This episode is sponsored by BluBlox. Go to https://blublox.com/impacttheory for 15% off your order or use discount code ImpactTheory at checkout.
Experiencing the world as it is, isn't really possible when you consider that reality is actually created by your brain's perception of what is. Don Hoffman is a cognitive psychologist that argues that organisms develop their perception of the world directed towards fitness payoffs and not reality. Everything from our perception of reality is taken in through what Don would relate to a spacetime simulator that we are experiencing through a virtual reality headset. Just as Oculus creates an experience that can make you feel as though you are actually skydiving or on a roller coaster, so is the life we believe to be reality.
Order Donald's latest book, 'The Case Against Reality: https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-Reality-Evolution-Truth/dp/0393254690
SHOW NOTES:
0:00 | Introduction Don Hoffman
0:38 | Perception of Reality
7:10 | Seeing a VR World
11:30 | Spacetime Simulator
14:09 | Fundamental Nature of Consciousness
19:54 | Headset of Spacetime
26:17 | What's Next for Spacetime
QUOTES:
'You just think you're opening our eyes and seeing the truth. You're seeing a VR world that you're projecting out there in real-time.' [11:07]
'Our free choices are not part of our conscious experiences. You can't directly experience your own free choices. You can experience that you chose, but you can never actually experience yourself choosing.' [18:56]
'We're programmed by natural selection, to buy into the illusion that objects exist even when they're not perceived...' [23:31]
'Most of what I've believed very deeply, has been very deeply wrong. Most of what humanity has believed very deeply has been very deeply wrong.' [26:35]
Follow Don Hoffman
Website:http://www.cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/donalddhoffman
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donalddhoffman
We are the only ones who have access to light. There is just one life, and we shall all become light because we are just playing on this world for a brief period.When our bodily conventions wear off, we will travel back to our true and final home. Don't put your faith in this fleeting life.
@WhisperingMeadowss Says:
Such an amazing video!!!!❤️Makes so much sense to me, really love his explanations on this topic. I haven’t watched that many of your videos but he’s definitely one of my favorite guests you’ve had on.
@yamesotericist4188 Says:
Our civilization can only exist in the Matrix, i.e. illusory.
Proof 1. One day I was looking at an old photograph of my car in front of my country house. Everything is in the right place; I immediately imagined and remembered the position where the picture was taken from. The car is on the left entrance, right, to the left of it is a young thuja, and to the right is a walnut tree. The steering wheel is also on the left and suddenly ... Huge cold goosebumps ran down my spine!!! ... !!! ... The registration number of the car was written backwards??? Matrix can neither write nor read!!!
Proof 2. I once read about a woman scientist doing experiments on her brain. And suddenly she had a hemorrhage, the entire left hemisphere of the brain failed. She realized that she needed to make a phone call, took a business card and read the phone number for half an hour!!! Because it looked to her in pixels!!!
Proof 3. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3vwpwQYHwLss2y99S4F3Rg).
@neko6 Says:
There's a big gap in the matrix theory. If my consciousness is experiencing a simulation , why would other people be real? Why waste resources making a connected simulation when a direct simulation would be just as good? And if I'm the only "real person" in my reality and everyone else are NPCs, that's not really q useful or interesting world
@russtyruss_i-Invest Says:
Nichola Tesla probably tapped into some of the space time basics and source code. Except, he was taken advantage of and controlled. Eventually, his work was suppressed and his material, documentation and all were confiscated...
@russtyruss_i-Invest Says:
Tom, you and Lewis Howes are the channelers of exposure on so many topics, just love both of your stuff! So much food for thought and in many cases conclusions. Thanks for so many great videos.
The observer effect can change reality...see Bruce Lipton in What the bleep do we know?, Dr Masaru Emoto the effect of words on water...everything starts in the mind, the foundation of individual reality differs from person to person and everything can exist as long as there is belief. Belief is the greatest power of all.
The power of positive thinking, what a man thinketh, think and grow rich, science of success, as above-so below, The Secret, Thrive; what on earth will it take, Zeitgeist....so many to watch.
