Radically Human

A Matter of Consciousness

(00:00) Intro and T-shirts: Ghostbusters and Picard

(02:57) Joe discusses his article "Beneath the Skin of Capitalism."

(6:00) The nature of consciousness, matter, and dualism have profound implications for ethics, human rights, and how society should be organized.

(09:01) Dualism vs. materialism / physicalism. Time, space, entropy and the second law of thermodynamics. Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes.

(34:40) The brain as a receiving station. The Matrix. The simulation hypothesis.

(48:49) The materialistic view of consciousness. The hard problem of consciousness, and qualia. Philosophical zombies, and the homunculus. Why does the experience of having a brain feel like something?

(58:58) If consciousness is material, then we are nature and nature is us. The implied hierarchy of dualism, that mind and spirit are greater than the body.

(01:02:40) Ethical implications of machine consciousness. How reflecting on conscious machines will help us better understand what it means to be human.

(01:06:00) Panpsychism: Could consciousness be an elemental force like gravity?

(01:10:57) Consciousness monism, Biocentrism, and the Buddhist "ground of being."

(01:34:18) Summation and outro.

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Beneath the Skin of Capitalism, by Joe Occhipinti

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Radio Wave Argument, by Sean Prophet

The Singularity is Near, by Ray Kurzweil

How to Create a Mind, by Ray Kurzweil

The Emotion Machine, by Marvin Minsky

Consciousness Explained, by Daniel Dennett

The idea that everything from spoons to stones is conscious is gaining academic credibility, by Olivia Goldhill

The strange link between the human mind and quantum physics, by Phillip Ball

Biocentrism, by Robert Lanza

Buddhist Mind and Matter, by Francisca Cho

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(00:00) Intro

(01:40) Just For Today: Christophe previews his latest post on the Radical Secular Blog related to the trial of murderer, Derek Chauvin. Christophe, Sean, and Joe discuss.

(05:08) T-shirts! Monty Python, The Earth, and the IDIC.

(07:16) Herd Immunity: Christophe, Sean, and Joe discuss the current state of the World’s ongoing fight against the Covid-19 pandemic including the elusiveness of “herd immunity.”

(19:56) Liz Cheney: Christophe, Sean, and Joe discuss the future of the Republican party in the United States through the lens of the imminent ouster of GOP Congressional leader, Liz Cheney (R) of Wyoming.

(24:34) Stipulations: At the outset of their conversation about Meditation, Christophe, Sean, and Joe establish that proselytization and evangelism are activities that they reject. They also agree that there’s a functional difference between individuals’ meditation practices and the problem of meditation pop culture and the meditation industry. 

(26:04) Defining Meditation: Christophe, Sean, and Joe attempt to pin down the elusive definition of meditation, and in the process evaluate whether meditation is valuable or useful.

(49:44) Sam Harris and Gurus: Christophe, Sean, and Joe discuss the collapse of Sam Harris’s legitimacy as an advocate for secular values. The conversation includes analysis of an article by Mathew Remski of the Conspirituality Podcast as well as comments on so-called “gurus,” and so-called “enlightenment.” 

(01:12:10) Wrap-up and Outro.

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Show notes:

Just For Today, by Christophe Difo

Sam Harris Is Right About Things Because He Likes to Meditate, by Matthew Remski

The Conspirituality Podcast 

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Roundtable

(00:00) Intro and t-shirts. Black Alert, Mirror-universe Spock, and Bad Religion.

(03:37) Joe Biden's address to the joint session of Congress. The terrible republican response to pro-American policies. Fear and obstructionism. The strength of Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris. Two women sitting on the dais behind the President. The power of imagery, generally. The importance of recognizing privilege and our place in the hierarchy.

(11:13) Recognizing the specific oppression involved in maintaining the hierarchy. Taking a hard look at the role of the US in global oppression. The history of America's national parks, which were born out of war crimes against Native Americans. "God-given" land. No reconciliation without recognition.

