Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

The weird thing about that is that, in a sense, that's what the postmodernists have been claiming. But what they got wrong was that that interpretation level itself, the weighting level, also has a structure. And one of the things I tried to tell Dawkins was that that's the structure of the meme world. That's a good way of thinking about it.

The weird thing about that is that, in a sense, that's what the postmodernists have been claiming. But what they got wrong was that that interpretation level itself, the weighting level, also has a structure. And one of the things I tried to tell Dawkins was that that's the structure of the meme world. That's a good way of thinking about it.

Like the world that we've abstracted up in linguistic representation and imagination, it has a structure. That's the Jungian collective unconscious. And that's the consequence of the competition between memes across... hundreds of thousands of years.

Like the world that we've abstracted up in linguistic representation and imagination, it has a structure. That's the Jungian collective unconscious. And that's the consequence of the competition between memes across... hundreds of thousands of years.

Like the world that we've abstracted up in linguistic representation and imagination, it has a structure. That's the Jungian collective unconscious. And that's the consequence of the competition between memes across... hundreds of thousands of years.

And so one of the reasons I really wanted to talk to Richard Dawkins, and I had spoken with Brett Weinstein in some detail before that, was that Dawkins' meme idea is way more significant than he thinks, but he won't take that step because if he steps beyond, like he said, a meme is a backwards baseball cap. It's like, Jesus, Richard, really? I mean, come on, give yourself some credit.

And so one of the reasons I really wanted to talk to Richard Dawkins, and I had spoken with Brett Weinstein in some detail before that, was that Dawkins' meme idea is way more significant than he thinks, but he won't take that step because if he steps beyond, like he said, a meme is a backwards baseball cap. It's like, Jesus, Richard, really? I mean, come on, give yourself some credit.

And so one of the reasons I really wanted to talk to Richard Dawkins, and I had spoken with Brett Weinstein in some detail before that, was that Dawkins' meme idea is way more significant than he thinks, but he won't take that step because if he steps beyond, like he said, a meme is a backwards baseball cap. It's like, Jesus, Richard, really? I mean, come on, give yourself some credit.

You're talking about the manner in which abstract representations war for supremacy in the space defined by abstract human cognition. You can do better than backwards baseball cap. You know, I tried to let him know that Mircea Eliade, who's a great historian of religion, has mapped out something like the structure of the war between gods in heaven across multiple cultures.

You're talking about the manner in which abstract representations war for supremacy in the space defined by abstract human cognition. You can do better than backwards baseball cap. You know, I tried to let him know that Mircea Eliade, who's a great historian of religion, has mapped out something like the structure of the war between gods in heaven across multiple cultures.

You're talking about the manner in which abstract representations war for supremacy in the space defined by abstract human cognition. You can do better than backwards baseball cap. You know, I tried to let him know that Mircea Eliade, who's a great historian of religion, has mapped out something like the structure of the war between gods in heaven across multiple cultures.

And it's a very calm, it's a very stable pattern. You get a polytheistic interpretation of the world. which is something like the narrative embodiment of different value structures. And then they vie for supremacy. And that probably happens as isolated tribal groups come together in larger civilizations.

And it's a very calm, it's a very stable pattern. You get a polytheistic interpretation of the world. which is something like the narrative embodiment of different value structures. And then they vie for supremacy. And that probably happens as isolated tribal groups come together in larger civilizations.

And it's a very calm, it's a very stable pattern. You get a polytheistic interpretation of the world. which is something like the narrative embodiment of different value structures. And then they vie for supremacy. And that probably happens as isolated tribal groups come together in larger civilizations.

So there's actual war on the ground, but there's also conceptual war in the space of imagination. And then that tends towards the emergence of a monotheism across time, if the culture manages to unite itself. And then that monotheism has certain properties. You know, like in Mesopotamia, for example, a god named Marduk rose up out of the polytheistic, out of the realm of polytheistic combat.

So there's actual war on the ground, but there's also conceptual war in the space of imagination. And then that tends towards the emergence of a monotheism across time, if the culture manages to unite itself. And then that monotheism has certain properties. You know, like in Mesopotamia, for example, a god named Marduk rose up out of the polytheistic, out of the realm of polytheistic combat.

So there's actual war on the ground, but there's also conceptual war in the space of imagination. And then that tends towards the emergence of a monotheism across time, if the culture manages to unite itself. And then that monotheism has certain properties. You know, like in Mesopotamia, for example, a god named Marduk rose up out of the polytheistic, out of the realm of polytheistic combat.

And Marduk was characterized by eyes all the way around his head, so attention, and by the capacity to speak magic words, the words that transform night into day, which is very similar to the conception of Yahweh at the beginning of time. But there's a reason for that. It's that as these underlying value structures vie for supremacy, What emerges as superordinate and stable is structured.

And Marduk was characterized by eyes all the way around his head, so attention, and by the capacity to speak magic words, the words that transform night into day, which is very similar to the conception of Yahweh at the beginning of time. But there's a reason for that. It's that as these underlying value structures vie for supremacy, What emerges as superordinate and stable is structured.

And Marduk was characterized by eyes all the way around his head, so attention, and by the capacity to speak magic words, the words that transform night into day, which is very similar to the conception of Yahweh at the beginning of time. But there's a reason for that. It's that as these underlying value structures vie for supremacy, What emerges as superordinate and stable is structured.