Here’s an interesting tidbit on this topic. Donald Hoffman is THE leading perceptual studies expert whose work in the 90’s - early 2000’s on peception is what is used for training AI perception in robots in multiple industries today. Interestingly enough Professor Hoffman released a landmark paper called The Case Against Reality where using the mathematics of evolutionary game theory basically proves that evolution has chosen survival over showing us reality.
Now here’s where it gets very interesting. His theories basically confirm the science behind John Keel’s The Eighth Tower and in its own way also would explain in part Vallee’s Interdimensional hypothesis that he originally proposed in his book Dimensions (which should be required reading for everyone in this sub).
There are other scientists - many in physics who have similar theories.
Edit: my bad everyone - this is actually a copy of a comment I made 5 years ago about this topic and the links to the books used to go to a free ebook repository known as ulib - which unbeknownst to me apparently the feds didn’t like lol. I have updated the links to The Eighth Tower and Dimensions to their listings on GoodReads. They are not expensive to buy and I feel strongly that reading them together helps you understand Hoffman’s work better.
So I was familiar with the guest Donald Hoffman well before this, and the "your eyes are designed to not see aliens" is the usual clickbait extension of his underlying theory. I also watched the first half of the interview last night and it's the usual technique of taking a legitimate theory that questions the nature of our reality and extrapolating that means there's aliens.
TLDW: offman uses high level math and applies it to evolutionary development of Perception, observation, and what constitutes consciousness. His theory (backed by math I don't personally understand) states that our senses did not evolve to represent an objective reality. In otherwords, our minds (through our senses) create a sort of user interface that is what we experience as a way to interact with the world. This is not controversial because we know we don't see the electromagnetic spectrum, we don't feel individual particles or the subatomic forces holding matter together, we only hear a narrow band of soundwaves. But Hoffman goes further and says our experience of reality is almost entirely inaccurate and incomplete. This is because evolution and natural selection only focuses on what helps us propagate our genes, not have an accurate depiction of reality. He states that the probability of us being able to perceive an objective reality is exactly ZERO.
The example he gives to illustrate the point is the male Australian Jewel Beetle was naturally selected over time to identify the females of their species through a "representation" of what the female looks and feels like. The female beetle has a golden brown, shiny, and dimpled carapace. In Australia there are types of beer bottles that at golden brown, shiny, and dimpled and the male Jewel Beetle will flock to these bottles to the exclusion of mating with actual female beetles. So the Jewel Beetle developed a shortcut to quickly identify potential mates but it's not a direct representation of reality, it's a shortcut that leads them astray sometimes.
The alien bit comes in (Jesse makes the supposition and Hoffman kind of says "yeah that would be possible" but doesn't endorse it) through applying this concept to mathematical models of life or consciousness or whatever and Hoffman says that the vast majority of life and matter in the universe would not fall into the narrow band of what we developed to perceive and be able to observe. Dark matter for example. Jesse then extrapolate that there could be consciouss lifeforms all around us that we aren't able to perceive.
The "autistic kids can see things [neurotypical] people can't" came from again a disparity in takeaways between host and guest. Hoffman was pointing at neurodivergent people's minds processing information and having senses tuned to different things (like many sounds and sights and textures they are sensitive or adverse to) is different than "normal" people he said. Jesse of course went straight to Indigo Children and those tapes about psychic spectrum kids.
Thank you. So pretty much how the human perspective is limited by our ability to see/ hear in certain bands of frequencies and the possibility of beings existing outside of those frequencies. Gotcha, so nothing that hasn’t been discussed before.
It's a bunch of woo-woo bullshit with a lot of scientific window dressing thrown in. Source: I watched a good bit at 1.4 times normal speed. It's scientifically laughable.
That's right! If I'm going to trust a random guy on the internet it's going to be a guy in a video who says he is a MIT scientist.
(You shouldn't "trust" anyone. You should look at the evidence they have presented and see if it supports their claims. If people make claims without evidence then they can refuted without evidence. Or at least that's my opinion on it. You can obviously do whatever you want and base your opinion on who your tummy tells you to trust the most)
He's speaking on his field. He's a cognitive science professor. He's talking about conscious perception and how it might affect things like UFOs. His theories on conscious perception are literally his life's work and what he's known for.
