Kind: captions
Language: en
when things go bad when if we sink to
bad times on that merry-go-round in the
21st century with all the power we have
and all the many different kinds of
existential risks we have nukes is just
one of them now it could be the worst
ever
there's something going on in culture
right now that is driving us into what
you call the Primitive mind which is not
necessarily an ideal place to be
thinking from
what is the Primitive mind and why in
this unique moment do people find
themselves there
I use the example of like Skittles or
brownies or you know these things are
hard to resist even though a huge part
of your brain is saying like no no no no
no no this is just like trashed sugar
it's gonna make you feel bad and you're
gonna gain weight like it's bad across
the board except it tastes good for one
second the the primate doesn't
understand that and it's thinking we
just found dense
you know high calorie
food this is precious eat as much as you
can because you don't know where we're
going to get it next right so it's this
we're crazy people we're crazy and we
have this we live in this Advanced
civilization where so many of our
natural programming uh you know
Tendencies uh actually hurt us and
misfire so we're constantly in this kind
of tug of war
um and so that's the kind of General
situation that applies to I think most
problems in humanity and most personal
struggles we have you can kind of boil
it down too there's this tug of war
going on because we've been kidnapped
out of our home Forest somewhere and
we've dropped into an advanced
civilization and we're trying to do our
best so I like to think about um how
this applies to when I look at like
political tribalism or something like
that which is very prevalent today and
something in the environment has the
environment's been changing super
quickly
um you know dude social media just
started and it's like completely changed
the world and the internet is pretty new
um and mobile phones and and there's
just just the that's all these giant
seismic Environmental changes which
throw off the balance in these tug of
war we've got both individually and
Society we have kind of a grand tug of
war going on
um
and so I start you know that that's what
I'm doing a lot of thinking about is
okay I see a lot of kind of things that
are the political version of eating
Skittles and brownies which is you know
hating half the country and feeling like
you're perfect and righteous and the US
group is great and the damn group is
awful like that's just junk food of a
different kind right it's just that's
base Primal behavior that doesn't
naturally make sense and it's not good
for us it's not good for others uh and
it's on the rise clearly right you see
it around you and you also see it in
plenty of surveys and polls and
um and so uh that's what I've been
thinking a lot about why right you know
what what's what are the environmental
changes and and why are they stoking
this kind of decline in the National the
us at least in the National tug of war
and and uh and a lot of in a lot of us
as people if we look at the Primitive
mind as us 50 000 years ago and we think
about the baser instincts why do those
base instincts feel good why is the
righteous indignation such a
it it feels so awesome why would that be
from an evolutionary standpoint the
program is very simple
and this developed over not just fifty
thousand years but this is this is you
know billions of years going back right
this goes through our whole Evolution
the program is very simple in terms of
its goal
the genes that you carry
uh they're still around right now
because they happen to be unbelievable
at survival right they've survived
through fish through reptiles and
rodents and other primates and great
apes and now they're in you you know
most of the genes didn't make it this
far so everyone today their genes are
amazing at survival and so the goal of
your programming is to that you're the
animal that is surrounding these genes
you're just kind of you're developed in
the way you are you are physically and
mentally Who You Are
because
every little part of you is is good at
serving this the core purpose which is
keeping those genes Immortal passing
them on passing them on right you're
gonna die but your genes Can Stay
immortal if you haven't dare you to
Urban you know what maybe maybe it also
with the the crazy future we have maybe
we can upload our concerts
but the point is that it just is so
simple in in so many ways something that
helps you pass your genes along
is going to because of so much Evolution
make the animal feel good it's going to
reward the animal with dopamine and
other kinds of happy chemicals because
that's what the programming does it it
basically like you if you want your dog
to do something or you give it a treat
but that's just what you're really doing
is the dog doesn't care about the treat
that when they eat the treat they get
the dopamine hit the dog cares about the
dopamine hit and it's addicted right
like like all of us and so you give the
dog a treat it hits the dopamine head so
that's like really the dog's brain is
the one giving it the real treat right
and you're triggering something that
gives the the secondary treat
um and so it's a similar idea with us is
that
um the things your brain naturally
rewards you for are going to be things
that helped you
to pass on your genes so what does that
mean to pass on your genes you have to
uh survive right you can't die
especially at a young age you have to
survive
um which means you need calories
you need to stay safe and then of course
you need to reproduce which is why
humans are all maniacally obsessed with
sex and then now the genes are in your
kids so suddenly you'll throw yourself
off a cliff before you'll throw your kid
off a cliff which makes no sense except
it does if you're thinking about the
fact that
um uh the genes are in the younger
healthier container now so the genes are
telling you protect that thing over
yourself right so again crazy right and
this is all very obvious it's just that
if you think about you know why do
Skittles Taste good because back then
something that tasted dense and sweet
like that was probably a really high
calorie food which was critical to eat
because you didn't know when you're
