Fear - Andrew Huberman, Ph.D.

by Daniel Schmachtenberger , January 17, 2023

Fear - Andrew Huberman, Ph.D. - Neuroscience

You asked, we delivered: this week we bring you an encore episode of the discussion between our Co-founder, Daniel Schmachtenberger, and neuroscientist and tenured Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Huberman.

We frequently receive requests to have Dr. Andrew Huberman on the podcast. Truth is, we have quite a few in our archives, but many of the conversations occurred early in the birth of our company, resulting in the content being missed by the amazing community members now following us. To each and everyone of you: this episode is for you.

The topic? The neuroscience of fear and how we can learn to flip the “courage circuit” in our brain. We discuss:

The neuroscience of fear - what’s really happening in our brain
Science-backed tools to rewire our behavioral response to fear
Why confronting fear is at the heart of human potential
How emotions can get in the way of controlling our fear response
Using hormesis to increase the body’s adaptive capacity

I would assert that it's almost impossible to become the best version of oneself without experiencing any discomfort, fear, or stress. - Andrew Huberman, Ph.D.

Transparency: this is an encore episode so some of the research Dr. Huberman discusses, has been refined by his cutting-edge lab since the original recording. That being said, the conversation is too powerful to not reshare with you. Often we hear Dr. Huberman doing the interviewing on his show, Huberman Lab Podcast. Hear what happens when Daniel asks the questions.

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3 Comments

Charles Brandon Theis

January 20, 2023
Awesome. Thank you.

Brian Hart

January 23, 2024
I'm wrestling with the discomfort I sometimes have when I listen to Huberman. He seems to view things primarily at the level of an individual organism and optimizing for that, rather than seriously reckoning with the notion that we are all parts of a collective organism, an isolated brain rather than a brain that's inextricably networked. This is common in people who become very focused on mechanical brain processes: focusing chiefly on neurobiology without much credit to the ways in which that neurochemistry are related the various networks and conditions that brain is embedded within. Many in the field seem to have a strong ego, not in a pejorative sense, but just meaning a bounded consciousness that identifies with a single brain and body, as contrasted with consciousness that recognizes it's in interplay with countless other beings, that it's but one expression of a collective reality, which is something I do see in Daniel. Egos can be very adaptive, especially in the society we have right now, and they are a good tool. I think the outcomes of the world view the ego comes up with, though, that life is just about becoming the most adaptive organism possible, best able to pass on its genes, etc. are pretty dystopian. I see this quality a lot in people who are very successful in our current society and who have admirable skills and talents. I know he's well-intentioned and I've benefited from his public education work, but the risk of biohacking is doing it to make our egos more powerful and satisfied, to gain a competitive edge in zero sum, rivalrous games, which would just create more overall suffering (albeit with some temporary blips of elation for some). Perhaps what the discomfort relates to is a question of whether we can seriously have an orientation towards "self"-improvement and optimization without becoming too attached to the illusion of a separate self. I'm not sure what the answer is. Maybe we should be talking about non-self improvement and optimization?

Kiki Williams

Senior Customer Experience Manager

January 24, 2024
Thanks for taking the time to share some of your thoughts after listening to the podcast. You're correct about Daniel—his main interest is in areas related to society as a whole, collective reality, sensemaking, etc. If you've not already listened, a conversation he had with Jamie Wheel may be something you'd find interesting https://neurohacker.com/homegrown-humans-daniel-schmachtenberger-sensemaking.