Is Reality an Illusion? | Dr. Donald Hoffman | EP 387

I loved listening to Dr. Hoffman, and I think this is one interview that Jordan should have listened more than spoke.

More than once in the past ideas such as those of Dr. Hoffman crossed my mind. I am a neurologist and psychiatrist. Although my background and my readings have been significant primers, I still felt slapped in the face by the powerful and concise presentation of Dr. Hoffman. Like he felt when becoming aware of the significance of his findings. I wouldn't be surprised if others watching him felt slapped in the face. I consider myself fortunate for watching this video.

You need to get Bernardo Kastrup on the podcast. He’s the leading idealist philosopher (also a computer scientist). You can discuss pretty much anything with him, but the major points of interest could be idealism, artificial intelligence, Carl Jung and Christianity.

I love a JP podcast where I only understand 0.1% of it because it shows me how much room there is to grow.

Donald Hoffman is phenomenal ❤

This conversation most definitely requires a part 2! You stopped at the very moment that it was getting most interesting!

Donald Hoffman is a very patient man.

Always fun to listen to Dr. Peterson interview himself.

I genuinely think Hoffman dropped the coldest statement I've ever heard in the closing segment, when he said that we are just multiple projections of the consciousness looking at each other I felt chills down my spine, something I've never felt before.

This is the sort of interview where Jordan's tendancy to interject really does the topic a disservice. I've seen many interviews with Donald Hoffman handled much better. He's really on the frontier and intersection of cognitive science, neuroscience, computer science, and philosophy, and Jordan ends up needlessly muddying the waters with his tangents and detours. I can tell Jordan meant well and was genuinely interested in his ideas, but if anyone is interested in understanding Hoffman's work (and the incredible implications that arise out of it), I'd recommend pretty much any other podcast he's done.

We need part 2 immediately. Thank you both, or to that which we are, for such a meeting of minds, & to the dedication of such endeavors.

Oh wow. After listening to more of this, I realise this is the thought I had when I was very small and young, like 4. I had these ideas. I was playing hide and go seek at night with a torch, but I was staring at the spotlight on the wall. I saw where the light was and where it wasn’t. When I moved the torch, I saw new terrain but lost the original position. I felt that the light represent things we learned and understood. The darkness around it represent that which we didn’t know. So I dreamed up an inifinitely large spotlight, but the problem was it had an infinitely expanding circumference of darkness to follow it. I realised that God or whatever this thing was I was thinking about represented the forever unknowable thing. The more you learn, the more you don’t know. That’s God. And we pursue the explanse of improvement or knowledge and it can go infinitely.

I've listened to pretty much every podcast you've done, Jordan, but this was the first one that broke my mind. Thank you so much. Wonderful, humbling, thought-provoking stuff.

Please continue these conversations!!!! I beg you! I find this to be one of the most enlightening and stimulating conversations I have had the great pleasure of sharing in. Thank you both with the most sincere of hearts.

I love conversations like this. Wandering through reality and attempting to make sense of it and pinpoint things. Even if it's futile, the journey is still so much fun.

Intellectual giants of our time. Thank you so much for your work and for showing it publicly. It is awe inspiring.

I'm 24 minutes in and the theories brought up are so complex and mind blowing I need a break to think about them before moving forward

For the first half of this conversation, it was interesting how Dr. Peterson and Dr. Hoffman were approaching the topic on different levels. Practical psychotherapy vs. computational psychology. Very challenging but enthralling.

One of the most fascinating interviews I’ve seen. Man, it might make believers out of some who stumbled across this dialogue. I’m so excited to see the continuation of this conversation about the topics Jordan proposed at the end. I’m into math and spiritual, too, so it’s so refreshing to hear scientists to talk about how science points in the direction of existence of One consciousness- it’s unbelievably exciting❤

I adored this talk.... Having been raised Catholic, hating the religious aspect, I couldn't wait to move out of my parents home & escape the religiosity of it. Interestingly, a profoundly powerful mystical experience happened to me a few years later and set me on a path of discovering the meaning of life. After myriad courses, studies, psychedelics, a particular interest in the Tao te Ching, and decades of meditation, I came to Dr. Hoffman's conclusion here intuitively. Bless you Jordan and Howard for furthering our exploration of these crucial issues, especially at this challenging time on Earth! :)