In this episode of the Smarter Not Harder Podcast, our guest Dr. Robert Azarian joins our host Dr. Ted Achacoso to give one-cent solutions to life’s $64,000 questions that include: How does the neuroscience of belief and cognitive biases, such as confirmation bias and the Dunning-Kruger effect, impact our resistance to changing beliefs and our approach to epistemic foraging? In what ways can understanding the concept of hierarchical emergence in the universe, and viewing everything from ant colonies to nations as a single organism, contribute to our understanding of consciousness, self-modeling, and mental resilience? How can the exploration of theories such as the Bayesian brain hypothesis, neuroDarwinism, terror management theory, and Cleodynamics enhance our understanding of the human mind, the universe, and the potential for predicting chaotic events? Dr. Robert Azarian (Bobby Azarian) is a science journalist and a cognitive neuroscientist who received his PhD from George Mason University. He has written for publications such as The Atlantic, The New York Times, BBC, Scientific American, Slate, HuffPost, Quartz, and Aeon, and he writes the blog “Mind in the Machine” for Psychology Today.  His recent book is called The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity.   What We Discuss: (0:05:15) - Neuroscience of Belief and Epistemic Foraging (0:14:57) - Hierarchical Emergence in the Universe (0:22:36) - Neuro Darwinism and Terror Management Theory (0:29:57) - Predicting Behavior Through Network Analysis (0:38:41) - Bayesian Brain Hypothesis and Psychoplastogens (0:42:53) - Defining Life (0:56:24) - Exploring Consciousness and the Self (1:12:30) - Health Optimization Medicine and Omega Point (1:26:53) - Synthesis of Thermodynamics, Information, Evolution (1:35:10) - Energy and Information in Thermodynamics and Evolution (1:42:48) - Evolutionary Theory and Unifying BVSR (1:51:09) - Evolutionary Cooperation and the Energy Problem (1:59:18) - Living Life Smarter, Not Harder (2:10:30) - Encouraging Reading and Personalized Knowledge Find more from Smarter Not Harder: Website: https://troscriptions.com/blogs/podcast | https://homehope.org Instagram: @troscriptions | @homehopeorg   Find out more from Bobby Azarian: Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobbyazarian   Get 10% Off Your Purchase of the Metabolomics Module by using PODCAST10 at https://www.homehope.org   Get 10% Off your Troscriptions purchase by using POD10 at https://www.troscriptions.com   Get daily content from the hosts of Smarter Not Harder by following @troscriptions on Instagram.