Top 5 Videos for November 2014

Slow Down Your Brain to Get More Done, with Steven Kotler

The best-selling author discusses hypofrontality — literally the slowing of the brain’s prefrontal cortex — and how it allows one to enter an optimal state of consciousness, known as flow. As Kotler explains, flow refers to those moments of total absorption when we get so focused on the task at hand that everything else disappears.

Esther Perel on the Nature of Erotic Desire

Psychologist and sexuality expert Esther Perel discusses the nature of erotic desire. We owe it to ourselves, says Perel, to be happy and search for our own gratification and sexual expressiveness. Perel is the author of the bestselling Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence.

Science, Not Philosophy, Will Explain the Meaning of Existence

Biologist E.O. Wilson, a two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, discusses his most recent book on the meaning of existence. “Philosophy,” says Wilson, is “a highly endangered academic species.” He argues that explaining the meaning of human existence falls instead to science, which is making significant progress.

Sam Harris: Can Psychedelics Help You Expand Your Mind?

Sam Harris discusses the virtues of psychedelics such as LSD and MDMA. While he does not condone the use of these drugs without caveat, he does acknowledge their profound consciousness-altering properties.

Bill Nye on Rosetta Comet Landing: We’ll make discoveries that nobody’s imagined yet.

Bill Nye (The Science Guy!) comments on the Rosetta / Philae rendezvous with 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Whatever happens, says Nye, we will discover something unexpected. Nye’s latest book is Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation.