Is Twitter a Good Idea?

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i think virtually every politician and media figure who goes on twitter is a worse version of themselves on it than off. It's making extremely clear our biases, the ways in which we're clickish,. I think for politicians, it incentivizes a lot of their worst behavior. But i feel like there are things in society that i think are good for society, but that in order for me to play my roe in society, i shall have to participate in them.

In his new book, Ezra Klein argues that polarization in America has become centered on partisan political identities, which has subsumed virtually every form of identity, be it where we live, what team we root for, the church we attend, or any other. This stacked form of polarization thus carries much more weight and is activated by a wider range of conflicts than before.

But is polarization really such a pressing concern? If it’s all merged into one form of identity politics then aren’t we just polarizing more efficiently? Over what percentage of GDP are we more polarized today versus in the past?

Tyler posed these questions to Ezra and more, including thoughts on Silicon Valley’s intellectual culture, his disagreement with Jonathan Haidt’s Moral Foundations Theory, the limits of telecommuting, how becoming a father made him less conservative, his post-kid production function, why Manhattan is overrated, the “cosmic embarrassment” of California’s governance, why he loved Marriage Story, the future of the BBC and PBS, what he learned in Pakistan, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded December 27th, 2019 Other ways to connect

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