From: Deepak Chopra
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2017 4:55 PM
To: Jeff Epstein
Subject: Fwd: A draft of my book

He is my guy !

Deepak Chopra MD

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Chopra Foundation <http://www.choprafoundation.org/>

Jiyo <http://www.jiyo.com/>

Chopra Center for Wellbeing <http://www.chopra.com/>

<https://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>

<https://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>

<https://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>

<http://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>

Begin forwarded message:

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
|Begin forwarded message| Dear [recipient] |
|From| [name redacted] |
|Date| March 12, 2017 at 5:50:20 PM GMT+2 |
|To| [name redacted] |
|Subject| Re: A draft of my book |
|Notes| Portions of the header (email addresses/names) are blacked out with black bars |

Dear Deepak,

My deadline is the end of July. I have contracts with Norton in the US, Penguin in the UK, DTV in Germany and Hunan in China. John Brockman is my agent.

Chapter ten discusses conscious agents, and the appendix gives the mathematical definition. Chapter ten also discusses the relationship between science and spirituality.

I think that evolution by natural selection is a deeply limited theory. It is the best theory we have so far in biology and is widely accepted by scientists, so that is why I have chosen to use that theory to prove that the physical world is not the ultimate nature of reality. I had published that idea back in 1998 in my book Visual intelligence, but it got little attention. So I decided ten years ago to see if I could use the theory of evolution to produce a proof that spacetime and physical objects are not the ultimate reality. I was delighted to find that this is possible, and now the idea has gotten much more attention. If we want to persuade scientists, we have to start with a premise that they will accept, and then use it to take down physicalism. But I have to demonstrate to the scientists that I do understand the power and breadth of evolutionary theory. So I spend a good deal of the book doing that.

I think the truth behind appearances is conscious experiences and free will decisions. I am trying to capture this idea in the mathematics of conscious agents in the appendix (also in this paper <http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389fipsyg.2014.00577/full> ).

I think that I am fundamentally conscious awareness with free will. But the fun part is that the mathematical theory of conscious agents is smarter than me, even though I wrote down the mathematical theory. I am planning to explore what it implies about the self, species, genes, and what consciousness is up to.

When Einstein wrote down the equation of general relativity, he had no idea it implied black holes. I hope that the math of conscious agents surprises me with its consequences. Already, the notion of free will looks like it can be unpacked recursively using the math.

Thank you for reading the book, and for these wonderful questions.

Love,
Don

Don

I'm enjoying reading the book while traveling in Israel When is it being published ? Who is the publisher ? Maybe I missed it but do you have a precise definition of conscious agent right in the beginning . Since natural selection is such an important part of your argument against reality I as a reader would like to know the purpose of evolution What is the truth behind appearance ? I Who are we ? Who is Don Hoffman beyond name and form ? Are species symbolic signatures of consciousness ? What is consciousness up to ? Perhaps you explain later in the book More later.

Deepak Chopra MD

2013 Costa Del Mar Road <x-apple-data-detectors://0>

Carlsbad, CA 92009 <x-apple-data-detectors>//0>

Chopra Foundation <http://www.choprafoundation.org/>

Jiyo <http://www.jiyo.com/>

Chopra Center for Wellbeing <http://www.chopra.com/>

<https://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>
<image001.png> <https://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>

<https://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>

<http://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>

## On Mar 6, 2017, at 10:54 PM, DONALD HOFFMAN

Congratulations, Deepak! I am delighted your book is doing so well, and so quickly.

My book is here <http://cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/The_Interface_Book.pdf>. The password:

theredpill

I am aiming for a broad audience.

Thank you so much.

All love from Irvine
Don

On Mar 6, 2017, at 10:51AM, Deepak Chopra

I'm done with my book It's now a PBS special and made NYT non fiction best seller list I would love to read your book All Love from Israel

Deepak Chopra MD

2013 Costa Del Mar Road <x-apple-data-detectors://0>

Carlsbad, CA 92009 <x-apple-data-detectors>//0>

Chopra Foundation <http://www.choprafoundation.org/>

Jiyo <http://www.jiyo.com/>

Chopra Center for Wellbeing <http://www.chopra.com/>

<https://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>
<image001.png> <https://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>

## On Mar 6, 2017, at 10:54 PM, DONALD HOFFMAN (cont.)

<https://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>

<http://www.discoveringyourcosmicself.com/>

On Mar 6, 2017, at 7:19 PM, DONALD HOFFMAN

Dear Deepak,

I have just finished a draft of my book on the evolutionary argument against reality. Would you have time (and inclination) to read it and comment? I know you are quite busy with your own new book—and I hope its sales are going well!—so I certainly understand if you cannot.

All the best,

Don