Cognitive Scientist, Dr. Donald Hoffman returns to the mind meld! Are we, as Plato argued thousands of years ago, mistaking shadows on a cave wall for reality? 🥰 Support TED and join the community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thirdeyedrops Get access to our Youtube Member's Library: https://www.youtube.com/@THIRDEYEDROPS/membership In this conversation with the brilliant Dr. Donald Hoffman, we question whether space-time and the world we experience with our senses is fundamental or merely a shallow projection of something deeper. Drawing on Plato’s cave, physics, cognitive science, mystical traditions, quantum theory, and Hoffman’s own framework of conscious agents, we explore the possibility that reality emerges from consciousness rather than the other way around. Don also shares what could be a mind blowing breakthrough in his theory. What is reality? Will science ever find a final theory of everything? Are we locked inside a simulation designed for survival, not truth? If consciousness transcends space-time, what does that imply about our potential, our perception, our purpose and our fate as beings? We riff on all of this and more in this mind meld. Links for Donald Hoffman: New to Don's work? Start with this TED Talk: https://youtu.be/oYp5XuGYqqY?si=dJJzY05c1koiTYb4 Don's book, The Case Against Reality: https://a.co/d/0aGapviw Don's UC Irvine page: https://sites.socsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/ Links For Third Eye Drops 🌀 🥰 Support TED and join the community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thirdeyedrops Get access to our Youtube Member's Library: https://www.youtube.com/@THIRDEYEDROPS/membership Hear hundreds of other mind melds: 🎧 Apple Podcasts: thirdeyedrops.com/itunes 🎧 Spotify: https://shorturl.at/ahnB1 🌀 Website https://www.thirdeyedrops.com ✌️Follow Michael on Instagram https://instagram.com/third_eye_drops Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices