Ancient Tradition and Advancement of Humanity

The speaker talks about how ancient traditions can help advance humanity and the planet as a whole. They suggest that investing in developing artificial intelligence should be balanced with investing in developing good qualities of our own minds like compassion.

Importance of Ancient Traditions

• Ancient traditions can help advance humanity and the planet as a whole.

• Investing in developing artificial intelligence should be balanced with investing in developing good qualities of our own minds like compassion.

Introduction to Endgame Episode 100 at Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2022

Gita Wirjawan, host of Endgame, introduces the 100th episode at Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2022. He is joined by Professor Yuval Noah Harari and Professor Mark Solms for a special conversation.

Introduction to Endgame Episode 100

• Gita Wirjawan introduces the 100th episode at Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2022.

• Professor Yuval Noah Harari and Professor Mark Solms join Gita Wirjawan for a special conversation.

Understanding How the Mind Works

Gita Wirjawan asks Professor Mark Solms to explain the difference between how the mind works and how the brain works.

Difference Between How Mind Works and Brain Works

• Gita Wirjawan asks Professor Mark Solms to explain the difference between how the mind works and how the brain works.

• The mind and the brain are actually the same thing looked at from two different points of view.

• The brain registers the state of the body and represents in some central way how we're doing in terms of all our basic physiological needs.

• The evolution of consciousness is when creatures with nervous systems became able to register conscious feelings.

Evolution of Mind and Brain

Gita Wirjawan asks Professor Mark Solms about how he thinks the mind would have evolved over time.

Evolution of Mind and Brain

• Gita Wirjawan asks Professor Mark Solms about how he thinks the mind would have evolved over time.

• The fundamental task of the brain is to register the state of the body, represent in some central way how we're doing in terms of all our basic physiological needs, and represent the outside world.

• The dawn of consciousness is when creatures with nervous systems became able to register conscious feelings like "I'm getting too hot" or "I'm running short on energy supplies".

• At the evolution of consciousness, creatures were able to know and feel how well they were doing in terms of meeting their organismic needs.

#s Conclusion

This transcript ends here.

Objective, Subjective and Intersubjective Entities

In this section, the speaker discusses the differences between objective, subjective, and intersubjective entities. He explains that viruses are objective entities that can kill you even if you don't believe in them. Pain and dreams are subjective entities that exist only in our minds. Humans have the ability to create new types of entities called intersubjective entities that exist between many minds.

Differences Between Objective, Subjective and Intersubjective Entities

• Viruses are objective entities that can kill you even if you don't believe in them.

• Pain and dreams are subjective entities that exist only in our minds.

• Humans have the ability to create new types of entities called intersubjective entities that exist between many minds.

Money as an Intersubjective Entity

In this section, the speaker discusses money as an example of an intersubjective entity. He explains that money is not a subjective thing like personal pain or dream but it's also not an objective entity like pieces of paper or coins of gold. Most money today is basically just information passed between people.

Money as an Example of Intersubjective Entity

• Money is not a subjective thing like personal pain or dream but it's also not an objective entity like pieces of paper or coins of gold.

• Most money today is basically just information passed between people.

• Together we imagine that this thing has value and as long as everybody believes the same story, it works.

The Evolutionary Process That Made Us Different from Animals

In this section, the speaker discusses how humans evolved to be different from animals. He explains that our ability to imagine and create fictional stories is what sets us apart from other animals. This ability was acquired through an evolutionary process around 70,000 years ago.

The Evolutionary Process That Made Us Different from Animals

• Our ability to imagine and create fictional stories is what sets us apart from other animals.

• Humans acquired this ability through an evolutionary process around 70,000 years ago.

• Since then, there has been relatively little further evolutionary change in our bodies and brains.

Shared Stories Enable Unlimited Cooperation

In this section, the speaker discusses how shared stories enable unlimited cooperation among humans. He explains that nations, gods, and money are extremely powerful things because they exist in our collective imagination. They enable unlimited numbers of strangers to cooperate with each other.

Shared Stories Enable Unlimited Cooperation

• Shared stories like nations, gods, and money are extremely powerful things because they exist in our collective imagination.

• Humans can cooperate in unlimited numbers because of their shared stories.

• Money is an example of a shared story that enables people on opposite sides of the world to cooperate with each other.

The Evolution of Human Intellect

In this section, Mark and Yuval discuss the evolution of human intellect and how it has given rise to abstract thinking, language, and communication. They also highlight the importance of understanding our animalistic tendencies that underpin our emotional life.

