Jonathan Blow: Consciousness, Game Design, & Free Will

Curt Jaimungal September 28, 2021
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Curt Jaimungal

@theoriesofeverything

About

Exploring theoretical physics, consciousness, Ai, and philosophy in a technical manner. Visit https://curtjaimungal.substack.com for early access videos and extra writings. My name's Curt Jaimungal, a Torontonian with a degree in mathematical physics from the University of Toronto and I analyze various Theories of Everything from this analytic perspective. The separating factor of TOE from other podcasts is its focus on depth even at the risk of limiting the audience due to how much detail we delve into subjects, paralleling the intensity found in academic discourse. Theories of Everything is known for being the most technical podcast in the physics, math, and philosophy space, as its audience is geared toward academics / researchers / faculty. Contact toe [at] indiefilmTO [dot] com for business inquiries / sponsorship. Guests do not pay to appear.

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Jon Blow is the renown designer of The Witness, and Braid. Sponsors: https://brilliant.org/TOE for 20% off. http://algo.com for supply chain AI. Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802 Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything Merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch LINKS MENTIONED: -Jon's talk on video game ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCVVLAs9mJU -Jon's talk on motivation and burnout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7kh8pNRWOo -Iain McGilchrist interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-SgOwc6Pe4 -Rupert Spira interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocP6JSyicY0 THANK YOU: -BigPhilCombo (on the discord) for managing the Discord voluntarily and making it a place where almost 900 people talk respectfully TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:46 Jon recounting people using him for clicks 00:05:53 Too many wannabe gurus, and not enough instruction in our culture 00:08:00 Curt's mainupulation of the "formal" aspects of film is owed to Jonathan 00:09:34 The goal of understanding the universe (what does that mean?) 00:17:23 How understanding oneself is related to understanding the universe 00:19:41 Limits of language and "truth" 00:25:10 Video game design and building one's own TOE 00:33:22 Examples of what works and doesn't in game design for Braid's aesthetics 00:44:03 Game mechanics vs the "theme" 00:54:29 Not being able to explain true art 00:56:06 True art vs. "propaganda" 01:04:01 Dislike of contemporary art 01:12:06 Jon on video game reviews (and discussions on art, in general) 01:32:32 Specifics on how Jon does video game design 01:42:02 Rupert Spira in The Witness 01:47:08 Original ideas are difficult 01:49:34 Meditation and life long insights from single moments 02:00:20 Materialism vs. qualia vs. stories vs. models 02:06:25 Wolfram's physics model 02:09:21 Free Will is too "simple" 02:16:12 Super Bunyhop's and Joseph Anderson's review of The Witness 02:16:39 Dunkey? 02:16:45 VR is interesting but not for immersion 02:22:54 Stanley Parable 02:23:36 OpenAI applied to video games 02:26:00 Unreal Engine 5, hype? 02:31:24 [ForceField] On Henri Bergson 02:32:49 [stef] How do you achieve subconscious artistic expression in game making 02:34:41 [Steven Brent] Videos games better than other mediums for certain emotional expressions? 02:36:45 [Pooja Soni] Video games and helping mental illnesses / adjunct to therapy 02:40:27 [James R] Mind uploading 02:43:31 [Tom] Analytic / rational vs. intuitive / supra-rational  02:45:34 [Chris Merola] Stephen's Sausage Roll is one of the best puzzle games 02:48:42 [championchap] Having aphantasia and designing games 02:49:50 [Brian Mauch] Ask why the industry has gone to "shit"? 02:51:41 [James Jones] On Neuralink 02:53:37 [Johannes Norrbacka] Jai and opinion on other data-oriented languages 02:56:33 [Lara Lebeu] What connects him to non-duality teachers? (because of the Rupert Spira video in The Witness) 02:59:35 We're at a stagnation point in society 03:04:00 [Mr. K] "Yeah: wtf is Kojima working on lol" 03:04:16 [ZenoEvil - Meaning Machines] Why hasn't Braid's success led to copycats? 03:06:31 [Wes Lord] Getting over burnout and other motivational issues 03:08:45 [bc1n0] "Please beta access to Jai? Will pay $100 for access." 03:10:54 [Michael Bespalov] Hades' early access model 03:13:22 How does playtesting work? And how does Jon use it? 03:15:25 [Ivan] Thoughts on state of free speech in the world 03:21:07 Eric Weinstein, Peter Theil, and stagnation (again) 03:26:02 SCRUM? Kanban? What's the work process? 03:29:49 [Ruari VK] Why is it called 'The Witness'? * * * Just wrapped (April 2021) a documentary called Better Left Unsaid http://betterleftunsaidfilm.com on the topic of "when does the left go too far?" Visit that site if you'd like to watch it.

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