Evolve Faster with Scott Ely

At the height of his success, a controversial philosopher named Ian Ament reveals a dangerous plan to do a head transplant swap with his brother. Nobody knows why and both the scientific and medical communities at large are very concerned. In a tense live interview being viewed around the world with a potential surgeon, Ross Hunter, Ament methodically explains his reasoning. Yet his reasons only bring more questions. Is there something more behind Ament's plan? For the next 60 minutes of this interview, the historical arc of reason—and Ian’s head—are both on the chopping block as we wait to find out if the ax will fall. In this episode, we'll discover what do the theories of rationalism, empiricism and skepticism have to say about the way we gain new knowledge. Why do rationalism and empiricism seem to collide on how humans function? Would it work to instead just be a skeptic every time you face a new obstacle? Finally, is there a way to optimize your mindset and take the best out of every world?

Jonathan finds himself forced between two paths: a meaningful life filled with risky choices, or a safe life that might be filled with regret. If only there were a way to make everything simple, like an autopilot that steers the train towards an easy, happy and perfect finish line for you. But he has just half a day to find the solution to the issue we all face on a daily basis—What’s the right decision? 12 hours, millions of questions and seemingly no answers. So is there a auto-pilot, golden ticket to all of our life’s problems? Or are all the shortcuts just a one-way ticket towards mental suicide, as Robert Nozick, another famous philosopher, described it?

The first episode of the first season of the Evolve Faster Podcast Episode starts with the big question that’s always lurking in your head: “What Am I Supposed To Do?” And it’s not referring to your lunch plans. Instead, it’s asking what will you until the inevitable day comes when you’re 6 feet underground to make sure you live a satisfying life of meaning? And let’s assume there’s no lunch down there to worry about anyway. To get behind the curtain of Episode EF3, we’ll dissect the following submitted questions: The story behind why EF3 has a special place in my evolve faster heart. Do you think we have free will? Why the question “what am I supposed to do?” in the first episode? Why the train metaphor? How do you know the Sartre “how to live” quote isn’t actually his? Would you plug into the experience machine? Are you saying there can be no way heaven exists? Do you really hate the song “Dust in the Wind?” And more...

In this episode, we go behind the scenes where Scott Ely talks to Antonio Rozich — his creative collaborator and co-writer on most of the episodes — on how they met, what it takes to be a creative writer and other odd background stories from creating Season One of Evolve Faster Podcast. From joint eureka moments to pointless yet heated arguments over if a character should go left or right on a river fork, this interview dissects how creativity can sometimes be better as both a shared and an individual process.

Welcome to the first AMA Episode! Evolve Faster is my laboratory to write and think about ideas in an attempt to learn to be a better human…which can be surprisingly difficult! But with a series of minor mindset shifts, it doesn’t have to be so hard. I’ve been experimenting with these ideas on a daily basis for over a decade and did a TEDx talk about one narrow aspect of it in 2015. I’m sharing the platform in the hope that learning from my many mistakes might make someone else’s evolution go a little faster. The question I’d like you to ponder as we go through this episode is the same one I’ll be trying to figure out myself as we go through this particular AMA. And that is: What is the most important thing you’ve learned through all the key experiences of your life? And how often do you reflect on those lessons towards improving how you live? Even if you’re like me and don’t prefer revealing a lot about yourself, I do think this kind of self-reflective exercise is very important towards living an examined life.

The Evolve Faster Podcast with Scott Ely is a laboratory of practical philosophy and applied psychology delivered through speculative fiction. The 30-60 minute episodes experiment with the possibilities of changing human nature through the cautionary tales of where the world might be headed next. The goal is to push boundaries, explore challenging topics and guide listeners towards self-directed upgrades of mind, life, and soul. Samuel Butler wrote that “life is like playing violin in public and learning to play as you go.” But what if the ability to play brilliantly was within you all along? Assume you do have it within you and pose yourself this thought experiment: What if you could start over with a brain unhindered by evolutionary hangovers? A fresh life with no societal baggage and an aspirational soul with a complete focus towards finding meaning to your existence? In other words, what if that nagging question—what in the hell am I supposed to do?—was easy to answer? It is with this existential question, and this overarching thought experiment, where this podcast and platform finds its roots.

