Joe Rogan Experience #1344 - Joseph LeDoux

Joseph Ledoux is a neuroscientist whose research is primarily focused on survival circuits, including their impacts on emotions such as fear and anxiety. His latest book "The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains" is now available.

Joe RoganhostJoseph LeDouxguestJamie Vernonhost

Sep 5, 20191h 47mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: September 5, 2019
Duration: 1h 47m
Channel: The Joe Rogan Experience
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Joseph Ledoux is a neuroscientist whose research is primarily focused on survival circuits, including their impacts on emotions such as fear and anxiety. His latest book "The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains" is now available.

SPEAKERS

Joe Rogan
host
Joseph LeDoux
guest
Jamie Vernon
host

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Joseph LeDoux, Joe Rogan Experience #1344 - Joseph LeDoux explores neuroscientist Joe LeDoux Rethinks Fear, Consciousness, and Human Survival Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux joins Joe Rogan to trace how consciousness and defensive behavior evolved from single-celled organisms to modern humans over four billion years. He argues that much of what we call emotion—especially fear—is actually rooted in non-conscious survival circuits like the amygdala, while the feeling of fear arises in higher cortical systems tied to self-awareness. The conversation explores anxiety, medications like Xanax, therapy, meditation, creativity, tribal politics, and climate change through the lens of brain function and evolutionary history. LeDoux suggests that understanding the separation between bodily survival responses and conscious experience is essential for better treating anxiety and for navigating the dangers created by our uniquely self-reflective minds.

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