Some of my favorite ideas & quotes from Bret Weinstein's interviews:
"You're going to have to decide which things that evolution would have you do are honorable, & which things you wish to reject, because your humanity tells you that you are more than just an evolutionary robot"
"You're going to have to decide which things that evolution would have you do are honorable, & which things you wish to reject, because your humanity tells you that you are more than just an evolutionary robot"
Many Silicon Valley have now switched to flip phones themselves. This is nature's way of telling you that these algorithms have escaped our control. The fact that the people who are in a position know what the algorithm does, can't even protect themselves...
We are not built to be happy.
And therefore, pursuing happiness, as if we were built to be happy is a hazard. We should be pursuing something else.
We should recognize that happiness is a carrot on a stick, that evolution built into us in order to get us to pursue objectives.
And therefore, pursuing happiness, as if we were built to be happy is a hazard. We should be pursuing something else.
We should recognize that happiness is a carrot on a stick, that evolution built into us in order to get us to pursue objectives.
Metaphorical Truth:
A belief that is factually wrong, but that if you behave as if it were correct, you'd come out ahead of where you would be
What makes a concept useful evolutionarily is not that it is accurate, but that it's advantageous.
A belief that is factually wrong, but that if you behave as if it were correct, you'd come out ahead of where you would be
What makes a concept useful evolutionarily is not that it is accurate, but that it's advantageous.
Religion is metaphorically true.
If it wasn't, if it was useless, than those who simply didn't believe them would have a massive advantage b/c they weren't spending all this time on elaborate rituals, etc. It must provide some evolutionary advantage. It's not just a mind virus.
If it wasn't, if it was useless, than those who simply didn't believe them would have a massive advantage b/c they weren't spending all this time on elaborate rituals, etc. It must provide some evolutionary advantage. It's not just a mind virus.
On excesses of cancel culture:
What you want is a system in which ppl are honorable.
if you allow honorable ppl to be skewered simply b/c someone decides to go after them, you're going to eliminate the courageous ppl from the system.
Don't let the innocent go down w/ the ship
What you want is a system in which ppl are honorable.
if you allow honorable ppl to be skewered simply b/c someone decides to go after them, you're going to eliminate the courageous ppl from the system.
Don't let the innocent go down w/ the ship
On humor:
We don't even have a good evolutionary explanation of what humor is
And so we're trying to navigate what the rules of it should be without even talking about what its function is.
hypothesis: laughter is the sound of comprehension.
We don't even have a good evolutionary explanation of what humor is
And so we're trying to navigate what the rules of it should be without even talking about what its function is.
hypothesis: laughter is the sound of comprehension.
That is to say:
Humor treads at the edge, the fringe of consciousness, and that what happens when a comic finds a truly funny joke, is that they're unearthing a truth that people are only kind of aware of but it's so universal that the whole room suddenly grasps it.
Humor treads at the edge, the fringe of consciousness, and that what happens when a comic finds a truly funny joke, is that they're unearthing a truth that people are only kind of aware of but it's so universal that the whole room suddenly grasps it.
Humor is the mechanism by which we sort out the gray area
If you cut that off and say, 'you can't say that', well, then, how exactly do we figure out where the line is?
One has to step beyond the line to figure out where the line is,& if the room laughs, now you know something
If you cut that off and say, 'you can't say that', well, then, how exactly do we figure out where the line is?
One has to step beyond the line to figure out where the line is,& if the room laughs, now you know something
CRISPR gives us the typewriter, it allows us to edit, maybe it's the word processor, but what we don't have is the Rosetta Stone.
how can we edit the computer if we don't understand the source code?
how can we edit the computer if we don't understand the source code?
On evolution:
Culture is every bit as biological as genes are.
Hard to distinguish b/c many things have components that live in both spaces.
But you have to realize that most of what we are is the product of an evolutionary adaptive process, irrespective of genes or culture
Culture is every bit as biological as genes are.
Hard to distinguish b/c many things have components that live in both spaces.
But you have to realize that most of what we are is the product of an evolutionary adaptive process, irrespective of genes or culture
Utopia
Anytime you try to maximize a single parameter, every other value you have will crash as a result
But once you accept that, you can say, you really like liberty, but you're not ready to surrender on equality
You can have 80% of both, if you accept imperfection in either
Anytime you try to maximize a single parameter, every other value you have will crash as a result
But once you accept that, you can say, you really like liberty, but you're not ready to surrender on equality
You can have 80% of both, if you accept imperfection in either
Complex dynamic systems are always about tensions between competing values. I mean, this is how your body works. Your temperature is maintained by something that looks out for it being too hot and too cold, & it's constantly pushing parameters around that you're not even aware of
If you build a rule into your personality, where you say anything that is positive from the perspective of equity is something you're in favor of, then you can be easily manipulated, because all that has to happen is somebody needs to wrap that label around something noxious.
Tribalism:
There's playful versions of tribalism that we wouldn't want to get over (e.g sports?), but clearly when we take it too far it becomes fanaticism.
It's hard: The worst thing about us, the same parameter that makes a mother love her children, makes ppl commit genocide
There's playful versions of tribalism that we wouldn't want to get over (e.g sports?), but clearly when we take it too far it becomes fanaticism.
It's hard: The worst thing about us, the same parameter that makes a mother love her children, makes ppl commit genocide
And so when ppl are involved in these tribal movements, they're operating automatically, they're pursuing ends that something inside them tells them to pursue
And if they realized that sometimes ppl who felt just like they did put other people in gas chambers, maybe they'd stop
And if they realized that sometimes ppl who felt just like they did put other people in gas chambers, maybe they'd stop
Wisdom involves, I would argue, delayed gratification, unpacking the issue carefully is the way not to get sucked into these movements that are pursuing ends that we should never wish for.
Evolution:
The first thing to do is to get over the idea that you want to fulfill evolutions wish for you, it's an absurd wish.
I am not exaggerating to say that every single creature that has ever evolved has the identical same purpose, which means it can't be a very good one.
The first thing to do is to get over the idea that you want to fulfill evolutions wish for you, it's an absurd wish.
I am not exaggerating to say that every single creature that has ever evolved has the identical same purpose, which means it can't be a very good one.
We must recognize that we are in an odd spot evolutionarily:
Evolution has awarded us the capacity to evaluate our purpose & reject it, which we should do right away.
Having rejected it, we can substitute other things. And that leads right to the Q of well, what to substitute?
Evolution has awarded us the capacity to evaluate our purpose & reject it, which we should do right away.
Having rejected it, we can substitute other things. And that leads right to the Q of well, what to substitute?
Most ppl agree on basic values, they will disagree about what policies ought to be used to enact them
We'd rather pursue common values than we would pursue our evolutionary program, which is not honorable, can't be defended, and is ultimately a danger to our persistence.
We'd rather pursue common values than we would pursue our evolutionary program, which is not honorable, can't be defended, and is ultimately a danger to our persistence.
You have two lefts: the authoritarian left & libertarian left:
Those that wish to end oppression & those that wish to turn the tables of oppression
There are those that want to use enforce equality of outcome vs enable equality of opportunity
(Of course, devil's in details...)
Those that wish to end oppression & those that wish to turn the tables of oppression
There are those that want to use enforce equality of outcome vs enable equality of opportunity
(Of course, devil's in details...)
"Where's my progressivism? My progressivism is in the idea that opportunity is not at all widely distributed at this moment, and that we need to remedy that if the system is to function at all... The other place I feel like the right has never gotten is environmentalism"