@elena-251 Says:
Wow , awesome 🙏
@geojay9855 Says:
<3
@QuantumBusinessman Says:
Loved this episode. Thank you Tom. And when the hologram / matrix has a timeline insertion (for example), it manifests as a Mandela Effect. Further evidence of what Donald Hoffman explains as what reality most likely is.
@bexualhealing Says:
His book is amazing - definitely recommend
@Ryanlynn222 Says:
Thank you !! For interview with him I love mind picking things 🙏
@eavyeavy2864 Says:
Redpill lmao. If matrix Actually reveal the truth, the wont let you watch it. You are sleeping person telling everyone to wake up
@contractnotes4122 Says:
He is wrong when he says the Red Corvette is not there in the computer when you turn your head away. As a computer games programmer, I can assure you that the Red Corvette still exists inside the computer as a set of 0s and 1s (which he calls a bunch of numbers), even if you turn your head away from the Corvette. The Corvette is represented as a bunch of 3D coordinates and triangles and textures on those triangles inside the computer memory even if you turn your head away from it. Everything in a classical computer, on a hard drive or data coming over the Internet is just a bunch of 0s and 1s. It is the microprocessors in conjunction with the software written for those microprocessors that interprets those numbers and give those numbers meaning. Maybe that is similar to what the human brain does with the millions of numbers that the retina at the back of the eye produces.
@Mikapita1 Says:
"Moon is still there if there is no human to perceive it" how do you prove that?
@Streetzlegend Says:
Can someone define what is referred to as "headset" in this context?
@futuresrush Says:
Open Minded to this. Very interesting
@rosielily9984 Says:
and so it begins, wait until you find out about MK ultra, clones etc.
@rmohamed786 Says:
The traditionalists believe that the truth is veiled from us and we are living in a state of “maya” or illusion. Does modern science really equip us for unveiling the Real? At best, perhaps it will help create another “Headset” to decipher our current “Headset”….The Real cannot be found without the guidance from the Real..we have generations of wisdom from scriptures showing us how to obtain the guidance .. Modern science is self limiting to use anything beyond the mental domain in its method to explore and discover. We need to, not only open our Minds but also our Hearts to illuminate the intellect within us to know who we are and our purpose. If we think we can do this somehow without the necessary spiritual discipline to condition our hearts for acquiring this Knowledge, we risk continuing to delude ourselves remaining further veiled from Truth
@Danilla229 Says:
man, always thought the reality is vertual, just word for word Donald Hoffman says. Though my theory has a little crazy part. I think religious idea that not all creatures have a soul, means that not all creatures in our reality are players, some are NPCs or bots.^^
@Ende-01 Says:
yes, dmt is basically allowing the headset to come off
@Kaohteeko Says:
Does anyone else think that his voice sounds like the generic Microsoft Windows Voice over AI???
@paullevine7959 Says:
Fascinating to think who/what/how wrote the source code called consciousness.
@rajeevgangal542 Says:
Another false prophet masquerading as a scientist! So what about life before advent of higher order beings before us? Was the simulation, simulator wasting millions of years just on a whim till we arrived to appreciate we were simulated? We need to believe hokum if we believe in natural selection? Nuts
@crybear1976 Says:
So close to the truth... You're missing the key and it's been right in front of you for hundreds of years. Likely discarded out of hand and spite.
@GiedriusMisiukas Says:
3:45 on the importance of math and logic
4:40 on some Christian philosophers
12:30 did you know you have never seen reality and that you just always have been mastering playing GTA type game that you call Life? ;) Talking about addiction to gaming GTA, lol. #wizards of the #gta #game
20:50 on youth, next generation, tech/VR users, who spend a lot of time in VR will get it much easier. #immersion. Visible world is just a headset too.
@davidtilson9830 Says:
dons fake background proves were in a simulation
@fxlasse Says:
Death Doesn't Exist
@Rufusbrown75 Says:
This isn’t over your head. It’s 3’d grade chatter. We know know things truly in part without knowing the whole. As well as the obvious our perception of a thing will increase and become more accurate as we observe. Thanks for the heads up. If he doesn’t trust his senses why should we listen to him.
@hyrulelink16 Says:
Did dude has no idea how video games/VR works. The object's don't vanish when you don't look at them.
@jackwilliam7176 Says:
A $32,000 profit sent to my portfolio each week, mrs Marni Lynn Menden is amazing.
