What is a social norm? ... Why do norms like genital mutilation exist?  ... Ways to change norms (and ways to fail) ... Change we have seen: smoking, gay marriage, bullying ... Fear disrupts norms and helps people like Trump ... The internet as a tool against "pluralistic ignorance" ... Why the political establishment is in trouble ...

The bell-curve of awakening ... Being enlightened feels "meta-okay" ... The benefits of experiencing life impersonally ... Does enlightenment have to have a moral dimension? ... Awakening as growing up ... The lenses and filters through which we see life ...

What made Spinoza a heretic? ... Why Spinoza matters today ... Perspectives on the purpose, if any, of nature ... Religion: a source of morality, meaning, and fear ... Spinoza's mysticism—or lack thereof ... Parallels between Spinozan and Buddhist thought ...

Massimo’s new book on the nature of philosophy ... The distinctive way philosophy makes progress ... Are philosophers really more like artists? ... Has philosophy “gotten better”? ...

Karl Jaspers and the “Axial Age” theory of history ... The “world religions" paradigm ... Jack: The Axial Age theory has racist vibes ... Does it make sense to talk about “progress” in history? ... Jack avoids vapid moral relativism ... Does the Axial Age theory find unity where none exists? ...

Bob’s love for the supercosmic ... “Design” and “purpose”: Bob explains... ... …and Dan objects ... Is there a direction to natural selection? ... Nobody understands consciousness ... Is humanity making moral progress? ...

David’s recent research on "self-transcendent experiences" ... Causes and effects of self-transcendence ... Is the loss of self real? ... Evolutionary explanations of mystical states ... The neurology of meditation ... Revisiting the mind-body problem ...

Understanding Saddam Hussein ≠ sympathy for Saddam Hussein ... The ethics of punishing bad people ... Dan vs. evolutionary psychology ... Is religion really behind Sunni-Shia conflict? ... The good side of tribalism ... What does “mindfulness” actually mean? ...

Virginia's new book, Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art ... The seductive realism of our online lives ... The angry poetry of Twitter ... Lamenting the loss of analog communication ... Why Virginia was proclaimed #WorseThanISIS on Twitter ...

The Cliff Notes version of Bob's first four talks ... Must a spiritual worldview include a “higher purpose”? ... How non-zero-sum games shaped religion ... Is God like an electron? ... Everyone is deluded (but salvation is possible) ... An ancient theology compatible with a modern mindset ... Questions from the audience ...