Sam Harris - Can we pull back from the brink

begbysback

One of our modern day philosophers speaking about the current situation

https://samharris.org/podcast/

#207 Can we pull back from the brink



Probably the most rational speaking on the current situation up to date.

jam_mac_jam

Haven't listened to that yet but I do like Sam Harris and agree with him on a lot. Will give it a listen.

Pawwed Rig

Not too many rational voices at the moment but Sam Harris seems to be one person with his head screwed on (despite Ben Affleck idiot calling him a racist at one point).

begbysback

"I think social media is a huge part of the problem, we've all be enrolled in a psychological experiment, for which no-one gave consent, and its not clear how it will turn out".

"Information has become weaponised, all communication has become performative".



Ive always felt the same about social media, it made performers out of regular everyday people, like a stage has been erected, though it has seemed somewhat harmless, maybe at best only makes us a little more self-centred that usual, but at worse now is being used to disassemble society.

It is difficult to see the reality of it all, our reality is what social media, and mainstream media presents to us, and everybody has their own agenda.

seenitall

Nothing will be pulled from any brink. Social processes, just like any other ones, have their own power and momentum, and they are years or decades in the making, or centuries for really long term ones. Trying to pull anything from any brink is like trying to turn a cake back into a whole egg, two cups of flour and a cup of sugar.

That's why there is a saying "History always repeats itself". These processes always play out, over and over again. Nothing can stop this, and it's nothing new. If it weren't for social media, it would be another medium. It's not about social media, it's about human nature.

One eyed Jack

I’m trying to bear listening to him but my god he’s got a very boring voice.

I dunno, I’m just not into podcasts and this is two hours long :eek:

On the point itself, I agree with what seenitall said, there’s never been any “pulling back“, it’s simply society moving forward from where we were.

Gruffalux

You know those vast cities in South America with long straight flat roads made out of megaliths by people whose complex civilisations lasted for more than a thousand years? The ones completely swallowed by jungle and forgotten until LiDAR started to recently find them? That's us, 500 years or so from now. A once upon a time tale of a forgotten civilisation. We have been falling over brinks since time began.

Laszlo Cravensworth

Really enjoyed this podcast. I agree his voice is quite monotone and boring, but he makes his points incredibly clear. He is able to express himself and his opinions effectively using relatively simple language, which is always the mark of an exceptionally good communicator.

It is well worth a listen. Imo, Sam Harris is one of the very few voices of calm and rationality being tossed around in a sea of screaming information chaos.

I thought the 2 hours flew by.

Marcos

It's a good podcast, but very long. But he unpacks a lot in it in a dispassionate way. Hard to do with such a passionate subject. One thing that BLM have to do is not give Trump any excuse to present himself as a law and order candidate, otherwise he could very well get in again never mind what the polls say right now.

Fingers crossed it doesn't happen but if the protests continue and there is the same police response that we have seen recently then something could happen that could get out of control. But is there the leadership in BLM who can stop things getting out of control. or do they even want to right now. I'm not sure they do, I'd like to be proven wrong though.

That bit at 53.00 or so when he talks about cops having to be cognisant of their gun when struggling to arrest someone who is resisting really hit home after the shooting in Castlerea last night.