SHELDON SOLOMON: Can we gamify all the denial around us and save humanity?*

Dr Sheldon Solomon (psychologist, founder of terror management theory) has spent 45 years proving that our fear of death is responsible for the structures of civilisation, such as religion, education, our moral laws, myths, consumerism, distraction technologies etc. Such structures keep us from being (fatally) overwhelmed by the uniquely human awareness that we will die one day. But what happens in a moment like this one, when so much death and annihilation looms? Well, our seductive death-denial efforts can drag us either way – into a tribal, fascist, self-destructive descent, or toward radical compassion and a life- affirming future. In this episode, I ask Sheldon to tell me how we (all of us here) can use his terror management theory to urgently steer things to the latter. This chat goes into juicy, philosophical territory but emerges with beautifully tangible answers for everyone in the “collapse aware” space. It’s a fun one! *Hint: yes, it would appear we can! About Sheldon Sheldon Solomon is a professor of psychology at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Solomon is best known for co-developing “terror management theory” and is the co-author of Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror and The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life . Sheldon is also an American Psychological Society Fellow. Show notes You can get hold of Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror and The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life here You might also like to listen to this Wild episode with “death walker” Stephen Jenkinson , which also goes into some of the themes in this chat. -- Watch on YouTube or Substack If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my " about " page For more such conversations,

You can listen to SHELDON SOLOMON: Can we gamify all the denial around us and save humanity?* online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

SHELDON SOLOMON: Can we gamify all the denial around us and save humanity?* is an episode from Wild with Sarah Wilson by Sarah Wilson.

This episode is 1:08:49 long.

This episode was published on Apr 28, 2026.

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