Episodes

  • An Appetizer: Purpose
    Jan 17 2021

    I make audiobooks and release them as podcasts.

    The 20th-century systematic mode of social organization provided pre-packaged meaning, value, purpose, and ethics. It broke down. We entered an internet-enabled atomized mode of social organization, splintered into a kaleidoscope of meanings, without context. Audiobooks narrated in the Fluidity podcast will look toward constructing a fluid mode.

    Welcome to episode 1 of the next book, a work of non-fiction by David Chapman, a Buddhist and a former artificial intelligence researcher. "Meaningness" takes problems of meaning-making, typically considered spiritual, and turns them into practical problems, which are more tractable.

    This ten-minute introductory episode will give you a taste of this approach.

    Original text here:
    https://meaningness.com/an-appetizer-purpose

    You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

    https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

    If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

    Music is by Kevin MacLeod.

    This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

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    9 mins
  • Preview: Eternalism and Nihilism
    Jan 25 2021

    Two stances that don't work: “Everything has a definite meaning” and “Nothing means anything.”

    The original text is here:

    https://meaningness.com/preview-eternalism-and-nihilism

    You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

    https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

    If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

    Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

    This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

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    15 mins
  • What Is Meaningness?
    Jan 31 2021

    Meaningness is the quality of being meaningful or meaningless.

    Original text here:

    https://meaningness.com/what-is-meaningness

    You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

    https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

    If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

    Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

    This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

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    7 mins
  • Misunderstanding Meaningness Makes Many Miserable
    Feb 7 2021

    Mistaken attitudes toward meaning create unnecessary psychological/spiritual/existential suffering.

    Original text is here:

    https://meaningness.com/misunderstanding-meaningness-makes-many-miserable

    Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

    You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

    https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

    If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

    This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

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    7 mins
  • Stances Trump Systems, And Stances Are Unstable
    Feb 15 2021

    People think they approach meaning in terms of religions or philosophies, but in practice, "stances" matter more.

    Original text is here:

    https://meaningness.com/stances-trump-systems

    Stances—responses to meaning—are unstable thought-patterns. Often we adopt several contradictory ones in rapid succession.

    Original text is here:

    https://meaningness.com/stances-are-unstable

    You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

    https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

    If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

    Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

    This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

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    11 mins
  • Nebulosity and Pattern
    Feb 21 2021

    Meaningness is cloud-like: nebulous. It is real, but impossible to completely pin down.

    Original text is here:

    https://meaningness.com/nebulosity

    Brains automatically find meaning and pattern; we need them to act. Unfortunately, brains also find meaning and pattern where there are none.

    Original text is here:

    https://meaningness.com/pattern

    You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

    https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

    If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

    Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

    This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

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    12 mins
  • Fixation & Denial - Confused Stances Come In Pairs - No Middle Way
    Feb 28 2021

    Fixation and denial are the two simplest ways of refusing to deal with the nebulosity of meaningness.

    https://meaningness.com/fixation-and-denial

    Wrong ideas about meaning come in mirror-image pairs, which fixate and deny opposite aspects of reality.

    https://meaningness.com/confused-stances-come-in-pairs

    Polarized pairs of confused stances cannot be resolved by compromise. There is no middle way between them.

    https://meaningness.com/no-middle-way

    You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

    https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

    If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

    Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

    This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

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    15 mins
  • Accepting Nebulosity, And, Not A General Dialectic
    Mar 7 2021

    Note: This is episode 8, but it first aired with the audio file for episode 9. I have now corrected it, so you may wish to listen again.

    Confusions about meaning can be resolved using a method for looking at ways nebulosity affects the subject matter.

    Original text here: https://meaningness.com/resolution

    The method for resolving confusion about meaning through accepting nebulosity is not a general dialectic, or logic for resolving all false oppositions.

    Original text here: https://meaningness.com/not-a-general-dialectic

    You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

    https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

    If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

    Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

    This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

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    6 mins