#117 – Sheldon Solomon: Death and Meaning

Sheldon Solomon is a social psychologist, a philosopher, co-developer of Terror Management Theory, co-author of The Worm at the Core. Please support this channel by supporting our sponsors: - Blinkist: blinkist.com/lex – ExpressVPN at expressvpn.com/lexpod – Cash App: download app & use code "LexPodcast" Episode links: Sheldon's Website: skidmore.edu/psychology/faculty/solomon.php The Worm at the Core (book): amzn.to/31hQAXH Denial of Death (book): amzn.to/329Zxl4 If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to lexfridman.com/podcast or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon. Here's the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. OUTLINE: 00:00 - Introduction 05:34 - Role of death in life 22:57 - Jordan Peterson 53:02 - Humans are both selfish and cooperative 56:57 - Civilization collapse 1:10:07 - Meditating on your mortality 1:16:10 - Kierkegaard and Heidegger 1:33:25 - Elon Musk 1:36:56 - Thinking deeply about death 1:45:53 - Religion 1:56:59 - Consciousness 2:03:39 - Why is Ernest Becker not better known 2:07:09 - AI and mortality 2:21:07 - Academia should welcome renegade thinkers 2:36:33 - Book recommendations 2:43:23 - Advice for young people 2:48:17 - Meaning of life