Truth Driven Thinking Forum

[workinprogress]

I've been on my journey to find truth and meaning for most of my adult life. There have been times when I was just too busy with work and family to wonder about whether the universe had a creator and left instructions for us in one of the world's many religions. Now that I'm older (50) and have more free time, I've spent the last five years or so reading books on philosophy and science and searching the internet, looking for answers.

The podcast revolution has been a big part of life over the last year or so. Now that I have my Ipod, I never listen to the radio anymore! I don't listen to a lot of music these days, instead I've bought audiobooks for my Ipod (including truth driventhinking and A Secret of the Universe). But most of what I'm listening to are podcast shows. Some are network products like the public broadcast shows, but many of my favourites are from independent podcasters who produce content that would have never seen the light of day before this new media got started. On my Itunes directory I have: A Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, The Brain Science Podcast, Dogma Free America, Escape Pod, Astronomy Cast, Skeptoid, The Jimmy Doane Show, Evolution 101 and of course Truth Driven Thinking -- all produced by people who put a lot of time and effort into educating the public, so I hope I'm not the only one listening!

One in particular, the Brain Science Podcast by Ginger Campbell, has motivated me to focus my search on an area of science that I never really looked at previously -- the brain and consciousness research. I'm finding a lot of questions about free will, ethics, decision-making, nature vs. nurture, whether there is an immaterial soul -- are all questions that are being answered or are being pieced together by a better understanding of how the brain functions. And two of the episodes deal with recent discoveries about how crucial the emotional response is to helping us make intelligent decisions and decide what to retain in memory. http://brainsciencepodcast.com/ episodes 11 and 6
So far, I have the impression that Steven sees truth driven thinking as something opposite to emotion driven thinking. But these new discoveries seem to indicate that our emotions are essential and have to be incorporated in the task of determining the truth.

[Steve Gibson]

Thanks so much. Couldn't agree more that we are all works in progress, and that's a great handle. I will definitely check out the brain podcast you mention. I too have been listening to All in the Mind, on Australia's ABC podcast. Agree with your last statements, and some podcasts and post lately have involved my newfound appreciation for what it means to be human, and increasingly I'm toying with considering limits to how/where Truth-Driven Thinking needs to be applied. (At the same time my disclaimer has always been that TDT was first directed toward earthly policy and governance issues, which still seem to beg for less emotion, and more science in order to serve the greatest possible good.)

Thanks for sharing! Also am with you on the count of not having listened to AM radio for years since getting my IPOD. I used to be a talk junkie, but was SO ready to be done with it for good, as the monolithic, overy simple, partisan drivel (from both sides) was driving me nuts. Cheers!
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Steve Gibson,
Reforming emotion-driven thinker

[workinprogress]

Thanks Steven.
I have three episodes of A Secret of the Universe on my Ipod also, but I'm waiting for a little time to get into the story. I find that I like to listen to different types of podcasts depending on what I'm doing.

When I'm driving, I don't want to listen to anything that requires too much thinking or concentration, so I'll put on the news and commentary shows. I like to be free to concentrate more fully on the science and philosophy podcasts in my collection. Same with the short fiction podcasts; I don't want to be really getting into a story and run through a red light. Maybe it's my age, but I have very little music on my Ipod. The only time I spend listening to music is when I'm out running or working out at the gym.

So far, big media is way behind the curve when it comes to podcasting. Maybe they just don't see enough of an income stream to really get into it. Public broadcasting has alot more to offer. But I find the independents to be the most interesting. I learned alot about the essentials of genomics from the Evolution 101 podcast by Zachary Moore http://www.drzach.net/podcast.htm The series on Junk DNA was based largely from materials taken from the Talkorigins website, but is easier to understand. And the Brain Science Podcast I mentioned previously, introduced me to just how much has been learned about brain function in recent years. If I hadn't come across that one, I wouldn't have been motivated to do further reading on the subject.

[Steve Gibson]

Funny you say that, because I try to follow the podcasting industry news to some degree, but still am unclear about where it is going. I too, live with the ipod, as it would seem a growing number of people do. At the same time we are used to free stuff now, and I'm not sure how that ever gets "monitized" as the buzz-word goes. Ads are tough to sell and meet with resistance. People like me or Point of Inquiry can consider it a public service and perhaps promotional tool too, but I confess a mixed sense of the future. It reminds me of when everyone said web sites would level the playing field and give each person his/her own printing press. True, but the noise level rose so much that only a few voices where heard, and usually, despite cute videos on youtube, it remains the companies with big promotional budgets that dominate the web--with a few notable exceptions. My sense is that TV/radio programs from big media will sneak up on podcasting as well.

Gosh, that was a tangent, eh? . Thanks again!
_________________
Steve Gibson,
Reforming emotion-driven thinker

[workinprogress]

What I find the most disappointing about internet blogging and journalism is how news and information is becoming compartmentalized for their audiences. I have two news aggregators: Drudgereport and Hinessight. Their front pages highlight the stories that are of interest to their selective audiences, so Drudge will carry everything that bashes Hillary and little of the negative news from the Iraq War. Hines does the opposite, and if you line up competing liberal and conservative news blogs, it's easy to see how people who are set in their opinions can find just the kind of information they want without being troubled with facts that don't fit in to their respective worldviews. I still belong to a conservative discussion forum, and I don't know how many times I've posted comments related to major stories in the news about Iraq, George Bush, global warming or scandals in fundamentalist churches that the group has been almost totally oblivious to because it hasn't been mentioned on their favourite sites. It's not a good omen for the future.

[workinprogress]

Podcasting will probably only work as a promotional tool. Some new authors of short fiction have found their audience by posting some of their stories in audio form on the Escape Pod and Pseudopod podcasts. Science fiction writer Scott Sigler posted an entire novel -- Earthcore -- free of charge as an audiobook to promote his work. I guess you have to be a fairly prolific writer for this method to work.

[Steve Gibson]

Yeah, I was aware of those, and in fact have launched my new novel with similar complementary media/promotion (as you know--www.asecretoftheuniverse.com), but I was thinking more in terms of the many podcasts to which I listen, none of which are about writing/books. Just pondering the future model of who will deliver the content to our ears, now that you and I are both addicted to audio as a great and convenient means of "reading" and learning. Of course as a podcaster I love to hear all the podcasters who say the medium will find its revenue streams, but I remain skeptical (as if that were surprising, eh:-).

Also, I found Brain Food, but not Brain Science. Can you post a link? (Like the Brain Food btw:-).

Cheers!!
_________________
Steve Gibson,
Reforming emotion-driven thinker

[workinprogress]