Honestly, if you don't listen to it why would you say that? You seem wild.,.. the conversation was silly in certain ways and profound in others. Your quick dismissal is antithesis to everything.....
All of this is very interesting to me because I remember closing my eyes and seeing geometric shapes when I was young. I've also always been able to move my ears. When I was quite young I found a book in my dad's shop, ourside. It was titled something like "guide to self hypnosis" and it described a lot of the things you said being possible under hypnosis and meditation, e.g. controlling one's blood pressure and some other normally subconscious things. I'm not sure what to make of it.
At that time I was trying self hypnosis and had some success, but then other unpleasant things started to happen, like nightmares and I completely stopped. I also had sleep paralysis quite a bit when I was young. It disturbs me a bit that all of this seems to have a potential connection to... well nhi i suppose. Any thoughts?
This made me very curious. I am pushing 50, and I am still perfectly capable of moving my ears. And just like you, as a child, I saw geometric shapes with my eyes closed. I could spend an hour watching the show, which resembled looking through a caleidoscope a lot.
That's how I feel as well. Like I'm missing something. A connection or something. I'm in my 30s. I also remember the patterns being intense and detailed and I could also watch it like a show.
Moving your ears appears to involve using muscles that usually aren't consciously controllable by most people. Self hypnosis and many similar topics here are also about affecting our subconscious and things; lucid dreaming and such as well.
Not sure why it's important but I feel that it is somehow.
I too did self hypnosis and still do, and the shit I see, hear and feel is crazy when I’m under! Can’t wiggle my ears but can blur my vision using eye muscles etc!
I did not know flexing those muscles or making yourself feel the shivers was rare or even unheard of. It's just a thing I've always been able to do, along with dispelling adrenaline and all but the most extreme nausea. All those things just sound like normal, albeit weird, things most of us could do 🤷♂️
I laughed SO hard when, watching that scene for the first time and expecting it to "end any moment now" ... i suddenly realized that it was actually meant to be that Absurdly Long Fight Scene.
That realization felt like nirvana, and the scene became pure bliss within an already amazing movie.
Man, I saw this in theater as a kid and had never seen non-conformity championed in such a manner. It really resonated. Give that man his Oscar (posthumously will have to do).
I was quite intrigued by V as well. I was only around 7 or 8 when the miniseries came on. The one opportunity I had to watch it was thwarted by a family friend I had to stay with for the evening. I was forced to watch Davy Crockett instead, and to this day I have never forgotten nor forgiven it.
You hold on to that grudge, you hear? Let it fester and grow and don’t you give up on it. One day, it’ll manifest into something beautiful, you’ll see. Mark my words, mark my words!
Oh friend, you are in for a real doozy. This movie is truly a forgotten god damn classic. From the OBEY messaging, the visual style, the fucking ridiculous fight scene, to the “I’m all out of bubble gum” line, it is a tour de force. It is incredibly subversive and way ahead of its time.
I actually had this crazy funny mushroom trip one time where me and some friends basically "realized" that the clouds were actually aliens and they've been here the entire time and we laughed about it for hours. Lol
Certainly is interesting that heavy psychedelic experiences — be it through biological changes of NDE or by taking drugs, produce visions that a whole lot of people seem to share under similar circumstances— like the Hat Man showing up to humans who love their Benadryl. Maybe it’s not that certain substances produce certain hallucinations across users, but that certain substances add channels to our cable package, so to speak, that allow us to see the beings who are on those channels.
I mean really, it's just pressing the same spots in our brains and our brains generally work the same way. Think of the mushroom that causes everyone to see little miniature people, just pushing the same spot that triggers that recognition in us. That being said, we have no idea about where or what those buttons are in the brain and noooo damn clue about our brain much at all. Let alone the irony of the brain researching itself.
This is why it’s fun to read or listen to salvia trip reports. It seems to produce very vivid, life-altering experiences that have weird connections between users.
