Free Will, Consciousness, and the Nature of Reality | Lex Fridman Podcast #326
NEWS
A Mountain Is Only A Slow Wave
I wrote an introduction for Judith Stenneken’s new photography book A Mountain is Only a Slow Wave. Judith undertakes parallel investigations into time and consciousness through her photographic work, and I hope my piece on impermanence serves to enhance the power of her images. Click the link below to read a preview of the essay and learn more about Judith’s beautiful and interesting project.
Experiencing the Universe Unfold
I attempted another bite-sized post, this time on the twin illusions of self / conscious will:
Decision-making is a process in nature. And a beautiful one at that, in which the ever-changing dance of electrical firing in the brain is in constant dialog with the outside world and other beings…
The Strong Assumption
This post is a brief response to the claim that “we have evidence consciousness is brain-based.” The full case requires more text, but I made an attempt at a bite-sized version here:
Until we attain a significantly more advanced understanding of the brain, and of many other systems in nature for that matter, we’re forced to begin with one of two assumptions: either consciousness arises at some point in the physical world, or it is a fundamental part of the physical world (some, or all)…
Reflections On Impermanence
The more closely we observe the present moment, the more amorphous it becomes. It vanishes as we reach out to touch it, transforming into the next moment, and the next… When we look out at the ocean, we naturally perceive the waves while understanding (both intellectually and intuitively) that there is no real “thing” that is a wave. The concept is useful shorthand for a dynamic phenomenon that occurs in nature. So too with the human brain, which is an ever-changing symphony of electrical firing among billions of neurons…
Click here to continue reading my article in Nautilus Magazine, “What is Time?”