Aporia Podcast

Malcolm Collins is a neuroscientist-turned-entrepreneur-turned-VC-turned-education innovator. Along with his wife Simone, he is one of Amazon's top 100 best-selling non-fiction writers. Learn more about their work below.  

The Pragmatist Foundation: https://pragmatist.guide 

The Collins Institute for the Gifted: https://collinsinstitute.org

Malcolm and Simone's latest books:  

https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatists-Guide-Governance-optimizing-governance/dp/B0BSJ5SXHM/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Simone+H+Collins&qid=1674304558&s=audible&sr=1-1-catcorr 

https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatists-Guide-Crafting-Religion-Demographic/dp/B0BSJ5SXK2/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Simone+H+Collins&qid=1674304558&s=audible&sr=1-2-catcorr 

Timestamps:  

2:46 Malcolm explains why he and his wife did embryo selection 

7:18 Do people realise what they’re arguing for? 

10:15 Overlooking positive pleiotropy & other bad arguments 

17:18 Malcolm’s theory of the cultural super virus 

18:25 Malcolm's general pessimism & falling birth rates 

22:02 The case for optimism: religiosity, ritual, and exogenous motivators 

23:47 Should we talk about the dysgenic effect on IQ? 

24:44 The role of religion in this brave new world 

26:55 Religion as a cultural software package 

30:18 Malcolm’s plan to save the world! 

33:28 Malcolm's idea of “descendant worship” & his thoughts on belief 

34:28 Can artificial beliefs really take hold? 

38:35 Is our current progress a blip & how a neo-Byzantium can survive 

41:08 How many people would actually use genetic technology?  

45:20 The ick factor of genetic tech 

46:42 The costs and pains of IVF  

52:40 Malcolm's 'theological mandate' to create a technophilic culture 

54:35 Malcolm and Simone's gifted school and thoughts on improving education 

1:04:17 Taking the precautionary principle when introducing new technology to children 

1:06:32 A critique Malcolm respects 

1:08:37 Malcolm’s recommended reading 

1:09:59 Malcolm’s most controversial opinion

Auron Macintyre is a columnist and host at The Blaze. He also writes on Substack. Auron rose to prominence as a “dissident right” thinker, making popular YouTube videos on topics from what’s come to be called elite theory.

Timestamps:

1:17 Auron introduces himself

3:20 Racial imposter syndrome

6:03 Whites looking for valid status

8:27 "Nonsense as a uniform”

12:42 The failure of the Intellectual Dark Web

16:18 Steelmanning the popularity of Jordan Peterson

18:40 The Overton Window of Intellectuals

22:40 Controlled opposition without a controller

24:31 What does victory look like in the face of total institutional capture?

27:53 Secessionism, federalism, and societal breakdown

30:40 Cultural decline vs material progress

36:12 Right-wing tensions

40:00 Our role in the cycle of civilisation

43:03 Reconciling theology and techno-optimism

52:36 Can biotech be deployed responsibly in our current political climate?

55:15 What will post-liberalism look like?

57:30 If Auron could only undo one aspect of post-60s culture, what would it be?

Garett Jones is Associate Professor of Economics and BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University.  His first book, published in 2015 by Stanford University Press, is entitled Hive Mind: How Your Nation's IQ Matters So Much More Than Your Own, and was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal. His second book, also with Stanford, published in 2020, is entitled 10% Less Democracy: Why You Should Trust Elites a Little More and the Masses a Little Less, and was reviewed in The Economist.

Garett's most controversial opinion: https://www.ideassleepfuriously.com/p/garett-jones-most-controversial-opinion

Razib Khan is a master of decoding ancient DNA to tell fascinating stories about our history and heritage.

Timestamps: 

2:39: Three mindblowing facts from ancient DNA research 

6:10 Will it be possible to know the average IQ of classical Athens? 

8:35 How much signal do we lose if the population is representative?  

10:15 Is there really more genetic diversity within Africa? 

15:02 Is gene-culture co-evolution a kind of bottleneck or sieve? 

18:45 Fighting between hunter-gatherers and farmers 

24:15 Psychopaths as a development of mass society & the need for security 

27:20 Dysgenics and the cyclical theory of civilizations 

40:40 Modalities of innovation 

44:15 The timeline for genetic engineering, speciation, and runaway selection 56:10 People are masturbating 

57:00 Is immortality on the cards? 

1:05:00 Is this the last century of technological civilization? 

1:08:20 Changing aesthetic standards, the need for wisdom, and werewolves 

1:15:43 When will we be able to talk about group differences freely?

 1:16:52 Will conservatives inherit the Earth?

Richard is President of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, whose Substack output you can find here.

He also has his own Substack. His academic interests include nuclear policy, American grand strategy, political psychology, the politics of the Middle East, and international law. In today’s podcast we do a deep dive into his most interesting articles.

You can find him on Twitter here.

Timestamps:  

2:31 Richard’s background and journey through academia

6:07 Is academia really that bad? 

9:15 Is international relations a lost cause? 

12:55 Why women’s tears win 

16:20 Do conservatives like foreign policy because they get to be macho? 

18:50 Should most women leave the academy and have children? 

22:50 Should most people walk away from the academy? 

28:25 Why is understanding civil rights important for fighting wokeism? 

