The following is a conversation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., candidate for the president of the United States, running as a Democrat.

Robert is an activist, lawyer and author who has challenged some of the world's most powerful corporations seeking to hold them accountable for the harm they may cause.

I love science and engineering. These two pursuits are, to me, the most beautiful and powerful in the history of human civilization.

Science is our journey, our fight for uncovering the laws of nature and leveraging them to understand the universe and to lessen the amount of suffering in the world.

Some of the greatest human beings have ever met, including most of my good friends, are scientists and engineers. Again, I love science.

But science cannot flourish without epistemic humility, without debate, both in the pages of academic journals and in the public square, in good faith long-form conversations.

A grieher disagree, I believe Robert's voice should be part of the debate. To call him a conspiracy theorist and arrogantly dismiss everything he says without addressing it diminishes the public's trust in the scientific process.

At the same time, dogmatic skepticism of all scientific output on controversial topics like the pandemic is equally, if not more, dishonest and destructive.

I recommend that people read and listen to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His arguments and his ideas. But I also recommend, as I say in this conversation, that people read and listen to Vincent Reckanielo from this week in viralogy, Dan Wilson from debunk the funk, and the Twitter and books of Paul Offit, Eric Topel, and others who are outspoken in their disagreement with Robert.

It is this agreement, not conformity, that bends the long arc of humanity toward truth and wisdom. In this process of this agreement, everybody has a lesson to teach you, but we must have the humility to hear it and to learn from it.

And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast. We got house of McAdamia's for snacks, a sleep for naps, inside track her for biological data and AG1 for my go to daily multi-vitamin. She's wisely, my friends.

Also, if you want to work with our amazing team, we're always hiring at alexfreedman.com slash hiring. And now onto the full ad reads as always, no ads in the middle. I try to make these interesting, but if you must skip them, please still check out our sponsors. I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too. This show is brought to you by house of McAdamia's.

A company that makes delicious high quality healthy, McAdamia not based snacks. Every single person I have shared the snack with have deeply enjoyed it. And it's been quite a few people, including guests. And they love it and they love the variety in each individual snack. I don't think there's been a negative response to any of the snacks because it's whole nuts with all kinds of additions to them.

Bars, all kinds of additions to them, all kinds of flavors, all of it healthy, all of it is perfectly portioned. It's just a perfect snack. Low in carbs, high in omega seven fats. There's all kinds of super healthy aspects to this stuff, but I just enjoy it because it's an escape from the mundane.

Actually, the word mundane makes it seem like it's not deeply fulfilling, but most of my diet is mundane. Most of my diet is in this place of simplicity where I enjoy the minimalism of it, but sometimes a little detour.

In a small rural town somewhere on a long road trip from New York to San Francisco, just take a little detour and you're going to find a gas station with a weird guy who has one hell of an amazing story to tell you. That guy is a McAdamian nut snack.

And you can meet that guy just like as I do by going to hustlemuckadamia.com slash flex to get a free box of their best seller, Namibian sea salted, McAdamian nuts plus 20% off your entire order. That's hustlemuckadamia.com slash Lex.

This episode is also brought to you by 8th sleep and it's new pod 3 mattress. It is a source of happiness for me. Naps are a source of happiness for me. You know, I'm kind of torn on this, but I think I might be even a bigger fan of naps than a full night sleep.

Full night sleep is like an essential foundation to life, but naps for me again. Speaking of detours, then we're going to know where.

It's sometimes a stressful day feels like a high water hell. It's a little reference to ACDC and one of the most badass songs ever written.

But anyway, life sometimes feels like a high water hell and this is a little detour again to that gas station. What you meet a person that helps you escape from all the madness of this world and realize how beautiful human beings are. That's what a nap is.

It's a reminder how beautiful life is how insatiably delicious every single moment is how full of vigor and sensory extravagance every single moment is.

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