Jonathan Blow on Consciousness, Video Game Design, True Art vs. False, and Free Will

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/80f47smhYEI

Jon Blow is the renown designer of The Witness, and Braid. Sponsors: https://brilliant.org/TOE for 20% off. http://algo.com for supply chain AI.

Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802 Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything

LINKS MENTIONED: -Jon's talk on video game ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCVVLAs9mJU -Jon's talk on motivation and burnout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7kh8pNRWOo -Iain McGilchrist interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-SgOwc6Pe4 -Rupert Spira interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocP6JSyicY0

THANK YOU: -BigPhilCombo (on the discord) for managing the Discord voluntarily and making it a place where almost 900 people talk respectfully

TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:46 Jon recounting people using him for clicks 00:05:53 Too many wannabe gurus, and not enough instruction in our culture 00:08:00 Curt's mainupulation of the "formal" aspects of film is owed to Jonathan 00:09:34 The goal of understanding the universe (what does that mean?) 00:17:23 How understanding oneself is related to understanding the universe 00:19:41 Limits of language and "truth" 00:25:10 Video game design and building one's own TOE 00:33:22 Examples of what works and doesn't in game design for Braid's aesthetics 00:44:03 Game mechanics vs the "theme" 00:54:29 Not being able to explain true art 00:56:06 True art vs. "propaganda" 01:04:01 Dislike of contemporary art 01:12:06 Jon on video game reviews (and discussions on art, in general) 01:32:32 Specifics on how Jon does video game design 01:42:02 Rupert Spira in The Witness 01:47:08 Original ideas are difficult 01:49:34 Meditation and life long insights from single moments 02:00:20 Materialism vs. qualia vs. stories vs. models 02:06:25 Wolfram's physics model 02:09:21 Free Will is too "simple" 02:16:12 Super Bunyhop's and Joseph Anderson's review of The Witness 02:16:39 Dunkey? 02:16:45 VR is interesting but not for immersion 02:22:54 Stanley Parable 02:23:36 OpenAI applied to video games 02:26:00 Unreal Engine 5, hype? 02:31:24 [ForceField] On Henri Bergson 02:32:49 [stef] How do you achieve subconscious artistic expression in game making 02:34:41 [Steven Brent] Videos games better than other mediums for certain emotional expressions? 02:36:45 [Pooja Soni] Video games and helping mental illnesses / adjunct to therapy 02:40:27 [James R] Mind uploading 02:43:31 [Tom] Analytic / rational vs. intuitive / supra-rational 02:45:34 [Chris Merola] Stephen's Sausage Roll is one of the best puzzle games 02:48:42 [championchap] Having aphantasia and designing games 02:49:50 [Brian Mauch] Ask why the industry has gone to "shit"? 02:51:41 [James Jones] On Neuralink 02:53:37 [Johannes Norrbacka] Jai and opinion on other data-oriented languages 02:56:33 [Lara Lebeu] What connects him to non-duality teachers? (because of the Rupert Spira video in The Witness) 02:59:35 We're at a stagnation point in society 03:04:00 [Mr. K] "Yeah: wtf is Kojima working on lol" 03:04:16 [ZenoEvil - Meaning Machines] Why hasn't Braid's success led to copycats? 03:06:31 [Wes Lord] Getting over burnout and other motivational issues 03:08:45 [bc1n0] "Please beta access to Jai? Will pay $100 for access." 03:10:54 [Michael Bespalov] Hades' early access model 03:13:22 How does playtesting work? And how does Jon use it? 03:15:25 [Ivan] Thoughts on state of free speech in the world 03:21:07 Eric Weinstein, Peter Theil, and stagnation (again) 03:26:02 SCRUM? Kanban? What's the work process? 03:29:49 [Ruari VK] Why is it called 'The Witness'?