The Case Against Reality | Prof. Donald Hoffman on Conscious Agent Theory

27 thoughts on “The Case Against Reality | Prof. Donald Hoffman on Conscious Agent Theory”

1. 你未看此花时，此花与汝心同归于寂；你来看此花时，则此花颜色一时明白起来，便知此花不在你的心外。

2. There was no explanation of "nested conscious agents".

3. "We see a cat, we can't eat it…usually…"

4. Who am I

5. You're in your garage with a fern and a woman in headphones hanging out behind you. I don't get the choice of having that woman there. I keep looking at her behind you when you're talking wondering why the hell you had a woman sit behind you FOR HOURS. What is she doing? Is she bored? Does she have to sit there? Can she go to the bathroom?

6. I would like Katy Perry to interview Donald Hoffman hehehe

7. Ok rocks not being conscious, try this buy or find 7 different rocks, pick what you want like or just pick it up. Put in a bowl, once each day look at the rocks. Most find they may want to put a rock in their pockey.. or move it to outside the bowl elsewhere. This how people can "hear" what that rock wants. Think mountains are created from rock. I've never met a human who has not felt the awareness in the mountains .

8. Ok my theory us to liken the idea of God is a snowball, now, that makes all with any spark of divinity in it land, think mountains oceans, plants. Stones, animals and of course humans are all the snowflakes, that spark of possible divinity is the glue that holds it together – right in line with your fragment of truth about being one with all throughout time and space! So… God is a snowball, nade of individual unique flakes but all are one.

9. Richard Bach said clearly. "Argue for your limitations and you get to keep them. " From his book Illusions, where he talks about all things are molecules- who says water is not solid and the earth is not fluid? All us an illusion. Even ad an astrologer no, the moon isn't there unless we see it.

10. Here you go right where I am. AI. Vs our brains!!

11. Case dismissed for lack of evidence, dipshit!

12. Fascinating!!! Thank you for organizing such an Amazing discussion !
    …leaves one in wonder ..
    If we all operate with the headset ON, then it means that we also know how to take it OFF. Consciously!! Not by design of life end! And by doing that , we’ d receive the answers to all the big questions of humanity: what we are, why, life and death , etc…because we’d see beyond the interface?!??
    And then meditation could be the universal key for each and everyone ?! Since not all of us are blessed by the ‘spirit / gift of mathematics’.
    So then consciousness is like the ocean. …if we had the way, we’d be able to go all the way down or in??

13. This is excellent.

    The points around 15:35 when he is saying, so I need to be careful with Zubin (sorry if I've misspelt your name), will be crucial going into the future as we adapt to this new perspective of nature/human nature & consciousness. If you knowingly pain somebody (not physically), the key word here being *knowingly*, then you have behaved sociopathically in that you have manipulated consciousness knowingly for some reason within yourself (some reason one has been taught to believe).

    One can apply the same logic to psychopathy but all one has do do is add physical domination/violence into the mix. All of the traits are the same – the mechanisms are just far more overt. It actually implies the same mindset, but just that it is deeper within itself (usually… in that is has experienced more sensation to have accumulated its reason).

    But what about when people simply do not know any better? What about when that sociopathic or psychopathic pattern of behaviour is directed at the self (perhaps in the form of substance abuse or self harm – both of which are addictive behaviours).

14. We know the case against reality, it's called religious ignorance! Reality is what exists and consciousness is the illusion of self. Your automaton exists but, you only exist in the automaton's delusional processor.

15. Maybe the reason we could never understand or know consciousness is to protect our interface as you put it, why then would man want to interfere with such a truly marvellous construction, or even introduce AI to it, Mans interference always have dreadful outcomes

16. Halfway through this, you can clearly see that he's trying to smuggle the concept of a "god" into science.

17. "We have no clue how consciousness emerges from 3 pounds of wet goo" … shows your ignorance of what Hoffman is talking about. There is no "we" that can have a "clue" .. and "3 pounds of wet goo" is in itself a mental "representation" (of which you apparently claim to be conscious) so nothing can "emerge" from that into your conscience, since it is already and only a part of your conscious !!! … The idea of "finite" ressources I would say has to do with variations in entropy (or maybe it is two ways of saying the same thing) … Psychedelics ! … why would you want to mess with how your mind works best and drug it into something weird … and then claim that you have "peeked" into the "other side" … that is BS. The reason why I trust much of what Hoffman argues, is that he seems critical and sceptical of his own claims … and he claims he does NOT do drugs !

18. So as was stated in a comment earlier.. science has proven Hindu and Buddhist philosophies or maybe it hasn’t and it’s all up to us to decide 🤣

19. Sadguru explains much simper 😉

20. This stuff is intelligible. I heard Prof. Hoffman's voice on a podcast and just thought he was stilted, but seeing him speak in TED and now… he's totally human and also very well-reasoned. It's being careful not to delude himself and also to explain this stuff quite objectively. He's a engaging is crucial and highly-valuable work!!

21. And Hoffman/Buddha at the gas pump…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs1xv0ZEN-U

22. Also you don't know if truth seekers have value. If not fitness, they do have value! And are represented in our myth/subconscious as certain archetypes. Loved this talk. You both are quite brilliant. I am honestly impressed and proud of you!

23. I'm happy I woke up to this. Nice to see Z, did not know you had these curiosities! Right, people In their perceptions are mainly incorrect if you studied thoughts/judgements versus truth. The mind is messy, so many theories. And study on thoughts possibly having an external locus? Thoughts enter fractions of a second before neural response? If not external, from an unknown/unperceived locus that is part of us. Energy that's threaded into life but we are not yet aware of it, mythology and subconscious may point to some awareness of it!

24. I also see this… Hoffman and Diane Hamilton…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzQx7UEXJ3k

25. Both of these men should watch the documentary movie "Superhuman" where everyday people are interacting with the electrical fields, blindfolded. Where proof of the scope of the power of consciousness is clearly demonstrated in scientific experiments. Also when they say there isn't a unified theory of physics they need to read the peer reviewed papers of Nassim Haramein and the Resonance Science Foundation where they will find the proofs of unification, resolution of dark matter, and answers to the "hard problem" and a whole lot more.

26. the moral animal (book title) by robert wright has fascinating real life examples (using scientific method) of all this theory of how 'we don't see reality, but see what helps us survive…' , fascinating, how our DNA appears to us now to be real decision maker, that is, code decides for us. the examples are laid out so clearly in wright's book, that it's a good prerequisite to reading Hoffman. imho 😀

27. Big Hoffman fan… I like this!

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