Episode 35: Constructing Our Lives
Episode 35 of M3CS’s Contemplative Science Podcast saw Dr Shamil Chandaria come on to the show to talk about predictive processing, generative models and why spiritual practices work the way that they do.
For the full podcast, check out the episode here.
In this episode, we cover...
The human brain: predictive processing, evolution, priors and Bayesian modelling.
Why meditation is about getting to grips with the way we construct the world.
How to turn the volume down on the system and ‘dereify’ our thoughts and emotions.
Dr Shamil Chandaria is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing at University of Oxford. With a multidisciplinary background in philosophy of science and philosophical issues in biology, he is a renowned expert in the field of predictive processing and the understanding of the human experience.
Here are some of the key insights from the conversation...
In predictive processing, our insights and intuitions are known as ‘priors’.
”You know, some priors are given to us by evolution. So, for example, it's a very general way of looking, not just at what's going on in the brain, but even what's going on in biology... so one of the top level priors that we might have, is that our blood sugar should be between 4 millimoles per litre and 8 millimoles per litre, or something like this. That's given to us by billions of years of evolution.”
The significance of the errors produced in the predictive processing model can be altered by the lens through which we see the world.
”In fact, we might bring it back to this idea of, what is wellbeing? If you now have the insight of, say for example, impermanence: that everything is just a process... everything is just an impermanent flux and that is the nature of things... then, as my awareness is bathed through this ever-changing shimmering flux, those are not errors anymore.”
Mindfulness practice can show us that our every thought and emotion is just a process.
”And whatever the weather that's going on... whether it's stormy or windy, the sky is unaffected. And then we start to notice that what we think of ourselves as, turns out to be just this show of thoughts and sensations and emotions and perspectives... and we can notice that that's just a process and what we end up with is maybe just resting in the sky. And that can be very beautiful.”
The best place to find Dr Shamil is here.
See you next week!
