Robert Wright's Nonzero

Why the neocons are so anti-Trump ... Trump versus the foreign policy establishment ... Is Trump's foreign policy Jacksonian ... Are neocons flocking to Hillary? ... Why it's hard to know where Hillary stands on foreign policy ... Are Americans isolationists at heart? ... How neocons paved the way for Trump ...

Why mysticism is not for everybody ... Language and the god-like powers it harbors ... How Kabbalah interprets biblical stories ... What is the Kabbalah that Madonna practices? ... Zohar, the Kabbalist commentary on the Torah ... The role of language in Jewish contemplative practices ...

The loving Us and the hateful Them ... Understanding a rival is easier when you're paid for it ... Why we misunderstand the motivations of others ... Why we're confused about our own minds ... Study: We tend to think immoral behavior is voluntary ... The psychology of victim blaming ...

The most intelligent life in outer space may be artificial ... Should we be worried about AI? ... Shopping for a scientific path to eternal life ... “Protomentality,” matter’s (hypothesized) latent sentience ... Would your self survive uploading to a computer? ... What if we never understand consciousness? ...

Introducing the Saunatarian movement ... Varieties of sauna ... Jack's conversion and the start of thermovangelism ... Spiritual aspects of sauna ... (Limited) data on health benefits ... Where do I sign up? ...

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 ...

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? ...