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L.A. Paul — On Becoming a Vampire, Whether or Not to Have Kids, Getting Incredible Mentorship for $250, Transformative Experiences, and More (#796)
Illustration via 99designs
“You can read all the theory in the world, but when you experience it, it gives you a different way of understanding. And that’s what I’m saying. Just like seeing red for the first time. You can hear all about red, but when you see it, you’re like, whoa, wait, there’s something there that’s more. The theory, the words aren’t sufficient to express all of the content.”
— L.A. Paul
L.A. Paul (lapaul.org) is the Millstone Family Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Cognitive Science at Yale University, where she leads the Self and Society Initiative for the Wu Tsai Institute. Her research explores questions about the nature of the self and decision-making and the metaphysics and cognitive science of time, cause, and experience.
She is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Humanities Center, and the Australian National University. She is the author of Transformative Experience and coauthor of Causation: A User’s Guide, which was awarded the American Philosophical Association Sanders Book Prize. Her work on transformative experience has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, NPR, and the BBC, among others. And in 2024, she was profiled by The New Yorker.
She is currently working on a book, under contract with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, about self-construction, transformative experience, humility, and fear of mental corruption.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform. The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
This episode is brought to you by MUD\WTR energy-boosting coffee alternative—without the jitters; Eight Sleep’s Pod 4 Ultra sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating; and LinkedIn Ads, the go-to tool for B2B marketers and advertisers who want to drive brand awareness and generate leads.
Listen onApple Podcasts
Listen onSpotify
Listen onOvercast
#796: L.A. Paul — On Becoming a Vampire, Whether or Not to Have Kids, Getting Incredible Mentorship for $250, Transformative Experiences, and More (#796)<iframe src="https://www.art19.com/shows/58dacbdc-646e-4585-9914-19c3de11d1ba/episodes/e6b8e87f-8823-4d6f-8b6e-4e8f8955cb59/embed?type=micro" style="width: 100%; height: 30px; border: 0 none;" scrolling="no"></iframe>
This episode is brought to you by MUD\WTR! With only a fraction of the caffeine found in a cup of coffee, MUD\WTR gives me all the energy I need without the jitters or crash. Their original blend contains four different mushrooms: lion’s mane for focus, cordyceps to promote energy, and both chaga and reishi to support a healthy immune system. And it’s delicious—like cacao and chai had a beautiful child. I drink MUD\WTR in the morning, and I’ll also sometimes add milk and ice for a 2 p.m. iced latte pick-me-up. I also love that they make monthly donations to support psychedelic therapeutics and research, including organizations such as the Heroic Hearts Project and The UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP).
Now you can get 15% off plus a free rechargeable frother and free shipping by going to mudwtr.com/Tim. Enjoy MUD\WTR and get a better morning routine.
This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep. Temperature is one of the main causes of poor sleep, and heat is my personal nemesis. I’ve suffered for decades, tossing and turning, throwing blankets off, pulling them back on, and repeating ad nauseam. But a few years ago, I started using the Pod Cover, and it has transformed my sleep. Eight Sleep has launched their newest generation of the Pod: Pod 4 Ultra. It cools, it heats, and now it elevates, automatically. With the best temperature performance to date, Pod 4 Ultra ensures you and your partner stay cool in the heat and cozy warm in the cold. Plus, it automatically tracks your sleep time, snoring, sleep stages, and HRV, all with high precision. For example, their heart rate tracking is at an incredible 99% accuracy.
Pod 4 Ultra also introduces an adjustable Base that fits between your mattress and your bed frame to add custom positions for the best sleeping experience. Plus, it automatically reduces your snoring when detected. Add it easily to any bed.
And now, listeners of The Tim Ferriss Show can get $350 off of the Pod 4 Ultra for a limited time! Click here to claim this deal and unlock your full potential through optimal sleep.
This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Ads, the go-to tool for B2B marketers and advertisers who want to drive brand awareness, generate leads, or build long-term relationships that result in real business impact.
With a community of more than 900 million professionals, LinkedIn is gigantic, but it can be hyper-specific. You have access to a diverse group of people all searching for things they need to grow professionally. LinkedIn has the marketing tools to help you target your customers with precision, right down to job title, company name, industry, etc. To redeem your free $100 LinkedIn ad credit and launch your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com/TFS!
