Delving into the historical significance of Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense' published in 1776, this chapter explores the relevance of Paine's distinction between society and government in today's era of governance. They discuss the necessity of government to constrain human behavior in groups, the balance needed for effective governance, and the concepts of amorality versus immorality in societal structures. The conversation also touches on the importance of consent of the governed in democratic governance models and the need for a new government based on Paine's writings for freedom and security.
In this 232nd in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we talk about the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.
In this week’s episode, we discuss the 248th anniversary of the founding of the United States, with readings from Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence. Then: deep state vs. shallow state, and how it came to be that news = New York Times ^-1, and health = CDC^-1. Discussing the biggest story of 2020—the corruption and affiliations of what would become the first family of the U.S.—was considered a moral failure at the time. Finally: feminism fails in a spectacular show of rugby and lingerie (as Meghan Murphy said: “Modern feminism wants women either in burkas or p*rn gear”), and we discuss why WNBA star Caitlyn Clark is being competed with in the way that she is.
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Mentioned in this episode:
Common Sense (Thomas Paine, 1776): https://americainclass.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Common-Sense-Full-Text.pdf
Declaration of Independence: https://uscode.house.gov/download/annualhistoricalarchives/pdf/OrganicLaws2006/decind.pdf
The Standard on rugby players x lingerie: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/team-gb-rugby-stars-rugby-sevens-paris-olympics-tokyo-b1168015.html
Linda Blade weighs in: https://x.com/coachblade/status/1808125106440323228
Lingerie company x DEI: https://www.bluebella.com/pages/idea
Heather on Competition, and how it differs between the sexes: https://naturalselections.substack.com/p/competition1of2
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