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In this episode I sat down with philosopher Simon Critchley, professor at the New School for Social Research and author of Mysticism, alongside my co-host Denis Calos. We got into what it means to live a mystical life, why growing up is the abdication of ecstasy, whether AI-generated music can be art, why suffering might be the precondition for making anything good, and why everyone wants to be the type of person who reads Nietzsche without actually reading Nietzsche. Also soccer, Suno, the Beatles, and me attempting German.

If you like this kind of thing, I write longer essays on philosophy and consciousness on my Substack: https://substack.com/@micahzarin

Subscribe for more long-form conversations with philosophers, scientists, and people thinking seriously about hard problems.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intros
01:05 Mysticism
07:29 The abdication of ecstasy
15:46 Is thinking play?
18:06 Songwriting
24:21 AI music
40:05 Reality privilege
46:59 Suffering
52:26 Analytic vs continental
1:02:24 Overthinking
1:18:10 LARPing
1:32:33 Advice

Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code: CO3NUX8TBBKHZNLN