(15:46) Replacement theory and "Fuckkker Carlson." We've gone from "I have the freedom not to comply" with mask mandates or vaccinations, to "I want to stop YOU from compliance." Escalation of the dosage of right-wing outrage.

(22:42) The discrepancy between how President Obama and President Biden are being treated by Republicans. It's possible that Biden's progressive policies are actually more popular with some Republicans. Biden's 30-plus-year tenure in Congress may be a factor.

(25:39) Senator Tim Scott. What explains his statements and behavior? Disparities in outcomes tell the true tale of race in America. They "system" vs. "person" view of racial differences. "Culture," IQ, aptitude become scapegoats. Many republicans not only deny systemic racism against people of color, but they believe America is systemically racist against white people.

(31:00) Kamala Harris, President Obama and the tactics of black leaders and how they confront systemic racism. How did Tim Scott get to be the way he is?

(34:48) Menthol cigarettes, race, paternalism, and prohibition.

(41:30) Outro

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Die by the Sword: Violence and the Arms Trade

(00:00) Intro and T-shirts

(04:58) The News: Christophe, Sean, and Joe react to the Derek Chauvin verdict.

(08:11) Joe Occhipinti summarizes his new article on The Radical Secular blog, "The Politics of Reflection."

(12:18) How we react to a victory in the social justice fight, remaining committed to long term goals, while taking the emotional space to celebrate.

(17:15)The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

(21:49) The tragic shooting of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio.

(29:18) The global arms trade: The world spends about $3 trillion dollars per year on armaments. A lot of those arms are domestically manufactured by the world’s military powers. The arms trade refers to governments and their respective arms manufacturers selling weapons to other nations and factions. And the current number comes to about $200 billion per year for all nations. During the period from 2007 to 2017, the US share of arms transfers made up 79.5% of the world’s total.

(36:52) The connection between US arms shipments, terror, war crimes and atrocities. Saudi Arabia and the war in Yemen.

(46:28) Historical malfeasance: American arms sales to the Confederate Army before and during the Civil War. American financial aid helped created the conditions for the Bolshevik Revolution.

(52:15) Treason by American corporations during World War 2, IBM and the Holocaust, GM and Ford built vehicles and weapons for the Nazis.

(01:01:56) Deep Space Nine episode "Business as Usual" explores the arms trade.

(01:06:06) The chickens of America's arms trade have come home to roost. US gun violence since 1968 has killed more people than died in all of America's wars, since the nation's founding--1.65 million. Small arms sales and the political takeover of the Republican Party by arms merchants within the United States facilitates mass shootings and the second Civil War.

(01:15:10) The impact of mass shootings on the psychology of children.

(01:20:14) Summary & Outro

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Show notes:

The Hobbesian Trap

The Politics of Reflection by Joe Occhipinti

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

Police shooting of Ma'Khia Bryant

Global arms trade is...nearly 200 billion...the US drives nearly 80% of it

Ending world hunger by 2030 would cost $330bn, study finds

American Weapons in the Wrong Hands

America’s Civil War: Arming the South With Guns From the North

U.S. 'AID' TO THE BOLSHEVIKS

IBM and the Holocaust

Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration

Business as Usual (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

How bad is US gun violence? These charts show the scale of the problem

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State of the Union: with Jonathan Zucker

(00:00) Intro

(01:12) Privilege: Sean previews his newest article on the Radical Secular blog. Christophe and Sean discuss.

(04:25) Democracy Engine: Jonathan Zucker describes his background and experience, including the innovative work his organization, Democracy Engine, is doing around fundraising.

(26:38) State of the Union: Jonathan provides expert analysis of America’s current political moment. The discussion includes the reasons for Biden’s positive approval rating as well as the historical, current, and future demographic trends shaping American politics.

(59:54) Amazon and the Labor Movement: Jonathan weighs in on the failed attempt at unionization at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama and the prospects for a rejuvenated American labor movement. The conversation necessarily includes the Pro Act, the filibuster, and Senator Joe Manchin.

