Shows
Meaningness PodcastMaps of MeaningnessBefore controversy and fame, Jordan Peterson was a psychologist theorizing myth and meaning.Jake Orthwein points out striking similarities in Peterson’s work and David’s. Along with them, fundamental disagreements: partly due to Peterson bringing a Christian perspective, and Chapman a Vajrayana Buddhist one.Nihilistic catastrophes ※ Chaos and order ※ Reconciling myth and rationality ※ Interactionist cognitive science ※ The purpose of lifeJake intercut our conversation with brief relevant clips from Jordan Peterson’s classroom lectures and media interviews. It’s fun seeing the commonalities and contrasts!In this post:* The Making Of: d...
2025-11-041h 51
Do Explain with Christofer Lövgren#57 - [Half Episode] Truth and Abstractions, with David Deutsch and Jake OrthweinChristofer speak with physicist David Deutsch and Jake Orthwein about the logical concept of truth. They discuss the reality of abstractions, how representations get their meaning, the difference between biological evolution and the evolution of ideas, how emotions aren't theories, and more.Note: This is only the first half of the conversation, the full episode can be found on Patreon (patreon.com/doexplain).David Deutsch is a Visiting Professor of Physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation at Oxford University and the author of two books: 'The Fabric of Reality' and 'The Beginning...
2024-10-2841 min
Increments#51 - Truth, Moose, and Refrigerated Eggplant: Critiquing Chapman's Meta-RationalityVaden comes out swinging against David Chapman's work on meta-rationality. Is Chapman pointing out a fatal flaw, or has Popper solved these problems long ago? Do moose see cups? Does Ben see cups? What the f*** is a cup?
We discuss
Chapman's concept of nebulosity
Whether this concept is covered by Popper
The relationship of nebulosity and the vagueness of language
The correspondence theory of truth
If the concept of "problem situation" saves us from Chapman's critique
Why "conjecture and criticism" isn't everything
References
The excellent Do Explain podcast. Go listen, right now!
In...
2023-05-291h 12Do Explain with Christofer Lövgren#53 - [The Chapman Series, Pt.6] Hot Tub Time MachineThis is part 6 of a series where Christofer investigates the ideas of David Chapman with his friend Jake Orthwein. The material covered is mainly from Chapman's two books: 'Meaningness' (meaningness.com) and 'In the Cells of the Eggplant' (metarationality.com).In the sixth episode Lulie Tanett joins the conversation again to dive deeper into meta-rationality. They talk about truth and correspondence, evolution, brains in vats, abstract propositions fairy land, the frame problem in AI, what making progress means, 'knowing that' as different from 'knowing how', and how Chris is always trying to secretly organize an MDMA sex...
2023-04-181h 49Do Explain with Christofer Lövgren#52 - [The Chapman Series, Pt.5] POPPER WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN METhis is part 5 of a series where Christofer investigates the ideas of David Chapman with his friend Jake Orthwein. The material covered is mainly from Chapman's two books: 'Meaningness' (meaningness.com) and 'In the Cells of the Eggplant' (metarationality.com).In the fifth episode Lulie Tanett joins the conversation to compare her current (critical) rationalist position with the meta-rational one. They talk about the historical lineage that CR grew out of, why Descarted fucked up philosophy for everyone, the correspondence theory of truth, pragmatism, objective vs. subjective meaning, representation as affordances vs. mirroring the world, how genes...
2023-04-082h 25Do Explain with Christofer Lövgren#43 - [The Chapman Series, Pt.4] Stages of Adult DevelopmentThis is part 4 of a series where Christofer investigates the ideas of David Chapman with his friend Jake Orthwein. The material covered is mainly from Chapman's two books: 'Meaningness' (meaningness.com) and 'In the Cells of the Eggplant' (metarationality.com).In the fourth episode they focus on Chapman's discussion of Robert Kegan's stages of adult development. They talk about Piaget's constructivist lineage, how one relates to meaning in the different stages, and give an overview of Chapman's 'Meaningness and Time'. Jake Orthwein is a writer and filmmaker based in Santa Monica, CA. He...
2022-07-131h 37
Do Explain with Christofer Lövgren#41 - [The Chapman Series, Pt.3] Deconstructing DzogchenThis is part 3 of a series where Christofer investigates the ideas of David Chapman with his friend Jake Orthwein. The material covered is mainly from Chapman's two books: 'Meaningness' (meaningness.com) and 'In the Cells of the Eggplant' (metarationality.com).In the third episode they focus on the different ways Chapman and Sam Harris speak about the central insight of Dzogchen. They talk about the self as an illusion, rigpa, the four naljors within Dzogchen, emptiness, sutric renunciation and dangers of 'no-self', intermittently continuing, embodiment, Nietzsche’s true world theories, spiritual bypassing, comparing non-duality and emotional fluidity, an...
2022-04-272h 09Do Explain with Christofer Lövgren#37 - [The Chapman Series, Pt. 2] Nebulosity of KnowingThis is part 2 of a series where Christofer investigates the ideas of David Chapman with his friend Jake Orthwein. The material covered is mainly from Chapman's two books: 'Meaningness' (meaningness.com) and 'In the Cells of the Eggplant' (metarationality.com).In the second episode they focus on why the search for a universal theory of epistemology is problematic. They talk about mathematical and semantic information, the difference between nebulosity and fallibilism, and Chapman's division of reasonableness, rationality and meta-rationality. Jake Orthwein is a writer and filmmaker based in Santa Monica, CA. He studied f...
2022-02-071h 07Do Explain with Christofer Lövgren#36 - [The Chapman Series, Pt. 1] Cognitivism, Representationalism, and RationalismThis is part 1 of a series where Christofer investigates the ideas of David Chapman with his friend Jake Orthwein. The material covered is mainly from Chapman's two books: 'Meaningness' (meaningness.com) and 'In the Cells of the Eggplant' (metarationality.com). In the first episode they focus on problematic cognitivist assumptions that undergird much of Deutsch's critical rationalism. They talk about Heidegger's idea of coping with the world, the relationship between cognition, perception and action, how representations get their meaning, and how Wittgenstein got some shit right. Jake Orthwein is a writer and filmmaker...
2022-01-262h 01
Do Explain with Christofer Lövgren#28.2 - Introspection, with Jake OrthweinChristofer and writer Jake Orthwein speak about the mind and introspection in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss meditation, empiricism, suffering, the self, dzogchen vs. vipassana, non-duality, free will, perception, computation, logic, correspondence theory of truth, and other related topics.Jake Orthwein is a writer and filmmaker based in Santa Monica, CA. He studied film and cognitive science at the University of Southern California and currently works as Director of Media for the Psychology of Technology Institute, an academic non-profit focused on improving research on the human-technology relationship. He is also a long term...
2021-05-0946 min
Do Explain with Christofer Lövgren#28.1 - Meaning and Meta-Rationality, with Jake OrthweinChristofer and writer Jake Orthwein speak about David Chapman's critiques of rationality and potential problems with Deutschian critical rationalism in this episode of Do Explain. They discuss their common adoration for Sam Harris, meaning, nebulosity and pattern, representational view of mind, concrete activity vs. abstract reasoning, realism, ontology and the world, affordances, and other related topics.Jake Orthwein is a writer and filmmaker based in Santa Monica, CA. He studied film and cognitive science at the University of Southern California and currently works as Director of Media for the Psychology of Technology Institute, an academic...
2021-04-261h 12