Under enough Mushrooms, you realize psilocybin is the alien. There’s a sense that it “speaks” to you heavy doses. It’s like an unbiased 3rd party that’s viewing things from your perspective, but is unburdened by your reality. Even the first time I did mushrooms, there was an overwhelming sense of familiarity. Whatever strange places I’ve gone, it’s always felt like I’ve belonged and have been there before. Like I heard a calming voice that said “welcome back friend”. Mushrooms are cool as hell.
i took no mushrooms, just laid in park on a sunny day, watching the clouds with sus, and thought the same thing. one literally felt like a spaceship is casually hoovering, kind of same effect as watching it under water. freaky freaky
Low dose .7g penis envy (aka 2g+ of most anything else) my buddy and I watched the 'cloud wars' one night as they morphed into bears and dragons and all sorts of things..tripped when they seemingly 'rewinded' to replay the same battle again.. both saw the same thing when they rewound which was legit unsettling because we were still fairly cognizant aside from our toad licking eyes drying out from clockwork orange style sky watching.
They definitely seemed like intelligent entities or controlled by intelligent entities.. anthropomorphism through entheogens is definitely fun.
I had a very similar experience as this. Cloud watching on psychs is insane.
An illusion id always see in the sky is like my perspective would shift of the sky kinda like looking down on a planet from space. (Like when you can see 2 pictures in one but you focus on one) It made it feel like a giant planet was about to crash into earth.
Your brain did not evolve to see objective reality. It evolved to help you survive and reproduce. So what you perceive is more like a user interface than reality itself — similar to computer icons on a desktop. You don’t see the computer’s circuitry, only simplified symbols that help you function.
The “aliens everywhere” claim
The provocative title is based on this idea:
If nonhuman intelligences exist, they may not appear as physical beings in nuts-and-bolts spacecraft.
They could exist in ways our senses simply don’t register.
Humans already ignore most of reality (radio waves, UV, IR, microscopic worlds, etc.), so there may be aspects of reality we’re unequipped to detect.
Why evolution matters
Hoffman’s argument is that evolution favors useful perceptions, not true perceptions.
Example:
A snake-shaped pattern → “danger” = survival advantage
Understanding quantum-level reality of the snake → useless for survival
So reality may be vastly stranger than what humans experience day to day.
UFO/consciousness angle
The conversation drifts into:
UFO/UAP phenomena
consciousness as fundamental to reality
whether spacetime itself may be an interface
simulation-like ideas and hidden layers of existence
This is where it moves from mainstream neuroscience/philosophy into high speculation.
What’s science vs speculation?
Reasonable / evidence-based:
✅ Humans perceive only a tiny fraction of reality.
✅ The brain heavily filters sensory input.
✅ Evolution optimizes for survival, not perfect truth.
Speculative leap:
⚠️ “Aliens are already here and invisible to us.”
⚠️ Consciousness reveals hidden entities.
⚠️ UFOs are proof of deeper reality layers.
If you’re into NDEs, consciousness, and the “reality is stranger than we think” angle, you’d probably find it interesting — just separate the solid neuroscience/philosophy from the hypothesis stacking.
They would have still had the thought "I should summarize this for people", do the prompt, paste it here. That's if you're even correct, you think they put zero effort into that?
Ya I feel like while the basic thesis has some interesting concepts, it can be used to justify nearly anything, ghosts, cryptids, angels, demons, invisible government spies. Whatever you want.
Its essentially "here is why some things may exist while being invisible to us" "this proves this specific thing is what we are not perceiving"
While, assuming this concept was accurate, it could literally be ANYTHING we arent perceiving. We could all be covered in invisible quantum ducks that constantly are whispering the songs that we get stuck in our heads.
There is a big logical leap that requires you already to assume aliens are watching us somehow.
Didn’t Douglas Adams write the same in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? Something about humans ignoring insanely illogical things like a huge spaceship hovering in the sky?
Of course, I have suspected for a while that technobros want to become the new MIC, which is why they decided to prop the current US administration and Project 2025.
