Eric Weinstein is close to the intersection of science, math and spirituality (or religion). He is skeptical that someone can do multi-dimensional math and science in deep meditation (satori, samadhi, mystical rapture). I think this is possible (not yet figured out how to do it).
Many ancients in narrative stories are described as combining science, math and spirituality. Including the great 7 sages (of the east, Sumeria and Egypt). Including Vishwamitra. Including Hinanyaksha and Hiranyakashipu.
I hope that our current crop of science and math thought leaders fully self actualize.
Eric describes the many theisms that different groups of people have, including in physics, math, AI, liberal arts, silicon valley, local governance, national governance, international institutions, globalization, politics.
One of the goals of religion is to transcend all theisms seeking the truth alone. The goal of religion is atheism. Theisms being:
- irrationalities
- unverified assumptions
- patterns in the subconcious {Chitta}
- habits
- pre-religion
- all methods and paths and preparation for religion included in religious literature, including all sounds, words, music and the various levels of meditation.
Eric is exceptionally good at breaking all theisms. Sadly those who break all icons and assumptions tend to get demonized. The Intellectual Dark Web–including Eric Weinstein–are being attacked as predicted by beautitudes Matthew 5:10-12:
- Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
- Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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“He is skeptical that someone can do multi-dimensional math and science in meditation. I think this is possible (not yet figured out how to do it)”
Well, it depends what you mean by this. Does simply concentrating upon a particular image or object count as a form of meditation? In this case, any geometer who has spent time visualizing higher-dimensional objects (like “polytopes”) has engaged in multidimensional mathematical meditation.
But would you also count, e.g., someone playing blindfold chess, as engaged in meditation? That also requires unusual mental discipline and abilities…
Mitchell and Sumit, I meant deep meditation. Some call it Satori, samprajnata samaapatti samadhi, conciousness, Tao, rapture etc.
Many neuroscientists have studied it. It is correlated with low O2 levels in the blood, slower heart beat, slower breathing, the body creating psychedelic chemicals and patterns in the autonomic nervous system, its subset the parasympathetic nervous system, and its subset the vagus nerve.
Combining scientific mathematical action with this absorption state is challenging.
Brown Pundits Browncast Podcast is planning interviews on this subject. Is this of interest?
We plan to interview Mark Gober. And then perhaps other physicists, neuroscientists and pscychologists studying these areas.
“He is skeptical that someone can do multi-dimensional math and science in meditation. I think this is possible (not yet figured out how to do it).”
Does it have to be “in meditation” ?
There is a trend among Silicon Valley types to take microdoses of LSD to boost creative problem solving.
There is also the more common strategy of going to sleep with a difficult problem in mind and waking up with the answer.
Why do these methods work to enhance creative problem solving ability ?
I suspect it is because much of the creative problem solving is happening at a sub-conscious level and then only later bubbling up into our consciousness. These methods are ways to allow the brain to make unusual connections, in order to come up with solutions.
We can define meditation as directing attention in a particular way that is different to normal patterns and modes of attention.
The cultivation of these practices can lead to different types of ‘fruit’, depending on the practice and the practitioner’s own individual proclivities.
So meditation or more broadly Sadhana is not a singular thing, but a set of different practices.
Some of which can be used to enhance creative, problem solving, others can be used to implant ideas into the subconsious, others to help see through the illusion of selfhood etc..
Its hard to say percisely how effective these things (LSD, or sadhana, or sleep as a problem solving tool) are, because the mind is a black box, and causality of mental insight is non-linear and chaotic.