going to get food now your question why
does you know political tribalism feel
good in the same kind of primitive
Blissful kind of way
um and it's because the tribes that you
know to survive for your genes to pass
on the best thing you you really needed
you couldn't survive alone humans alone
would just would be in big trouble you
needed to have a village and a tribe
around you
and so uh we are desperate to be to seek
out connection and community and to be
in the good graces of the people closest
to us and if there's a group of cool
kids and they're ostracizing the uncool
kids you really want to be in the cool
kid group that's just our DNA we want to
be included we the in our nightmares to
be ostracized to be the one that
everyone's talking [ __ ] about behind
your back we hate that and again that
doesn't make sense who cares right it's
just we're all gonna who cares what
they're saying because our dumb
primitive brains are horrified because
they think we are now going to get cut
out of this the the life raft which is
this support group this this community
and we're kind of out of that we're
gonna die and if if you get rejected by
uh a girl when you go up to her it's
it's horrifying because
all the other girls now in the tribe are
gonna you know laugh at you and you're
never gonna mate you're never gonna pass
on unions of course and today that
doesn't make sense you can get rejected
and it doesn't matter but our brains
continually are misinterpreting the
world around us the way you describe
that a it seems really really true but
also begs the question then how on Earth
did we get to the point where the
enlightenment is real that we have the
scientific method and we've created all
this amazing stuff we at some point
somehow some way began to elevate above
that uh and I don't know how kids today
will take the following statement but as
a child of the 80s it feels like we were
doing really well for a while at least
in the U.S freedom of speech was like a
core tenant individuality being able to
think for yourself being celebrated for
that now feels like we're going in the
wrong direction
um
how did we how did we get escape
velocity at first even before we we talk
about how we're getting pulled back down
if you think about how much
self-help books and people who give
advice on the internet and and people
who give medical and nutrition or
Fitness advice or productivity advice
right and and people build these systems
um what's happening is that basically
all of this is this struggle to okay
let's make systems
and habits and routines that
can protect us from our own worst
desires so a simple one is don't buy
unhealthy food for your house if you
want to eat more healthy right you know
uh commit to the commit to a gym routine
and and form a habit
um and so people are constantly in their
own lives forming these systems which
are like these structures that you can
build these artificial structures that
you can build that can kind of support
you and keep you afloat so you don't
drift down into kind of your worst your
worst instincts and your your most your
most nonsensical Instinct it's not evil
they're just they don't make sense for
your life they're gonna push your life
in the wrong direction so we build all
these systems
um you have diets right a diet is just a
system and you're gonna maybe do it with
a with a group of people
um these are all ways to kind of
outsmart our primitive instincts and and
and uh and and try to uh to kind of kind
of build the structure so the
enlightenment
is just that on a massive scale uh well
the enlightenment itself is kind of uh
you know is is a ton of philosophy about
the best systems that groups can use
that countries can use to use to what
end so the the if you if a human is just
following their base instincts they're
just you know scarfing down junk food
right
if a if a group of people is following
their base instincts you've got Warlords
and dictators and slaves and super
oppression and no upward mobility and no
justice right that's the state of nature
we've done this so many times you know
look at history there's so it's just
like it's like you can have this moment
when you know things seem better and
then they and then and then there's
civilization collapses and you end up
with again you have these these Warlords
and you've got
um uh you know dictatorships and this is
so so humans have suffered so much by
um kind of falling into think about you
know that the hierarchy
um is something that is kind of a
natural thing for us to fall into this
thing which is why we all want to kind
of please the scary authorities
um and so uh the enlightenment is trying
to say what how is what is a better way
here what is the true human nature that
produces that is it is it that we you
need a brutal dictator in order to
control humans because otherwise they
will just get out of hand and start
murdering each other or and this is more
than what the Enlightenment thinkers
thought is actually human nature isn't
necessarily that bad it just needs uh
some basic laws and structures that can
uh prevent people from uh prevent the
worst actors among them from taking over
and from overpowering each other and
from harming each other and at that
point
um actually humans function can function
very well together so it's kind of this
nuanced thing between you know you have
tyranny uh and Anarchy right which often
Anarchy often then melts away into
tyranny and and doesn't it always yeah
and so this is saying what if we do
something in the Middle where instead of
saying there's these rigid iron-clad
laws and every single person is under
the control of the king you say actually
there's going to be freedom and the
government's going to have a very
limited ability to do anything but
there's going to be this big wide fence
with Ironclad walls on the wide fence
which is that you can't harm someone
else
um you know physically you can't steal
their property you know things like that
uh equal Equal justice under the uh
under the law you're gonna have you know
equal rights you're going to have
um uh very you know when you basically
you're going to be totally free but if
you start harassing people and punching
people and stealing their things very
quickly you're ending you're going to
end up in jail so there is an iron fist
