Seeing Clearly

Watch the full episode now: https://cxgonzalez.substack.com/p/the-gulf-oasis-hypothesis-with-archeologist

When I wrote We Found Eden, arguing that we know the time and place that inspired the Garden of Eden myth, I didn’t anticipate such a positive reaction. I recieved an outpouring of support in the form of dozens of paid subscribers due to that article, so for that I am grateful.

But what the people who (understandably) didn’t click through the ~70 footnotes in that piece might not know is that a core backbone of that piece came from a 2010 paper New Light on Human Prehistory in the Arabo-Persian Gulf Oasis by Dr. Jeffrey Rose. Dr. Rose argues for the Gulf Oasis Hypothesis, the thesis that we have good reason to think that the Persian Gulf, during much of the Pleistocene, provided a much needed oasis for the hunter gatherers of the Arabian Peninsula. At this time sea levels were much lower, and the Gulf, which is today only covered by around 40m of water, was completely exposed. This paper was, in my estimation, a tour de force of evidence consolidation and extrapolation. It is for this reason that I flew from San Francisco to Faro, Portugal to speak to Dr. Rose directly to talk about the Gulf Oasis Hypothesis. This is that conversation.

If you want to go even deeper, consider reading Dr. Rose’s Book free book on the topic: An Introduction to Human Prehistory in Arabia: The Lost World of the Southern Crescent

Michael Edward Johnson is a co-founder of the Qualia Research Institute and an independent researcher in the fields of consciousness, neuroscience and philosophy. Michael is, in my view, one of the most under appreciated thinkers around, so it brings me great pleasure to present this survey of his ideas to you all.

We talk about mathematical theories of consciousness (dual-aspect monism), the symmetry theory of valence, panpsychism and super organism consciousness, vasocomputation, Buddhism, moral realism through valence realism, AI consciousness and AI alignment.

If you found this podcast valuable, consider becoming a patron. My patrons help keep this show sustainable and ensure I can keep bringing you the most interesting thinkers in the highest quality possible.

0:00 — Highlights

0:51 — Intro

2:30 — Are the big labs incentivized to play down consciousness?

7:09 — What is consciousness?

10:03 — Dual-aspect monism

18:14 — Symmetry theory of valence

24:00 — Wait so panpsychism?

30:18 — The binding problem

34:08 — Is a corporation conscious?

42:51 — Vasocomputation, embodied bayesian priors, and trauma

49:50 — The self

50:57 — Why do latches stay closed?

54:29 — Cancer

55:27 — “The hand of the mind is the vascular system”

56:52 — Vasocomp. and predictive processing

59:04 — Tanha

1:02:50 — The multiple paths to Vasocomp.

1:04:46 — What is Enlightenment?

1:10:54 — How to open latches

1:18:00 — Empirical validation?

1:18:57 — Moral realism grounding in valence

1:32:38 — Objections to valence utilitarianism

1:40:32 — Is AI conscious?

1:49:58 — Is AI consciousness good for alignment?

1:57:38 — Michael’s longterm vision

References

Qualia Research Institute:

https://qri.org/

Michael’s book Principia Qualia: https://opentheory.net/PrincipiaQualia.pdf

Integrated Information Theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_information_theory

Symmetry Theory of Valence: https://opentheory.net/2021/07/a-primer-on-the-symmetry-theory-of-valence/

Noether’s Theorem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noether’s_theorem

Romeo Stevens’ X: https://x.com/RomeoStevens76

Nick Cammarata’s X: https://x.com/nickcammarata

Michael (plus3happiness)’s X: https://x.com/Plus3Happiness

The Feeling of Value: Moral Realism Grounded in Phenomenal Consciousness: https://amzn.to/4qQTo88

Reasons and Persons: https://amzn.to/4haQUhy

Michael’s Socials

Michael’s Blog:

https://opentheory.net/

Michael Johnson’s X: https://x.com/johnsonmxe

A beautiful overview of Michael’s core ideas:

https://hyperspace.opentheory.net/

My Socials:

X: http://x.com/cxgonzalez/

Substack: https://substack.com/@cxgonzalez

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c.x.gonzalez/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cxgonzalez

Spotify:

Apple Podcasts:

In this episode of Seeing Clearly, MIRI President and co-author of If Everyone Builds It, Everyone Dies Nate Soares and I discuss existential risk from artificial super intelligence. We first run through the case for AI doom before I push back on some of his assumptions.

