The Successful Mind Podcast – Episode 519 – Full Throttle Thursday – A Conversation with Mattias Desmet
Jun 9, 2022
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Professor Mattias Desmet discusses societal mass hypnosis and the dangers of sticking to absurd beliefs. He explores the impact of mass formation on society, the evolution of science as a dominant discourse, and the importance of dissenting voices in preventing atrocities. The podcast emphasizes upholding ethical principles in the face of totalitarianism and the transformative power of staying true to ethical values.
Over 85% of academic research studies, especially in medical sciences, are flawed due to errors and fraud.
Statistical models during the corona crisis, like mortality rate predictions, significantly overestimated the virus's dangerousness.
Mass formation theory leads to societies rigidly adhering to specific beliefs, potentially resulting in the emergence of totalitarian states.
Deep dives
Understanding the Flaws in Academic Research
The speaker delves into the replication crisis in academic research, emphasizing that over 85% of published studies, especially in medical sciences, are flawed. By citing the work of Johnny Ioannidis on the inaccuracy of most published research findings, the episode highlights the prevalence of errors and fraud in scientific research.
Challenging Statistical Models in the Corona Crisis
The podcast episode discusses the speaker's scrutiny of statistical models during the corona crisis. By analyzing mortality rate predictions based on mathematical models like those from Imperial College, the speaker reveals a dramatic overestimation of the virus's dangerousness. Specifically referencing Sweden's case, where predicted deaths were significantly higher than the actual fatality count, the episode questions the reliability of statistical projections.
The Impact of Mass Formation on Society
The episode explores the speaker's insights into mass formation theory and its profound effects on societal beliefs and behavior. Drawing parallels to historical mass formations like the Crusades, Witch hunts, and French Revolution, the speaker describes mass formation as a phenomenon where a significant portion of the population rigidly adheres to a specific narrative or ideology. This phenomenon, associated with the emergence of totalitarian states, involves a drastic shift towards group loyalty over individual ethics.
Differentiating Totalitarian States from Dictatorships
The podcast outlines the distinctions between totalitarian states and dictatorships. Contrary to dictatorial regimes, totalitarian states initiate mass formations within society, with a substantial portion of the population fanatically believing and adhering to a specific ideology. The episode highlights totalitarian states' control over not just political and public spheres but also private life through a radical devotion to the collective and an emphasis on mass hypnosis techniques.
Implications of Speaking Out Against Mass Formation
The episode emphasizes the critical role of dissenting voices in combatting mass formation and totalitarianism. By advocating for individuals to continue speaking out against the dominant narrative, the podcast stresses the importance of staying true to ethical principles and expressing differing perspectives in public spaces. Understanding mass formation as a form of hypnosis, the episode underscores the power of upholding personal beliefs in the face of societal pressures and potential consequences.
Mattias Desmet is a professor of clinical psychology at Ghent University in Belgium. He lectures on psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and the process of how society gets hypnotized on a mass scale. He has a PhD in Psychological Sciences and a master’s degree in statistics. His new book, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, comes out June 23 and is already hitting the Amazon bestseller lists.
While doing his PhD in 2005, Mattias noticed that most academic research is seriously flawed, with “many erroneous and forced conclusions.” Over 85% of the published studies in the medical sciences are radically flawed. When COVID hit, he immediately suspected that the Corona statistics were also wrong—and that people were dramatically overestimating the dangerousness of the virus.
Mattias says there’s a psychological phenomenon that causes people to stick to absurd beliefs and radically wrong information under certain circumstances. This phenomenon is as old as mankind itself. It was seen during the crusades, the witch hunts, and the French Revolution. If left unchecked, it can lead to the emergence of totalitarian states.
In this episode we discuss:
The difference between a dictatorship and a totalitarian state (a dictatorship controls the public and political space; a totalitarian state controls political space, public space, AND private life and private space)
Why Mattias says we’re now at risk of “technocratic totalitarianism,” which Hannah Arendt warned us about in 1951 (she said it would not be led by gang leaders such as Stalin and Hitler, but by dull bureaucrats and technocrats)
How a growing sense of loneliness, disconnection, and lack of meaning can make people more susceptible to being hypnotized, which allows totalitarianism to emerge
How our technology has led to a “mechanistic” view of the world, which has increased the number of lonely people throughout the last few hundred years
Why a “mystical view” on humanity should be preferred above a “mechanist view”—and why the basis of human existence should not be rational understanding, but ethical principles
How the corona narrative disappeared a bit, only to be immediately replaced with a new “object of anxiety” that popped up in society—the war in Ukraine (and now the monkeypox)
Mattias says that in the end, a totalitarian system always destroys itself. We just need to make sure it destroys itself before it destroys us. The most crucial thing we can do is to continue speaking out in a quiet way—not by trying to convince people, but by claiming our right to articulate our own opinion in public space.
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