Intelligence, Wisdom and Evolution by Bret Weinstein

[@IdesofMarc]

Um.. Someone tell me wtf am I doing here? I found this guy on a recent (awesome) Rubin Report show with his brother Eric --and here I sit. Entranced. Zero interest in biology. And it's a little late in life to start. But here I sit. I freaking LOVE listening to this guy!!!

[@winenmonvi3599]

Never too late to start, and I don't say that to mean that *everything is possible", but.. still ;)

[@winenmonvi3599]

By the way this wasn't really about biology, as the title indicates ^^

[@LuisXDotCom]

sort of like how Neil Degrasse Tyson does the same with astrophysics

[@notwhatiwasraised2b]

more information is better than less and you never know where it might lead you

[@QED_]

@M White: I hear you. 2018 is really too much, isn't it (?) I'm still living with a 1975 brain and I too often find myself watching incredibly esoteric KZbin videos until 2 am in the morning . . .

[@NullA164]

Please make many more videos, I love listening to your lucid thinking.

[@searose6192]

Nice backdrop here...natural setting is very pleasing.

[@mloser9]

noticing the sounds from the street makes this interview sooo much better.

[@fignomdes5305]

building a channel is slow, keep it up!

[@1L2369]

Enjoying your perspective Bret, keep doing what you do.

[@CM-um8ef]

This is amazing I've been hanging out for more of your work, so happy to have found this!

[@DanielClementYoga]

Bret, this channel should be much bigger. Thank you for this.

[@szymonmajewski4725]

Thank you for sharing your wisdom. I'm in the middle of a PhD and kind of tired, but what you said towards the end helped me remember why I started in the first place.

[@anotherlover6954]

Another element of laughing is feeling safe. When you're laughing, you're not really capable of doing anything else, so you can't do it unless you feel safe enough to. Also, you're making noise, which actually increases vulnerability in many situations. So, since, that's the main job of men -- to make women safe and the community safe, so families can be raised and the like, and comedy involves both construction (of jokes et al) and inherently invokes those other aspects of safety, I'd say comedy is a pretty masculine enterprise in those regards.

[@tuck-brainwks-eutent-hidva1098]

AnotherLover & Neal -- From the peanut gallery of (at least reasonably) funny women.... Part of the reason some women might appear less funny at times is because humor from a woman can be threatening to some men, as well as a bonding agent with others -- in many different kinds of relationships. (As such, I have found quite accidentally over the decades that it's a decent indicator of how different men tend to respond to my oddball "big ideas," as well.) Interesting survival imperatives. Definitely a luxury, so generally correlated to feeling safe. (Alternatively, dark humor effective for coping with risk and pain...?) Interesting that I come from a dark humor community and now work in trauma recovery (helping people feel safe enough to take the risk of confronting challenges), so perhaps a lot of years in humor-inviting environments, especially for a female.... Plus, my dad (whom I and my brain both resemble more than my mom) was dark, smart, and funny -- come to think of it, my mom is, too (pretty much maxed out on all counts for a good 1960s housewife and schoolteacher)! 🤪

[@llIIIIlllIIIllI]

holy shit, bret's off-screen persona is super fuckin chill. i would've never guessed. i like him even more now.

[@jesperburns]

More of this please.

[@MECX3490]

Very helpful and greatly appreciated! It’s akin to an advanced university lecture from a very high level professor...This is the future!

[@allenwright89]

Beautiful convo.

[@xaviernogueira]

Brett your nuanced approach is something I have been trying to cultivate in my scientific career as well as political mind, and finally hearing long form thoughts from you with your careful approach to finding truth is something I had no clue I've been craving as much as I have been.

[@mrj3nk044]

The degree you earn at the end of an undergraduate course is a persuasion tool. It’s a force multiplier drawn on when trying to convince someone else of something when you are attempting to persuade them. You can gain the same knowledge and skills as an undergrad degree provides from your local library and online for $1.50 library card. The actual degree and club you enter for having done it provides you something quite different.