Prefrontal Cortex Connectivity

• Small adjustment in prefrontal cortex connectivity gave rise to abstract thinking

• Development of language is an entirely abstract symbolic system enabled by prefrontal cortex connectivity

Animalistic Tendencies

• Limbic and brainstem arousal systems underpin our emotional life

• Our intellectual capacities float on top of an ocean of animalistic tendencies

• Human rage hasn't evolved much in the last few thousand years

• Different types of aggression: hot aggression (rage), cold aggression (predatory), territorial aggression (dominance behavior)

Understanding Aggression

• Understanding different types of aggression can contribute to better control them

• Worst crimes in human history are rooted in imaginary stories rather than animalistic types of aggression

The Nature of Human Wars

In this section, Yuval Harari discusses how wars are not dictated by irresistible urges and that humans rarely fight about the same things as animals. He uses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an example to illustrate his point.

Humans Rarely Fight About Things They Need to Survive

• Animals fight over territory because they need it to survive.

• Humans almost never fight about things they really need to survive.

• In almost all cases, humans fight about imaginary stories in their minds.

• The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not really about territory but rather incompatible imaginary stories.

Lack of a Common Story Leads to Conflict

• Humans lack a common story that they can both agree on.

• There is enough land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River for Israelis and Palestinians to build houses, hospitals, and schools for everybody.

• What they lack is a story they can agree on.

Industrial Scale Wars Over Ideas

In this section, Yuval Harari talks about how Europeans fought each other despite ruling most of the world. He also discusses how finding a common story can lead to peace.

Europeans Fought Each Other Despite Having Enough Territory

• Europeans fought each other even though they ruled almost all of the world.

• They lacked a story they could agree on.

Finding a Common Story Can Lead to Peace

• The European Union has become extremely peaceful because the Dutch, Germans, and French found a common story they could agree on.

Consciousness and Imagining Ideas

In this section, Mark Solms talks about consciousness being engineerable and how it can be used for the better or worse. He also discusses our responsibility to find ways of managing with each other.

Consciousness is Engineerable

• Mark Solms believes that consciousness is engineerable.

• It is possible for us to engineer an artificial form of consciousness.

Responsibility to Find Ways of Managing with Each Other

• We have a responsibility to find ways of managing with each other which incorporates an understanding that we have base inclinations.

• Our ability to imagine an abstract organizing principle enables us to imagine good ones, but it also enables us to imagine terrible ones.

• Artificial consciousness can be used for the better or worse.

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity

In this section, the speakers discuss their concerns about the development of artificial intelligence and its potential impact on humanity. They highlight the risks associated with creating an artificial consciousness and manipulating human bodies and minds.

Risks Associated with Artificial Intelligence

• The exponential growth in developing new kinds of artificial intelligence is leading to a future where humanity becomes more inorganic.

• There is a need for collective decision-making around ideas related to taking responsibility for the implications of artificial consciousness.

• It is extremely dangerous to start manipulating human bodies and minds without fully understanding them.

• Corporations, armies, and governments may try to enhance qualities they need while ignoring other important human abilities and characteristics.

Historical Examples of Manipulating Humans

• Kings, Emperors, and Sultans in history used castration as a solution based on ancient biotechnology to create superhumans called eunuchs who could be appointed as ministers, governors, or generals without establishing their own dynasty. This was a downgrade to what they were as humans.

• If armies or corporations are given tools to re-engineer human bodies, brains, and minds, it could result in new types of humans who lack compassion or artistic sensibility.

Existential Danger Posed by Technology

• The fast pace at which technology is advancing poses an existential danger to humanity. It's not that robots will rise up and kill all of us but that all humanity will be destroyed by these manipulations and new technologies.

Enhancing Compassion and Humanity

In this section, the speakers discuss the possibility of enhancing compassion and humanity artificially. They also touch on the dangers of imminent technologies coming to the market.

Artificial Intelligence and Rights

• If we develop an artificial consciousness so that computers and robots have feelings of their own, we need to consider their rights.

• Sentient computers and robots are capable of suffering, which means we need to start thinking about their rights.

• We have pro-social instincts hardwired into our brains, such as playful attachment bonding, nurturing, caring dispositions. Combining these with our ability to imagine the future and cooperate through language can help us live together.

Pro-Social Instinctual Dispositions

• Attachment bonding is a positive pro-social emotion shared by all mammals.

• The maternal instinct or nurturing instinct is part of human nature that causes us to stress when someone else is in pain.

• Playful instincts are hardwired into our brains. All mammals play rough and tumble play; it requires cooperation, mutuality, reciprocity, turn-taking.

Developing Compassion and Consciousness

In this section, Yuval Harari discusses the importance of developing compassion and consciousness. He explains that while we are far from being able to artificially produce compassion, we have developed effective methods for cultivating it over thousands of years.

Importance of Developing Compassion

• For every dollar and minute invested in developing artificial intelligence, at least a dollar and minute should be invested in developing our own consciousness.

