Putra’s Findings on Some Podcasts.

In this appendix, personal reflections of Putra are presented following two listened-to podcasts: one about Spinoza and one about David Haig. His observations provide valuable illustrations of how classical and modern ideas on consciousness, ethics, evolution, and meaning relate to each other.

Spinoza: Substance, Thought, and Impulse Control

Following a podcast about Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), Putra summarizes some key points combined with his own considerations:

a. According to Spinoza, everything consists of a single substance. Nature is not created by an external power; it is its own cause. No creator is needed to explain its existence.

b. Thought has three forms:

• Sensory perception,
• Reasoning (ratio),
• Intuition. What primarily distinguishes humans from animals and plants is reason. Humans also possess intuition, but to a lesser extent than reason.

c. Those who develop their reason are less dependent on external influences and impulses. While Spinoza does not reject impulses, he values rational action over impulsive or intuitive behavior. This is understandable: rational decisions can be adjusted and improved. They provide a learning opportunity that spontaneous reactions do not always offer.

This reasoning leads to an interesting note: are animals truly incapable of learning? Putra points out the example of a dog repeatedly tricked with a ball. After several attempts, the animal recognizes the deception and resists its impulse. Training animals also shows that they do possess a form of learning ability. Perhaps Spinoza underestimates them in this respect.

d. Meditation is, according to Putra, a practical way to distance oneself from impulses, in line with Spinoza’s aim for inner freedom through insight and self-knowledge.

David Haig: Genetics, Culture, and the Evolution of Meaning

In a second podcast, David Haig (2020) discusses the evolution of meaning, from Darwin to Derrida. Putra summarizes the main insights as follows:

a. The reason a particular gene still exists today is its past success. For example, a gene that enhances sexual pleasure contributed to more offspring. But the current cultural context can make that success a potential downfall: contraception has decoupled pleasure and reproduction. According to Haig, evolutionary emphasis could shift towards genes associated with pleasure in care and upbringing. Culturally, societies with a strong focus on reproduction (e.g., some religious groups) could gain an evolutionary advantage, even if they suppress pleasure.

b. Genes are units of information passed on through both parents to the child. When a gene is transmitted from father to daughter or mother to son, the information must be "translated" to the context of the other sex.

c. Not all human choices and meanings can be fully explained by chemistry or physics. That you choose to share a podcast, and another responds, implies a level of meaning-making beyond the material.

d. Genes are essentially oriented toward their own survival. Yet that does not mean that an organism, carrier of those genes, necessarily behaves selfishly. Altruistic behavior can—paradoxically—contribute to the success of genetic material.

e. Thanks to language and intelligence, humans have developed complex cultures. This allows us to frame our natural behavior as desirable or undesirable. This adds a moral dimension that distinguishes us from animals, which act primarily from instinct and intuition.