there but it's very light touch it only
applies to very specific things so they
basically the the if an anarchy
everyone's 100 free which turns into a
bunch of bullies and Warlords and now no
one's free the enlightenment was like
okay if we if we have everyone be 80
free but that last 20 no one can do
um
then then we think that not only will
people be able to now live freely and
safely but also it'll Foster all this
productivity all this natural
competition with rules the competition
will flourish and this to me is no
different than a human's human creating
a little group to do a diet with right
this is a mass scale structure that is
basically that that the rational parts
of our brain can create that uh can say
if we if we just live within this
structure our worst instincts can't take
over
okay this is uh this is really complex
and very nuanced but I think incredibly
important and the reason that I wanted
to talk to you and that I found your
book so compelling is all of this stuff
really matters so I came to uh studying
history very late but the more I study
history the more I realize that the way
that the society functions matters a lot
and if you meaning life and death
quality of life uh being just tormented
endlessly or having something that is a
pretty amazing place to be so uh there
are three books that I would encourage
people to read if they really want to
get a sense what humans are capable of
in in the wrong direction and that would
be Mao the unknown story
uh the rise and fall of the Third Reich
and the gulag archipelago those are very
terrifying books about what happens when
the baser instincts uh go awry and so
when I think about okay how does this
end up happening
let me know what you think about this
thesis uh hypothesis may be more
accurate so you have humans have just a
a need for certainty and when I'm
teaching entrepreneurs one of the things
I teach them is you have to be able to
intoxicate your team with certainty and
if you say hey this is the way forward
of course you're never going to know for
sure but like you have to put out this
is what I think we have to do to
accomplish this goal you've got to tell
them this is it we're going to go do
this thing now privately you can have
all the doubt in the world but you need
to have certainty to get them marching
in a direction which is why going back
to your idea of why this feels so good
is that for humans have an innate desire
for progress I think that's just in
terms of the Primitive Minds just
hardwired into us which is what keeps us
out there forging and hunting and
pushing and if that didn't feel good to
your point about the the dog's brain is
actually what's giving it the treat the
dopamine reward
if doing hard things in the pursuit of
progress didn't feel awesome then we
would never have become the most
dominant apex predator the world has
ever seen so you have this innate push
for progress and you have this crushing
need for certainty and so you have
people that can Rise Up by giving you
that certainty and being nuanced is
incredibly difficult it takes as
somebody who often struggles to hold
very nuanced ideas uh
I think one of the markers of a high
level of intelligence is that ability to
really find a nuanced path through
something now having grown up in America
I'm immersed in this American experiment
so I never really realized that it was
an experiment that they're it's fragile
and that it could be lost and that when
you look at a tyrannical government
where certainty is ruling the day one
person is just telling you you're gonna
go do this and people can get behind it
because they just hey I followed the
rules and that's that even though it can
be horrendous tyranny
and that when I think of things like the
woke mind virus
which seems to be really capturing
people today part of it is
it sounds great even though it may not
be working part of it is that it gives
people certainty on how to move and then
part of it is that finding the Nuance of
even though it sounds good it's not
working they're using names that you
never want to push back against but the
underlying idea may not be quite aligned
all of that gets very murky and very
hard to navigate through and so people
end up getting pressured to be silent
they don't understand their own View
because they're not able to talk out
loud about it they're not able to
clarify their own View and so they're
never able to Think Through the problem
well to Define that nuanced View and
then to move forward with certainty
and nuance
so it feels like a system that is very
easy to get wrong and very difficult to
get right and so as when you were
writing the book and you called it a
self-help book for societies
talk us through this idea of the latter
so that people can understand how to
think through these nuanced positions in
a way without
falling prey to just whatever is the
popular narrative
well so I I we talk a lot about
horizontal
spectrums we've got political you've got
the left the far left and the left and
the center and the right and the far
right right so it's just one dimensional
horizontal axis we have a lot of those
on any spectrum of opinion you know you
could just lay out the opinion of views
this extreme that extreme and then the
things in the middle and that's all what
you think right which is great but like
I was like what let's like build another
access a vertical one that that can be a
how you think access so we can just to
talk about it it's just it's just it's
an important concept that I people know
but like let's give it an access so I
call it the latter and
when it comes to thinking it's just
defined
pretty simply where at the top you know
you care about truth that's what you're
you're acting the way someone acts when
they care most about truth and at the
very bottom but you care so only care
about is confirming your existing
beliefs
and then of course it's a spectrum so
you can have like you know multiple
rungs on that ladder and it's not that
some people are the low rung people it's
that we all have the Tendencies the
tendency to kind of go up and down on
this ladder depending on the day on our
mood on the stage in our life on the
topic
um but once you're thinking about this
as uh an actual access that you can be
on a ladder then I think it helps you
