Continent — AI. What Now?**

For 200,000 years, humans were the smartest beings on the planet.

But today, **AI is forcing us to question what it *really* means to live a human life**.

From **Copernicus** to **Darwin** to **Einstein**, science has repeatedly humbled us — displacing us from the center of the universe, showing us we are animals, and revealing that our intuition is flawed.

Now, in the **age of Turing**, it’s AI’s turn to push us toward philosophy again.

### 🤖 From Tool… to Architect?

For centuries, technology served *us*. It helped us *do* things — but it never told us *what to do*.

That’s changed.

Today, algorithms decide what you read, what you watch, and even how you think about right and wrong.

Tomorrow, **AI might diagnose disease, invent cures, and guide global decisions**.

But what if it doesn’t just assist us — what if it begins to **shape our very goals**?

### ⚖️ The Big Risks

1. **Convenience becomes dependency** — we outsource thinking, creativity, even values.

2. **Governance structures built to protect us** become the very systems that **control us**.

3. **Human freedom — our core superpower — slowly erodes**.

### 🧭 Three Steps Toward a Human-Centered Future

#### **Step 1: The North Star – Human Flourishing**

We must re-orient AI not around power or profit, but around helping each person **realize their potential**.

> Not to build gods. Not to build replacements.

> But to build *tools* for better lives.

#### **Step 2: The Compass – Principles for Progress**

A new AI philosophy must be built on three pillars:

- **Autonomy**: The freedom to think and act without manipulation.

- **Reason**: The ability to weigh ideas, debate, and discover truth.

- **Decentralization**: Power spread across many, not hoarded by a few.

These are the values that **preserve our humanity** in a world shaped by machines.

#### **Step 3: Navigate the New World – From Philosophy to Code**

Just like America’s founders built a **philosophy-to-law pipeline**, we need a **philosophy-to-code pipeline**.

Enter:

🧪 **The Human-Centered AI Lab at Oxford**

— the first lab dedicated to building open-source AI aligned with human flourishing.

### 🧠 The Future Needs a New Kind of Technologist

One who combines:

- **World-class AI skills**

- **And deep philosophical grounding**

These pioneers will prototype systems where **tech empowers humanity**, not erases it.

### 🚀 Final Thought

We are at a pivotal moment.

A once-in-a-civilization inflection point.

Like setting foot on a new world — with no map.

But with a **North Star to guide us**,

and a **Compass to keep us grounded**,

we can build a future where technology serves humanity — not the other way around.

> From Copernicus to Turing, it’s time to once again **find our place in the cosmos** —

> **not as obsolete beings**,

> but as stewards of the future.

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