Terell Kirby

A few listed after contemplating (feel free to add others not mentioned): Reduced selfishness- reduced capacity to take one’s finite identity as true and valid. Reduction in survival drive for self preservation. Removal of many of the cognitive advantages of self bias as it relates to building material wealth. All things being equal-reduced capacity to lie, cheat or steal. Lower tolerance for living a life based in falsehoods and delusion. All the above affords you: blissful ignorance, unconscious survival- all of which can be looked at as making life easier in a sense if only one values the reduction of pain and suffering and increased pleasure (ie. Dopamine ) Easier access to procurement and satisfying of essential survival: food, shelter, sex, power, money. Larger emphasis on social status and approval/validation. Sense of belonging and community. These are at risk due to nonconformist nature of valuing truth and its incompatibility with groupthink and shared narratives (fantasies). Recognition that a good amount of human survival activity is rooted in the pursuit of social approval and belonging. If one no longer is driven by this (having achieved a certain level of autonomy) one’s life becomes quite solitary. This can turn negative if not properly framed. Reduced access to opportunities in areas of money, power, sex, fame & status- all of which are largely contingent on one’s social connections. Absence of belief systems, difficulty adopting beliefs. While it opens up one’s mind to explore unfamiliar terrain, new/novel ideas-it can make life tricky to navigate. Belief systems offer a ready made map of reality; this reduces cognitive load required for existential thinking, which in turns allows more bandwidth to securing one’s material position in the world. Having no map of reality means dealing with the burden of having to derive your own process of sense making; this introducing challenges with maintaining epistemic responsibility and intellectual integrity, while battling periods of existential crisis as it relates to sense making. Admitting wrongness- prioritizing seeing situations truthfully, resisting urges to blame/smear/demonize others while moving being rigorous about pointing out one’s own self deceptions and bias thinking

Hmm I could a case where God Realization is achieved, but without a proper epistemic foundation. Of course there probably is some overlap, but mystical experiences and Awakening to God can certainly happen while at the same time bypassing cognitive development.

@ExploringReality amazing, you’re an inspiration. Keep up the good work

Does that include robbing a bank?

Wonderful job at self reflection- that’s really all you can ask for. Overcoming selfishness & self-bias is a lifelong process-enjoy it while it lasts, and don’t be too hard on yourself.

Everybody (and everything) exists by virtue of your imagination .

To add, the sandwich also serves a specific survival function- i.e putting food in your belly so you don't starve to death. Conformity is profound in that it works to keep unconscious survival processes in place; contemplating the nature of sandwiches takes away time from eating them, making it less enticing to discover the truth about the sandwich

@Leo Gura thanks for putting us on to John Blow- he's a deep guy. I find the below interview interesting on AI Consciousness. Timestamp 4:37 --they can't help but chalk Consciousness up to some atomic process happening in the brain. They have a thoughtful perspective, but its corrupted because they misunderstand Consciousness. Of course AI can't achieve human consciousness, cause no human ever had it in the first place.

AI girlfriends makes it worse for women. Why should guys learn how to be attractive to girls when they can simply score with AI? AI girlfriends = reduction in need to build attraction skills = reduction of men who are attractive

When i first saw this episode posted, my first thought is that its a rehash of the same thing Leo has been teaching for years. As I listen to it a second time, this is probably one of the best episodes in recent months ... it hits different for some reason. Mastering epistemic responsibility is truly foundation ... there is no sovereignty of mind/intellect without it.

kinda hard when the topic of molestation is thrown in the mix

What is it that you feel misunderstood about?

Challenging conventional human notions of trauma and its significance is threatening to a lot of folks because their entire identity is attached to it. Clinging to one’s trauma provides a comforting narrative to why things are they way they are. But alas, Leo’s work is about deconstructing all finite identities we hold as true-including that of a human with a past that included traumatic events. Although trauma does have very real psychological and physiological effects, it is largely conceptual in the way the human mind holds it. If we rid of those concepts, what we have is nothing-which can be puzzling.

^ Would be a great bumper sticker

Absolute Ugliness