Daniel Schmachtenberger: Steering Civilization Away from Self-Destruction | Lex Fridman Podcast #191

Daniel Schmachtenberger is a philosopher and founding member of The Consilience Project. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Ground News: - NetSuite: to get free product tour - Four Sigmatic: and use code LexPod to get up to 60% off - Magic Spoon: and use code LEX to get $5 off - BetterHelp: to get 10% off EPISODE LINKS: Daniel’s Website: The Consilience Project: PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: Apple Podcasts: Spotify: RSS: Full episodes playlist: Clips playlist: OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 1:31 - Aliens and UFOs 20:15 - Collective intelligence of human civilization 28:12 - Consciousness 39:33 - How much computation does the human brain perform? 43:12 - Humans vs ants 50:30 - Humans are apex predators 57:34 - Girard’s Mimetic Theory of Desire 1:17:31 - We can never completely understand reality 1:20:54 - Self-terminating systems 1:31:18 - Catastrophic risk 2:01:30 - Adding more love to the world 2:28:55 - How to build a better world 2:46:07 - Meaning of life 2:53:49 - Death 2:59:29 - The role of government in society 3:16:54 - Exponential growth of technology 4:02:35 - Lessons from my father 4:08:11 - Even suffering is filled with beauty SOCIAL: - Twitter: - LinkedIn: - Facebook: - Instagram: - Medium: @lexfridman - Reddit: - Support on Patreon: