#360 – Tim Urban: Wokeism, Cancel Culture, Social Justice, Marxism & Liberalism
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
4.7 • 13.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2023
⏱️ 191 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tim Urban is the author of the blog Wait But Why and a new book What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Tim’s new book: https://waitbutwhy.com/whatsourproblem
Tim’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy
Tim’s Website: https://waitbutwhy.com
Tim’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/timurban
Tim’s TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk5C149J9C0
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(05:48) – Human history
(21:47) – Greatest people in history
(29:35) – Social media
(36:17) – Good times and bad times
(47:48) – Wisdom vs stupidity
(49:55) – Utopia
(1:04:05) – Conspiracy theories
(1:17:16) – Arguing on the Internet
(1:37:16) – Political division
(1:47:10) – Power games
(1:55:09) – Donald Trump and Republican Party
(2:12:17) – Social justice
(2:34:59) – Censorship gap
(2:42:30) – Free speech
(2:46:33) – Thinking and universities
(2:54:56) – Liv Boeree joins conversation
(3:07:15) – Hopes for the future
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following is a conversation with Tim Urban, his second time in the podcast. |
| 0:04.1 | He's the author and illustrator of the amazing blog called Weight But Why, |
| 0:09.0 | and is the author of a new book coming out tomorrow called What's Our Problem, |
| 0:14.0 | a self-help book for societies. We talk a lot about this book in this podcast, |
| 0:19.0 | but you really do need to get it and experience it for yourself. It is a fearless, insightful, |
| 0:24.7 | hilarious, and I think important book in this divisive time that we live in. |
| 0:29.6 | The Kindle version, the audiobook, and the web version should be all available on |
| 0:34.0 | day of publication. I should also mention that my face might be a bit more beat up than usual. |
| 0:41.2 | I got hit in the chin pretty good since I've been getting back into training Jiu Jitsu, |
| 0:47.8 | a sport I love very much, after recovering from an injury. So if you see marks on my face during |
| 0:53.7 | these intros or conversations, you know that my life is in a pretty good place. And now a quick |
| 1:01.4 | few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support |
| 1:06.2 | this podcast. We got House of Magadamius for healthy snacks, indeed for hiring excellent teams, |
| 1:14.2 | and athletic greens for health. Jiu Jitsu was my friends. Also, if you want to work with our |
| 1:21.2 | amazing team, we're always hiring. Go to lexfreedman.com slash hiring. And now onto the full ad |
| 1:28.3 | reads, as always no ads in the middle. I tried to make this interesting, but if you must skip them, |
| 1:34.0 | please still check out our sponsors. I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too. This show is brought to |
| 1:40.0 | you by a sponsor that brings a smile to my face. House of Magadamius, a company that ships |
| 1:46.0 | delicious high quality and healthy macadamian nuts directly to your door. The snacks that these |
| 1:52.6 | guys make are delicious. And they're in a small portion. I can share it with guests. I can share it |
| 1:57.6 | with friends when they come over. And I feel like a normal adult. I feel like an adult because an adult |
| 2:04.4 | can moderate their intake of snacks. I need my snacks portioned perfectly because otherwise if |
... |
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