Mind the Dash: Forging a Meaningful Life with Dean Rickles PhD
Original Air Date Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Most teenagers’ default setting is mimetic desire. Before online technologies were ubiquitous, teens would mimic the behavior of familial or social influences to shape their morality and conduct. During times of quiet reflection, they indulged in self-assessment.
But with social media algorithms designed to manipulate the mind through wasted time, there are entire age groups that are becoming externally referenced. To discover ways to retain our individualism, Positive Psychology Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with author and professor Dean Rickles PhD. Dean offers a philosophical and psychological look into the damaging effects of social media on social connections. He shares the core principles from his book Life is Short: An Appropriately Brief Guide to Making it More Meaningful as examples of how death can be a driver to embark on a richer, more meaningful life.
Dean Rickles PhD — Forging a Meaningful Life:
- Dean describes the focus of his Seneca-esque book Life is Short: An Appropriately Brief Guide to Making it More Meaningful and shares why he canceled his social media accounts. [1:56]
- Capturing the mind’s attention is the capital that is paid to use social media. [8:31]
- Lisa and Dean discuss distractions, dopamine hits, social connection, and death. [19:13]
- Philosophy is the ultimate self-help tool about how to live and how to die. [28:14]
- Derived from his book, Dean describes the ideal balance between wise and childish poles. [30:52]
Dean Rickles PhD is a professor of history and philosophy of modern physics at the University of Sydney and the co-director of the Centre for Time. Dean briefly trained as a concert pianist at the London College of Music. He is the author of many books, including histories of String Theory and quantum gravity, and two recent books: Life is Short: An Appropriately Brief Guide to Making it More Meaningful (Princeton University Press, 2022) and Dual-Aspect Monism and the Deep Structure of Meaning (Routledge, 2022 – co-authored with Harald Atmanspacher).
Book: Life is Short: An Appropriately Brief Guide to Making it More Meaningful
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“Philosophy is the ultimate self-help tool.” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“We can choose how we choose to show up for life.” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Attention is the capital in the social media world.” — Dean Rickles on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Most people are always making ready for the future rather than actually living. So they never actually end up living.” — Dean Rickles on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“On social media, you end up spending so much time browsing through other people's lives or trying to figure out what you want to project out to the world about yourself that you stop focusing on making yourself a certain way.” — Dean… Click To Tweet“When you get pulled into a trance the data stream is manipulating you.” — Dean Rickles on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“You can make rats into drug addicts very quickly.” — Dean Rickles on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “If you didn't face death you wouldn't have realizations, it wouldn't force you to choose.” — Dean Rickles on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“We look to external sources to model who we think we should become rather than being internally referenced. Click To Tweet“The mark of an adult is to make choices that matter and then take responsibility for them.” — Dean Rickles on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet
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