In Episode 10 of Pineal Express, we spoke with Binghamton University Philosopher Eric Dietrich about consciousness, skeptic philosophy, and paradoxes. If you haven't already listened to it, we recommend you go back and listen to Episode 10 before listening to this one.

In this episode, we invited Eric Dietrich back to discuss his book Excellent Beauty: The Naturalness of Religion and the Unnaturalness of the World.

In the book, Dietrich argues that religious belief is widespread across the human species because it has an evolutionary origin. He also argues that religious belief is false and largely destructive in modern times. Dietrich suggests that people could satisfy their need for wonder and awe not through religion, but rather by embracing the beautifully perplexing scientific mysteries. Dietrich calls these mysteries "Excellent Beauties"; they include consciousness, infinity, true-contradictions, and quantum mechanics, among others.