Closer To Truth

What if the boundaries between you and every other conscious being are an illusion? Philosopher Arnold Zuboff makes the case for Universalism — the radical view that first-person immediacy, not any particular body or origin, is what makes an experience yours. And if that's right, then you exist wherever consciousness exists. Arnold Zuboff is an American philosopher known for his work on personal identity, consciousness, and probability. He took his PhD at Princeton in 2009 under Thomas Nagel and spent most of his academic career at University College London. Subscribe to Closer To Truth: https://www.youtube.com/@CloserToTruthTV  Join the Community: • Membership (5,000+ videos): https://closertotruth.com/register/ • Audio Podcast: https://closertotruth.podbean.com • Support the Show: https://closertotruth.com/donate/ • Official Merchandise: https://www.bonfire.com/store/closertotruth/

Philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein introduces the idea of the “mattering instinct”—the deep human drive to see our lives as significant. In this conversation, she explores how our longing to matter may arise from the very material reality we often try to transcend. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is an award-winning philosopher, writer, and public intellectual. She is the author of 10 books of acclaimed fiction and non-fiction — including 36 Arguments for the Existence of God, Betraying Spinoza, and her landmark new work The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us. She holds a PhD in philosophy of science from Princeton University and has taught at Yale, Columbia, NYU, Dartmouth, and Harvard. She is a MacArthur Fellow and recipient of the 2014 National Humanities Medal, presented by President Obama in 2015. Get access to over 5,000 videos by signing up for a free Closer To Truth membership: https://closertotruth.com/register/

What might intelligence become—not just in centuries, but across millions or even billions of years? Robert explores the deepest questions about the far future of intelligence in the universe. While we often think in terms of decades, extending our perspective to vast cosmic timescales challenges our assumptions about meaning, purpose, and what may ultimately be real. If the future holds clues, how far can we reasonably speculate, and what might we discover about intelligence itself? Featuring interviews with Freeman Dyson, Lawrence Krauss, Raymond Kurzweil, Frank Tipler, Robin Collins, and Paul Davies. Get access to over 5,000 videos by signing up for a free Closer To Truth membership: https://closertotruth.com/register/

We may be creating something a million times smarter than all of humanity combined — and we have no plan for what happens next. AI safety pioneer Roman Yampolskiy lays out the risks, the arguments, and whether any solution exists. Roman V. Yampolskiy is a tenured Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Louisville's Speed School of Engineering, where he founded and directs the Cyber Security Lab. Widely credited with coining the term "AI safety" in 2011, he is the author of AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable. Get access to over 5,000 videos by signing up for a free Closer To Truth membership: https://closertotruth.com/register/

Is the world we experience truly real, or is it more like a dream we haven't yet woken up from? Michael James, a leading scholar and translator of the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, explores how Ramana's philosophy challenges our most basic assumptions about the self, the world, and the nature of reality. Michael James has spent nearly 50 years studying, practicing, and translating the works of Sri Ramana Maharshi. He studied under Sri Sadhu Om, a direct disciple of Ramana, and is the author of Atma-Vidya: The Science of Knowing Oneself. He is regarded as a leading authority on Ramana's primary sources and experiential practice. Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls: https://shorturl.at/OnyRq 

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls. I like arguments about God, whether based on science, philosophy or personal experience. I like to push and to be pushed, explore the possible existence of a Creator. I must also consider defeaters of God. Featuring interviews with Rebecca Goldstein, Ian Barbour, John Polkinghorne, Robin Collins, Anthony Grayling, Yujin Nagasawa, and Alvin Plantinga.  

Support the show with a tax-deductible donation of any amount so we can continue exploring the world's biggest questions without the need for paywalls.   Can physical facts about the brain account for mental experiences of the mind? Has philosophy of mind made progress? We take a 15-year journey with John Searle and David Chalmers.    