realize okay wait I'm doing that thing
where I'm I'm trying to confirm my
beliefs and I'm I'm actually not going
for truth deep down and you can be more
self-aware so
um the the
what does someone act like when truth is
their motive truly right I mean if you
think about this if you just take it out
of like the realm of politics or
religion or one of these really you know
sensitive topics and you just
um you know you're trying to figure out
how to fix something uh there's there's
you have a bunch of tools and you're
trying to fix a machine that's not
working and you have people around and
if if you're saying I have a theory here
that actually what we need is we need to
cut the red wire and we need to like you
know whatever you know but put another
metal plate here
uh and someone else says
um no no no no no no you got to leave
the red wire and cut the green wire
right you're you're not going to say
you're an awful person because like
you're the kind of person who thinks we
you know the green wire type people
right you know you're not no why would
you ever that's crazy you just you just
what you'd be doing is
you try to assess well just fully
um without any bias like you're trying
to assess does this person know what
they're talking about right is this
person just someone who just just out of
nowhere says I don't like the green wire
or you know you'd ask their background
and they'd say oh and you hear them talk
and you say oh this person actually
seems like they have a lot more
experience here than I do or they know
they understand this kind of
machine better okay so I'm going to
listen to them and I'm going to update
my beliefs maybe I or I was so certain
about the red wire and you know they're
the fact that they think it's the green
wire makes me reconsider whether I know
this is just normal human thinking
because you all you care about is which
wire should I actually be cutting on
this thing
um so when it comes to a if you're if
you truly uh are if you're on the that
that's kind of top rung thinking if
you're thinking that way with your
political beliefs uh or any other belief
you know you'd have this belief and you
would be so open to dissent into
challenge you'd like you'd seek out
articles that are disagreeing with you
because you're thinking that you know
you can think of your belief as a little
machine and you're trying to see if it's
as strong as a machine as possible you
collected all these little information
puzzle pieces and you've assembled them
together into a hypothesis and
um you know that uh people have blind
spots and people are biased and people
make mistakes and so this machine
probably has some flaws how am I going
to find out what they are uh I'm gonna
go out and test it I'm gonna I'm gonna
find people who disagree with it and say
kick them machine see if you can break
it right which of course is a debate or
an argument are you gonna go read things
that disagree with you you're going to
read people that say
um you know that this is built wrong uh
and if someone makes a good point and
you say oh you know what like you're
actually the machine's not standing up
well to your
descent
um you're not gonna be offended or angry
at that person or cut them out of your
life you're gonna say
great I need to update or I need to
reconsider that right okay so this is
obviously like ideal thinking right and
if we always thought this way when
you're thinking that way you are a hyper
efficient learner right you are you if
your motive is truth and you act that
way you behave that way you're going to
be the best at finding the truth
eventually you're gonna really and
you're gonna have a natural humility and
you're also going to end up with a lot
of nuance because the truth is so often
nuanced so you're gonna be open to that
and you're gonna end up refining your
belief and now your machine gets a
little bit a little bit sharper and a
little your idea gets a little bit
better and now you
get more information you read more you
test your idea more and the Machine gets
a little bit better and eventually
you're gonna have this very complex and
nuanced point of view
that is he worked really hard for and
it's going to be nuanced and it's going
to be the best chance you have it being
accurate now that would be nice if we
all thought that way but of course
there's this primitive mind that we
talked about which is this part of your
brain that uh is not wired for truth
it's wired for survival in 50 000 BC and
what that often meant was agreeing with
the sacred beliefs of your tribe and
believing them and the people who could
believe what the tribe believed
um with full conviction they did
survived well they were you know they
were on the in-group they they fit in
and that's what was needed
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so this other part of our brain very
much identifies with certain ideas and
when you identify with an idea
your brain has a tough time telling the
difference between a sacred belief and
your identity and your identity and your
body and so it's actually a lot of
research where in fmri experiments
people's fight or flight parts of their
brain light up when certain beliefs like
political are challenged it actually
lights those things up and and when when
people have those parts so their brain
being lit up by this challenge they are
extremely unlikely to change their mind
because they feel attacked yeah when you
it's it's literally lighting up a
different part of your brain when
political beliefs are challenged then so
this is a specific study I'm thinking of
from 2016 uh and you know there were
like 10 non-political
beliefs that were challenged and then 10
of the of the participants political
beliefs and the non-political beliefs
were much more likely to to light up
kind of the prefrontal cortex like
um you know rational centers of the
brain and the political beliefs were
much more when those were challenged the
limbic system the more primitive
emotional you know Parts the amygdala
the fear centers the fight or flight
parts of our brain lit up and the
default mode Network which is a set of
brain regions that are associated with
internal introspection and
um uh you know reflecting inwardly as
opposed to listening to what someone's
saying on the outside and so when the
