Bret Weinstein

And we're pretty much okay with the fact that somebody takes care of that and we can busy ourselves with whatever it might be. But the place that I find something troubling in your description is that you say that the nature of what we do is to deal with the fact that jobs are always being upended. That's a very new process. That is the hyper-novelty process.

And we're pretty much okay with the fact that somebody takes care of that and we can busy ourselves with whatever it might be. But the place that I find something troubling in your description is that you say that the nature of what we do is to deal with the fact that jobs are always being upended. That's a very new process. That is the hyper-novelty process.

It used to be that it was only very rarely that a population had a circumstance where you didn't effectively do exactly what your immediate ancestors did, right? In general, you took what the jobs were, you picked something that was suited to you, and you did that thing.

It used to be that it was only very rarely that a population had a circumstance where you didn't effectively do exactly what your immediate ancestors did, right? In general, you took what the jobs were, you picked something that was suited to you, and you did that thing.

And the point is we've now gotten to the point where even within your lifetime, what is possible to get paid for is going to shift radically in ways that nobody can predict. And that is a dangerous situation.

And the point is we've now gotten to the point where even within your lifetime, what is possible to get paid for is going to shift radically in ways that nobody can predict. And that is a dangerous situation.

Right. And so maybe there's some model by which we can surf that wave and you can learn a generalist toolkit and that your survival doesn't depend on your being able to switch up every two years and never miss a beat. Or maybe we can't. But I do think it is worth asking the question.

Right. And so maybe there's some model by which we can surf that wave and you can learn a generalist toolkit and that your survival doesn't depend on your being able to switch up every two years and never miss a beat. Or maybe we can't. But I do think it is worth asking the question.

If the rate of technological change has taken us out of the normal human circumstance of being able to deduce what you might do for a living based on what your ancestors did and put us in a situation where what your ancestors did is going to be perfectly irrelevant no matter what, that is effectively a choice that has been made for us.

If the rate of technological change has taken us out of the normal human circumstance of being able to deduce what you might do for a living based on what your ancestors did and put us in a situation where what your ancestors did is going to be perfectly irrelevant no matter what, that is effectively a choice that has been made for us.

And we could choose to slow the rate of change so that we would live in some kind of harmony where our developmental environment and our adult environment were a match. Now, as a biologist, I would argue if we don't do something like that, this is a matter of time.

And we could choose to slow the rate of change so that we would live in some kind of harmony where our developmental environment and our adult environment were a match. Now, as a biologist, I would argue if we don't do something like that, this is a matter of time.

Well, you know, when Heather and I wrote our book, I wanted the first chapter to be, are the Amish right? And the answer is they can't be exactly right because they picked an arbitrary moment to step off the escalator. But are they right that there's something dangerous about this continuing pattern of technological change? Clearly they are.

Well, you know, when Heather and I wrote our book, I wanted the first chapter to be, are the Amish right? And the answer is they can't be exactly right because they picked an arbitrary moment to step off the escalator. But are they right that there's something dangerous about this continuing pattern of technological change? Clearly they are.

The Amish live as if it was, what, 1880? 1850 or something. So they live in a – they don't use cars. I think they do have phones, but they do not have electricity. Basically, they voluntarily accept a – they're basically a Luddite community, and they have turned out to fare surprisingly well against many of the things that have upended – Modern folks.

The Amish live as if it was, what, 1880? 1850 or something. So they live in a – they don't use cars. I think they do have phones, but they do not have electricity. Basically, they voluntarily accept a – they're basically a Luddite community, and they have turned out to fare surprisingly well against many of the things that have upended – Modern folks.

Yeah, COVID, they did beautifully.

Yeah, COVID, they did beautifully.

Very low autism rates. They have all sorts of advantages. So anyway, I'm not arguing that we should live like the Amish. I don't see that. But I do think the idea that they had an insight, which was you need to step off that escalator because you're just going to keep making yourself sicker, is probably right. Now, maybe... This is a one-time shift. We've stepped over the event horizon.

Very low autism rates. They have all sorts of advantages. So anyway, I'm not arguing that we should live like the Amish. I don't see that. But I do think the idea that they had an insight, which was you need to step off that escalator because you're just going to keep making yourself sicker, is probably right. Now, maybe... This is a one-time shift. We've stepped over the event horizon.