What is art? What is imagination? Facing serious amnesia, Eric Clemens with the help of Dr. Eden Harper tries to recollect his lost memories. Dr. Harper takes an unconventional road not only to help Eric track his past, but to create a foundation for his future as well. As they dig deeper and deeper, Eric has to face demons he didn’t even know existed. This episode of the Evolve Faster Podcast will investigate what art is and how do we perceive the concept of creating art. Through psychological theories ranging from William James to Carl Jung with a neuroscientific backup, the goal is to demystify the long-living mystery as it turns out--what art is and what we believe it to be are two entirely different ideas. Even more important, people who are capable to create art might not just be a chosen few. The Evolve Faster Podcast is written, performed and produced by Scott Ely. Please learn about ways you can support the podcast (register, share, review and subscribe) at https://evolvefaster.com/subscribe/

What is art? What is imagination? Facing serious amnesia, Eric Clemens with the help of Dr. Eden Harper tries to recollect his lost memories. Dr. Harper takes an unconventional road not only to help Eric track his past, but to create a foundation for his future as well. As they dig deeper and deeper, Eric has to face demons he didn’t even know existed. This episode of the Evolve Faster Podcast will investigate what art is and how do we perceive the concept of creating art. Through psychological theories ranging from William James to Carl Jung with a neuroscientific backup, the goal is to demystify the long-living mystery as it turns out--what art is and what we believe it to be are two entirely different ideas. Even more important, people who are capable to create art might not just be a chosen few. The Evolve Faster Podcast is written, performed and produced by Scott Ely. Please learn about ways you can support the podcast (register, share, review and subscribe) at https://evolvefaster.com/subscribe/

What defines us? Infuriated by the risk-averse approach of his company, Vihaan Raid decides to design his latest game on his own. A widely renowned game developer known to the gaming world as “Koji,” believes he can entirely change how humans see life with his radical new video game concept. He teams up with a respected psychologist to make sure his vision will manipulate the human psyche as he suspects it will—a critical factor to the game’s potential. As Koji slowly reveals secretive details of his mysterious concept, Isaac becomes more and more suspicious of the game’s true intentions. Fear is engrained in all of us, but as Erich Fromm described, there are two main types. First are sado-masochistic characters who kill the fear by being dependent on either controlling or being controlled. Second is the revolutionary character who embraces the fear of being a free human. Similarly, the famous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche thought there is little to no difference between success and failure when it comes to their functionality. The human mind is engraved with a false belief that success is heaven and failure is hell. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Sigmund Freud believed our unconscious thoughts and desires define us. So maybe, heaven is a place where the unconscious desires define us, but not control us and hell… well, just look at the commercials. The Evolve Faster Podcast is written, performed and produced by Scott Ely. Please learn about ways you can support the podcast (register, share, review and subscribe) at https://evolvefaster.com/subscribe/

What defines us? Infuriated by the risk-averse approach of his company, Vihaan Raid decides to design his latest game on his own. A widely renowned game developer known to the gaming world as “Koji,” believes he can entirely change how humans see life with his radical new video game concept. He teams up with a respected psychologist to make sure his vision will manipulate the human psyche as he suspects it will—a critical factor to the game’s potential. As Koji slowly reveals secretive details of his mysterious concept, Isaac becomes more and more suspicious of the game’s true intentions. Fear is engrained in all of us, but as Erich Fromm described, there are two main types. First are sado-masochistic characters who kill the fear by being dependent on either controlling or being controlled. Second is the revolutionary character who embraces the fear of being a free human. Similarly, the famous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche thought there is little to no difference between success and failure when it comes to their functionality. The human mind is engraved with a false belief that success is heaven and failure is hell. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Sigmund Freud believed our unconscious thoughts and desires define us. So maybe, heaven is a place where the unconscious desires define us, but not control us and hell… well, just look at the commercials. The Evolve Faster Podcast is written, performed and produced by Scott Ely. Please learn about ways you can support the podcast (register, share, review and subscribe) at https://evolvefaster.com/subscribe/

Can machines think, be creative or fall in love? Aldford Herbert, a famous science fiction writer, is on the brink of finishing his latest novel about a realistic, dark future of artificial intelligence. A stroke of luck provides him with an opportunity to talk to Cynthia Butler, the mastermind behind the world’s most bleeding edge AI company. Aldford sees this as the perfect opportunity to secretly learn how precise his fictional predictions might be. What he doesn't know is that Cynthia might just have a mysterious, and even more insidious agenda than his own. This episode of the Evolve Faster Podcast will investigate AI development from perspectives of deep learning to related neuroscience and several key technological advances in between. Technology and AI are rapidly evolving at a rate much faster than humanity ever planned. It's not about if AI will achieve consciousness, but when will we be at least fooled into thinking it has? But does the rapid development automatically mean the end of humankind as we know it? Or is there an alternative route where co-existence is a brighter version of life as it is today? The Evolve Faster Podcast is written, performed and produced by Scott Ely. Please learn about ways you can support the podcast (register, share, review and subscribe) at https://evolvefaster.com/subscribe/