political beliefs were challenged
Minds didn't change and when the
non-political beliefs were challenged
there was much more movement and the
person saying I guess I was wrong so
it's that it's that the the natural
um or or the the The Logical kind of way
to think would be as I said obviously
why would you not want truth everyone
should want that why would you want to
be delusional
um and that is what we're like most of
the time but then these certain areas
like politics Will trigger a crazy part
of our brain that treats ideas and
people as one and the same feels as my
identity yeah it feels angry and hurt
and offended when someone disagrees with
them and gets really riled up and and
gets you know you feel that emotion
you're really hyped up and and and you
kind of hate that person maybe and maybe
even you cut them out of your life and I
can only be friends with people who
agree with me on these topics and that
is madness that is a totally weird thing
going on in the brain
um and so that to me is what I would
call low wrong thinking is is when uh
and so when someone's if most someone's
motivated by truth we said what they did
they'll seek out dissent they'll change
their mind right they want more
information they're humble when they're
on the low rungs in that whole you're
thinking a whole different way and
you're you're deep down even if you
don't know it at that moment you're deep
down motivation is to confirm what you
believe to feel to continue to feel
strongly about it and to to talk about
how right I am and how wrong and bad
those other people are who disagree with
me you're gonna behave in a way that
serves that motivation so that's
confirmation bias and cherry picking
evidence that fits in all these
cognitive you know fallacies that come
up um and these biases those are all
ways that your brain can make sure you
continue to believe the things that you
believe in the face of information that
might be compelling uh that says you're
wrong doesn't matter you'll become a
brick wall uh when it comes to those
beliefs and we all can we all do this uh
and it's good to note when I'm you know
if you can't a good litmus test is
if you believe something really strongly
um ask yourself is there anything
someone could present me right now is
there in this argument is there anything
this person could say that would make me
say you know what I think I'm wrong I
need to rethink that and if the answer
is no of course not every time they're
talking I'm just waiting so I can then
you know you're in the you're down in
the low rungs and that's okay we all do
it but it's like it's a reminder calm
down remember that you and your ideas
are not the same
be humble accept that you might be wrong
and like listen and maybe you'll learn
something and remember truth matters
more than being right and if you have to
continually remind yourself of this why
does truth matter
um because
um when we have a more accurate picture
of the world we can do more for the
world when we have a more accurate
picture of reality we live better lives
we had end up with fewer regrets uh when
you're also when you're thinking that
way you tend not to be in a tribal
mindset you you feel love for all humans
you know uh you don't feel this weird
difference in empathy between the US
group and then them group you're you're
your best self when we're you're in that
mode
um when you're you know if you're
seeking truth and you're remembering the
truth is hard it's going to bring this
humility in and you're going to end up
um with a clearer view of the world but
you're also going to learn a lot more
think of what is learning learning is
getting your perception closer to
reality right and so you're going to do
that and you're going to learn and so
you're going to end up um you're gonna
end up knowing a lot more you can make
better decisions you can end with more
wisdom down the road you can be you can
you you're I think morally kind of a
better person you know you're and um
yeah and and the alternative is delusion
delusion that feels good in the moment
just like eating Skittles feels good in
the moment but um actually makes you
um
uh you're you're you're not in touch
with reality and
um I think over the long run uh I don't
think that's good for I mean you know
maybe you could argue that some people
are happy not knowing the truth and
maybe it's better that way but I don't
think most people would say that about
themselves and if someone wants to say
you know what I don't want another truth
then okay you know I would say then but
I think if you know 99 out of 100 people
would say I want the truth and I know
the truth and they think they know the
truth so it's not that they actively are
saying I don't care about the truth you
sure about that so this I've even heard
you talk about this so I guess one let
me acknowledge uh the only part of your
answer that surprised me was the moral
thing so I'll follow up on that in a
minute uh but I you I think you're bang
on especially with the idea of identity
people end up getting tied up in that
but I've heard you say that
um when it comes to
um being right when it comes to people
trying to get to the truth that some
people are saying no no like truth is
just a power game and even even this
idea that there is something right or
something better than another thing is
is just a uh structure in essence of
Oppression
um so when you said that I think
everybody wants the truth
is that true well you're talking about I
was probably referring to a very
specific ideology kind of this
post-modern line of thought which says
there is no such thing as objective
truth and that everyone that that
everyone has their truth
um so that's that's a very specific kind
of very kind of um far left kind of
radical line of thought um which I think
is I think this is sorry finish sex that
sounds very interesting oh I'm saying I
I think it's I think it's perfectly
interesting the concept that
um you know when you have when you live
a life as person a versus person B
um you have total different subjective
experiences yeah
um I I think that's interesting
interesting but I fully believe in an
objective truth it doesn't mean there's
just because there's subjective
experience doesn't mean there's not also
objective truth it doesn't mean that
we're always good at finding it but the
