Astral Codex Ten Podcast

HOW DID NEW ATHEISM FAIL SO MISERABLY?


Listen Later

The Baffler publishes a long article against "idiot" New Atheists. It's interesting only in the context of so many similar articles, and an inability to imagine the opposite opinion showing up in an equally fashionable publication. New Atheism has lost its battle for the cultural high ground. r/atheism will shamble on as some sort of undead abomination, chanting "BRAAAAAAIIINSSSS…are what fundies don't have" as the living run away shrieking. But everyone else has long since passed them by.

The New Atheists accomplished the seemingly impossible task of alienating a society that agreed with them about everything. The Baffler-journalists of the world don't believe in God. They don't disagree that religion contributes to homophobia, transphobia, and the election of some awful politicians – and these issues have only grown more visible in the decade or so since New Atheism's apogee. And yet in the bubble where nobody believes in God and everyone worries full-time about sexual minorities and Trump, you get less grief for being a Catholic than a Dawkins fan. When Trump wins an election on the back of evangelicals, and the alt-right is shouting "DEUS VULT" and demanding "throne and altar conservativism", the real scandal is rumors that some New Atheist might be reading /pol/. How did the New Atheists become so loathed so quickly?

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Astral Codex Ten PodcastBy Jeremiah

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

129 ratings


More shows like Astral Codex Ten Podcast

View all
Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

32,332 Listeners

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast by Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

2,112 Listeners

Very Bad Wizards by Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro

Very Bad Wizards

2,673 Listeners

Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,338 Listeners

EconTalk by Russ Roberts

EconTalk

4,282 Listeners

Conversations with Tyler by Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Conversations with Tyler

2,458 Listeners

The Glenn Show by Glenn Loury

The Glenn Show

2,278 Listeners

The Good Fight by Yascha Mounk

The Good Fight

903 Listeners

ChinaTalk by Jordan Schneider

ChinaTalk

293 Listeners

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

4,204 Listeners

Your Undivided Attention by The Center for Humane Technology, Tristan Harris, Daniel Barcay and Aza Raskin

Your Undivided Attention

1,623 Listeners

Last Week in AI by Skynet Today

Last Week in AI

310 Listeners

Blocked and Reported by Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal

Blocked and Reported

3,834 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

526 Listeners

The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis by Nathaniel Whittemore

The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

639 Listeners