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0:00 Rebecca’s past work on mind and matter(ing)
3:24 Rebecca’s new book, The Mattering Instinct
8:00 Varieties of mattering experience
14:44 Mattering type 1: Heroic Strivers
18:05 Mattering type 2: Socializers
25:56 Mattering type 3: Transcenders
30:13 Mattering type 4: Competitors
39:44 “The” meaning of life problem
42:55 Does what drives us divide us?
49:00 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (The Mind-Body Problem, Plato at the Googleplex, Betraying Spinoza, The Mattering Instinct). Recorded April 27, 2026.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Overtime titles:

0:00 How do Steven Pinker and Bob matter?
4:20 Good vs bad mattering (and thermodynamics)
13:55 Finding meaning in absurdity
21:36 Is there a best way to matter?
28:34 The AI threat(s) to human flourishing
34:53 Why consciousness matters—even if there’s only matter

Overtime video:

NonZero Newsletter

The Mattering Instinct (Robert Wright …

Comments on this episode are for paid subscribers