Can machines think, be creative or fall in love? Aldford Herbert, a famous science fiction writer, is on the brink of finishing his latest novel about a realistic, dark future of artificial intelligence. A stroke of luck provides him with an opportunity to talk to Cynthia Butler, the mastermind behind the world’s most bleeding edge AI company. Aldford sees this as the perfect opportunity to secretly learn how precise his fictional predictions might be. What he doesn't know is that Cynthia might just have a mysterious, and even more insidious agenda than his own. This episode of the Evolve Faster Podcast will investigate AI development from perspectives of deep learning to related neuroscience and several key technological advances in between. Technology and AI are rapidly evolving at a rate much faster than humanity ever planned. It's not about if AI will achieve consciousness, but when will we be at least fooled into thinking it has? But does the rapid development automatically mean the end of humankind as we know it? Or is there an alternative route where co-existence is a brighter version of life as it is today? The Evolve Faster Podcast is written, performed and produced by Scott Ely. Please learn about ways you can support the podcast (register, share, review and subscribe) at https://evolvefaster.com/subscribe/

Does happiness define the good? Coming from a wealthy family, most others would only dream of the life Alex leads. Every moment is another silver platter where he is handed all the best education, can have his pick of expensive items and to experience seemingly infinite joys. Although grateful for everything, Alex can't shake the reality he isn't happy or fulfilled by any of this at all—nor could he really even define what happiness would look like for him. But why? What could possibly be missing when having everything you want? “It's not about the destination; it's about the journey.” This trite expression is one of the modern favorites in a bin of overused cliches we tell ourselves when we start to lack that next hit of happiness. But is it really trite or just misunderstood? Being a cliche doesn't necessarily make something wrong. Instead, that comes when we don’t actually change things in order to live by the message of such wise life lessons. From Ancient India and Greece to modern Western Culture, we can find countless theories on what happiness is and how to attain it. So why is our ability to attain it no better today—and, by some measures, on the decline—even after thousands of years of intellectual progress? The Evolve Faster Podcast is written, performed and produced by Scott Ely. Please learn about ways you can support the podcast (register, share, review and subscribe) at https://evolvefaster.com/subscribe/

Does happiness define the good? Coming from a wealthy family, most others would only dream of the life Alex leads. Every moment is another silver platter where he is handed all the best education, can have his pick of expensive items and to experience seemingly infinite joys. Although grateful for everything, Alex can't shake the reality he isn't happy or fulfilled by any of this at all—nor could he really even define what happiness would look like for him. But why? What could possibly be missing when having everything you want? “It's not about the destination; it's about the journey.” This trite expression is one of the modern favorites in a bin of overused cliches we tell ourselves when we start to lack that next hit of happiness. But is it really trite or just misunderstood? Being a cliche doesn't necessarily make something wrong. Instead, that comes when we don’t actually change things in order to live by the message of such wise life lessons. From Ancient India and Greece to modern Western Culture, we can find countless theories on what happiness is and how to attain it. So why is our ability to attain it no better today—and, by some measures, on the decline—even after thousands of years of intellectual progress? The Evolve Faster Podcast is written, performed and produced by Scott Ely. Please learn about ways you can support the podcast (register, share, review and subscribe) at https://evolvefaster.com/subscribe/

Can rationality and emotions coexist? Elliott made a terrible mistake that's been haunting him ever since. As if rafting through Class V rapids without a paddle, Elliott's sanity is inches away from crashing into sharp rocks of guilt, shame, and sadness. Where do we turn when it feels like our emotions have us hurtling out of control in dangerous waters? And is there any hope for recovery even once you’ve faced the reality of your situation head-on, in light of the power of these emotional currents? We all have emotions, but what are they and do we need them? David Hume felt we are nothing more than slaves to our passions. And maybe so! Countless theories like the Hurrah/Boo Theory show that we'll jump onto the emotional bandwagon of the masses almost instinctively. Why? To feel safe. But is there a way to break the secure chains of emotions? Is there a way to rationalize the irrational, reason the unreasonable and be ultimately be masters of our feelings? The Evolve Faster Podcast is written, performed and produced by Scott Ely. Please learn about ways you can support the podcast (register, share, review and subscribe) at https://evolvefaster.com/subscribe/