Giving the Devil His Due: In Defense of Free Speech w/ Michael Shermer

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2024

⏱️ 111 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If we can censor one person, we can censor everyone. Our freedom is strongly linked to other people's freedom ... Even those with whom we disagree. This idea has been explored in great detail by Dr Michael Shermer in his book Giving the Devil His Due. I had the pleasure of reading the book and discussing it with Michael in the early days of the pandemic. So here is a little throwback episode for you! Enjoy. — Key Takeaways: 00:00:00 Intro 00:05:01 Abducted by aliens 00:11:51 Judging a book by its cover 00:22:36 Free speech and campus culture 00:32:20 How should we govern Mars? 00:42:31 Science, religion, and mortality 00:55:19 Scientists as public figures 01:03:16 Challenges of teaching at a university level 01:12:44 Meaning and purpose in the universe 01:30:58 Skepticism as a movement 01:40:48 Final thoughts — Additional resources: ➡️ Check out Michael Shermer: 📚 Giving the Devil His Due: https://a.co/d/8q3Gzs1 💻 Website: https://michaelshermer.com/ — ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So the devil is really just anybody that's different from you, disagrees with you and so on.
0:04.0	And the reason we have to give them their due, give them their free speech,
0:07.1	was ultimately if we pass censorship laws, then those laws could be used against us.
0:11.7	When we're in the minority, when we're outside of the window
0:14.7	looking in wanting to have a voice. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
0:29.0	Open the pod bay doors.
0:30.0	We're going to talk a lot about Michael's fabulous new book, Giving the Devil His Due, and I want to get all the juicy details. I read more than half of the book in one sitting. It was just really gripping.
0:43.4	And I'm a subscriber to Skeptic magazine
0:46.1	for a long time.
0:46.7	But before I do that, I just wanted to circle back
0:48.3	to this podcast, Reading.
0:50.5	I've heard it said that sometimes though reading addiction it can be addictive
0:54.9	Sometimes it can be used as a way to forestall one's own creativity as a writer in other words
0:59.9	Oh well I'll I'll start writing my sequel to Losing the Nobel Prize.
1:04.4	Oh, once I'm done interviewing Michael and Peter and Neil and Mary Olivia.
1:08.6	And reading 27 more articles online today.
1:10.3	Yeah. Exactly, right.
1:11.3	Oh, I do that all the time.
1:12.1	It's a great procrastination. You know, I got to just read one more article. I'm sure this is important. Yeah, exactly. And so the knowledge base from which to reference in the book just keeps growing
1:23.4	unavoidably.
1:24.4	Well, in the current age we live in with the internet,
1:27.0	it's so accessible.
	...

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