Want to hear an episode with someone who applies philosophy to his daily life? Listen to my most recent conversation with Derek Sivers, in which we discussed Emirati coffee, cuddly rats, Brian Eno, John Cage, practical applications of simplicity, traveling to inhabit philosophies, and much more.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
Website
Concepts
Books and Recommended Reading
Movies
Institutions
People
Relevant Resources
SHOW NOTES
MORE L. A. PAUL QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW
“I care very much about the nature of how we live our lives, the kinds of struggles that individual people have. I’m fascinated by the fact that all of us have these internal worlds, and then there’s some way in which we all have these internal worlds, and then these internal worlds have to kind of coexist with the external world, and we have to try to make sense of everything and try to understand other people.”
— L. A. Paul
“Nobody ever argues someone into religious belief or losing it. It’s all about occupying a different conceptual space, and that just foundationally changes the way you understand the world.”
— L. A. Paul
“When we’re walking around being our skin-encapsulated ego, there’s a lot we take for granted.”
— L. A. Paul
“Using the examples of time travel, it can draw out first how we have to think about time in the ordinary sense, because we can contrast it to the possibility of time as having either another dimension or branching, or in some sense, us being able to move against the arrow of time from the past to the future.”
— L. A. Paul
“I think it’s super important to distinguish between our experience of time and time itself. … The easiest way to see the difference is [to] imagine you’re in a really boring lecture and you’re just sitting there like, ‘Oh, this is lasting forever.’ And you look at the clock and you realize you’re only 15 minutes in.”
— L. A. Paul
“You can read all the theory in the world, but when you experience it, it gives you a different way of understanding. And that’s what I’m saying. Just like seeing red for the first time. You can hear all about red, but when you see it you’re like, whoa, wait, there’s something there that’s more. The theory, the words aren’t sufficient to express all of the content.”
— L. A. Paul
The post L.A. Paul — On Becoming a Vampire, Whether or Not to Have Kids, Getting Incredible Mentorship for $250, Transformative Experiences, and More (#796) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.
View all episodes
Illustration via 99designs
“You can read all the theory in the world, but when you experience it, it gives you a different way of understanding. And that’s what I’m saying. Just like seeing red for the first time. You can hear all about red, but when you see it, you’re like, whoa, wait, there’s something there that’s more. The theory, the words aren’t sufficient to express all of the content.”
— L.A. Paul
L.A. Paul (lapaul.org) is the Millstone Family Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Cognitive Science at Yale University, where she leads the Self and Society Initiative for the Wu Tsai Institute. Her research explores questions about the nature of the self and decision-making and the metaphysics and cognitive science of time, cause, and experience.
She is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Humanities Center, and the Australian National University. She is the author of Transformative Experience and coauthor of Causation: A User’s Guide, which was awarded the American Philosophical Association Sanders Book Prize. Her work on transformative experience has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, NPR, and the BBC, among others. And in 2024, she was profiled by The New Yorker.
She is currently working on a book, under contract with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, about self-construction, transformative experience, humility, and fear of mental corruption.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform. The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
This episode is brought to you by MUD\WTR energy-boosting coffee alternative—without the jitters; Eight Sleep’s Pod 4 Ultra sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating; and LinkedIn Ads, the go-to tool for B2B marketers and advertisers who want to drive brand awareness and generate leads.
Listen onApple Podcasts
Listen onSpotify
Listen onOvercast
#796: L.A. Paul — On Becoming a Vampire, Whether or Not to Have Kids, Getting Incredible Mentorship for $250, Transformative Experiences, and More (#796)<iframe src="https://www.art19.com/shows/58dacbdc-646e-4585-9914-19c3de11d1ba/episodes/e6b8e87f-8823-4d6f-8b6e-4e8f8955cb59/embed?type=micro" style="width: 100%; height: 30px; border: 0 none;" scrolling="no"></iframe>
This episode is brought to you by MUD\WTR! With only a fraction of the caffeine found in a cup of coffee, MUD\WTR gives me all the energy I need without the jitters or crash. Their original blend contains four different mushrooms: lion’s mane for focus, cordyceps to promote energy, and both chaga and reishi to support a healthy immune system. And it’s delicious—like cacao and chai had a beautiful child. I drink MUD\WTR in the morning, and I’ll also sometimes add milk and ice for a 2 p.m. iced latte pick-me-up. I also love that they make monthly donations to support psychedelic therapeutics and research, including organizations such as the Heroic Hearts Project and The UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP).