(01:08:45) Supreme Court: Jonathan explains the harsh realities of the current Supreme Court and the state of the federal judiciary. The conversation includes the Court’s radical redefinition of “religious liberty” particularly in the context of the Court’s ruling in Tandon v. Newsom.

(01:24:16) Outro

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Show notes:

Privilege, by Sean Prophet

Democracy Engine: Jonathan Zucker’s Non-Profit Organization

The Amazon union vote is over. Here’s what happens now

The Supreme Court Broke Its Own Rules to Radically Redefine Religious Liberty

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Imagining A Thriving World - with Justine Burt

(00:00​) Intro

(​01:15) The News. The scramble to line up support for passing President Biden’s infrastructure bill. The perennial struggle to challenge the filibuster and GOP obstructionism. A note about multiple mass shootings this week, we seem to be returning to the sort of pre-pandemic old normal.

(08:02) Introducing The Great Pivot: Creating Meaningful Work to Build a Sustainable Future and a plug for using Star Trek as a model for the future.

(24:33) Putting into practice key technologies that would help lead us to a more human centered and sustainable world. The truth about recycling and a deeper look at the issues of meaningful work and sustainability. A closer look at circular economies, transportation and food systems.

(58:24) What does human flourishing really look like? What does it mean to thrive? What does it mean to have meaningful communities?

(01:17:29) A discussion of the politics of meaningful job and sustainability. Examining the Green New Deal and the Transitional Housing for Recovery in Viable Environments Demonstration Program Act, the Thrive act.

(01:40:37​) Wrap-up and outro.

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Show notes:

The Great Pivot by Justine Burt

Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart and William McDonough

The Upcycle by Michael Braungart and William McDonough

Natural Capitalism and Reinventing Fire, by Amory Lovins

The THRIVE ACT

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Black Atheist: Minority Within A Minority - with Drey Aaron

(00:00) Intro

(01:11) The Douchebag’s Razor: Sean previews his newest article on the Radical Secular Blog. Christophe and Sean discuss.

(07:29) Boulder Mass Shooting: The Radical Secular pays its respects to the victims of the latest mass shooting in Colorado. Christophe and Sean connect the scourge of gun violence in The United States with the GOP's lust for power and America’s long history of White supremacy.

(16:07) Jim Crow in Georgia: Christophe and Sean react to the blatant contempt for democracy expressed in Georgia’s newest voter suppression law, and they speculate as to whether it will move the needle in discussions about reforming the United States Senate’s filibuster rules.

(28:29) The Black Church: Drey Aaron joins Christophe and Sean to discuss atheism and religiosity in the African American community. Drey, Christophe, and Sean share their journeys from the religious environments of their youth and into the atheist worldview. They also discuss the outsized role the institution of the “Black Church” has played historically in the Black community, for good and for ill.

(01:08:59) Black Atheism: Among Americans who identify as atheist, 81% are white, while only 3% are Black. Drey, Christophe, and Sean speculate as to why that is. They discuss the tremendous social challenges that Black skeptics face in extricating themselves from the Church. They also address the growing problem of White racism within the atheist movement, and the extent to which bigotry, paired with a lack of community, tends to dissuade Black folks from joining the atheist movement.

(01:33:52) Outro

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Show notes:

The Douchebag's Razor

Georgia Has Enacted Sweeping Changes to Its Voting Law. Here's Why Voting Rights Advocates Are Worried

What to Know About the Colorado Grocery Store Shooting

To Understand America, You Need to Understand the Black Church

Contradiction: A Question of Faith - A film by Jeremiah Camara

What It’s Like to Be Black and Atheist

The Amazing Atheist’s Racism

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Making A Christian Murderer

(0:00) Intro and T-shirts

(4:27) Dumbing our writing down to avoid Facebook bans. Focusing on The Radical Secular Blog.

(8:33) The Atlanta Spa murders. "A really bad day." The attempt to humanize the white killer by deflecting from his crime, his racism, his religion, and his sexual pathology. The stereotyping and fetishization of Asians.

