#191 – Daniel Schmachtenberger: Steering Civilization Away from Self-Destruction

Daniel Schmachtenberger is a philosopher interested understanding the rise and fall of societies and individuals. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Ground News: ground.news/lex - NetSuite: netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour - Four Sigmatic: foursigmatic.com/lex and use code LexPod to get up to 60% off - Magic Spoon: magicspoon.com/lex and use code LEX to get $5 off - BetterHelp: betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off EPISODE LINKS: Daniel's Website: civilizationemerging.com/ The Consilience Project: consilienceproject.org/ PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (08:05) - Aliens and UFOs (26:50) - Collective intelligence of human civilization (34:46) - Consciousness (46:08) - How much computation does the human brain perform? (49:47) - Humans vs ants (57:04) - Humans are apex predators (1:04:08) - Girard's Mimetic Theory of Desire (1:24:05) - We can never completely understand reality (1:27:29) - Self-terminating systems (1:37:52) - Catastrophic risk (2:08:04) - Adding more love to the world (2:35:29) - How to build a better world (2:52:41) - Meaning of life (3:00:23) - Death (3:06:04) - The role of government in society (3:23:29) - Exponential growth of technology (4:09:10) - Lessons from my father (4:14:46) - Even suffering is filled with beauty