Former ACLU President Nadine Strossen and FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) President Greg Lukianoff join Adaam to discuss their upcoming book War on Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail. The three dig into what makes liberalism in general and free speech in particular so powerful, so radical, and so rare. Is too much information a danger for free speech? Why are some institutions resilient to ideological capture while others cave? Do generational tensions pose a threat to liberal values? What does it really mean to defend free speech?
On the agenda:
-Free speech is eternally radical (00:30)
-The Skokie Affair made Adaam fall in love (10:47)
-Generational tensions at the ACLU, or: maintaining institutional integrity (26:13)
-Real liberalism is (and always was) hard (51:12)
-Marketplace of Ideas vs. Pure Information Theory, or: the importance of knowing falsities (1:01:06)
-AI and the problem of Too Much Information (1:10:02)
-Blindspots (1:23:55)
Show notes:
-Greg’s Substack: The Eternally Radical Idea
-Upcoming rerelease of Aryeh Neier’s Defending My Enemy with additional material by Nadine
Art by Niv Tishbi
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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