[@t.schutz6517]

Bret, Thanks so much for putting this together! Love to hear another intellectual in the space get some long form videos in.

[@HBrown-cc6wv]

One of the best videos on youtube. keep them coming Brett.

[@nickmagrick7702]

19:10 I really love this right here. "get people to approach a system in which authority plays no role". I never thought about it that way before, its something ive engaged heavily in just because of my interests, but it never occurred to me that many people don't or that experience with a self exploratory system matters.

[@TheBasicTruth]

Congrats Bret! Good to see you at your ease and giving Science some of your wisdom. I'm in.

[@MrChet407]

I appreciate the honest answers

[@notloki3377]

The strength to change what I can, the inability to accept what I can't, and the incapacity to tell the difference. wisdom.

[@drakelundberg462]

This feels like it should be a fundamental course in logic, incredibly insightful!

[@anthonymerkle9513]

Hello Brett, Since you are from academia you probably don't know what to make of this place called youtube. I can say that from having particpated in it for over a decade, I have watched it evolve. It used to be a place exclusively for cat videos then professional video editors came, and now it continues to evolve further to more niche markets for thought & ideas. I can say that there are definitely people out there who are incredibly interested in what you have to say who are not idiots. Many people who watch care for literature, science, new ideas, & truth. I personally am a huge fan of Dr. Peterson, Matt Christensen, & Joe Rogan to mention a few channels, & as a millennial consume many hours of their content. I hope to consume many hours of your content. Thanks.

[@TDBoedy]

I think a good example in recent science of challenging assumptions would be continental drift+plate tectonics.

[@TDBoedy]

I think the fact that we are social animals plays into the fact that we can transfer the lessons of wisdom/delayed gratification - first depicte din cave paintings - hunting...knowing your environment, later through oral tradition and archetypal characters who are exemplars - like King Solomon or Gilgamesh etc. and Later through formal education systems & social systems. We are always refining wisdom to one degree or another. Some times it shows through more respect of the elders of a tribe and other times other expressions. It allows the wisdom distribution within a tribe/society to proliferate in degree and intensity from the few who have the innate talent and fortunate positions to the rest. It's effect is not even in distribution but it does serve to enhance society at large even if it isn't even - it is sufficient.

[@nickmagrick7702]

2:54 metaphorically speaking, seems sound. Displays a certain level of mental acuity, and lack of clout. The thing he said about humor after this is genius. Its a really great way of putting it.

[@DevinRhode2]

thumbs up for the lobster shirt

[@geraldherald2322]

Marten Dekker wrong, the proportion of those claws are not close enough to the legs to be a crab

[@squarerootof2]

Not all lobsters have claws. Warmer water lobsters have no claws at all, just antennas. There're many different types of lobsters but they all know their place in the hierarchy and usually keep their rooms clean.

[@ubersheizer5398]

Fiddler crab. I live in Florida. They are everywhere in the mangroves.

[@benjaminperez969]

Bret Weinstein, I know this is off-topic, but I have a question/request: could you and Gad Saad have a discussion (maybe even a debate) about which aspects of Edward Wilson's classic 'Sociobiology' (1975) have held up (and haven't held up)-as well as which aspects of Marshall Sahlins' 'The Use and Abuse of Biology: An Anthropological Critique of Sociobiology' (1976) have held up (and haven't held up)-and why? I've recently reread both, and both made great sense. So now I'm curious to know which aspects of each man's text have held up (or not), and why.

[@notwhatiwasraised2b]

Not sure if this is covers the subject but.....kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIjanpKuetyhZ8U

[@matthewhorizon6050]

Benjamin Perez, No.

[@RickDelmonico]

Wisdom is, in part, is the connecting of disparate things in novel ways, kind of like playing jazz.

[@falls2shine712]

When asked about the paradox of wise people being child like and children not being wise, I was reminded of a Nietzsche quote. "Mans maturity: Rediscovering the seriousness had as a child at play."

[@hb4764]

Best video on KZbin yet.

