#117 – Sheldon Solomon: Death and Meaning

Sheldon Solomon is a social psychologist, a philosopher, co-developer of Terror Management Theory, co-author of The Worm at the Core.

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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

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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