NEITHER SPIRIT NOR MACHINE: What You Really Are If You Dare Find Out

Join us as we delve into the deep questions of consciousness, self-awareness, and the origins of life. Discover what it truly means to be neither spirit nor machine in this thought-provoking exploration.---

I’m Jeremy Sherman PhD, a strategic consultant since 1997, specializing in dealing with jerks and doubts.

For a free trial session, email me at [email protected]
𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤: facebook.com/jeremysherm

DEALING WITH JERKS
jerkology.net
BLOG: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl...
BOOK: What’s Up With A**holes? How to spot and stop them without becoming one.
https://a.co/d/6QDQwrY
AUDIOBOOK:    • What's Up With Assholes? Ch. 01: Over...  

DEALING WITH DOUBTS
adaptivestrategies.net
BLOG: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl...
BOOK: Negotiate with Yourself and Win: Doubt Management Skills for People Who Can Hear Themselves Think: https://a.co/d/brJpNli

Though I’m informal, I’ll argue that my approach is more scientific than what passes for science but is really abstract engineering—researchers claiming we’ve got this or that add-on feature without explaining how we got it. That makes for great engineering but it’s no more rigorous than supernatural explanations.

For 27 years, I’ve worked closely with Harvard/Berkeley biologist/neuroscientist Terrence Deacon on developing fully scientific explanations for phenomena simply assumed by other researchers.

Some examples:

LIFE’S STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE: DNA and natural selection don’t explain it. We have a fully natural explanation for how self-regenerating beings (like us) could emerge from chemistry and evolve (by natural selection) the capacity to use DNA molecules.

MOTIVATION: Psychologists just assume it. When they see effort they assume a motivation which is like assuming a “soul.” We have an explanation for what effort and motivation are physically is: not something added to chemistry but the way chemistry can limit itself by channeling energy into work to regenerate itself.

NARCISSISM: Psychologists say that if you’ve got these symptoms you have a thing called Narcissism. I have an explanation for how humans having evolved language can imagine the ideal, see where we fall short, and self-idealize to compensate. It’s something we all do. I study how it gets out of hand and becomes addictive

My book on our research: Neither Ghost Nor Machine: The Emergence and Nature of Selves (Columbia University Press, 2017) https://a.co/d/9ZNyT7E

My PhD is in decision science. I’m a soulnerd with a deeply connected heart and head. This stuff is my non-spiritual path. I live and breathe my work. It’s not some abstract intellectual exercise.

Nor is it art. Science is a campaign to find natural explanations for all natural phenomena – natural, not supernatural about which you can believe anything.

Still, I try to make this stuff fun, intuitive, and useful. I’ve written over 1,100 blog articles for Psychology Today on practical decision-making and the stuff we all go through (11 million views). Their editor-in-chief calls it, “Mind candy for people who aren't afraid to think.”

00:00 Autophobia
04:25 Scientific fudge factors
07:12 Wondering when touchy
10:39 Terry Deacon
12:07 Non-spiritual spirited