Nate Soares is the President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) and co-author (with Eliezer Yudkowsky) of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies

Order Nate’s Book: https://amzn.to/4wpQXve

0:00 — Highlights

0:40 — Is super intelligence inevitable?

2:07 — The default outcome

3:09 — AI Scepticism vs. Takeoff

11:01 — What might ASI want?

17:37 — Why would ASI kill us all?

18:20 — Would ASI change its own goals?

23:21 — Would ideal humans values converge?

24:53 — The fundamental assumption in Rationalism

35:47 — Does moral realism imply alignment?

56:42 — p(moral convergence)

1:00:35 — Will ASI be an optimizer?

1:04:13 — Emotionally dealing with potential apocalypse

In this episode of Seeing Clearly, professor Michael Huemer and I run through his argument for moral realism: the thesis that there are objective moral facts knowable via intuition. We cover every other metaethical theory and show why each of them fails and how moral realism responds to the most popular objections against the view. I did my best to pressure Professor Huemer by steel manning anti-realism every step of the way.

Link to buy Michael Huemer’s book Ethical Intuitionism: https://amzn.to/4wDCTOl

1:01 — What is metaethics?

2:52 — The 5 metaethical theories

10:58 — Why are philosophers, and not linguists, talking about semantics?

13:36 — Why non-cognitivism (emotivism, prescriptivism) is wrong

19:11 — Why quasi-realism is wrong

24:09 — Why naturalism is wrong

27:49 — The Open Question argument and can we just deny it?

29:34 — Is the is/ought gap real?

33:11 — If normative facts depend entirely on descriptive facts, are they really different?

37:16 — Why subjectivism is wrong

54:04 — The Principle of Phenomenal Conservatism

56:41 — Why nihilism is wrong

58:11 — Isn’t it more intuitive to be a nihilist given a modern scientific worldview?

1:10:09 — What if someone just doesn’t have realist intuitions?

1:18:44 — Does evolution debunk morality?

1:25:42 — How could we possibly know “non-natural” moral facts? Can meditation help?

1:36:25 — If you’re wrong about morality, does anything bad actually happen?

1:39:16 — What are moral statements true *about*?

1:46:19 — Does the Form of the Good = a value attractor state?

1:48:48 — Do souls exist?

Factory farming is humanity’s greatest sin. In this episode I speak with Itsi Weinstock, an animal welfare advocate at Senterra Funders. We talk about what’s really going on in factory farming, why it matters, and what you can do to help.

2:14 — Moral realism

4:41 — Itsi’s work

6:20 — Factory farming

12:07 — Value lock in from AGI

13:09 — How feasible is fighting economic forces?

14:18 — Legal challenges

15:14 — Moral progress

18:15 — The Christian argument for animal welfare

21:25 — Empathy isn’t what matters

22:57 — Strongest arguments against animal welfare

25:32 — What you can do to help

30:48 — Pascal Mugging by insects

33:32 — Recent wins for animal welfare

35:40 — Moonshots

39:05 — Working with the machine instead of against

40:58 — In 50 years, what went right/wrong?

43:29 — Call to action

Donate:

https://www.farmkind.giving/

Calculate cost to offset your diet: https://www.farmkind.giving/compassion-calculator

Want to help with your time or money? Get in contact with Itsi directly itsi (at) senterrafunders.org

Socials

Substack (long form philosophy + memes): https://substack.com/@cxgonzalezX: https://x.com/cxgonzalez/ Instagram (short form philosophy): https://www.instagram.com/c.x.gonzalez/TikTok (short form philosophy): https://www.tiktok.com/@cxgonzalez

Watch UNRAVELING THE DREAM:

Jake’s Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FrameProblems

Jake’s X: https://x.com/jakeorthwein

1:08 — Origin of the film

4:00 — Bayesian brain, predictive processing, free energy principle

13:53 — Direct experience vs. symbolic thinking

25:46 — Buddhism and identity

30:38 — Emptiness vs metaphysics

39:17 — Is suffering all that matters? Meaning and Buddhist utilitarianism

1:01:38 — Valence realism vs. emptiness. What could make moral facts true?

