Special metaphysics and foreign policy issue!
What is it like to be a bat? Or a blobster?
How many newsletters do you know of that, in a single issue, deal with both the mind-body problem and the American foreign policy problem? (No fair answering that question with the question, “How many readers want a newsletter that does both of those things?”)
Below you’ll find:
(1) A revised version of the animated micro-lecture on consciousness that I produced in collaboration with Nikita Petrov and that we workshopped with paid subscribers two months ago. (Those of you who complained about the electric-guitar transitions will be glad to hear that they’re gone—the people have spoken!);
(2) A brand new animated micro-lecture that’s a sequel to that micro-lecture;
(3) A conversation about the foreign policy “Blob,” which I had on The Wright Show with alleged (by me) blobster Thomas Wright (no relation) of the Brookings Institution, who was mentioned in my recent essay on blobology and who kindly agreed to debate the whole Blob question with me. Below the video of our conversation you’ll find:
(4) a short excerpt from the conversation which has some relevance (as I explain below the excerpt) to a Blob-related piece I posted last week, “Steven Pinker and the Apocalypse”.
As always, comments welcome.
(Cleaned up) transcript of the part of the video that begins around the 29-minute mark:
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