Contribute what you can to help Closer To Truth continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   We like pushing boundaries, trying to discern existence, searching the foundations of reality, knowing all that can be known. Overly ambitious? Sophomoric? We don't care. We do it anyway. Here are ultimate questions.   Featuring interviews with Lawrence Krauss, John Leslie, Max Tegmark and Paul Davies

Contribute what you can to help Closer To Truth continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls. Explore diverse theories of consciousness, like materialism, dualism, panpsychism, idealism, and diverse ways of thinking about consciousness, like neuroscience, philosophy, wisdom traditions. Compare theories of consciousness on a ‘Landscape of Consciousness'.

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywall   What kinds of afterlives do the world’s religions offer? Soul/spirit in heaven or hell, with or apart from God? Reincarnation with innumerable rebirths, seeking liberation and nirvana? Resurrection of the body, reuniting with a soul/spirit?

Life after death is a haunting and deeply personal longing. Can we explore life after death in relation to theories of consciousness, ranging from strict materialism to imaginative philosophy to ancient wisdom traditions?

Explicitness is one of the fundamental mysteries in which our lives are wrapped. Our capacity, as conscious subjects, to make things explicit, so that what-is presents itself as “that-it-is” or “that-it-is-the-case” is at the heart of the mystery of human being. Philosopher Raymond Tallis explores how explicitness connects with fundamental ontological, metaphysical, and epistemological questions.   Tallis' latest book, Circling Round Explicitness: The Heart of the Mystery of Human Being, is available for purchase now: https://amzn.to/3MUX5Ke

What causes consciousness, our inner felt experience, like the smell of garlic cooking in olive oil? Explore diverse theories from quantum consciousness to consciousness as fundamental reality. We seek the edges of consciousness.

Almost all religions use art in their sacred spaces and many use art forms in their worship rituals. Certainly, there is powerful social cohesion at work. Can cross-religion communications in art, largely nonverbal, work to enhance similarities and mitigate differences among religions that, at least superficially, have significant differences? Can art be a much-needed unifier? Featuring interviews with Oludamini Ogunnaike, Jamal Elias, Kutter Callaway, Garrick Allen, and Anjan Chatterjee.

Oxford physicist Vlatko Vedral seeks to shatter complacency in modern physics and show why five revolutionary experiments in quantum physics promise to open the gates separating us from a true understanding of the universe. They may sound very strange—one essentially involves entangling a human with Schrödinger’s cat—but they lay bare elements of our theories that are particularly problematic, such as the widespread belief that nothing truly exists unless it is observed.   Vedral's book, Portals to a New Reality: Five Experiments to Unlock the Future of Physics, is available for purchase: https://amzn.to/3LGqd77   Vlatko Vedral is a Serbian-born British physicist. He is best known for his contributions to quantum information theory, quantum mechanics, and quantum entanglement. He earned his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Imperial College London, where he graduated with a PhD.

Many belief systems, religions in particular, use art for promoting their messages and furthering their missions. What makes art so effective in building and solidifying religious traditions? Can art attract and motivate converts? Is affecting or changing belief systems a proper use of art?   Featuring interviews with Justin Barrett, Marlene Altenmüller, Mario Gollwitzer, Jamal Elias, Robin Jensen, and Stacie Friend.

Throughout his career, Penrose has challenged conventional wisdom in physics, mathematics, and the philosophy of science. He has tackled some of the most profound questions of the universe: How do quantum mechanics and cosmology shape our understanding of reality? Can human consciousness be fully explained by physical laws, or does it transcend computation? This wide-ranging conversation spans Penrose’s most influential ideas, from black holes and the Big Bang to Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, quantum gravity, and the role of mathematics in uncovering ultimate reality.

Understanding the nature of transcendence requires careful experimentation and innovative ways to reveal essence and tease out aspects of aesthetics. What are key characteristics of transcendence? Tracking imperceptible eye movements, or brain blood flow during mental activity, reflect neural activity, which is always ready to spring surprise.   Featuring interviews with Elisabeth Schellekens, Helen De Cruz, Kutter Callaway, Joshua Wilt, Bahador Bahrami, and Oludamini Ogunnaike.