(18:01) White Christian Nationalism and Purity Culture. Not just sexual purity, but also racial and ethnic purity. The lame excuses coming from the killer's conservative, segregated church. Failure to connect religious ideas to their consequences.

(25:00) Patriarchal religion's projection of sexual "sin" and "temptation" onto women. "Dress codes" and modesty garments. The lack of moral development among fanatical followers of Christianity, not in spite of the religion, but because of it. Religion's use of sexual guilt to keep both men and women mentally enslaved to the church.

(42:00) Theocracy wrap-up. Republican opposition to the Violence Against Women Act. Bills in multiple states to exempt churches from state laws.

(54:26) The Vatican's latest condemnation of same-sex marriage.

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Show notes:

PURITY CULTURE IS ALSO ABOUT NATIONAL PURITY: ANTI-ASIAN HATE AND PURITY CULTURE [AUDIO]

DON’T DISCOUNT EVANGELICALISM AS A FACTOR IN RACIST MURDER OF ASIAN SPA WORKERS IN GEORGIA

Outrage as 172 Republicans vote to oppose Violence Against Women Act

Arkansas Legislature Passes Most Extreme and Deadly Denial of Healthcare Bill in U.S.

Multiple State Bills Would Grant Churches “Blanket Immunity” from All Wrongdoing

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Bloody Sunday for the People

Intro and t-shirts

Bloody Sunday: The Radical Secular pays its respects to the memory of the Bloody Sunday assault. Christophe reads a stirring description of that moment in the civil right struggle that mobilized Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Christophe, Sean, and Joe draw comparisons between the George Floyd demonstrations and Bloody Sunday.

Black Reconstruction in America: Christophe describes the life and legacy of W. E. B. Dubois, including his seminal work: Black Reconstruction in America. Christophe, Sean, and Joe describe their evolution on issues of race, gender equality, and LGBTQIA rights. They draw comparisons between the “White Worker” Dubois describes in his book to rank-and-file members of the modern GOP. They also comment on the striking similarities between voter suppression techniques employed by conservatives during the Reconstruction era and those being proposed and employed by modern conservatives in 2021.

The For The People Act: Christophe describes the content of the For The People Act. Sean and Joe join Christophe to discuss the importance of the Act, and the feasibility of enacting it.

Outro

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Show notes:

Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880, by W.E.B. DuBois

How Selma's 'Bloody Sunday' Became a Turning Point in the Civil Rights Movement

Voting Laws Roundup: February 2021

Blogging DuBois’ Black Reconstruction “The Black Worker” and “The White Worker.”

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The Execution Hypothesis

(00:00) Intro and T-Shirts

(05:31) News wrap-up: Covid vaccines, states prematurely lifting their Covid restrictions, and of course “cancel culture,” Governor Cuomo, QAnon, Trump’s worsening fortunes, and the SpaceX Starship!

(48:47) The Execution Hypothesis, is the hypothesis that homo sapiens went through a process of self-domestication by killing the most violent troublemakers in our species. Over many thousands of generations, we humans reduced our capacity for reactive aggression.

Today’s show is a part of our continuing coverage on The Radical Secular Podcast which began with episodes 29 and 31. Our discussion is based on Richard Wrangham’s book The Goodness Paradox. Today we’ll cover chapters 5, 6, and 7.

This isn’t just another anthropological digression. Everything we’re going to talk about today connects directly to our cultural disagreements, who’s entitled to what share of our common resources, the entire divide between democrats and republicans.

We’re going to revisit our central civilizational conflict, between the strict father / punishing / scarcity mentality more closely related to Chimpanzees, and the nurturing mother / cooperative / sharing type of society exemplified by Bonobos. This couldn’t be more relevant to America’s political divide, which really isn’t a divide at all. It’s more of a death struggle between a culture of cooperation and human rights vs. a culture of oppression. And it’s a very very old struggle, as we’ll find out. Our history’s brutal, but we wouldn’t be here without it.

(01:21:22) Outro

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Show Notes:

The Goodness Paradox: By Richard Wrangham

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