• We don't need to invent something completely new; we just need to pay more attention to what we already know.

• When we have a better understanding of ourselves and our decisions, we tend to have a more complete view of our place in the world.

Cultivating Compassion through Meditation

• Meditation is about bringing more attention to what's already in us.

• By observing what's happening inside us during meditation, including unpleasant feelings, we can develop a better understanding of ourselves and our decisions.

• This increased self-awareness tends to lead to more compassionate behavior towards others.

The Role of Social Media in Polarizing Conversations

In this section, the speakers discuss how social media has polarized conversations globally and affected people's emotions. They express concern about the amplification of narratives that are thick with hatred or divisiveness at the expense of more judicious narratives.

Negative Consequences of Social Media

• Advances in technology can be used for better or worse; social media is an example of this.

• While social media has positive aspects, it also has negative consequences, such as amplifying narratives that are thick with hatred or divisiveness.

• Ancient wisdoms, such as meditative practices, can be used to advance the cause of humanity and the planet as a whole.

The Importance of Introspection in Neuroscience and Neuropsychology

In this section, the speaker discusses how neuroscience and neuropsychology focus too much on functionality and mechanisms, neglecting the importance of introspection and subjective aspects of humanity.

Prioritizing Introspection

• Neuroscience and neuropsychology prioritize functionality, mechanisms, and information processing over introspection.

• Psychoanalysis is a way to get to know oneself better and take responsibility for oneself.

• Knowing oneself is an enormously powerful tool that should not be neglected.

The Scourge of Social Media

In this section, the speaker discusses how social media has broken down conversations between people with different views due to an arms race for attention.

Conversation Breakdown

• Democracy is a conversation between people with different views.

• People unable to hold a conversation leads to the end of democracy.

• An arms race for attention leads to saying more outrageous, frightening, and hateful things which destroys the ability to have a conversation.

Attention Grabbing

• Pressing anger, fear or hate buttons grabs attention easily.

• Saying something moderate is less important than saying something extreme.

Distraction from Self-Knowledge

• Social media distracts us from knowing ourselves by flooding us with external information.

• Knowing who you are is essential for happiness.

Understanding the Mechanism of Wanting More

In this section, the speaker discusses how humans react to wanting more and how it is an endless cycle. He also talks about how despite all the achievements humans have made over time, they are not significantly happier than they were in the Stone Age.

The Endless Cycle of Wanting More

• Humans react with wanting more and crave for more endlessly.

• No matter what humans achieve, if they don't understand this mechanism, their reaction will simply be wanting more.

• The like button is exactly this mechanism externalized.

Achievements Don't Guarantee Happiness

• Despite all the amazing things humans have achieved over time, they are not significantly happier than they were in the Stone Age.

• People are constantly in a mode of "I like it, I don't like it" instead of just observing what's happening.

The Like Button and Homeostasis

In this section, the speakers discuss how the like button is an externalized version of a mechanism that has been present in animals for millions of years. They also talk about homeostasis as a basic biological mechanism that underpins all life forms.

The Like Button and Homeostasis

• We have a like button in our mind that has been present in animals for millions of years.

• The like button is amplified externally instead of just observing what's happening.

• Pleasurable feelings are built upon homeostasis which is a basic biological mechanism that underpins all life forms.

Moving Towards Nirvana

• Once you're in your viable balance, you're no longer feeling pleasure, you now feel satiation.

• Recognizing the simple stark facts of a viable range within which we need to be is all we need to do.

The Mechanism of the Mind

In this section, the speakers discuss how there is a simple principle at work in the mind and how recognizing these simple stark facts is all we need to do.

The Simple Principle at Work in the Mind

• There's quite a simple principle at work in the mind - likes and dislikes, pleasures and unpleasures.

• Anything that causes pleasure makes us want to do it more while anything that causes displeasure makes us want to avoid it.

• Recognizing these simple stark facts is all we need to do.

Attachment and Opioids

In this section, the speaker discusses how attachment is mediated by a brain chemical called new opioids. The speaker also talks about how people can either meet their emotional needs through relationships or resort to artificial means like opiates.

Attachment and Separation Distress

• Attachment is mediated by a brain chemical called new opioids.

• Separation from a caregiver leads to separation distress and anxiety.

• People can either do the work of finding out how to meet their emotional needs in reality or resort to artificial means like opiates.

Artificial Means of Meeting Emotional Needs

• Cheating reality through artificial means is ultimately self-destructive.

• Using heroin tricks the system into replenishing new opioids but does not actually meet one's need for love and care.

• Power addicts, like entire countries at war, also resort to cheating reality through aggression.

Insecurity and Fantasy

In this section, the speakers discuss how insecurity can lead individuals and even entire countries to build fantasies that justify aggressive behavior towards others.