1:11:57 — Jung and predictive processing

1:20:54 — Moving from rationalism to post-rationalism

1:32:07 — The grammar of wisdom traditions

1:40:17 — Fractal hierarchies

Dr. Ogi Ogas is a mathematical neuroscientist and, in his own words, a prophet. This is our conversation on God and consciousness.

1:44 — Who or what is God?

17:06 — Mind vs. matter, purpose vs. physics

27:05 — What does God want?

29:15 — Darwinism applied to super organism

31:06 — Fractal reality, hyper minds 

36:40 — Moral intuition and psychological/spiritual development

48:56 — The ladder of purpose, utility function coupling through love

1:05:27 — The emergence of the first cities and the “I”

1:07:30 — What is consciousness?

1:16:49: — The hard problem of consciousness isn’t hard

1:36:46 — Purpose

In this episode we talk with Moral Law Within about God, secular morality, moral realism, reasons, intuitions, Kantian ethics, and more. Florence Bacus is a PhD student at Harvard studying Kantian ethics.

1:49 — God and religion

5:39 — What is truth?

8:15 — Morality without God

10:39 — Obligation

11:50 — Reasons

20:05 — Morality grounded in consciousness (Valence realism)

27:33 — Morality without God cont.

30:00 — Kantian ethics

36:44 — Why universalize?

42:18 — Kantian Contractualism

43:10 — 4 categories of moral theories

46:36 — Logic as bedrock

47:25 — Is everything intuition?

50:44 — What is philosophy?

52:53 — Are there objective moral facts?

56:29 — The Kantian argument for veganism

1:02:53 — Applying to grad school

Leona is a consciousness researcher, a practitioner of Non-Dual Shaiva Tantra and the Cofounder of The House of Hyperstition (hyperstitio.us).

This was an enlivening conversation that only got better as the time flew by. We cover several fascinating topics earmarked below. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did participating in it.

1:06 — Embodied decision making, non-doing

35:36 — Chakras

43:00 — Translating and communicating woo concepts

48:55 — Acting from your body, not your mind

51:40 — When is conceptual thought useful?

55:58 — Flow-maxxing as a meta-desire

1:08:27 — Creating a golden age, distributed cognition

1:14:45 — Preserving agency within a fractal super organism

1:17:35 — Psychological development

1:19:15 — What is Neo-Hermeticism? Why this podcast?

1:30:08 — House of Hyperstition, social roles, healing

1:41:25 — The Self (top-down vs. bottom up)

1:47:10 — Good vs. bad egregores

1:51:58 — What is God?

2:00:27 — Divine coordination

2:04:42 — Love is gravity

2:06:52 — Virtue ethics

Leona

Twitter: https://x.com/dismaien

House of Hyperstition: hyperstitio.us

Christian

Twitter: https://x.com/cxgonzalez

Substack: https://substack.com/@cxgonzalez

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cxgonzalez

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c.x.gonzalez/

Relevant links

Visualizing narratives:

https://www.community-archive.org

Neo-Hermeticism:

Meta-rationality:

https://metarationality.com

1:24 — Live music

3:33 — Predictive processing and normativity

17:41 — Identity

22:07 — Emotions as an error signal

24:40 — Is/ought gap

27:50 — Abstraction, conceptual scaffolding, pragmatism

31:47 — Morphic field, civilizational development

38:37 — Coordination as a coordination mechanism

43:14 — The Kingdom of God, moral convergence

45:06 — Superorganisms, coordination, and utility functions

47:21 — Bioelectricity as cellular intuition, morphic field

52:01 — Narratives, archetypes, the .story filetype

57:01 — Astrology and The Cycles, personality types

1:01:01 — Platonic Forms

1:02:17 — tpot, Community Archive

Xiq’s made some generational twitter threads that you have to check out, I’m going to share some of my favorites here:

Collective intelligence diagram:

Translating spiritual concepts into computer science language:

Predictive Processing and Jung:

My substack post on Virtue, Archetypes, and the Narrative Self:

https://substack.com/@cxgonzalez/p-159900848

Xiq (“Chic”):

X: https://x.com/exgenesis/highlights

Substack: https://substack.com/@xiqo

Community Archive:

https://www.community-archive.org

Christian Gonzalez:

X: https://x.com/cxgonzalez

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c.x.gonzalez

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cxgonzalez

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WorldviewUpdatesPod

Spotify:

Apple Podcasts: