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Tom Bilyeu's Impact Theory

Conversations with Tom | Bret Weinstein on Ending Cancel Culture, Avoiding Civil War and How We Can Unify

Tom Bilyeu's Impact Theory

Impact Theory

Business, News Commentary, News

4.75.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2020

⏱️ 124 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Evolutionary theorist and “professor in exile” Bret Weinstein was thrust into the midst of America’s culture wars in 2017 while teaching at Evergreen State College. Since then he has emerged as one of the leaders of the Intellectual Dark Web. He is very aware of the severe divisions plaguing our society, and understands the energy behind those divisions. On this episode of Conversations with Tom Bilyeu, Bret Weinstein advocates learning to see both individual responsibility and collective responsibility simultaneously. He discusses the Unity 2020 platform, shares some insight on Andrew Yang’s presidency, and talks about what we need to do now to avoid civil war, environmental destruction, and general moral failure. This episode is brought to you by: Butcher Box: Go to ButcherBox.com/IMPACT Raycon: Get 15% off Raycon wireless earbuds at BUYRAYCON.com/impacttheory Better Help: Get 10% off your first month at https://betterhelp.com/impacttheory SHOW NOTES: You are living in your own simulation, which is your biggest asset and your biggest liability [2:11] Fights, whether marital or societal, are rarely only about the explicit content [3:18] Those who see the hazard clearly don’t understand where the energy is coming from [7:26] Bret describes rent-seeking behavior and how it is impossible to eliminate it entirely [13:25] Bret and Tom discuss learned helplessness and why it’s such a bad idea [18:31] Bret describes the collective responsibility we have as human beings [25:03] Tom compares liberals and conservatives to visionaries and integrationists [28:35] Radical change sucks, but may be necessary, and personal responsibility is paramount [33:10] Tom and Bret discuss the severe divisions in current American society [36:28] Bret describes the Unity 2020 plan and why we need to remove influence peddling [44:22] Tom explains why he was so interested in Andrew Yang [45:54] Bret talks about what you can learn from Andrew Yang’s presidency [49:41] A groundswell of support is more important than naming a ticket for Unity 2020 [54:04] Tom talks about the intoxication of rage and cognitive bias [1:00:06] We are the ones we have been waiting for [1:04:25] Tom and Bret discuss the leaders we need to have and how to find them [1:06:21] Bret talks about the desire to remain unenlightened [1:14:18] The US tries to step out of the normal evolutionary current and do something different [1:20:01] Tom and Bret discuss the problem with attacking the scientific method itself [1:22:49] Our education system has screwed people up so badly that they don’t want to learn [1:29:53] Natural selection has turned sex for humans into a bonding mechanism [1:36:05] Tom discusses Thomas Sowell and the Black Lives Matter movement [1:46:26] Bret discusses the likelihood of Donald Trump being reelected [1:50:41] Bret explains why schools don’t get fixed [1:53:22] FOLLOW BRET: WEBSITE: bretweinstein.net/ FACEBOOK: facebook.com/official.bretweinstein/ TWITTER: twitter.com/BretWeinstein

Transcript

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0:00.0

Brett, why not sign? Thank you for joining me on the show, man. Thanks for having me. I am

0:08.3

very excited to have you. So when I'm bringing you on now in a context that probably would have

0:14.4

been different. So I've wanted you on the show for a long time because what I'm always telling

0:19.4

people is that a lot of my success is predicated on an early realization that I had, which is that I'm

0:25.3

having a biological experience. And what I mean by that is I became obsessed with the movie,

0:31.6

The Matrix, as what I'll say is the dominant metaphor for my life because it so accurately

0:37.4

captures the nature of what the brain does to you. So I don't think that we're actually in

0:42.2

assimilation, but your brain is creating a simulation for you through which you interact with

0:47.2

the world. And I just thought, okay, well, if it's sort of focused on keeping me alive and it's

0:51.5

not necessarily focused on just representing reality. Like there are this many photons bouncing

0:57.1

off of this object and figure the rest out from there. And it's sort of packaging it in the way.

1:03.5

Are there ways that I can reinterpret that package that would be more advantageous for me? And so

1:07.9

that was initially why I got drawn to you and the things that you talk about. And then over the

1:13.3

last few months, for the first time in my life, civil war as a possibility seems real. And I always

1:21.1

thought I saw myself as existing outside of history. And so to now suddenly feel like,

1:26.5

hey, this is deeply uncomfortable where this is headed. That pushed me doubly down into your world.

1:31.3

Do you find, are you surprised that you and your wife became the epicenter of all of this?

1:39.5

You know, one has to be surprised because for one thing, the events are so bizarre that for

1:45.6

anybody to be the center of it would be weird and, you know, to be there is doubly so. But,

1:53.8

yeah, it's a very odd moment. I have to say I'm quite excited by the two things you use to

2:00.0

introduce the conversation here because both of them are perspectives that very few people have.

2:06.1

And you're right, you are living in your own simulation no matter what else might be true. And

...

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