Kastrup: Idea of the World

Bernardo seems to be going on a bit of book tour for those interested:

Interview on Voices of VR Podcast:

Universal Mind & Quantum Mechanics: Idealism as Fundamental Consciousness & VR

I reached out to Kastrup to talk about his The Ideal World book, the philosophy of Idealism as applied to the foundations of physics, how neuroscience research into Disassociative Identity Disorder provides a metaphor for individual consciousness disassociated from a universal mind, his philosophical ideas our perception of reality being a “Markov Blanket” from a universal consciousness, and what the philosophy of Idealism means in the context of human experiences in real reality versus a human-constructed virtual reality.

Bernardo Kastrup – Reality? It’s All in Your Mind

Legalise Freedom Interview

In his most cogent and compelling work to date, Kastrup’s theory of reality offers a grounded alternative to the frenzy of unrestrained abstractions and unexamined assumptions in philosophy and science today. The Idea of the World makes a rigorous case for the primacy of mind in nature, examining what can be learned about the nature of reality based on conceptual parsimony, straightforward logic, and empirical evidence from fields as diverse as physics and neuroscience. It compiles an overarching case for idealism – the notion that reality is essentially mental.

The author begins by exposing the logical fallacies and internal contradictions of the reigning physicalist paradigm and popular alternatives such as panpsychism. The main objections to idealism are also systematically refuted. The book closes with an analysis of the hidden psychological motivations behind mainstream physicalism and the implications of idealism for the way we relate to each other and the world. The view of reality presented here makes sense of the many mysteries which mainstream materialist science simply cannot fathom. It reconciles the classical and quantum worlds and disposes of the so-called ‘hard problem’ of consciousness. It may even hold the secret to the origin and meaning of life.

Previous interviews with Bernardo Kastrup:
Why Materialism Is Baloney
Brief Peeks Beyond
Religion, Reality and The Meaning of Life
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’
Stanislav Shevchenko ‘Conscientia’

Interview on Voices of VR Podcast:

Universal Mind & Quantum Mechanics: Idealism as Fundamental Consciousness & VR

 The work of Friston, Sengupta and Auletta (2014) has similar implications but, significantly, is derived from an entirely different line of reasoning. Their results are based on abstract mathematical considerations and, therefore, can in principle be leveraged under any ontology. They show that whenever a Markov blanket (Pearl, 1988) defines the boundary of an individual organism, internal states of the organism will evolve to optimize for two conflicting goals: (a) to reflect external states of the world beyond the Markov blanket; and (b) to minimize their own entropy or dispersion. Goal (a) is about allowing the organism to know what is going on in the world outside, so it can take suitable actions to survive in that world. Goal (b) is about preventing the organism from losing its internal structural and dynamical integrity because of the second law of thermodynamics. In our case, the dissociative boundary of an alter is the Markov blanket, whose revealed appearance is our skin and other sense organs

Great stuff.  Need to read up on Markov blankets as a new idea.  I think it is a practical outcome of understanding Markov chains.  This boundary condition is apparently a math tool in Bayesian analysis.

Kastrup runs with the structure.  I need to study further BK's conculsions using the above framework.

Courtesy of the SPR Facebook page, here's Bernardo Kastrup's defence of his second Ph.D. thesis, entitled "Analytical idealism: a consciousness only ontology", at Radboud University Nijmegen a few days ago. What a gruelling experience these public vivas must be, particularly when not conducted in the candidate's native language:

So now he's two doctors.

Courtesy of the SPR Facebook page, here's Bernardo Kastrup's defence of his second Ph.D. thesis, entitled "Analytical idealism: a consciousness only ontology", at Radboud University Nijmegen a few days ago. What a gruelling experience these public vivas must be, particularly when not conducted in the candidate's native language:

What a daunting experience in front of a panel who, it seems to me, were mostly of the opposite worldview to Kastrup's idealism and who presented their questions with a hint of condescension. English is my first language but I had a lot of trouble following the philosophical language which has always been, for me, impenetrable. Kudos to Kastrup for not only understanding the questions being posed but for being thoroughly prepared to answer them. I can only reflect that I'm glad that my life didn't require such an ordeal and I am resigned to the fact that a PhD would have been beyond me, even had I had the benefit of a decent education.

What a daunting experience in front of a panel who, it seems to me, were mostly of the opposite worldview to Kastrup's idealism and who presented their questions with a hint of condescension. English is my first language but I had a lot of trouble following the philosophical language which has always been, for me, impenetrable. Kudos to Kastrup for not only understanding the questions being posed but for being thoroughly prepared to answer them. I can only reflect that I'm glad that my life didn't require such an ordeal and I am resigned to the fact that a PhD would have been beyond me, even had I had the benefit of a decent education.

I suspect such an ordeal would be beyond most people who get PhDs in the UK, where a fairly informal chat with two examiners behind closed doors is the norm.

Bernardo mentioned a new interview he did on Seeking Reality:

Here is an interview I recently gave to a syndicated American radio show called 'Seek Reality.' The show is audio-only and accessible via the embedded player just under the episode's title. The video linked in the description is just my second Ph.D. defense, not the show.
http://webtalkradio.net/internet-talk-ra...f-reality/

Courtesy of The Anomalist - for fans of Bernardo Kastrup, here is his own guide to his published works so far, modestly entitled "Here is How Anyone Can Understand the True Nature of Reality":
https://www.bernardokastrup.com/2019/05/...ature.html