There is an idea that shakes the core of our scientific principles: That our consciousness participates in creating our physical reality. It’s an idea that runs counter to the materialist worldview we’re all taught in school. But the outer edges of scientific inquiry bleed into what can only be called ‘magic.’ With a uniquely science-backed approach, parapsychologist Dean Radin explores the "magical" elements of consciousness including telepathy, spell casting, conjuring spirits, and more.   Radin's book, The Science of Magic: How the Mind Weaves the Fabric of Reality, is on sale now.   Dean Radin is an American parapsychologist. Following a bachelor and master's degree in electrical engineering and a PhD in educational psychology Radin worked at Bell Labs, as a researcher at Princeton University and the University of Edinburgh, and was a faculty member at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Mathematics describes the real world of atoms and acorns, stars and stairs, with remarkable precision. So is mathematics invented by humans—like chisels and hammers and pieces of music? Or is mathematics discovered—always out there, somewhere, like mysterious islands waiting to be found? Whenever mathematics is will help define reality itself.   Featuring interviews with Roger Penrose, Stephen Wolfram, Max Tegmark, David Gross, and George Lakoff.

Compare inner-life practices among diverse religions/traditions. Islamic prayer as the core of Muslim belief. Buddhist meditation calms the mind. Hindu meditation can be theistic-devotional or non-dual inner exploration. Embodied practices in Chinese traditions.     Featuring interviews with Helen De Cruz, Venerable Dr. Yifa, Swami Sarvapriyananda, Franklin Perkins, Aaron Segal, and Hamza Yusuf.

This holiday season, support Closer To Truth with a tax-deductible donation of any amount.   What is intelligence, and how is AI emergence a natural consequence of evolution? In his book "What Is Intelligence?" and in this conversation, Google's Blaise Agüera y Arcas takes up the idea that prediction is fundamental not only to intelligence and the brain but to life itself, and explores the wide-ranging implications. These include radical new perspectives on the computational properties of living systems, the evolutionary and social origins of intelligence, the relationship between models and reality, entropy and the nature of time, the meaning of free will, the problem of consciousness, and the ethics of machine intelligence.   Blaise Agüera y Arcas is a VP/Fellow at Google, where he is the CTO of Technology & Society, and the founder of Paradigms of Intelligence, an organization dedicated to fundamental AI research. He is the author of Who Are We Now?, and his research has included work on privacy-preserving machine learning, on-device AI, large language models, and human identity.

Giving Tuesday is around the corner! Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   How do diverse religions/traditions treat the “person,” present status and afterlife future? Buddhism’s no self. Hinduism’s soul illuminating the mind. Prior lives in Eastern and African traditions. Body and soul, resurrection and judgment, in Abrahamic traditions.   Featuring interviews with Jay Garfield, Yang Xiao, Oludamini Ogunnaike, Imran Aijaz, Andrew Loke, and Swami Medhananda.

Make a donation to help Closer To Truth continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   The Ruliad is a term that Stephen Wolfram developed, which he describes as the entangled limit of everything that is computationally possible, the result of following all possible computational rules in all possible ways.   Stephen Wolfram is a British-American computer scientist, physicist, and businessman. He is known for his work in computer algebra and theoretical physics. In 2012, he was named a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He is the founder and CEO of the software company Wolfram Research, where he works as chief designer of Mathematica and the Wolfram Alpha answer engine.

This giving season, contribute what you can to help Closer To Truth continue exploring the world's deepest questions.     Concepts of God/deities/ultimates in diverse, non-Western religions/traditions: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, African. Is God/deities a “person?” Islam’s one transcendent God. Hinduism’s many schools: personal, impersonal, both. Buddhism’s no God but many deities.     Featuring interviews with Hamza Yusuf, Mohammed Saleh Zarepour, Oludamini Ogunnaike, Swami Medhananda, Venerable Dr. Yifa, and Yujin Nagasawa.

