# The Consciousness Conundrum: Idealism as the dark horse ontology, with Matt Segall

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/neon-galactic-with-james-faulk-6985223/the-consciousness-conundrum-idealism-as-the-dark-horse-ontology-with-matt-segall.md
Podcast: [Neon Galactic with James Faulk](https://stenobird.com/podcast/neon-galactic-with-james-faulk-6985223)
Published: 2026-05-13T13:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-faulk/episodes/The-Consciousness-Conundrum-Idealism-as-the-dark-horse-ontology--with-Matt-Segall-e3j9jb3
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/f7423cd4/podcast/play/119900963/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-4-12%2F424035100-44100-2-d4cef3d7bcb57.mp3
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Duration seconds: 4230

## Resource

In this episode, I sit down with Matthew David Segall, an author, associate professor, and department chair in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at California Institute of Integral Studies. We explore the physicalist ontology currently dominant in the scientific world, and how that philosophy has impacted society. Segall explains how Alfred Whitehead, a mathematician, partnered with Bertrand Russell to write "Principia Mathematica," and how that effort ended in frustration. Russell was demoralized by that failure, but Whitehead devoted himself to deep research that culminated in his development of Process Philosophy, an intellectual approach that identifies process, change, and relationship as the fundamental constituents of reality, rather than static substances. Segall and I explore how anomalies under a physicalist domain can often be better explained and/or accommodated using an idealist framework. We end the conversation by discussing how under idealism, the development of mind and intelligence is a feature, not a bug. Consciousness is everywhere, so the presence and even ubiquity of non-human intelligence is not an impossibility. To learn more about Segall and his work: www.footnotes2plato.com You can also check out his popular Substack here: https://footnotes2plato.substack.com/ --------------- Music Credits: Music: Cinematic Logo 04 by TaigaSoundProd Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/8221-cinema... Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Technology Calm Logo 01 by TaigaSoundProd Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/6660-techno... Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license --- Please don’t forget to like and subscribe. Support this channel on Patreon: www.patreon.com/neon…

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