whole birth of the the scientific method
right what is science is it's just a
it's a process that anyone in the world
from any country any language any age
any religion or race can participate in
together it's this giant Global project
um that is just a method it's a way of
thinking and it's a method for getting
closer to the objective truth so
um I'm not a post-modernist so I I know
that some people so I as far as whether
they'd say we don't care about truth I
don't think that's what they think they
think that each person kind of has their
own truth and um but doesn't that mean
by definition that there is no objective
truth and we're getting now to where I
think this starts to derange and again
for anybody listening I just want to
remind you I worry about this going off
the rails totalitarianism uh genocide
like it gets scary fast just I'll
re-point out the three books I mentioned
at the top like humans have a long
history of killing a lot of people in
the name of ideology uh so this really
feels like it's important to get right
uh it does seem like by definition
people that say that the there is no
objective truth and that's just a big
part of the power game that they are
they are actively rejecting that idea
um it's yeah and I think they're wrong I
think that they
um but they're not saying we want to be
delusional they're saying that
you know and in this case when you're
talking about you know kind of the woke
movement what they're saying is that
um privileged people don't have access
to the full truth but oppressed people
do because oppressed people know the
dominant narrative which is the
privileged narrative because everyone
knows that but they also know the
oppressed experience which only they
have access to to me this is that's it
doesn't that's not true I think that if
you course suppress people have access
to information that but everyone is an
individual and everyone has a ton of
access to specific life experiences and
this kind of binary people with that
skin color don't have the full truth but
people that to me is just it's not it's
rigid and childish kind of what do they
mean when they say truth that I I
actually don't understand and you threw
out a definition earlier that I think is
pretty close to mine but before I offer
mine what when people say the truth what
do they when post-modernists say the
truth what do they mean
um well I would say I don't want to
speak for people who I I'm not one of
them so I'll do the best I can but you
know there's this thing called
standpoint Theory right
um which is uh the idea that I was just
kind of referring to which is that
um people are positioned in The Matrix
of Oppression and that there's a kind of
a current going on like we're all in a
river together and that's the dominant
narrative
and that's the that's kind of the forces
of Oppression and people who are who
benefit from that which they would say
in in you know in other Marxist places
they might say they're the ruling class
um and the U.S in today's kind of what
movement they would say the Straight
white men
they are always swimming with the
current
and so everyone knows what the current
is like because we're all stuck in it
but they don't have any idea of what
it's like to go against the current and
so people who are
um not straight white men
they have a totally different experience
of reality they they have they actually
have more information and what they say
counts more because they actually have
access to what they say about what what
they say about uh the uh their world
view it doesn't so you know to me what
this actually is is a way that when
there's a statistic or a set of data or
an argument that comes out that
disagrees with this ideology to me it's
a convenient way to say that's all a
part of the dominant narrative in fact
science itself the scientific method was
invented by white man which by the way
is not true it's like that that's part
of my you know it's like it's such a
there's no does it gives no Credence to
cultures all around the world who
created you know the scientific method
together and uh have have you know they
get all this credit for something like
science to White Western men
um by saying that this is a tool created
by white Western men
um to uh entrench kind of their own
power and again I'm I'm saying what I
I'm trying to steal man what I think
they would say I completely disagree
with this entirely I think that science
is not does not have a color or and I
think science is a way of thinking and
it is the best known method in my view
of finding the truth of getting closer
to it now you can ask what is truth it's
just that there is
um
uh
the fact that there is also subjective
experience which each person kind of has
their own doesn't mean that doesn't mean
there's that's part to me that's part of
objective truth objective truth is just
reality so you know the Earth is ways
this this many kilograms and it the
gravity here is this strong and it's
going around the Sun and it's been doing
that for this long and humans evolved
this way and we are now our brain works
this way because of it these are really
hard questions but to me there is an
answer here it's just that humans takes
a long time for us to get closer to it
some of the things like the diameter of
the earth we got that one for a long
time and they had no idea and there were
different theories now we know it it's a
clear answer we have the answer we know
the mass of the Earth we understand some
of how gravity works but when it comes
to you know Evolution and and why aren't
you know where our memories are in our
brains and we don't know but it doesn't
mean there it doesn't exist uh it it
does exist so so to me I think I'm look
if you go to the you know you talk about
Mao one of the things that in in the
maoist revolutions they were very
hostile the radicals to science to they
would say the the the the you know the
intellectuals and the scientists they
are are a part of our oppression right
to me I I you show me a movement that is
hostile to science and the notion of
objective truth that is also Humane and
productive over the long period of time
and I I will I'll be surprised because
I've never seen one to me when a
movement is hostile to the idea of
objective truth and Science and