Support the show with a tax-deductible donation of any amount so we can continue exploring the world's biggest questions without the need for paywalls.   When the long-awaited day dawns and the aliens finally arrive on Earth, they might eat us and destroy the planet―or, just maybe, they might share the secrets of the Universe with us. When that time comes, will we be able to cross the communication barrier to beg for our lives? If the aliens do hold out those precious jewels of knowledge, will we even be able to grasp them? Professor Daniel Whiteson and Warner explode what we thought we knew about talking to our cosmic neighbors―and even science itself―by asking and answering questions both lighthearted and profound.   Whiteson's book, Do Aliens Speak Physics?: And Other Questions about Science and the Nature of Reality, is available for purchase now.

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   What happens after we die? Is there life after death? If so, what kind of life? From heaven and hell to systems and cycles of reincarnation, we explore Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Chinese traditions, as well as Christianity.   Featuring interviews with Hamza Yusuf, Carol Zaleski, Tao Jiang, Andrew Loke, and Yujin Nagasawa.  

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.     How do different religions/traditions address consciousness, our inner mental awareness? Is consciousness ultimate, as in Eastern traditions, or created by God, as in Abrahamic traditions? If ultimate, what is the relationship between personal and cosmic consciousness?     Featuring interviews with Jay Garfield, Swami Medhananda, Franklin Perkins, Swami Sarvapriyananda, Hamza Yusuf, and Aaron Segal.

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls: https://shorturl.at/OnyRq   In the first two installments of a brand new, six-part interview series with Nobel Laureate Sir Roger Penrose, we explore his approach to the deep nature of reality. Trace the intellectual and scientific history of each of his major contributions to the fields of science and philosophy, the challenges he faced, the criticisms he received, and his overarching reflections today. Additionally, discover how Penrose thinks about physics and hear his contrarian view of the foundations of quantum mechanics.    Sir Roger Penrose is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science, and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, an emeritus fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and an honorary fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, and University College London. Penrose has contributed significantly to the mathematical physics of general relativity and cosmology.

Contribute what you can to help Closer To Truth continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   Mathematics is like nothing else. The truths of math seem to be unrelated to anything else—independent of human beings, independent of the universe. The sum of 2 + 3 = 5 cannot not be true; this means that 3 + 2 = 5 would be true even if there were never any human beings, even if there were never a universe! When then, deeply, is mathematics?     Featuring interviews with Max Tegmark, Scott Aaronson, Mark Balaguer, Silvia Jonas, Gregory Benford, and Karen Uhlenbeck.

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   Global Philosophy of Religion seeks diverse views and fresh ways of thinking from different religions/traditions about Ultimate Questions: God, consciousness, person/self, evil/suffering, afterlife/reincarnation, world to come. It does not avoid hard differences; it celebrates them.   Featuring interviews with Yujin Nagasawa, Swami Sarvapriyananda, Venerable Dr. Yifa, Tao Jiang, Hamza Yusuf, Aaron Segal, Oludamini Ogunnaike, and Helen De Cruz.

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   Physicist and computer scientist Stephen Wolfram explores how simple rules can generate complex realities, offering a bold new vision of fundamental physics and the structure of the universe. Additionally, from the foundations of cellular automata to the discovery of surprising patterns in nature, Wolfram shows how computation reshapes our understanding of reality and revolutionizes the way we think about science.    Stephen Wolfram is a British-American computer scientist, physicist, and businessman. He is known for his work in computer algebra and theoretical physics. In 2012, he was named a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He is the founder and CEO of the software company Wolfram Research, where he works as chief designer of Mathematica and the Wolfram Alpha answer engine.

If you enjoy our content, consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   Humanity’s future is now framed by artificial intelligence (AI) and increasing interventions in the body to enhance features and functions. This is transhumanism. Considering the stakes, and the dangers, a philosophical perspective is imperative.   Featuring interviews with Paul Griffiths, Nathan Lents, Carol Cleland, Quayshawn Spencer, Rachell Powell, S. Joshua Swamidass, Terrence Deacon, and Massimo Pigliucci.

