So, quick comment on this. You guys spent some time discussing the arbitrariness of words we decided to consider offensive, retard vs idiot, moron etc. Being just a bit older than you and possibly cause I am a rural American, I grew up at a time when both flirtation in the workplace and use of the word retard were in full swing. Based on my memory words like idiot and moron had already fallen out of clinical use to describe mental disabilities and retarded was kind of the umbrella term, so it was still considered insensitive to call someone with a mental disability a retard, but terms like idiot had lost that stigma since they were not commonly used clinically. In fact we were changing terminology when I was young to the umbrella term "mentally disabled" or "mentally challenged", I believe we are crossing the threshold now to where it is so uncommon to refer to folks with mental disabilities as "retarded" that it is starting to lose it's offensive stigma as well and we can use it again to rib our friends when they do something stupid. - Anyway, love what you do, sir.
Really enjoying this conversation. I had already been a fan of Gurwinder's writing. There is a kindness and amity in both his insights and his manner of expression-- which is quite rare in a steely-minded realist. I am also embarrassed to say I'm just encountering Josh Szeps now--but really appreciate his interview style and guest list
Regarding Maajid, he actually is the perfect example of the middle class kid turned extremist. He was studying at the London School of Economics before he went to Egypt and got arrested for his extremist beliefs, I am not defending his arrest, but he was a arrested because he was a member of Hizbut Tahrir.
"Having this avatar on your shoulder... has got to do something to you"
Haha, I think you just described religion.
I have come to realise that we are simply highly imperfect "meat computers" that have all of these very unreliable processing shortcuts built into us - and that you shouldn't expect too much from it.
Religion is the classic example. Over and over, humans through time, and from all corners of the globe, invent very similar stories to explain what's going on around them.
All of the stories are very different in detail, but the messages are all the same "you are special and if you do certain things, you will be ok". I think this is just an instance of the meat computer going wrong in a repeatable way.
We have certain built in behaviors and biases, in the same way as amy animal - just ours are more complex and perhaps less obvious (especially to us).
It seems we have a builtin susceptibility for "infectious ideas" - and they keep sperading in various degrees throughout the world.
We aren't nearly as sophisticated amd "conscious" as we believe. (sorry)
Nice to finally hear and see the man behind The Prism. Your Substack has significantly shaped how I understand today’s social dynamics which is both enlightening and calming. One point where I differ from the conversation is your view on modern diets being better than those of 50 or 100 years ago. I’d argue the opposite—rising rates of chronic illness, cancer, and genetic disorders show otherwise and I think malnutrition as in not getting the right nutrients in our diets is to blame. Keep up the outstanding work, humility, and kindness.
JOSH! was the lab leak theory suppressed?? maybe not in Australia but it's well-documented that the NYT, WaPo and others here in America used active measures to suppress the discussion.
So, quick comment on this. You guys spent some time discussing the arbitrariness of words we decided to consider offensive, retard vs idiot, moron etc. Being just a bit older than you and possibly cause I am a rural American, I grew up at a time when both flirtation in the workplace and use of the word retard were in full swing. Based on my memory words like idiot and moron had already fallen out of clinical use to describe mental disabilities and retarded was kind of the umbrella term, so it was still considered insensitive to call someone with a mental disability a retard, but terms like idiot had lost that stigma since they were not commonly used clinically. In fact we were changing terminology when I was young to the umbrella term "mentally disabled" or "mentally challenged", I believe we are crossing the threshold now to where it is so uncommon to refer to folks with mental disabilities as "retarded" that it is starting to lose it's offensive stigma as well and we can use it again to rib our friends when they do something stupid. - Anyway, love what you do, sir.
Really enjoying this conversation. I had already been a fan of Gurwinder's writing. There is a kindness and amity in both his insights and his manner of expression-- which is quite rare in a steely-minded realist. I am also embarrassed to say I'm just encountering Josh Szeps now--but really appreciate his interview style and guest list
I do appreciate this articulate framing of the distinction between liberal universalism and the modern social justice movement.
I often find people genuinely do not understand that it's not simply a consequence of being "too left wing".
Really interesting episode! Gurwinder was not on my radar on Twitter.... Makes me think about going back there
Regarding Maajid, he actually is the perfect example of the middle class kid turned extremist. He was studying at the London School of Economics before he went to Egypt and got arrested for his extremist beliefs, I am not defending his arrest, but he was a arrested because he was a member of Hizbut Tahrir.
"Having this avatar on your shoulder... has got to do something to you"
Haha, I think you just described religion.
I have come to realise that we are simply highly imperfect "meat computers" that have all of these very unreliable processing shortcuts built into us - and that you shouldn't expect too much from it.
Religion is the classic example. Over and over, humans through time, and from all corners of the globe, invent very similar stories to explain what's going on around them.
All of the stories are very different in detail, but the messages are all the same "you are special and if you do certain things, you will be ok". I think this is just an instance of the meat computer going wrong in a repeatable way.
We have certain built in behaviors and biases, in the same way as amy animal - just ours are more complex and perhaps less obvious (especially to us).
It seems we have a builtin susceptibility for "infectious ideas" - and they keep sperading in various degrees throughout the world.
We aren't nearly as sophisticated amd "conscious" as we believe. (sorry)
Nice to finally hear and see the man behind The Prism. Your Substack has significantly shaped how I understand today’s social dynamics which is both enlightening and calming. One point where I differ from the conversation is your view on modern diets being better than those of 50 or 100 years ago. I’d argue the opposite—rising rates of chronic illness, cancer, and genetic disorders show otherwise and I think malnutrition as in not getting the right nutrients in our diets is to blame. Keep up the outstanding work, humility, and kindness.
JOSH! was the lab leak theory suppressed?? maybe not in Australia but it's well-documented that the NYT, WaPo and others here in America used active measures to suppress the discussion.