um very and almost always goes along
with the good people the good oppressed
people and the bad privileged people
right that's the the or whatever maybe
it's the other way around maybe it's
like Hitler it's the good upper inner
people and the bad Outsider scum
whatever it is anytime someone's doing
this moral dualism and their
anti-science to me that is just human
primitive Minds have ganged up together
into kind of a religious movement that
is you know masked in the certain kind
of righteous politics and that it's
actually almost always going to lead to
uh really really bad things a
destruction and suffering and and it
almost never ends observing the people
the movement supposedly is supposed to
you know the Nazis were supposed to
serve the the Patriotic German and the
maoists were supposed to serve uh the
people right and and make it a a give
people a better life and and what
movement is supposed to serve black
Americans and women and to me in all
these cases I feel like those are some
of the people that are hurt most by
these movements so
yeah
dude so this is uh this is really really
important so I'm gonna Define what I
think truth is and then answer why I
think you if you want to be a good
totalitarian top-down movement you have
to find a way to uh bury science so the
truth is from where I'm sitting
the human mind is a prediction machine
and the truth is the thing that as you
get closer to it allows you to better
predict the outcome of your behaviors so
um take
Newtonian physics so Newtonian physics
got us a lot closer to the truth and we
were able to realize oh wait the Earth
is revolving around the Sun this is
roughly how gravity works we were able
to predict the motion of large bodies
very very helpful and I think we could
land on the moon without einsteinian
physics I'm almost certain that's true
so it's like hey pretty impressive but
then without uh general relativity and
special relativity we would not be able
to do things like GPS we certainly
wouldn't be able to do nuclear physics
and so as we got closer to the truth
there we were able to unleash the power
of the atom and so it's like hey we got
closer to that we're better able to
predict the outcome of our behaviors and
thusly unleash tremendous power
tremendous progress and so
truth in that sense becomes very useful
so even when you think about things like
um the social sciences okay you make a
prediction we're going to put in this
um
this new law whatever and we expect X
outcome now if we get a different
outcome than that then there was
something flawed in our thinking we were
farther from the truth than we thought
we were but if we're willing to look at
the results we can actually get closer
to the truth we can structure something
even better and now next time when we
run a new experiment it's going to be
hopefully getting us closer to the
result that we wanted
so the reason that I think that in a
totalitarian movement which I will say
that there are shades of that anytime
where you don't allow a dissenting voice
you're headed down the path of
totalitarianism and I see that very much
with woke thinking so the reason that
you would have to a shoe science or
anything else is you you need a
narrative to
give people the certainty to move
forward and to take action the problem
with science that pesky pesky thing is
it tells you whether you're close to the
truth or not because you can accurately
predict the outcome of your behaviors so
if you're telling people hey here's the
narrative do these things and life will
be better for everybody and then you do
those things and life isn't better for
people or it isn't better for the people
that you said it was going to be better
for it breaks the ability yeah so now
it's like oh the very thing that I'm
using to intoxicate people people with
certainty falls apart under the scrutiny
of reality but if I can say oh that that
test that you're going to use to see if
this was
effective or not that is so flawed you
can't even do that shame on you for even
bringing it up and that's you know bad
racist whatever now you can keep the
narrative intact now you can maintain
power and that that's that's where this
starts to break down for me I cannot
until I started reading
um
Nietzsche and the idea of the will to
power I could not understand why people
would want a world view that was
obviously broken like what are you
getting out of it you're not making
progress you're not getting anything
better like I like refrigerators and air
conditioning and the internet like these
are amazing things and none of them are
possible when you start saying no no two
plus two isn't really four like what is
happening yeah I I think if it is um
why do people do what they do right
because they have a world view where
they believe that the rewards are here
and the penalties are here and this is
what's good and this is what bad good
people do and bad people do and I want
to be good and and so then Behavior gets
driven right they seek the same human
nature and you and you and you give it a
a do you think that's where it starts
that doesn't feel like the first moment
that feels like how you get the second
person into this but it doesn't but yes
but but that's what I'm saying is if you
can author the story that people believe
you're all powerful you can play God if
you can if I can convince
a ton of people that I am I speak to God
so I know no one else but I know what's
going to get you into heaven which is
the ultimate Primal incentive
and by the way there might you might
have a lot of sex with virgins there
um which is another huge Primal
incentive and everything you could ever
want and eternal life and everything
you're primarily scared of Heaven solves
it I know how to get you there and by
the way I also know what's going to get
you sent to hell
and he and now because if they can
believe that that I I know I have the
answer now I can start saying okay
here's what I here's what gets you into
heaven all the things that I want you to
do and you can drive the populace like a
remote control car
and right and so if you take a any kind
of tyrant
um they're always doing some version of
that would they have a story and if they
can make that the story people believe
look at North Korea right I went to
North Korea for five days and when 2013.
