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The Good Fight

Jonathan Haidt on Why Public Discourse Has Become So Stupid

The Good Fight

Yascha Mounk

News

4.7963 Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2022

⏱️ 62 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

One of the world’s most influential social psychologists, a professor of ethical leadership at NYU's Stern School of Business, and a member of Persuasion's Board of Advisors, Jonathan Haidt is the author of The Righteous Mind and, with Greg Lukianoff, co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind. Haidt recently wrote a much-read feature in The Atlantic entitled “After Babel.” In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Jonathan Haidt discuss how we can make social media less toxic, what political and technological reforms might help fix the problem, and how we can empower the moderate majority to fight for its values. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by John Taylor Williams, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:25.6

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0:29.2

You know, we humans are smart as individuals, but we're actually not good at figuring out complicated things.

0:35.8

We have confirmation bias, we search for evidence we're right.

0:38.6

We have these incredible epistemic institutions that channel difference or diversity, their argument, and turn them into greater

0:46.2

insight, but you have to have the viewpoint diversity.

0:48.7

You have to have people pushing against each other.

0:50.9

And by design, we always used to have that. Universities, journalism, the adversarial

0:55.3

legal system is set up that way. And when that fails, when you systematically intimidate

1:00.9

dissenters, the institution gets structurally stupid.

1:05.4

And now the good fight with Yasha Monk. I'm really excited about talking you through some of the main themes of my new book of The Great Experiment,

1:23.2

Why Diverse democracies Fall Apart

1:25.3

and how they can endure.

1:28.4

Now on the podcast last week,

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