On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib talks to Titus Techera, a Romanian living in Budapest, but commenting extensively on American and European culture. He is the Executive Director of the American Cinema Foundation, International Coordinator of the National Conservatism Conference and is a primary contributor to the Substack PostModernConservative. Techera also hosts a podcast for the American Cinema Foundation.

Razib first talks to Techera about the 2024 Romanian presidential election that was overturned by the courts over accusations of Russian interference. Techera explains the social and cultural context of the candidate initially declared victorious against a backdrop of Romanian society’s typical stock characters. Techera also discusses the tension between having a nation-state with a distinctive character and becoming part of the broader EU project that is attempting to forge unity across 27 countries.

He then addresses what a “Postmodern Conservative” is in the context of the arts. Perhaps most importantly, PostModern Conservatives take the 20th century and the modernist period seriously; they are not simply reactionaries who want to return to the 19th century. Conservatives who value the arts and culture cannot simply roll the tape back; they have to engage with what has come before. Razib and Techera also consider how inferences from the sciences, like the rejection of the “blank slate,” might influence the arts. They also discuss their disagreements about the latest Dune films, Techera prefers David Lynch’s attempt to adapt the book in 1984 to Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 version.