E237. Tim Urban Thinks Political Junk Food Is Killing Us

Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy

Conversations with people from all walks of life.

Society & Culture, Comedy Interviews, Comedy, News, News Commentary

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2023

⏱️ 98 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tim Urban, writer/illustrator and co-founder of Wait But Why , a long-form, stick-figure-illustrated website, sits down with Bridget to discuss his new book What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies . In a fun and free-wheeling conversation they talk about Tim's decision to write the book because the defining characteristic of our time is mass confusion and smart people falling for incorrect and fake narratives and he wanted to parse what was going on in our culture. They cover how his Left wing/Right wing thinking fell apart and where it led him, why it’s liberating to not have to pretend you know everything, vertical vs horizontal thinking, how people develop a preference for what they want to be true, why it would be so fun to be a culture warrior, how to know when you've slipped into tribalism, why unearned righteousness and hypocrisy are so annoying, why AI is a magic wand, and how Instagram knows exactly how old your child is. Sponsor Links: Progressive Insurance - https://pgrs.in/3Dp5ZIW Our Fake History Podcast - https://bit.ly/wiw-ofhpodcast

Transcript

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0:00.0	is it's not that people go all the way to paranoid or all the way to gullible.
0:03.2	It's that they develop this preference for certain kinds of ideas to be true.
0:09.4	And then when information comes in that confirms that, they go totally gullible.
0:14.9	Anything, anything kind of article they don't ask is this fake news.
0:18.1	They don't ask like is this study who's who conducted this study?
0:20.8	The filter goes wide open, they go full gullible, see there's proof and they're so sure about it.
0:25.0	Meanwhile, anything that conflicts with their sacred belief,
0:28.1	they're the thing that they want to believe they're a little pet theory,
0:30.8	they filter closes up.
0:32.4	There's nothing you can present them that would make them say,
0:34.6	actually I need to reconsider.
0:36.2	Nope, they're lying. See, that's the deep state, that's the whatever it is.
0:39.2	The right and left, it's like they're both doing the same thing.
0:41.8	This is Watkins. Welcome with Bridget Pettasy.
0:44.4	I'm Bridget Pettasy and you are welcome.
0:59.1	You know the drill, please subscribe, rate, comment, share, reach out, tell your friend,
1:04.0	send smoke signals, whatever. We love your feedback and we want to hear from you.
1:08.4	If you like our work and want to support us, the best way to do that is join Fettasy.com.
1:14.3	You'll get access to behind-the-scenes content, outtakes, discounts on merch,
1:19.2	and the ability to submit questions for some of our upcoming guests.
1:23.2	Support your favorite scrappy little internet heroes at Fettasy.com.
1:28.4	All right, I'm with Tim Irving, everyone. Welcome to Watkins. Welcome.
	...

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