[@davidanderson9664]

Bret is a super smart, compassionate, lefty guy. For the life of me I can't see how he attracts such ire. Go Bret! D.A., J.D., NYC

[@thecentalist3160]

Most people need to understand that whatever new theory needs to predict the new idea, while keeping all the results of the old ideas.

[@zuggrr]

I love listening to Bret Weinstein!!!

[@gianlahoz]

I believe delayed gratification should be substituted for selfless gratification. otherwise, in my opinion, concretely on point. As a non sophisticated individual, I am surprisingly aware of each word and the careful thought that goes into the delivery of it. It is quite breathtaking sincere your approach to what I call the absolute truth is. I often question the duality between the individual truth and the absolute truth and I try to make sense of them separately but I have gathered through listening to you speak that in order to achieve understanding, it is imperative to listen to both harmoniously so we can embrace it.

[@quantumt1]

Love your content! Keep it coming, Bret and Benjamin!

[@Strawman36]

I love the idea of big game hunting important questions.

[@plekkchand]

Someone actually worth listening to.

[@stevenglansburg856]

Smoking weed with this guy might make weed fun.

[@dm6801]

just smoking weed might make it fun ;)

[@pravinda333]

Brilliant video. Keep 'em coming.

[@rfoleymckenna]

Brilliant stuff, as usual. Love you, Bret!!

[@wadetisthammer3612]

25:39 to 27:38. Wisdom and high horsepower brains; applicable to analytic philosophy (and a paper I wrote recently).

[@thecatsman]

I cannot accept that the question 'why?' has much value in the understanding of (simple) animal behaviour. People understand 'why' as suggesting a reason is behind the action. You know better than me, Bret, that 'why' animals do things is usually a question of the cause and effect involved, not animal thinking. Do you agree, Bret?

[@jhitchcock5503]

I have observed that children who have had to endure an illness or overcome some other trauma understand the importance of delayed gratification and patience more than their peers.

[@NoughtSure]

J Hitchcock so what you're saying is that we shouldnt vaccinate our children....

[@NwoDispatcher]

I had cancer at 15 and I agree

[@eleveneleven572]

Interesting ! I discovered Weinsteins channel yesterday, subscribed AND hit the bell for all videos. This morning I find that the bell has been dropped !

[@HBrown-cc6wv]

Keep is up Brett. Great videos

[@tiagovasc]

Make videos more often

[@hankroest6836]

4:00 So in an important way, humour is the exposing of tension and its harmless diffusion. Laughter is the convulsive release of tension. Orgasm is also, in the moment, a convulsive release of tension. They are both largely involuntary and closely related to risk and vulnerability...

[@rick91443]

Food for the soul and the mind. Thank you. rr

[@gr8scott00]

Producing Prototypes ... it's reminds me of Scott Adams book "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big" ... I would love to see Joe Rogan interview with Bret and Scott Adams

[@Arachija]

Thanks dad

[@liptontee5468]

hello there my dear sir. I'm a huge fan and I loved the video. keep it up.

[@FreakyBr0]

Nice shirt bucko, fantastic video as well!

[@nickmagrick7702]

24:40 ha im happy to hear this, my horsepower aint all that great now days and not as strong compared to other people as I used to think. But my intuition about things has always been spot on, and I think it is actually what caused me to think I had a really high intelligence when in reality im just a bit above average. I think. Gives me a bit of hope that I have a good chance to do something important and new in the future too.

[@diarmaidupton]

Please do a series of videos on game theory. An intro and then deep dives. Love how you think.

[@chuckgautier3911]

Great video! Thank you!

[@MrFrank107]

looking forward to the 'Big Game Hunting'

[@lesliesylvan]

The "uncaged" mind has the advantage of thinking outside the box, which is a form of disruptive wisdom

[@bairdwill1]

I think your on the right track, eventually you will get relatively comfortable with sitting in a room by yourself and talking to the camera. Stick with it.