Now you can get 15% off plus a free rechargeable frother and free shipping by going to mudwtr.com/Tim. Enjoy MUD\WTR and get a better morning routine.
This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep. Temperature is one of the main causes of poor sleep, and heat is my personal nemesis. I’ve suffered for decades, tossing and turning, throwing blankets off, pulling them back on, and repeating ad nauseam. But a few years ago, I started using the Pod Cover, and it has transformed my sleep. Eight Sleep has launched their newest generation of the Pod: Pod 4 Ultra. It cools, it heats, and now it elevates, automatically. With the best temperature performance to date, Pod 4 Ultra ensures you and your partner stay cool in the heat and cozy warm in the cold. Plus, it automatically tracks your sleep time, snoring, sleep stages, and HRV, all with high precision. For example, their heart rate tracking is at an incredible 99% accuracy.
Pod 4 Ultra also introduces an adjustable Base that fits between your mattress and your bed frame to add custom positions for the best sleeping experience. Plus, it automatically reduces your snoring when detected. Add it easily to any bed.
And now, listeners of The Tim Ferriss Show can get $350 off of the Pod 4 Ultra for a limited time! Click here to claim this deal and unlock your full potential through optimal sleep.
This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Ads, the go-to tool for B2B marketers and advertisers who want to drive brand awareness, generate leads, or build long-term relationships that result in real business impact.
With a community of more than 900 million professionals, LinkedIn is gigantic, but it can be hyper-specific. You have access to a diverse group of people all searching for things they need to grow professionally. LinkedIn has the marketing tools to help you target your customers with precision, right down to job title, company name, industry, etc. To redeem your free $100 LinkedIn ad credit and launch your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com/TFS!
Want to hear an episode with someone who applies philosophy to his daily life? Listen to my most recent conversation with Derek Sivers, in which we discussed Emirati coffee, cuddly rats, Brian Eno, John Cage, practical applications of simplicity, traveling to inhabit philosophies, and much more.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
Website
Concepts
Books and Recommended Reading
Movies
Institutions
People
Relevant Resources
SHOW NOTES
MORE L. A. PAUL QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW
“I care very much about the nature of how we live our lives, the kinds of struggles that individual people have. I’m fascinated by the fact that all of us have these internal worlds, and then there’s some way in which we all have these internal worlds, and then these internal worlds have to kind of coexist with the external world, and we have to try to make sense of everything and try to understand other people.”
— L. A. Paul
“Nobody ever argues someone into religious belief or losing it. It’s all about occupying a different conceptual space, and that just foundationally changes the way you understand the world.”
— L. A. Paul
“When we’re walking around being our skin-encapsulated ego, there’s a lot we take for granted.”
— L. A. Paul
“Using the examples of time travel, it can draw out first how we have to think about time in the ordinary sense, because we can contrast it to the possibility of time as having either another dimension or branching, or in some sense, us being able to move against the arrow of time from the past to the future.”
— L. A. Paul
“I think it’s super important to distinguish between our experience of time and time itself. … The easiest way to see the difference is [to] imagine you’re in a really boring lecture and you’re just sitting there like, ‘Oh, this is lasting forever.’ And you look at the clock and you realize you’re only 15 minutes in.”
— L. A. Paul
“You can read all the theory in the world, but when you experience it, it gives you a different way of understanding. And that’s what I’m saying. Just like seeing red for the first time. You can hear all about red, but when you see it you’re like, whoa, wait, there’s something there that’s more. The theory, the words aren’t sufficient to express all of the content.”
— L. A. Paul
The post L.A. Paul — On Becoming a Vampire, Whether or Not to Have Kids, Getting Incredible Mentorship for $250, Transformative Experiences, and More (#796) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.