Russian Invasion of Ukraine

• The Russians justify their invasion of Ukraine with the need for security despite being the biggest country in the world.

• The Russian Elite built a fantasy that they must invade Ukraine in order to feel secure when in fact their insecurity comes from within their own worldview and fantasies.

Compassion and Introspection

• Building compassion requires introspection and facing up to unwelcome facts about oneself.

• Recognizing the importance and nature of one's own inner mental life can lead to recognizing that other people are not objects but subjects with feelings and needs.

Morality and Suffering

In this section, Yuval Noah Harari discusses the nature of morality and how it relates to suffering. He argues that morality is not about obeying external laws but rather about reducing suffering. Moral action is an action that doesn't cause suffering or ideally even reduces it.

The Key Thing to Understand About Morality

• Morality is not just compassion, but the whole of morality is about suffering.

• People believe that morality is about obeying certain outside laws, whether the laws of a country or the laws of religion.

• Morality is not about obeying a certain set of laws coming from outside.

• Morality is about reducing suffering; it's about helping people be liberated from suffering.

The Relationship Between Causing Suffering and Self-Harm

• When you cause suffering to others very often you're also causing

suffering to yourself.

• It's extremely unpleasant, it's extremely miserable to feel a lot of rage.

• Rage is not a nice feeling if you think

about what happiness is. Happiness is a state free of rage.

• When I develop rage against somebody else,

I may kill this person, maybe I never kill them. Maybe I hate my boss and

I constantly fume against my boss but I can't kill him. So I'm not harming him

but I'm harming myself every moment that I keep feeding this raging flame of rage.

Win-Win Situation in Compassion

• When you're nicer to other people, most of the time you also feel better yourself.

• You're not giving up anything; you're gaining something.

Technology and Humanity

In this section, Yuval Noah Harari discusses the dangers of technological innovation and how it has changed the margin of error for humanity. He argues that the Hitlers of the 21st century will have the ability not just to wage destructive wars with tools like AI and bioengineering but also to re-engineer the human body and mind.

The Danger of Technological Innovation

• The margin of error has gotten much smaller nowadays due to technological innovation.

• The danger just grows and grows as we develop even more ways to destroy our humanity with artificial intelligence, bioengineering, etc.

• Hitler couldn't change humanity itself; he didn't have the tools to change the human body or mind.

• The Hitlers of the 21st century will be able to re-engineer new humans using technology.

Re-engineering New Humans

• A new Nazi regime in the 21st century could use technology to re-engineer new humans.

• Even if this regime eventually falls, the new human bodies and minds would still exist.

Future Prospects

In this section, a friend's view on future prospects is discussed. The conversation then shifts to the topic of democracy and how it can be reshaped for the better.

Cautiously Pessimistic

• A friend was asked about their view on future prospects and answered "I'm cautiously pessimistic."

Reshaping Democracy

• Democracies are not functioning as they ought to.

• The conversation shifts to seeking wisdom on how democracy could be reshaped for the better.

Learning from History

In this section, Mark and Yuval discuss learning from history and how democracy can be improved.

Learning from History

• We have the capacity to historically record information about what we have done in the past and what the consequences have been. This enables us to not be condemned to repeating history.

• Terrible historical events of previous centuries are better documented, remembered, and recorded than all prior genocides throughout human history.

• Current events show that there are already Hitlers of the 21st century among us right now. It is important that we remember what awful things we can do and how it ends so that we learn from those lessons.

Improving Democracy

• Democracy is not just about elections; it is an ongoing conversation that must start long before elections and continue after them.

• Democracy is about self-correcting mechanisms such as free press, academia, independent courts, etc., which allow conversations to continue even if one mechanism fails. Dictatorships usually lack self-correcting mechanisms which leads them to blame others for their mistakes.

The Importance of Self-Correcting Mechanisms in Democracy

In this section, the speakers discuss the importance of self-correcting mechanisms in a democracy and how it differs from a dictatorship.

Self-Correcting Mechanisms

• Admitting mistakes and correcting them is essential for the health of democracy.

• A dictator can make good decisions for years, but sooner or later, everyone makes mistakes.

• Maintaining strong self-correcting mechanisms is necessary for an ongoing conversation in a democracy.

Conclusion and Thank You

In this section, the speakers conclude their discussion and thank their audience.

Conclusion

• The speakers thank their audience for attending the session.

• This was the 100th episode of Endgame.

• The audience is encouraged to participate in Southeast Asia's future narrators by checking out links provided below.

• The speakers thank Ubud Writers and Readers Festival for hosting them and encourage people to attend next year's event.

Thank You

• The speakers thank each other and say goodbye to their audience.