[@notbrad4873]

Hey, I recognize that voice behind the camera... it's Benjamin Boyce!

[@azaquihelify]

i enjoy very much, the way your mind shreds the human software. Peterson really needs to be round you a little more

[@hawkandserpent]

great video, so glad your on youtube. ps look into investing in a wind guard ;)

[@atkgrl]

Bret. That is your book ‘tool kit for intellectual big game’

[@NidalSamaradokhtar]

Hi Bret, Would love to hear your opinion (generally) about Robert Sapolsky lectures about "behavioral Biology " in Stanford 2010, would you say this is a credible source to learn the basics?

[@patromo]

wisdom is the analogous application of the principles of archetecture to ones life.... I know, right?.... Just popped into my head.

[@xDemonTech]

I loved this talk but I think it wpuld be beneficial for everyone if you maybe stood, it might make it more formal but it might hold our attention better. I'm pretty high though ;)

[@tensevo]

Intellegence could be the ability to create maps of truth. Wisdom could be the ability to navigate maps of truth towards some higher level goal?

[@jglammi]

min 12: Observational learning can enable some of the unwise to begin to modify their approach; some

[@davyroger3773]

By this theory it follows that success entrepreneurs should be on average funnier than the general population

[@squeet6831]

Why is this interview taking place in the both the Amazon and a place where there is regular traffic?

[@shadfurman]

A long one! 😀 Awe man... I was going to comment point by point... But just yes, yes, yes, awesome!

[@willotoole5900]

It is hypothesized that humor is derived from fear. Chimps can play and know it's in humor and they aren't legitimately trying to kill each other. Maybe ladies like humor because it makes them feel safer.

[@patromo]

walking in the forest, I approach two guys in a conversation about f-stops... I stop and listen in..

[@jenwilcher1354]

Comments about things being "counter-intuitive" don't seem quite right. Haven't to me since reading Taleb's Anti-Fragile, where a passage about karma opened up a door in my head, that caused me to re-think how I saw intuition. Is intuition merely something we have, or is it something we do, just not cognitively? And, if intuition is done, instead of had, then isn't intuition changeable? I guess my point is that things only seem counter-intuitive, if the person believes intuition can't be changed. Otherwise, great video.

[@davidcrocker3992]

From whom does the teacher gain his authority?

[@wesbrinsfield9770]

Did you record your talk at the sfl conference on new media( solo lecture not q&a)?

[@nickmagrick7702]

1:22 seems like only one possible reason for display, and a subconscious one at that.

[@hrsh3329]

nice background

[@brucesekulic5443]

To paraphrase The Royal Society motto : take no-ones word for it...

[@facemushroom]

I've got a question. Culture is a result of biology, genetics, and evolution. Some cultures are objectively better than others (more peaceful, prosperous, just). Therefore how can it not be true that some races when taken as a whole, are empirically superior to others, in terms of what they are capable of achieving? ie. their societies, culture, morality, and technology? Taking this into account how can disparate races ever live together in peace, how can they ignore the different results without jealousy causing rape theft and violence?

[@mutableintellect7624]

@Billy Bob: As if "be off with you", however stridently intended, was somehow enforceable and not merely suggestive. Wishful thinking, my friend.

[@DrTWG]

Work while smoking pot . Absolutely not in my profession but if I was doing any job - I wouldn't get anything done . Even writing - I would be - " Oh man look at that letter j , isn't it just beautiful the way it curves and that little dot - perfect , I wonder why I haven't noticed that before " - 3 hours later I'd suddenly be really really really hungry.......

[@1800JimmyG]

Brett, what does medical advancement say about genetic selection going forward? Greater variance in the human race? I think of c sections as allowing for babies with bigger heads and females with more narrow hips. Is this correct? iv been reading sick societies. Have you heard of this book?

