At the weekend, the New York Times published a long awaited article about one of the world's most celebrated blogs, Slate Star Codex, a central node of the influential rationalist community. 
Called 'Silicon Valley's Safe Space', it was widely criticised as an inaccurate hit piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/te...​
This is an interview with Tom Chivers, the writer of 'The Rationalist's Guide to the Galaxy', on the backstory to the controversy. What does this say about the ongoing crisis of journalism, and tensions with the tech sector.
The New Yorker wrote a more well-received piece on SSC here: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/ann...

The Cancelling of Slate Star Codex, with Tom Chivers

We uncover the most rebellious ideas in philosophy, human potential and culture to find direction through the chaos of the times.

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Iain McGilchrist has been outlining for many years that a fundamental problem in the way we are perceiving the world is likely to lead us into trouble. Now in 2022 he believes the situation is reaching a crucial turning point and we need to wake up urgently. 
In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talks about how our current culture's domination by a 'left brain', reductionistic, materialist and literalist perspective had reached crisis point. 
He explains how this is manifesting as a 'war on reality', and a series of attacks on free speech.
Iain's work can be found here: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/

Iain McGilchrist, ’We Need to Act’

Many people have observed that the conversation we have been curating on Rebel Wisdom has featured many more men than women. Of course we have regularly been asking ourselves why that is, and whether there is a more ‘feminine’ contribution to the dialogue that is not being heard?
This was the topic I explored with two fascinating women recently, Schuyler Brown and Samantha Sweetwater.
Check out Schuyler's work here, 'The Art of Emergence': https://www.artofemergence.com/ 
And Samantha here: https://www.samanthasweetwater.com/

Feminine Wisdom - Schuyler Brown & Samantha Sweetwater

There has been a lot of focus on the damage that social media is doing to all of us, its users. This growing awareness was partly fuelled by the work of Tristan Harris, through the breakout hit documentary The Social Dilemma.
But there has been less attention on how this new landscape also affects creators, through factors like audience capture and feedback loops that distort truth seeking. 
Tristan Harris is the director of the Centre for Humane Technology, trying to re-envision a healthier relationship with the technological tools we are using: https://www.humanetech.com/

How Social Media Warps Creators, Tristan Harris

Where are we headed as a species? What is the landscape of risks and challenges that we need to confront over the next decades, and are there a small number of key factors that we need to solve to avoid catastrophe?
These are the questions Daniel Schmachtenberger is laying out in a new two part series on Rebel Wisdom, called 'In Search of the Third Attractor'.
As he describes it, the power of ever increasing technological capacity (exponential tech) means that both destructive and creative capacities are increasing exponentially. Two of the most likely outcomes (attractors) are either some kind of chaotic breakdown, or the development of powerful control systems in response, oppressive authoritarian control.
Given this, what does a third option, a 'third attractor' look like?
Daniel will be speaking at the Rebel Wisdom festival, 'the Last Campfire' in London on November 5th. To check it out and buy tickets, go to: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/r... 
To find out more about the topics Daniel is discussing, check out his work on civilisation, at Civilization Emerging: https://civilizationemerging.com/
And for more on his work around the Sensemaking crisis, check out the Consilience Project: https://consilienceproject.org/
 
TIMECODES:
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM: 00:00:00
BENEVOLENT DICTATORSHIP DOESN'T WORK: 00:06:21
HYPER AGENTS: 00:15:06
GREAT GAME OF POWER: 00:26:55
EGREGORES: 00:34:38
TECHNOLOGY & ETHICS: 00:42:50
TECHNOLOGY CHANGES SOCIETY: 00:49:45
INFRASTRUCTURE, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, SUPERSTRUCTURE: 00:59:49
WISDOM OF GODS: 01:13:14
EDUCATION: 01:30:40
CLOSING THOUGHTS: 01:42:08

In Search of the Third Attractor, Daniel Schmachtenberger (part 2)

Where are we headed as a species? What is the landscape of risks and challenges that we need to confront over the next decades, and are there a small number of key factors that we need to solve to avoid catastrophe?
These are the questions Daniel Schmachtenberger is laying out in a new two part series on Rebel Wisdom, called 'In Search of the Third Attractor'.
As he describes it, the power of ever increasing technological capacity (exponential tech) means that both destructive and creative capacities are increasing exponentially. Two of the most likely outcomes (attractors) are either some kind of chaotic breakdown, or the development of powerful control systems in response, oppressive authoritarian control.
Given this, what does a third option, a 'third attractor' look like?
Daniel will be speaking at the Rebel Wisdom festival, 'the Last Campfire' in London on November 5th. To check it out and buy tickets, go to: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/rebelwisdom/718672 
To find out more about the topics Daniel is discussing, check out his work on civilisation, at Civilization Emerging: https://civilizationemerging.com/ 
And for more on his work around the Sensemaking crisis, check out the Consilience Project: https://consilienceproject.org/ 
Timecodes:
INTRODUCTION: 00:00:00
SENSEMAKING: 00:02:10
THE TWO ATTRACTORS: 00:06:09
EXISTENTIAL HOPE?: 00:09:01
INTERCONNECTEDNESS: 00:14:33
FAILURES OF ACTIVISM: 00:18:33
CATASTROPHIC RISK: 00:25:08
THE POST WW2 SYSTEM: 00:38:40
EXPONENTIAL DESTRUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY: 00:45:02
NEAR-TERM RISKS: 00:50:48
THE ENERGY TRAP: 00:58:10
PERVERSE INCENTIVES: 01:03:54
PRIVATE GAINS, EXTERNAL LOSSES: 01:09:38
BIOTECH RISKS: 01:14:13
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: 01:19:29
MULTIPOLAR TRAPS: 01:29:03
CORPORATIONS VERSUS INDIVIDUALS: 01:46:54
NEW GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS: 01:53:27
NETWORK DYNAMICS: 01:58:41
SOLVING MULTI-POLAR TRAPS?: 02:06:51
CENTRALISING POWER: 02:17:47
COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: 02:33:00

The Cancelling of Slate Star Codex, with Tom Chivers

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