@peterhorak3602 Says:
These 30 minutes have been completely over my head 😆
@connectingthesciences Says:
We are fundamentally designed to compress information. The problem/error in his idea is starting from an objective reality and ending there. Communication is mapping your subjective reality to an objective reality so others can gain a subjective understanding. Its just an error in the way Americans are raised but you cant make objective decisions (objective means it already defined what is the decision to make) he is mistaking calculations for choices ( this visual in MRI machines) that just half your brain talking to itself . With 7bits of ram and 120 bit/s no one exist in objective reality just influenced by it. We get to experience our choices when we stop talking to ourselves that something get when you get really comfortable with an instrument. He is treating himself like a CPU but we don't process information we label data( good vs bad) and act( go, no go) maximize total affect.
@dkartik2636 Says:
Ancient Indian Saints prays daily to remove this veil of ignorance by hymns maybe the veil of ignorance is the Headset !
@ericaluke5448 Says:
*"THE BIGGEST RISK OF ALL IS NOT TAKING ONE ."* —MRS BLOSSOM JEFFERSON.
@confusingcomic9682 Says:
To everyone currently reading this, never underestimate your potential, especially when you are down and feel like life is being unfair and harsh with you. It is not. Life is fair in its unfairness, and it happens FOR you, not to you. Just observe your mind, cultivate your heart while keeping your head up while marching on.
@johnb8854 Says:
*We, that is to say "LIFE The Real Self", ( "AWARENESS" ) which is Non-Dimensional, and does NOT represent, nor even remotely look like any species, including the human species, does NOT reside in the Matrix or more correctly the 'Holographic Simulation', but instead resides outside a small Display Register, displaying the 'Holographic Simulation' in "The Processing System of LIFE" !*
@westpalmone670 Says:
You don't have to be from the younger generation with exposure to VR headsets to better grasp what is being explored here.
We've all experienced a perfect example of a virtual world probably going back as far as early homo sapiens and possibly beyond, it's called "d
Dreaming", an alternative existence, and unlike the crude VR headset, is every bit as realistic as our "so called" reality, sometimes with the added experience of bending "the rules" like flying or breathing underwater, going back chronological in age etc!
Our whole experience is dictated by our "brain's" number crunching and interpretation of the raw data, but where does it end? Is the raw data (the data we are constantly decoding) a virtual representation itself?
Fascinating sh!t, and a great steam brother 👏🏼
@Air-Soda Says:
Are our consciences even individual ?
Perhaps our "minds" are fragments of one single "consciousness".
A true separation (independence) doesn't makes sense, everything seems to be connected.
@krystishore12 Says:
When will Freelee the banana girl be welcomed on the show???!!!
@TomFromGroupon Says:
26:58 ... this dude a flat earther too ?!
@kindalikeu.....5948 Says:
Pray , pray, for Ukraine. My heart goes out to these people🦋🙏
@MatthewChavezMBS Says:
It's very comforting to know there are other lucid gamers out there who really understand how all of this is working. Right here with you man!
@MatthewChavezMBS Says:
When you move around, you don't actually go anywhere. If your going to walk from your house to the park, you don't go to the park, the park comes to you.
@rawstarmusic Says:
No no no Tom, Russia is invading in the reality. Stop the flume talk and not fool people around
@eriamhsl3841 Says:
Lmfao. Go away from mindfulness and appreciation to a world that doesn't exist. Yes. Escapism at it's best.
@pg20xx Says:
Yes its called Maya !
@PeachyP1nk Says:
omg should i start caring more about my roblox avatar
@gitgenlove Says:
Levels of consciousness, basic people, superstars, celebrities, politicians.
@BestOfTikTok2026 Says:
Here is an example I use. You never have free choice, because you are always operating in a set of parameters. And if you don't doubt we are in a feedback loop of technology, just picture the future. Say VR gets so immersive and indistinguishable from our current realty. Then in said VR reality, things get boring, because you get what you want. Then you say, well, I need some struggle in this VR. So, you create a game in the VR, something tough and fun to play with, and interact as if the new reality. Well, in time, that also will get boring, until you create a new form of which is separated from your current state. And that will never end.
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