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.     What is the three-way relationship among mind, art, and transcendence? What is it about art that can elicit the sense of transcendence, going beyond the self, bursting the constraining bonds of semantic language? What is it about transcendence that it can be expressed by art? What in fact is transcendence, from a momentary escape from self to a full- blown mystical experience? How does the art-transcendence nexus engage the mind? We describe key terms and ideas.     Featuring interviews with Simone Schnall, Julio Bermudez, Judith Wolfe, Oludamini Ogunnaike, Jonathan Berger, and Anjan Chatterjee.

Make a donation of any amount to help Closer To Truth continue exploring the world's deepest questions.   Sexual questions abound. What is “normal” sexual behavior in light of diverse sexual variations? LGBTQ+ issues? Is sex in animal models relevant for human sexuality? A philosophical perspective can provide clarity.   Featuring interviews with Nathan Lents, Joshua Swamidass, Rachell Powell, Lisa Lloyd, and Quayshawn Spencer.   Watch all of Season 27 on the Closer To Truth website now.

Contribute what you can to support Closer To Truth and keep our content free without the need for paywalls.   Many people believe that out-of-the-body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs) are real. We do not assess the evidence and arguments, pro or con. We do explore what OBEs and NDEs would mean, if real, for theories of consciousness.   This episode features interviews with Bernardo Kastrup, Etzel Cardeña, Àlex Gómez-Marín, and Liad Mudrik.

Contribute what you can to help Closer To Truth continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   Two kinds of questions probe evolution vs. religion. The first explores discrepancies, even contradictions, between the science of evolution and the beliefs of religion. The second examines how religion itself evolved.   Featuring interviews with Richard Dawkins, Michael Ruse, Alexander Rosenberg, Helen De Cruz, Massimo Pigliucci, and Elliott Sober.

Contribute what you can to help Closer To Truth continue exploring the world's deepest questions.   Clement Vidal, philosopher of science and astrobiologist, discusses the idea of something rather than nothing, differing religious worldviews, fine tuning and metaphysics, and more.   Watch more CTT Chats here.   Dr. Clément Vidal is a philosopher with a background in logic and cognitive sciences. He is co-director of the 'Evo Devo Universe' community and founder of the 'High Energy Astrobiology' prize. To satisfy his intellectual curiosity when facing the big questions, he brings together many areas of knowledge such as cosmology, physics, astrobiology, complexity science, evolutionary theory and philosophy of science.

Contribute what you can to help Closer To Truth continue exploring the world's deepest questions.   What can evolution reveal about the developmental history of thinking and feeling? How did cognition and emotion (affect) co-develop over evolutionary time? Can evolution help solve the mystery of consciousness?   Featuring interviews with Peter Godfrey-Smith, S. Joshua Swamidass, Rachell Powell, Denis Noble, Terrence Deacon, Paul E. Griffiths, Helen De Cruz, and John Dupré.

Make a contribution of any amount to help Closer To Truth continue exploring life's deepest questions.   Dr. Mark Bailey writes about the intersection between artificial intelligence, complexity, and national security. He is an associate professor at the National Intelligence University, where he is the Department Chair for Cyber Intelligence and Data Science, as well as the Director of the Data Science Intelligence Center.   This Chat was made possible by MindFest 2025: "Sentience, Autonomy, and the Future of Human-AI Interaction", a two-day event presented by the Center for the Future Mind.   Watch more CTT Chats here.

What is “human” nature? While human beings are animals, we believe we are special, radically different from other animals. Why? What traits are unique to humans? Are we sure? How to explore human nature from an evolutionary perspective?     Featuring interviews with Quayshawn Spencer, Alexander Rosenberg, Massimo Pigliucci, Rachell Powell, Helen De Cruz, Paul E. Griffiths, and John Dupré.   Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls: https://shorturl.at/OnyRq

Donate any amount to help Closer To Truth continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   How do we define a soul? Can AI become consciousness? Julia Mossbridge discusses these questions along with the main trends in parapsychology, transpersonal psychology, and ESP research over the last decade.   Dr. Julia Mossbridge is an American cognitive neuroscientist, author, and educator who works on exceptional human performance including psi effects, notably on precognition and presentiment. She is Senior Distinguished Fellow in Human Potential at the Center for the Future Mind at Florida Atlantic University, Member of the Loomis Innovation Council at the nonpartisan Stimson Center, Affiliate Professor in the Department of Biophysics and Physics at University of San Diego, and founder and board chair of the nonprofit TILT: The Institute for Love and Time.

