Eric Weinstein

[dneal]

An hour and a half interview I still haven't completely processed. Brilliant, controversial, profound, insightful.

Posted without comment for now, but well worth listening to. I'm interested in the thoughts of those that allot some time to it.

p.s.: Ignore that it's on Glenn Beck and The Blaze. Glenn is blown away to the point of near silence.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOUJKuTKReg

[dneal]

I'm surprised no one is interested in this. He says he can't stand Trump, and that he will only agree to appear on Fox if they let him call them right wing propaganda; if that makes it more palatable.

You don't have to watch it on Youtube. You can listen to it as a podcast on your way to work or as you go about your day.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-93-why-eric-weinstein-is-finally-talking-to-glenn/id620967489?i=1000505484146
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4myTyggd4Lp5QiwrNFkAKm
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/the-glenn-beck-program-23014384/episode/ep-93-why-eric-weinstein-76321783/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-glenn-beck-program/episode/ep-93-why-eric-weinstein-is-finally-talking-to-glenn-beck-the-glenn-beck-podcast-80872777

[rocl]

Thank you for that. I just finished listening and need to digest.

[dneal]

Thank you for that. I just finished listening and need to digest.

You're welcome. I think a lot of the principles he describes aren't limited to the U.S. The political center of a country ignoring government "kleptocracy", for example; or the point that geriatric politicians are free from the consequences of their policies, and we should be wary of that.

I find the "Embedded Growth Obligation" notion very compelling, and had thought similar things (less clearly) with MBA types believing "growth" must continue. How much "growth" does a company like Coca-Cola need, for example. Is it not enough to flatline and maintain a certain amount of profit? At some point "growth" (of profit totals) involves reducing labor costs (among other things). The U.S. isn't the only country outsourcing its labor, to the benefit of corporate bottom line and the detriment of its citizenry.

[rocl]

EGO was also something that I have noticed as essential to the current economic systems, latterly in the obsession with efficiency in terms of labour and resources, but only measured by economic outcome. Minimisation of all costs is the mantra to create the appearance of growth. A wonderful piece of financial advice I received in the '70's was to always leave some profit for others and don't try and squeeze every cent out of any investment. Unending growth exists only in the imagination.

Describing the 2 main political movements in the US (and elsewhere by implication) as cults was insightful. It is so obvious but so far from how it should be that I hadn't made that step consciously. With the collusion of the media this has been the major political development since Regan and Thatcher in the '80's. It makes discussion impossible as is obvious even here on these pages. It's all propaganda without reasoning and argument without discussion.

We need fewer people with a legal background and more with a philosophical one as clear thinking stands out like a beacon in this time. Ethical principles should be the foundation of our thinking, not legal justifications. Eric's statement on the Supreme Court was profound.

The French ideal of liberty, equality and fraternity needs reviving. Freedom in our cultural and philosophical pursuits, equality of rights before the law and fraternity in providing the material needs of modern humanity.

[dneal]

I'm worried about what happens when the EGO Ponzi scheme that fails is a government and not an industry.

I'm concerned that the propaganda drowns out the reason. Although "wokestan" is labeling thinkers like Weinstein the "alt-right" and try to silence them, there is a lot of demand for long-format discussion. Maybe there is still hope.

Weinstein does a good job defining the problem, a decent job framing the end-state, but I don't really see the practical path for implementation.

[dneal]

Re: "Collusion of the media" you spoke of...

Trust in media hits all-time low as less than half of Americans say they trust the news (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/less-than-half-americans-trust-traditional-news?fbclid=IwAR3fSKstKzDVms1RS3-o4ygc6mnfUqmw2rAhnXiP425DI6DGkD3gyZKmu-c)


New polling shows that less than half of the public trusts traditional news media, which represents an all-time low.

According to a barometer published by Axios, just 46% of people trust traditional news media, and trust in social media has plummeted to 27%.

Additionally, 56% of the poll respondents said they agreed with the statement, "Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations."

More than half, 58%, of people believe that "most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public."

The decreasing numbers were not only present in the United States. The barometer showed that the “numbers are echoed across the rest of the world.”

The results reinforce other recent polling that shows Americans have lost a significant amount of faith in traditional media. A Gallup poll conducted in September of last year showed that 86% of Americans consider the media as being biased.