The Question is Moot: The 217th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying
Mar 20, 2024
02:02:54
auto_awesome Snipd AI
In this podcast, Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying discuss the Supreme Court, First Amendment, Covid, censorship, and DEI. They explore Goliath as emergence and collusion, and how facts are being used to support existing narratives. They critique sensational sun exposure studies and misleading scientific reports. The episode also covers promoting health supplements, government censorship, and the impact of societal trends on institutions.
Read more
AI Summary
Highlights
AI Chapters
Episode notes
auto_awesome
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
Educators balance maintaining order with free speech rights in coercive educational environments.
Lack of embodied activities in early education impacts social and cooperative skills development negatively.
Higher education institutions face challenges of misinformation and ideological uniformity affecting critical thinking and scholarly exchange.
Struggle to uphold constitutional protections amidst misinformation highlights the need for defending democratic principles and truth seeking.
Deep dives
Interference with Free Speech Rights in a Coercive Educational Environment
In a coercive educational environment like a classroom, professors may use coercive methods to maintain order and the integrity of the educational process. This was exemplified by the necessity for educators to ensure that disruptive or irrelevant information is not given undue prominence. While this authority allows for maintaining focus and promoting learning, it also raises questions about the balance between educational curatorial practices and free speech rights. In the adult world, free speech is paramount in the marketplace of ideas, but the educational setting presents a unique scenario where the coercive nature of instruction can conflict with these rights.
Loss of Embodied Learning in Modern Schools
The shift away from non-abstract embodied activities in early education is highlighted as a critical component of the loss of creativity and interaction in modern schooling. The absence of physical activities like music, art, and sports in educational curricula is seen as detrimental to students' development of social, cooperative, and competitive skills. The focus on solely abstract learning without the balance of embodied experiences is noted as contributing to a disconnection from the physical world and a diminishment of social skills.
Decline in Balance and Diversity of Thought in Higher Education
The deterioration of balance and diversity of thought in higher education institutions is discussed as a factor influencing the legal and intellectual landscape. The spread of misinformation, groupthink, and ideological uniformity in colleges and universities is posited as gradually eroding the foundations of critical thinking and informed discourse. The prevalence of dogma-driven narratives and the diminishing presence of rigorous debate and dissenting viewpoints in academic circles are cited as contributing to the breakdown of intellectual rigor and scholarly exchange.
Challenges in Upholding Constitutional Protections and Truth Seeking
The challenges in upholding constitutional protections in a context of misinformation, power dynamics, and ideological conformity are outlined. The Supreme Court's divide on defending free speech rights and grappling with nuanced legal issues in the face of institutions influenced by misinformation and biased narratives is examined. The struggle to ensure truth seeking, intellectual integrity, and adherence to constitutional principles in a complex and polluted information environment is highlighted, emphasizing the need for a robust defense of foundational democratic principles and truth seeking in modern societal dynamics.
The Impact of Coercive Environments on Education and Research
Coercive environments in academia and research are highlighted as detrimental factors in promoting genuine learning and scientific integrity. The misuse of power and coercion within educational settings can lead to the spread of misleading information and hinder critical thinking skills. The conversation delves into the consequences of operating within environments that prioritize conformity over genuine intellectual exploration.
Questioning the Narrative-Driven Truth
The discussion critiques how prevailing narratives influence institutions and decision-making processes, shifting the focus from objective truth to aligning with dominant narratives. It explores the manipulation of facts to fit predetermined stories, rather than allowing narratives to emerge authentically from objective data. Examples are cited from journalism and academia to illustrate the distortion of truth for narrative convenience.
Challenges in Scientific Research and Reporting
The risks of faulty scientific research and media reporting are highlighted through examples of misleading studies presented at a recent scientific conference. The lack of rigorous methodology and data interpretation in studies on heat exposure and intermittent fasting raises concerns about the validity and impact of scientific information. The conversation emphasizes the importance of critical analysis and skepticism in evaluating research findings.
Reflections on Conservation Efforts and Ethical Dilemmas
The intersection of conservation biology, indigenous rights, and power dynamics is explored through a personal anecdote about the challenges faced by researchers in the field. The account sheds light on the ethical complexities and conflicts of interest that arise in conservation efforts, emphasizing the need for integrity and respect in scientific endeavors. It illuminates the broader issues of power dynamics and ethical responsibilities in research settings.
In this 217th 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 episode, we discuss the Supreme Court, the First Amendment, Covid, censorship, DEI, the Rawlsian Veil of Ignorance, and affirmative action, in the context of Murthy v State of Missouri. We also talk about Goliath being a combination of emergence and collusion, and how facts are being used to support existing narratives, rather than stories being constructed using all of the facts. We discuss two explosive pieces of research that dropped this week—on the health risks of heat, and of intermittent fasting. And we briefly talk about why you should never cave to the mob (beaver edition).
*****
Our sponsors:
Momentous: high-quality, science-backed, rigorously tested supplements. Go to livemomentous.com and use code DARKHORSE for 15% off.
Moink: Grass-fed and grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured pork and chicken, and wild caught Alaskan salmon. Visit www.moinkbox.com/darkhorse to get a year’s worth of hamburger free when you sign up.
Seed: Start a new healthy habit today with Seed probiotics. Use code darkhorse at https://seed.com/darkhorse to get 25% off your first month of Seed's DS-01® Daily Synbiotic.
*****
Join us on Locals! Get access to our Discord server, exclusive live streams, live chats for all streams, and early access to many podcasts: https://darkhorse.locals.com/
Heather’s newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.com
Our book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://a.co/d/dunx3at
Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.org
*****
Mentioned in this episode:
Case File 23-411: Murthy v State of Missouri: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-411/299644/20240202144405984_2024-02-02%20-%20Murthy%20v.%20Missouri%20-%20Brief%20of%20Respondents%20-%20Final%20with%20Tables.pdf
Hypothesis about Goliath: https://twitter.com/alexandrosm/status/1770219558990938294
Sunbathing for just ONE DAY is super bad for you (except it’s not): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wellness-us/body/article-13215737/sunbathing-heart-disease-risk-skin-cancer.html
Research Abstract: Associations Between Short-Term Outdoor Heat Measures and Markers of Immune
Response and Inflammation: https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/20343/presentation/484
Research Abstract: Association Between Time-Restricted Eating and All-Cause and Cause-Specific