Contribute what you can to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   Two big ideas in biology: the evolution of species via mutation, fitness and natural selection; and the embryological development of individuals, from fertilized egg to whole organisms. How do these two big ideas—“Evo-Dev,” as it’s called—relate? What novel ideas emerge?   Featuring interviews with Denis Noble, Richard Dawkins, Alexander Rosenberg, Philip Kitcher, Alan C. Love, and John Dupré.

James Hughes Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and a bioethicist and sociologist who serves as the Associate Provost for Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning for the University of Massachusetts Boston. He holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Chicago, where he also taught bioethics at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. Dr. Hughes is author of Citizen Cyborg and co-editor of Surviving the Machine Age.   Watch all of our CTT Chats here.   This Chat was made possible by MindFest 2025: "Sentience, Autonomy, and the Future of Human-AI Interaction", a two-day event presented by the Center for the Future Mind. To learn more about groundbreaking innovation in AI, neuroscience, and the study of consciousness, visit the Center for the Future Mind, view MindFest videos, and subscribe to their newsletter, visit their website.

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   While evolution is how life on earth came to be, where does the evolution occur? At what level of the hierarchy of life—from genes to individuals to groups to species—does evolution work its selection magic? Is it multilevel?   Featuring interviews with Richard Dawkins, Lisa Lloyd, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Paul Griffiths, Elliott Sober, and Samir Okasha.

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   How will AI-generated deepfakes reshape truth, trust, and society? Can AI someday merge with human consciousness? Futurist Zoltan Istvan explores the disruptive power of synthetic media—from political deception to personal identity—and what it means for the future of ethics, law, and reality itself.   Zoltan Istvan Gyurko, professionally known as Zoltan Istvan, is an American transhumanist, journalist, entrepreneur, political candidate, and futurist.

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls: https://shorturl.at/OnyRq   Explore evolution—its scope and depth. How did life on earth come to be as it is, and how did humans come to be as we are? What are the deep principles driving evolution? What are evolution’s challenges and open questions?   Featuring interviews with Elliott Sober, Richard Dawkins, Samir Okasha, John Dupré, Denis Noble, and Michael Ruse.   Episode 1, Season 27

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   Chris French discusses his latest book, The Science of Weird Shit, where he convincingly debunks ESP, communicating with the dead, and alien abduction claims, among other phenomena. All the while, however, French maintains that our belief in such phenomena is neither ridiculous nor trivial; if anything, such claims can tell us a great deal about the human mind if we pay them the attention they are due.   Chris French is Emeritus Professor and Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit in the Psychology Department at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a Patron of Humanists UK. He is the coauthor of Anomalistic Psychology: Exploring Paranormal Belief and Experience.

Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls.   What could life be as we don’t know it? Three transitions in astrobiology. Non-life to life. Life to intelligent life. Intelligent life to technological civilization. For alien life, would Darwinian evolution hold? Fermi’s Paradox is profound: with at least 10 22 planets in the known universe, we find no evidence of alien life, anywhere, much less alien intelligence. Is there a great filter?   Featuring interviews with Carol Cleland, Richard Dawkins, Rachell Powell, Massimo Pigliucci, and Helen De Cruz.

Jonathan Schooler is an American psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who researches various topics that intersect aspects of both cognitive psychology and philosophy such as: Belief in free will, meta-awareness, mindfulness, mind-Wandering, memory, creativity, and emotion. Schooler is also known for his sometimes controversial research on topics such as Anomalous Cognition and the decline effect.   This interview was made possible by MindFest 2025: "Sentience, Autonomy, and the Future of Human-AI Interaction", a two-day event led by Dr. Susan Schneider and the Center for the Future Mind at Florida Atlantic University. To learn more about groundbreaking innovation in AI, neuroscience, and the study of consciousness, visit the Center for the Future Mind website and subscribe to their newsletter.