why it's fascinating
am I not afraid I mean I probably should
have been more afraid given that now
they've started arresting some of the
people on this same tour guide no thanks
but it was so interesting because what I
was immersed in for five days was the
North Korean story and it goes like this
the Korean War which we think of as
something that was from 1950 to 1953 and
is over
um in and in South Korea I think they
would say the same thing uh that
happened and now we're the 15th biggest
economy you know one of the big boys in
the world in North Korea the story is
that that war is ongoing still going
that the South the poor our poor cousins
in the South they don't hate South
Koreans our poor cousins down there are
being occupied currently by the evil
imperialist Americans they use that term
a lot of times the imperialist Americans
the they are occupying half our country
and the South wishes they could be free
and the only reason that we're free is
because our great leaders are brave
leaders and our military are so powerful
that the U.S can't get here they want to
take over here too but they can't and
they're scared of us and that's why we
get to be free people and but people
down in the South they're not free that
is a story that is very far from the
truth so what happens what was what were
we told you you know we were told before
we went in I had nothing to Envy which
is a book about you know a North Korean
Defector you cannot bring that into the
country they said and the the they're
saying the worst thing you could ever
bring was like a radio that had South
Korean stations because if people there
knew that Seoul was not an oppressed
place but actually a thriving Metropolis
with people who are well fed and free
and living their best lives
um it would be a disaster right and so
they have this story and
some people believe it in the country a
lot of people do and the people who
don't know to keep quiet
and so if you can control speech you can
control what people believe and if you
control people believe you can keep them
acting the way you want which is
subservient to the dear leaders and
worshiping the leaders and and being
conforming and conforming to all of that
if so you you are incredibly hostile to
truth because you want to impact you
want to overpower people and you want to
basically have people like marionettes
uh and doing what you want and so you
can't if there's the truth would never
work if that were the so so they'd they
every single measure in that country is
of course there's no internet right
there's so so so so much effort put
towards suppressing the truth and that's
always the case because if you can if
you can write the story that people
believe you drive their behavior if you
stop being able to do that you can't now
if that's now what science is the reason
science is great is because what science
says is put away all the stories
we're there's a there isn't a big story
a real story called objective truth and
we don't we don't claim to know it
science never has even science has
theories they max out at Theory because
they say science is skeptical of its own
conclusions and it assumes you know no
scientists said oh my God science is
broken because Newton's Laws weren't the
completely they say great right science
says yes we're let's be less wrong every
year let's be a little less wrong so
science is saying there is a there is a
story that's real and we're just working
together humbly collaboratively on
trying to get closer to it which is so
different so again and when something's
hostile to science they're almost always
hostile to free speech as well and they
almost always are the kind of people
that can't stand up in a real debate
they don't actually have real actual you
know evidence on their side so if you
can't hang in a debate what you do is
you say debate is evil and and these are
dangerous ideas that cannot be
platformed and if you platform them
we're gonna punish you because you're
allowing dangerous harmful ideas to
spread which is harming marginalized
people right it's just the oldest trick
in the book there's a hundred versions
of this and it's always the same thing
it's just authoritarianism
for the sake of controlling people yeah
okay so uh we still have the will to
power sort of hanging out there but for
a second I want to go back to Identity
uh this idea that people end up tying
their identity to a set of ideas and
when that gets attacked the regions of
the brain light up that have to do with
whoa you're attacking me
um it seems to me that the only way out
of this trap and that you can literally
draw a line in the sand in my life
before this realization and after so I
used to Value myself for being smart
that was leading me down very weird
paths because I would say I'm sort of
middle of the road I'm fine I can get by
but I'm not going to be celebrated
necessarily