EF12 (S1-E10): Wired to Fail: Leveling Up in the Game of Life

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(EF12) S1-E10: Wired to Fail Leveling Up in the Game of Life The Evolve Faster Podcast with Scott Ely Season One

(EF12) S1-E10: Wired to Fail: Leveling Up in the Game of Life (Season One, Episode Ten)

PLAY | DOWNLOAD Failing in a video game usually leads to a desire to overcome the obstacle the next time. So why do we so often live our lives desiring a comfortable bubble where we hand the controller to someone else? Because aren’t these failures what most define us anyway? More...

What defines us?

The big question driving Episode EF12 is … What defines us? What have you done in your life that makes you feel proud? Although it can be anything — from having a satisfying job to a blossoming relationship with a person you love, we often don’t know what defines us. It’s not as easy as its three simple words imply.

Put another way, if you had to give up everything in your mind and only rebuild it with 10% of what’s currently in it, which parts would you consider worthy of keeping? And is it the contents of our minds or our actions that define us? This is a question deeply pondered by the world’s philosophers and the protagonist of Episode EF12 is plagued by a grandiose vision of how we might find an answer to this age old question for everyone.

Episode EF12 Summary

Infuriated by the risk-averse approach of his company, Vihaan Raid decides to design his latest game on his own. A widely renowned game developer known to the gaming world as “Koji,” believes he can entirely change how humans see life with his radical new video game concept. He teams up with a respected psychologist to make sure his vision will manipulate the human psyche as he suspects it will—a critical factor to the game’s potential. As Koji slowly reveals secretive details of his mysterious concept, Isaac becomes more and more suspicious of the game’s true intentions.

Fear is engrained in all of us, but as Erich Fromm described, there are two main types. First, are sadomasochistic characters who kill the fear by being dependent on either controlling or being controlled. Second is the revolutionary character who embraces the fear of being a free human. Similarly, the famous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche thought there is little to no difference between success and failure when it comes to their functionality. The human mind is engraved with a false belief that success is heaven and failure is hell. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Sigmund Freud believed our unconscious thoughts and desires define us. Perhaps heaven is a place where our unconscious desires define us, but not control us; and hell … well, just look at the commercials.

Into The Rabbit Hole

SHOW NOTES: This episode is dedicated to Hideo Kojima. See the EF12 Show Notes for details of the dedication, inspirations, references, selected quotes and more. 

ABOUT THE EVOLVE FASTER PODCAST: Everything is changing, yet the questions that drive us remain the same. Will humanity face the absurdity of our collective existential crisis in time? Join Scott Ely as he takes us deep into the rabbit hole with philosophical tales to reboot your mind, upgrade your life and explore your soul. To Evolve Faster is to see the fact that you will die someday as a formidable challenge, instead of a source of immense fear. Create your reality…before it creates you. Isn’t it time for an upgrade? More episodes…

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