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