Integral Meets the Intellectual Dark Web - Guest: David Fuller, founder, Rebel Wisdom

First of all, let me say that “intellectual dark web“ is the worst name I can imagine for a movement that seeks to illuminate our cultural moment. But, okay, nobody asked me and it appears they’re doing quite well anyway: the intellectual dark web (IDW) has coalesced into a vibrant group of intellectuals, most prominently Jordan Peterson, who are sparking a new international counter-culture known mostly for goring the sacred cows of far left postmodernism (Green altitude).

Today’s guest, David Fuller, is at the center of the intellectual Dark Web (IDW) having founded Rebel Wisdom, a YouTube station that has attracted over 60,000 subscribers in less than two years. A veteran producer from BBC News, David made the first documentary on Jordan Peterson, “Truth in the Time of Chaos”, which helped launch Peterson into intellectual stardom.

David is also interested in integral theory, and last November he traveled to Denver to interview Ken Wilber for Rebel Wisdom, from which he has recently released the following two videos:

• Ken Wilber: ‘Jordan Peterson and the evolution of thought’
• Ken Wilber: The Intellectual Dark Web, an Integral Conversation?

In these interviews Ken is brilliant in appreciating the evolutionary power of the IDW while inviting its audience to the larger, more inclusive integral vision, and the videos have made a powerful impact on the Rebel Wisdom site. One of the top viewer comments sums up the potential that many fans of the IDW see in integral theory:

As much as I like Jordan Peterson (and I do very much!), I think Wilber’s Integral Theory is waaaaaay more sophisticated and compelling. It is not full of self-contradictions and cul de sacs. It is not tied to Christianity or the West. It does not demonize Post Modernity and toss it out.

I couldn’t agree more, and make a similar case in a two-part series I published on Jordan Peterson last spring, as well as a Rebel Wisdom video where David and his partner Alexander Beiner interviewed me:

• Part 1: What Jordan Peterson (and His Friends and Foes) Can Learn from Integral Theory
• Part 2: What Jordan Peterson (and His Friends and Foes) Can Learn from Integral Theory
• “Is Jordan Peterson Integral?” with Jeff Salzman

David Fuller is committed to the further evolution of the intellectual dark web and enthusiastic, as I am, about what integral theory can bring to that project. I hope you enjoy our conversation!