Rebel Wisdom

At the start of the 20th century, the Nordic Countries were some of the poorest in Europe, with the lowest quality of life. By the end of the century they were some of the wealthiest and best places to live in the world.   Why and how? According to philosopher and social entrepreneur Tomas Björkman, the reason is that they paid attention to inner development, more than outer growth, in a huge cultural project of personal growth.   He argues that the pace of change that we are going through now requires a similar focus on the techniques of development.   You can also become a Rebel Wisdom member, for many benefits including our regular Q&As with the interviewees from our films, check out: https://www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/plans

The great psychologist and psychedelic therapist Stanislav Grof described psychedelics as a "non-specific amplifier" of consciousness, meaning that they made everything more intense, both positive and negative experiences.   If the pandemic crisis has acted like a non specific amplifier of many of the existing issues with society and culture, and we are now all in an altered state together, how can we best navigate it?   Erik Davis is a historian of psychedelic culture, and in this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he looks at what can be learnt from the pioneers of the past, such as Terence McKenna, Philip K. Dick and Robert Anton Wilson.   He is the creator of the site Technosis, and the author of many books including "High Weirdness": https://techgnosis.com/    You can also become a Rebel Wisdom member, for many benefits including our regular Q&As with the interviewees from our films, check out: https://www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/plans

This film is part of Rebel Wisdom's ongoing Sensemaking Series.   Part 1, What the F*ck is Going On? is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkKnO...   Rebel Wisdom published the first documentary on Jordan Peterson in January 2018. Just days later he shot to fame on a viral interview on Channel 4 News, where Rebel Wisdom's founder David Fuller worked for a decade.   This sparked a new film, 'Glitch in the Matrix, Jordan Peterson, the Mainstream Media and the Intellectual Dark Web' that has been viewed over five million times.   In this talk from the end of 2019, David Fuller explains the origin story, and what happened next as he continued to follow the trail of the Intellectual Dark Web.   Links: Glitch in the Matrix I: https://youtu.be/trhTbEs2GGE   Glitch in the Matrix II: https://youtu.be/TKeMIWVOnbo   Jay Shapiro on Rebel Wisdom: https://youtu.be/MX_vzjEl02o   Timbah on Toast, Dave Rubin's Battle of Ideas: https://youtu.be/u3TPxQao3m0 (Pt 1), https://youtu.be/a3h9YyzqBxs (Pt 2), https://youtu.be/N2LOvoDCPS8 (Pt 3)   Cathy Young's Quillette piece on the IDW and tribalism: https://quillette.com/2019/05/24/how-...   Peter Limberg and Conor Barnes' Medium piece on memetic tribes: https://medium.com/s/world-wide-wtf/m...

This film is part of Rebel Wisdom's Sensemaking Series, see part 1, 'What the F*ck is Going On?' here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkKnO...   In the last two weeks a series of newsroom revolts have rocked American journalism. What's going on, and have some fundamental values of journalism been compromised?   Jesse Singal has written for The Atlantic, NYMag and many other outlets, and Katie Herzog is a former staffer at Seattle's The Stranger. They are the hosts of the new podcast Blocked and Reported.   Relevant links:   Blocked and Reported Podcast: https://barpodcast.fireside.fm/   Matt Taibbi, The American Press is Destroying Itself: https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-new...   Bari Weiss tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status/...   Jesse Singal, 'When Children Say They’re Trans': https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...   Katie Herzog, 'The Detransitioners: They Were Transgender, Until They Weren't': https://www.thestranger.com/features/...     To support Rebel Wisdom, and get member benefits including regular Q&As with the interviewees from our films for our members, check out: https://www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/plans

The question of who to trust, how we find truth and how we are being manipulated is central to understanding and solving all our other problems.   The pandemic crisis has acted like an amplifier and catalyst of all the existing fractures in culture. The question of reliable sensemaking is right at the core of resolving any of these problems.   Rebel Wisdom is beginning a series of films looking at the question of truth and sensemaking. Starting with a look back at one of the attempts to answer that question, the Intellectual Dark Web.   Links to films and articles mentioned in this piece.   Sam Harris & Jonathan Haidt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNyvn...   Glitch in the Matrix II, The Origin of the Intellectual Dark Web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeMI...   Matt Taibbi, The American Press is Destroying Itself: https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-new...   Bari Weiss tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status/...   Ryan Bennett on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ry_Nomad   Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying, Having a Real Conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBkF-...   Mike Nayna, Evergreen Trilogy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH2We...   The Intellectual Dark Web, an Integral Conversation? Ken Wilber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2XK8...   Deep Code, Jordan Hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j3cC...   War on Sensemaking, Daniel Schmachtenberger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lqao...     To support Rebel Wisdom, and get member benefits including regular Q&As with the interviewees from our films for our members, check out: https://www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/plans

