The science of meditation

The science of meditation - the Waking Up podcast with Sam Harris, episode #111, published December 28 2017.

It'll be interesting to hear what the Very Bad Wizards make of this.

I'm sorry, but when they say "meditation", I hear "masturbation". And when they say "introspection", I hear "indulgence".

Why *not* believe your thoughts about yourself?

It's ironic that the proposed remedy for being seduced by addictive technology is masturbation, eh, meditation. Why not actually *do* something constructive instead?

Do you really get distracted by random thoughts? Well, why not *focus* your thoughts on something constructive?

"Meta-awareness" rather than "experiential fusion"? Again, I'm sorry, but that doesn't really buy you anything. Rather, it strengthens the case for viewing this as self-deceptive pseudo-existentialism. What's the point of acknowledging the experiencing self in the background if not as pure coquettishness?

In de Beauvoir's hierarchy, I'm not sure this gets you further than to "the serious man".

And I haven't even gotten to the brain-scanning part yet...