#117 – Sheldon Solomon: Death and Meaning

About this episode

<p>Sheldon Solomon is a social psychologist, a philosopher, co-developer of Terror Management Theory, co-author of The Worm at the Core.</p> <p>Please support this channel by supporting our sponsors:<br /> &#8211; Blinkist: <a href="https://blinkist.com/lex">https://blinkist.com/lex</a><br /> – ExpressVPN at&#160;<a href="https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod">https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod</a><br /> – Cash App: download app &#38; use code &#8220;LexPodcast&#8221;</p> <p>Episode links:<br /> Sheldon&#8217;s Website: <a href="https://www.skidmore.edu/psychology/faculty/solomon.php">https://www.skidmore.edu/psychology/faculty/solomon.php</a><br /> The Worm at the Core (book): <a href="https://amzn.to/31hQAXH">https://amzn.to/31hQAXH</a><br /> Denial of Death (book): <a href="https://amzn.to/329Zxl4">https://amzn.to/329Zxl4</a></p> <p>If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/podcast">https://lexfridman.com/podcast</a>&#160;or connect with @lexfridman on <a href="https://twitter.com/lexfridman">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@lexfridman">Medium</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman">YouTube</a> where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artificial-intelligence/id1434243584">Apple Podcasts</a>, follow on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2MAi0BvDc6GTFvKFPXnkCL">Spotify</a>, or support it on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman">Patreon</a>.</p> <p>Here&#8217;s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.</p> <p>OUTLINE:<br /> 00:00 &#8211; Introduction<br /> 05:34 &#8211; Role of death in life<br /> 22:57 &#8211; Jordan Peterson<br /> 53:02 &#8211; Humans are both selfish and cooperative<br /> 56:57 &#8211; Civilization collapse<br /> 1:10:07 &#8211; Meditating on your mortality<br /> 1:16:10 &#8211; Kierkegaard and Heidegger<br /> 1:33:25 &#8211; Elon Musk<br /> 1:36:56 &#8211; Thinking deeply about death<br /> 1:45:53 &#8211; Religion<br /> 1:56:59 &#8211; Consciousness<br /> 2:03:39 &#8211; Why is Ernest Becker not better known<br /> 2:07:09 &#8211; AI and mortality<br /> 2:21:07 &#8211; Academia should welcome renegade thinkers<br /> 2:36:33 &#8211; Book recommendations<br /> 2:43:23 &#8211; Advice for young people<br /> 2:48:17 &#8211; Meaning of life</p>