Douglas Rushkoff (Team Human) and Jamie Wheal (Stealing Fire) are two of the foremost modern historians of cutting edge transformational culture, but until now have never been in dialogue with each other. For this one off event they discuss the potential future of humans and technology.   Faced with broken economics, powerful tech platforms and information warfare, how do we stay authentically human and work together sustainably?   Humans vs Tech, Douglas Rushkoff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koE-Z...   Stealing Fire from the Gods, Jamie Wheal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1eXS...   To get access to more exclusive content and to join this evolving conversation, become a Rebel Wisdom member: https://www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/plans   We also have a Rebel Wisdom Discord discussion channel: https://discord.gg/RK4MeYW

This is a companion piece to the film - Jordan Peterson and the Hidden Epidemic: https://youtu.be/YbewqT6iBLs   The Canadian psychologist and celebrity Jordan Peterson recently broke his near-year long silence and descibed his debilitating illness as the result of benzodiazepine dependence.   Robert Whitaker is an investigative journalist, shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, and the author of several books about the long term effects of psychiatric drugs including Anatomy of an Epidemic.   In this interview with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he explains how the situation that Jordan Peterson found himself in is all too common, and affects many millions of people around the world.   Relevant links from the conversation:   The Mikhaila Peterson Podcast #9 - Jordan B. Peterson - Family Update June 2020 (includes list of resources in the show notes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLWgV...   "Anatomy of an Epidemic", Robert Whitaker: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...   Robert Whitaker's 'Mad in America' profile: https://www.madinamerica.com/author/r...   "Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good", James Davies: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...   New article by our friend Jules Evans, "Instead of pills, social connection": https://medium.com/@julesevans/social...   You can also view our films on our YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/RebelWisdom/featured   To support Rebel Wisdom, and get member benefits including regular Q&As with the interviewees from our films for our members, check out: https://www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/plans

The Canadian psychologist and celebrity Jordan Peterson recently broke his near-year long silence and descibed his debilitating illness as the result of benzodiazepine dependence.   Peterson became ill simply as a result of following doctors' advice. What does that say about our society and culture, our media environment, and the state of psychiatric medicine.   In this Rebel Wisdom investigation, David Fuller talks to one of the world's leading investigators of the long term effects of psychiatric drugs, Robert Whitaker, a Pulitzer Prize shortlisted author.   He also links it to Eric Weinstein's concept of the DISC, or Distributed Idea Suppression Complex, to explore why the knowledge of the long term dangers of these drugs is not reflected in the media conversation.   The whole interview with Robert Whitaker is being released at the same time as this film: https://youtu.be/LQvN5aFcBr8   Relevant links from the conversation:   The Mikhaila Peterson Podcast #9 - Jordan B. Peterson - Family Update June 2020 (includes list of resources in the show notes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLWgV...   "Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good", James Davies: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...   "Anatomy of an Epidemic", Robert Whitaker: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...   Robert Whitaker's 'Mad in America' profile: https://www.madinamerica.com/author/r...   Films:   War on Sensemaking, Daniel Schmachtenberger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lqao...   Glitch in the Matrix 2, The Origin of the Intellectual Dark Web, Eric Weinstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeMI...   You can also view our films on our YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/RebelWisdom/featured   To support Rebel Wisdom, and get member benefits including regular Q&As with the interviewees from our films for our members, check out: https://www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/plans

As tensions rise over racial divisions throughout the western world, books like 'White Fragility' and 'How to Be An Anti-Racist' have flown to the top of the bestseller lists. These frame race as central to our understanding of the world.   In his book, 'Unlearning Race, Self-Portrait in Black and White', Thomas Chatterton Williams takes a very different tack, attempting to understand his own mixed race background and arguing that we should move away from seeing racial categories as primary and fixed.   What does he make of this new focus on race, and how does identity politics wall us off from each other?   You can listen to podcast versions of our films on Spotify or Apple Podcasts by searching 'Rebel Wisdom'   You can also view our films on our YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/RebelWisdom/featured   To support Rebel Wisdom, and get member benefits including regular Q&As with the interviewees from our films for our members, check out: https://www.rebelwisdom.co.uk/plans

Just as the Covid pandemic was starting to transform our lives, Daniel Thorson, the creator of the Emerge podcast, started a 75 day silent retreat in rural Vermont.