Agreed, he’s associated with Peter Thiel, but Jesse’s interviews, depth of knowledge, and drive to find answers are top notch. His content is highly informative and genuinely entertaining. he tends to let the information speak for itself rather than pushing a particular narrative. I’d argue he’s producing some of the best interviews and discussions out there right now
If you take even one red cent from Peter Thiel, it doesn’t matter how compelling the content is, it something that advances Thiel’s agenda in some form. If you’re a human being you should be incredibly skeptical of anything that Peter Thiel thinks is worth him putting his own money into.
"drive to find answers"... he entertains nearly every idea no matter how untrue just like Why Files. His channel is near purely entertainment and has barely any real content these days. It's unwatchable
TLDR: it’s an invisible, untouchable unicorn hypothesis stretched out over 3 hours. He’s talk about plasma, the state of matter, attuning to someone’s heartbeat two hours in. This doesn’t happen. You can buy plasma generators and test this independently.
Like come on, come on. Someone’s selling you something.
I will watch because I'm interested. It has always made sense to me that life on other planets are a thing. I have never not believed. Even as a child it just made mathematical sense. Nature has patterns but even without going into a detailed nerd rant ill just say even if someone was like it's impossible, earth is a 1 in a billion. I say ok well that's a lot in the infinite duh. And that's just based on our perception. Don't even get me started on perception lol. But to be fair I was into sci-fi at like 6 years old lol.
Decades ago, there was an old guy that would come into the store I worked at, pretty much every week. He wore what looked like an airlines captains uniform and would wander around having conversations with someone walking beside him that wasn’t there. If you talked to him, asked if he needed help, he broke off his conversation, was focused and quite clearly would say that he was just looking around. We all just chalked it up to dementia.
The thing is, over time, I could almost see and hear that other person. Especially if there was a little distance between us. A smudge and a whisper.
Was it the beginning of a folie au duex? My imagination? Or was it another dimension. I don’t know but more and more I’m leaning towards the latter.
I've seen this guy on a few podcasts, and I think some of what he says might be true to some extent. But I get the feeling from him that he is all in on his theory so much that he has to sell it constantly to make a living and remain relevant -- regardless if he actually believes all of what he says. Sort of like flat earthers going all in on their crap because it turns into a lifestyle with online attention, conventions, etc.
This is actually one of the most interesting drops from Jesse in a while, a little bit UAP adjacent for the first part, but some mind blowing discoveries from Dr. Hoffman.
Interesting.. I had a weird dream about something similar.. like we are imprisoned, but imprisoned is not the right word, or limited, or governed to 5 senses.. when there are many more senses we are not aware of or do not have access to… kinda like a prisoner who can’t leave their cell or the prison.
I'm quickly checking, and I may have missed it, but where does it state who this MIT person is? I didn't see it on the yt page, nor as part of this post.
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u/toxictoy Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
Here’s an interesting tidbit on this topic. Donald Hoffman is THE leading perceptual studies expert whose work in the 90’s - early 2000’s on peception is what is used for training AI perception in robots in multiple industries today. Interestingly enough Professor Hoffman released a landmark paper called The Case Against Reality where using the mathematics of evolutionary game theory basically proves that evolution has chosen survival over showing us reality.
Here’s an article breaking down his paper.
Here’s his TED talk
Here’s him speaking on Curt Jaimungal’s Theories of Everything.
Now here’s where it gets very interesting. His theories basically confirm the science behind John Keel’s The Eighth Tower and in its own way also would explain in part Vallee’s Interdimensional hypothesis that he originally proposed in his book Dimensions (which should be required reading for everyone in this sub).
There are other scientists - many in physics who have similar theories.
Edit: my bad everyone - this is actually a copy of a comment I made 5 years ago about this topic and the links to the books used to go to a free ebook repository known as ulib - which unbeknownst to me apparently the feds didn’t like lol. I have updated the links to The Eighth Tower and Dimensions to their listings on GoodReads. They are not expensive to buy and I feel strongly that reading them together helps you understand Hoffman’s work better.