[@janchovanec8624]

I disagree on a humor part. Contrary to what people believe it has very little value to women, same as a "kind character". Those character attributes are a bonus, not a requirement. Women have a tendency to overstate men's humor if he happens to be rich, or and attractive. Majority of women would prefer to date a rich mob leader rather than a kind, funny and caring doctor. In general there are only 3 main attributes that attract majority of women across the globe: 1. Wealth/power. 2. Looks. 3 Domineering/borderline jerk like character (more assertive and pushy the better). Anything else is just a bonus. Now Young women find most interesting looks in their teens, later in their early 20ties it shifts towards looks and rather aggressive character and in later 20ties their desires shifts more towards combination of attributes listed above. Obviously this is a vast generalization and there are outliers and exceptions, for instance one being if a guy happens to remind her of her father, and such. See: Azim, E., Mobbs, D., Jo, B., Menon, V., & Reiss, A. L. (2005). Sex differences in brain activation elicited by humor. Herzog, T. R. (1999). Gender differences in humor appreciation revisited. Humor Miller, G. F. (2001). Aesthetic fitness: How sexual selection shaped artistic virtuosity as a fitness indicator and aesthetic preferences as mate choice criteria Also, when you read any books regarding Mob gangs, or Mafia, you may be rather surprised how interesting those guys are to the female audience, even though they know they are killers and thugs. It always struck me as weird and twisted, however from biological perspective it makes sense, as us nerds would be no match to wild beasts in the wilderness, unlike said killer. EDITS due to my poor grasp of Engrish and errors in citations.

[@WayRidesShotty]

Only on Bret Weinstein's channel do comments have bibliographies.

[@markjbaldwin]

Of the three measures of intelligence, memory, ordering, and pattern recognition, the greatest of these is pattern recognition. You say funny people see "things" others haven't, which I think is right, but what is "it" that the see? I think it is pattern recognition, a subset of which is seeing connections. Think Robin Williams or Norm McDonald. (I heard it said that Williams couldn't abide loosing his mind, and that the impending physical disability paled before that fear.

[@wonderingalbatros3603]

@15.10 Q. "So how do you teach wisdom." A. By not cosseting young minds, perhaps? Lets start there.

[@jkdarrow]

who is the interviewer? He sounds like Boyce.

[@tensevo]

If we could accurately predict the weather or the climate next year then perhaps the climate debate would be resolved - the harsh reality is that we are unable to predict the climate over decades with any meaningful degree of accuracy. I mean we were either supposed to be under water or fried by now.

[@dn82180]

Arent peoples brains not fully developed until theyre 25? Ive read that before and one of the main features that comes from that is impulse control.

[@thelaw3536]

Around 25 as far as I know and it is the prefrontal cortex. (I think) This doesn't mean that the brain isn't mostly developed by age 20.

[@KizaWittaker]

@@thelaw3536 You are both right. The prefrontal cortex doesnt mature until age 25, which is responsible for impulse control

[@kristiansandsmark2048]

How can i access facebook messenger on my landline?

[@austinnnnn]

Fiddler crab t-shirt FTW 💪

[@tensevo]

Intellect is the ability to create nuclear weapons to the advancement of the species. Wisdom is the ability to abstain from using nuclear weapons to the detriment of the species. They could be two sides of the same coin? Intellect, concerned with advancement whilst wisdom concerned with preservation.

[@MinamuTV]

