Bernardo at the Gas Pump

What is that tapping noise through the entire interview? Ugh.
 
Really good interview. I like Bernardo's idea of meaning that he also mentioned in his latest personal video. I have been chewing on that. I also like the idea that the larger reality is not self conscious. That self-consciousness is the purview of the localized mind. I'm not saying I believe it, but it makes an interesting idea to mull on. I think Rick brought Bernardo out a little more than usual, as he does for a lot of guests. Good time.
 
Really good interview. I like Bernardo's idea of meaning that he also mentioned in his latest personal video. I have been chewing on that. I also like the idea that the larger reality is not self conscious. That self-consciousness is the purview of the localized mind. I'm not saying I believe it, but it makes an interesting idea to mull on. I think Rick brought Bernardo out a little more than usual, as he does for a lot of guests. Good time.

Likewise to all of what you say. This was my first episode of BatGas. I really like this Rick Archer fellow... I was wondering if perhaps he is a clinical psychologist or something. What is Rick's story? I have found no bio on their website.
 
Likewise to all of what you say. This was my first episode of BatGas. I really like this Rick Archer fellow... I was wondering if perhaps he is a clinical psychologist or something. What is Rick's story? I have found no bio on their website.

Rick taught TM for about 400 years. He is a nice guy. I view him more like a pliable substance full of silly rock and roll references and pithy Vedantic sayings (that you will eventually memorize if you are a regular listener) that when applied to any guest elicits about 2 hours of conversation.
 
Probably the best interview with Bernardo I've heard so far. I think I'm going to leave it a day or two and listen again because Rick got so much out of him. I'm at odds with the guy over his views on climate change, but credit where it's due, that was one hell of an interview.
 
Probably the best interview with Bernardo I've heard so far. I think I'm going to leave it a day or two and listen again because Rick got so much out of him. I'm at odds with the guy over his views on climate change, but credit where it's due, that was one hell of an interview.

I agree. It was a good one. I sometimes wonder how widely heard his message really is though. I know he's written a ton of books now and he churns out the quality web content. But are many people tuning in who don't already have sympathies toward his message? We all love to cheer on Bernardo and Alex. But is anyone hearing it? Like Bernardo talks about shaping the culture. I guess there is no other way to shape the culture other than getting your message out there. But who is listening?
 
I agree. It was a good one. I sometimes wonder how widely heard his message really is though. I know he's written a ton of books now and he churns out the quality web content. But are many people tuning in who don't already have sympathies toward his message? We all love to cheer on Bernardo and Alex. But is anyone hearing it? Like Bernardo talks about shaping the culture. I guess there is no other way to shape the culture other than getting your message out there. But who is listening?

Don't be so pessimistic, Chuck. If Bernardo manages to get a high-profile debate or two going with folk like Brian Cox, he might have an impact.:)
 
I agree. It was a good one. I sometimes wonder how widely heard his message really is though. I know he's written a ton of books now and he churns out the quality web content. But are many people tuning in who don't already have sympathies toward his message? We all love to cheer on Bernardo and Alex. But is anyone hearing it? Like Bernardo talks about shaping the culture. I guess there is no other way to shape the culture other than getting your message out there. But who is listening?

Bernardo is still a young man and it can take many years to develop a well populated fanbase. Considering that he does all of this in his free time, it's pretty remarkable he has any significant number of readers at all. In fact, it's very remarkable- I can't think of any other examples offhand. People like Sam Harris do this stuff for a living and they spend a great deal of time marketing themselves- something it seems Bernardo doesn't really do.

I think it's the same with Tsakiris.
 
Don't be so pessimistic, Chuck. If Bernardo manages to get a high-profile debate or two going with folk like Brian Cox, he might have an impact.:)

I guess I thought I was being kind of neutral and just wondering. I wonder if the big names like Dawkins are shaping culture, or just reflecting it? I've never read or listened to any of the big name atheists, nor seen them on television. (Unless they have been on Skeptiko.) And I'm pretty sure no one I know personally has either.

What is the social science that studies how contemporary culture is shaped? I'm curious about whether most of this stuff is shaping or just mirroring?
 
I guess I thought I was being kind of neutral and just wondering. I wonder if the big names like Dawkins are shaping culture, or just reflecting it? I've never read or listened to any of the big name atheists, nor seen them on television. (Unless they have been on Skeptiko.) And I'm pretty sure no one I know personally has either.

What is the social science that studies how contemporary culture is shaped? I'm curious about whether most of this stuff is shaping or just mirroring?

I think it's both shaping and mirroring. It's a feedback loop. One reinforces the other, then the other reinforces the one.
 
I guess I thought I was being kind of neutral and just wondering. I wonder if the big names like Dawkins are shaping culture, or just reflecting it? I've never read or listened to any of the big name atheists, nor seen them on television. (Unless they have been on Skeptiko.) And I'm pretty sure no one I know personally has either.

What is the social science that studies how contemporary culture is shaped? I'm curious about whether most of this stuff is shaping or just mirroring?

Personally, I think that the "scientific" phase burgeoned after WW2. For a time, it had a genuinely constructive dynamic. Then in the sixties, flower power began to burgeon and also had a temporarily constructive dynamic. The two trends in many senses are at odds, and yet they seem to have produced an awful mixture of pseudoscience, political correctness, New Age claptrap centering around apocalypticism, and quite a lot of spirit-free nihilism.

It's such an awful mixture and yet there are so many who are "mirroring" or "reflecting" it. But at the same time, I think we're genuinely seeing the first inklings of something new beginning to form: perhaps precisely because everything's such an inchoate mess. Unfortunately, the MSM is in bed with the chaos, so you don't yet see much about it in the media. But increasingly, the MSM is becoming less and less powerful and relevant. The genie's out of the bottle since the rising of the Internet. Give it time, and I feel sure something new and constructive will arise that's driven from the bottom up. Not sure what form it will take, though: we'll probably have to wait a while before someone can give a name to it and put it in historical context.
 
I think civilization will have to collapse and be rebuilt and reborn. We will retain all our knowledge, ingenuities, blueprints, etc., but through the devastation and despair we will learn a new way to live with ourselves and each other and relate to the world.

You can't find anything if you're not lost or don't know that you're lost. It's going to get much much much worse for humanity. You wait and see. Inner mental torture, psychological trauma and distress have not taught anybody any lessons- and we can't sink any lower in the psychological realm. It's going to get physical. And it is going to suck. Nobody will be exempt from the horrors. Doesn't matter where you live, what you do or how old you are. It's coming for you. And you're going to fucking hate it.
 
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