32:00 Is wokeness inevitably downstream from civil rights law? 

41:40 Blank slatism and left-wing conformism 

46:00 The importance of compartmentalising beliefs 

47:03 Richard’s psychological theory of the culture wars 

52:25 Why does Richard have any faith in democracy? 

54:25 How much is wokeism orchestrated? 

1:02:30 Is democracy the only weapon the right have left? 

1:09:30 Why does everything move left? 

1:11:40 Why does Richard think wokeness isn’t a religion?

Last week, we hosted the first ISF livestream with Bo Winegard and Jonathan Anomaly. It was a fantastic conversation loosely based around the topic on what enquiries into human nature can tell us about political philosophy. 

Prof Eric Kaufmann is a Canadian professor of politics at Birkbeck, University of London. He’s the author of several books including Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the Future of White Majorities, and Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. Today, we’re speaking with Eric about his two reports for the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology: 

Born This Way? The Rise of LGBT as a Social and Political Identity 

Diverse and Divided: A Political Demography of American Elite Students

Important links:  Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep

Leandra Ramm is an American singer and actress known for opera and musical theatre. She is an offspring of the Repository for Germinal Choice (otherwise known as "The Genius Sperm Bank").   

My own story: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com/p/on-discovering-that-i-was-sperm-donor#details 

My links:  

Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Timestamps:  

0:00 Intro 

2:26 How I heard about Leandra’s story 

3:57 Leandra’s origin story 

7:57 Finding the genius sperm bank and the process 

11:55 Leandra’s half-siblings' origins 

13:55 Family dynamics 

18:55 Leandra’s school experience with a high IQ 

22:15 How Leandra’s intelligence helped her 

28:40 Leandra’s siblings’ stories 

33:15 How did Leandra find her biological dad and half-siblings? 

38:00 Leandra’s thoughts on genetics  

39:55 Leandra’s dad’s life 

41:40 Leandra’s thoughts on genetic engineering 

44:35 The importance of biodiversity  

46:35 Would Leandra support a genius sperm bank today? 

48:15 The lack of regulation  

50:03 Why Robert Graham started the project 

50:45 The dangers of no regulation 

52:40 What else did Leandra find out about the sperm bank? 

54:30 Gratitude for modern science and new-found family

Simon Webb is an historian, writer, and host of the popular YouTube show, History Debunked. He has written about slavery, World War I, and even fairies. Check out his channel and books.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:27: What historical event should we all know about and why?

4:50 Why does Simon think democracy isn't fit for purpose?

7:35 The ironies of Brexit and immigration

10:04 Does learning history really change you?

11:13 Homeschooling's power

17:55 Is there potential for a post-Woke politics anytime soon?

19:25 Simon's meta-ethical view & religion

21:15 What is Simon's most controversial belief?

29:03 Guilt by association & social media

30:27 Why we should talk about group differences

32:00 Why would people want to change the status quo?

38:30 The primal fear of discussing group differences

41:00 Schooling in historical context and making changes

44:00 Will homeschooling become more popular?

45:15 Is immigration still a concern for the British public?

49:38 Should young people leave?

50:49 Historical inaccuracies in film and TV

56:13 Simon's favourite books

56:52 No regrets

57:12 What does it mean to be truly educated?

Today I'm speaking with the Australian writer and retired lawyer, Helen Dale. Helen is best known for writing The Hand that Signed the Paper, a novel about a Ukrainian family who collaborated with the Nazis in The Holocaust. The book was published in in 1994 and won the Miles Franklin Award, Australia's top literary prize. Helen became the award's youngest winner. However, controversy ensued after it became known that Helen had been trolling the diversity obsessed literary establishment by claiming to be Ukrainian and basing the book on interviews with her relatives (she'd published under the pseudonym “Helen Demidenko”).

Links to Helen’s work:

Helen has authored three works of fiction. She writes for Law & Liberty (you can find the full archive of her articles here). And make sure to subscribe to Helen’s Substack here.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

4:05 Helen discusses her early infamy

14:30 The right to write & elite overproduction

16:08 How “The System” works & going into law

18:00 How Helen and I met & the big brains of headline writers

19:45 Helen’s “lived experience” with a high IQ

22:35 The intricacies of Latin & Greek

25:10 On being challenged intellectually in law

27:45 Professionals are often smarter than academics

32:58 Helen’s thoughts on education policy and her own schooling

37:15 The value of school discipline & the Michaela School

43:13 What is school for?

53:54 American ignorance & social class

58:48 The duty of the gifted 1:01:05 On Taleb’s critique of IQ

1:07:30 Helen’s obsession with law

1:11:32 Who’s the smartest person Helen has met?

1:13:28 Why piloting is so “g loaded”

1:16:50 How maths students are ranked at Cambridge

1:18:19 Preemies and left-handers

1:19:50 Is it lonely at the right-hand tail?

1:22:20 Organising the Jewish lobby in Australia & being right-wing

1:26:18 Australia’s gift to the world

1:31:30 The law & embryo selection

1:38:20 Authoritarian states creating super athletes & soldiers

1:39:02 Helen talks about her speculative fiction books

1:41:20 Competing with other countries

1:44:14 The biggest legal challenges for new genetic technology

1:50:42 What does it mean to be truly educated?