Weinstein argues that while an intelligent past self may have the insight to recognize many facts, the current self knows which facts are more important. In actuality, the current self _considers_ different facts to be more important because it is in the interests of the current self to have considered those facts more. It is still about _self-interest_, however. If the current self was still actually in the same circumstances as the past self, they would be the same way -- and you can't say that your current self would do better things, because putting your current self into the past would be an example of entering circumstances that are not actually the same as the circumstances your past self faced, and that would make judgment of the past self an anachronism. You can't judge actions of the past based on views of reality that didn't come along until a time that hadn't passed in the course of reality. You can't criticize Monteverdi for not composing like Beethoven. Most people think hindsight is a good thing. It's easy to view years 13-17 as a blip in time and feel that you shouldn't have been so angry back then, but you're not going through what your past self was going through. Years 13-17 were in actuality four years, meaning that the current self's view of years 13-17 as a blip in time is not the correct view of that period of time, but an incorrect view. Perhaps the fact that those years were actually multiple years -- as your past self would know -- was a major contributor to you having been the way you were then, something the current self would not know. The best way to understand a period of time is to try to recreate that period of time as closely as possible. If you do this well enough, you will realize that you can't blame yourself for having acted how you acted. If you still do blame yourself, it means you're not giving enough thought to that moment in time. Perspective is a judgment of past actions without a cognizance of all the things that led to those past actions. Ergo, it is a form of presentism rather than a form of greater understanding of the past. It can be grouped with any other form of a person assuming that they have all the facts when they aren't cognizant of all the facts. Hindsight is not the source of 20/20 vision; rigorous logic is the source of 20/20 vision. Who is the best judge of what it is like to go skydiving? Perhaps people who have been skydiving. Who would be an even _better_ judge of what skydiving is like? The person who is skydiving at that very moment, much more than the person who went skydiving long ago and is consequently very far away from much of what was involved in that long-ago act of skydiving.

[@cognitivedissonance8406]

MinamuTV Support the death of humanity Do the right thing

[@susan6081]

Like the marshmallow experiment.

[@nickmagrick7702]

7:45 im sure he meant it already, but its possible possible to meet someone whose extremely stupid and incredibly wise. We just normally equate the two often.

[@Bayonet1809]

These people are actually far more common than one might think; anyone who didn't attend/dropped out of school would probably have a good likelihood of being comparatively stupid (e.g. they may not be able to write), but if they are well adapted to their surroundings then they are also probably very wise. For all of non-recent history the majority of the world's population could fall into this category.

[@tuck-brainwks-eutent-hidva1098]

Yep -- the most infectious humor (as with Seinfeld) is truth-telling from the position of humility -- recognizing that the teller is part of the crazy fabric.... Both truth-telling and humility are attractive, and in combination they might approximate wisdom...? Humility makes the path through the wilderness of truths more navigable.... Hard to believe we are needing to articulate the value of delaying gratification, though glad you are. Must add -- the formation of fundamental interaction patterns during early attachment is a huge key to self-soothing, which in turn enables us (at a neurological level) to delay gratification -- perhaps why we used to develop the latter capacity more readily, when our pathways to strong, healthy attachment were less obstructed.... Amen to multi-faceted understanding of dysfunction. Hence the need for (and my exploration and development of) a unified approach to healing -- let's hear it for the gorgeously complex real world! If you follow authentic wisdom, it actually works out in the real world -- although, as you say, it sounds counterintuitive at times -- that's how you know it's authentic. Reexamining assumptions is at the core of so many kinds of growth.... The "bipolar" reference to seeking scientific truth reminds me of "Writing on Both Sides of the Brain" -- creating first, unimpeded; and then editing, ruthlessly....

[@MATTZEHNBAUER]

i thought it was regression to the mean not reversion to the mean

[@ErikFabian]

I enjoy listening to your thoughts. I disagree with your definition of “high quality humor” as noticing stuff and surfacing truths. At best it is an incomplete definition of humor but probably instead just a definition of science or analytical thought. If humor or even high quality humor was simply observing and revealing truths then all effective mathematical, scientific and philosophical writing would make us laugh.

[@pelonp3691]

Erik Fabian the type of humor he described has always been my least favorite. It’s just too easy.

[@mau5che]

Left and Right wing libertarians united? You mean like "Ron Paul - Bernie Sanders 2020?"

[@NwoDispatcher]

Fuck left libertarians. They want open borders and miscegenation

[@MrChet407]

Ugh, delayed gratification is a so difficult.

[@Bayonet1809]

Even if the gratification was a certainty it would be difficult, but what makes it even harder to countenance is the fact that it is generally uncertain whether the effort one puts in will ever have a payoff.

[@rfoleymckenna]

I love how you're just like... Uh , No. I really don't think so lol