Hi everybody this is Gatsad there's an expression in French

produce a change

plus a paré the more things change the more they remain the same

which speaks to a temporal invariance to certain human phenomena that

transcend time, right? And similar to how in evolution psychology when you study human universals that are cross-culturally invariant,

it's because you are demonstrating that there are certain phenomena that transcend

cultures. They are part of our shared biological heritage, our common

human nature. And so when you're talking about temporal invariance,

you're basically saying that there are some, for example, historical patterns that

repeat themselves because they're an indelible part of the human condition. One such reality is the fact that humans have been

ruled by dictators, autocrats, despots, kings, emperors for much of human history. This is why it is quite

anomalous to have had for the past few centuries democracy in the way that we've had it.

Individual dignity, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of inquiry.

And this is why we need to protect it so with such alacrity because it's not the default

value that defines the human condition.

And so when it comes to our ability to speak freely, well, different despots

and rulers have used different strategies to justify why they must squash our opinions, our beliefs, our preferences,

our votes.

They must do it to protect group cohesion. They must, right? In Islam you have for example

fitna, right? You don't want to create schisms and mischief and divisiveness and therefore you must squash those that criticize the noble

faith because it's for your own good.

In the Soviet Union if you went against the official policies then you were committed to

...