Paul Kingsnorth: science doesn't have all the answers

[@gavinMorrice]

This is the growth trajectory of most sensible people (11:51). Start off by trying to change the world, and ultimately realise the answer is to improve yourself.

[@richardharvey1732]

Hi Gavin Morris, well done!, I have just written a two hundred word essay as a comment to someone else and here is the whole thing in a nutshell!. Cheers, Richard.

[@markatchison9974]

The ultimate act of rebellion is to rebel against society, & it's finest form is to walk away & take no further part. If everyone did that; society its self would become what it is, which is what people essentially do on a daily basis. You change society by forming a society which is opposite to it. Not by changing the society you're in.

[@richardharvey1732]

@@markatchison9974 Hi Mark Atchison, I do agree with you, most of the last fifty years I have had people telling me that real change comes from within without ever having any empirical evidence. It was reading Mao's 'little red book' that alerted me to the concept that revolution come only from the barrels of guns, based on the historical evidence. Since then much as I don't like it and would prefer some other route to change what you suggest does tick many boxes, especially when you consider that it does not require the full co-operation of even a majority, as long as the numbers of us exceed the critical threshold, which of course we won't know until it happens!. Cheers Richard.

[@softcolly8753]

Sounds very like Jordan Peterson's ideas.

[@kennenhaas1317]

@@softcolly8753 JBP doesn't have any ideas. He restates old ideas, fleshing them out in a mechanistic way which can be understood by modern people.

[@SilenceInTheBliss]

Freddie is such an excellent interviewer, actually one of the best I've ever witnessed.

[@MC-ii2in]

Synthia: I agree; I can not think of a better interviewer, or even another interviewer as good as Freddie. It took me a while to realize that, due to his perfect looks LOL.

[@tamarakeller1460]

“There’s a difference between an appropriate technology that makes somebody’s life better and a technology that sucks them into a matrix of control.” Well said. Great interview!

[@vijayvaswani6076]

One of the wisest and most open guests you’ve had. At no point did he claim to have answers. Refreshing

[@SuperLuminalElf]

Your own appraisal of his perspectives is also refreshing and appreciated

[@gabebabe1]

That’s the problem - he has no answers but is an activist and commentator. Makes his viewpoint utterly useless.

[@julietcusimano7316]

To identify the problem but not pretend you have the answers, unless you do, is refreshing. His ego seems under control and he is forever evolving. That is not useless

[@radscorpion8]

@@julietcusimano7316 I mean that's perfectly common behavior among scientists and laypeople. Virtually everyone can understand that there are certain problems with no known solutions. I don't understand how that is refreshing or new...that is just commonplace behavior

[@mediaisthevirus7275]

I stopped worshiping science many years ago... Its always right until its wrong, which is often!

[@Kefuddle]

Science has never provided any answers or answered any questions. Science is great for solving basic problems though. But when it comes to "the science says this great big problem might occur" or "this is how to solve this great big problem"...it always is wrong and gets swept under the carpet for the 'experts' to shamelessly come up with some other nonsense.

[@qoph1988]

Science has created the cataclysms of nuclear war, climate change, overpopulation, superviruses etc. itself and then told us that more science is the solution to these things. It has failed to solve them, and yet they still insist that we believe it is a force for good and progress and other utopian things. It's a racket. Science has radically shortened the future of the human species.

[@spiral-m]

@@Kefuddle depends on the question. If science says we have a wasteful food system, whose destruction and inefficiency is especially amplified by animal agriculture, then is the propsed solution to do way more plant-based agriculture "getting it wrong"? Or, "we have to consume less, re-use and re-cycle more, on average especially in rich countries" That seems pretty sane to me. To reject all predictions made by science is wasy more irrational and counterproductive than tapping into the better aspects of it. For the 1st example used: This basic physical law illustrates the huge inefficiency of having a middleman to produce food higher up the food chain: please look up - bbc bitesize guides zs7gw6f revision 3

[@nowaylon2008]

Christianity as radical humility - I like that idea.

[@lesliecunliffe4450]

In what other way is it possible to understand the incarnation and crucifixion of Christ as radical humility, which has always been the core of Christianity? The Greek word to describe this process is kenosis - the voluntary emptying out of Christ's rightful divine power in order to redeem mankind and the world. Paul glosses this as being dead to self and alive to Christ.

[@simonbrownbridge1799]

@@lesliecunliffe4450 Beautifully expressed but dead to self? Put Christ before I, and in my experience the self thrives in fullness of self. "Not I, but Christ in me". And I in Christ if you aim to be counted amongst Sons of Men.

[@qoph1988]

"I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." Don't believe in the people who don't really follow your faith who come to you saying that your own faith (which they disbelieve and often mock) demands that you be a doormat for them. Jesus wouldn't have been humble with those people, he would have cast them out like the money-lenders.

[@sheilavescovi4962]

We've become enslaved by things, working 40 hours 5 days a week to buy something rather than reading, conversing with our families, friends. Buying a bigger car, house, going on vacation rather than the enjoyment of just being able to enjoy what God has given us. Our families, friends & community. God is Great.

[@jamiesaavedra4412]

I like how he said there is a sense of Homelessness within our consumerism we are dependent on our attachments.

[@Changeworld408]

this hit me hard (homelessness indeed, feels very discomforting) we have swapped the essential for the superficial the soul for the ego.

[@jamiesaavedra4412]

@@Changeworld408 I can relate at times I have based my self esteem and identity on things I bought in order to feed my ego.

[@sylviam6535]

In that system, people become more identified by their choice of mobile phone than by their culture. I have seen it and it’s depressing.

[@agent7641]

This scientist understood his profession, “Science is the Belief in the Ignorance of Experts” Richard Feynman

[@geralvon]

Thank you. I added this to my list of favorite quotations, added to, Man’s most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe - Euripides

[@OMGAnotherday]

Because knowledge always has more to add. 👍🏼🥴

[@Muonium1]

Presenting the single takeaway line like that is highly deceptive to what he actually intended to mean. Providing the context of his statement says far more and far more accurately than the single throwaway line itself: "When someone says science teaches such and such, he is using the word incorrectly. Science doesn’t teach it; experience teaches it. If they say to you science has shown such and such, you might ask, “How does science show it-how did the scientists find out-how, what, where?” Not science has shown, but this experiment, this effect, has shown. And you have as much right as anyone else, upon hearing about the experiments (but we must listen to all the evidence), to judge whether a reusable conclusion has been arrived at. . I think we live in an unscientific age in which almost all the buffeting of communications and television words, books, and so on are unscientific. That doesn’t mean they are bad, but they are unscientific. As a result, there is a considerable amount of intellectual tyranny in the name of science." He is *NOT* expressing a sentiment of anti-scientific cynicism about experts, he is expressing an idea about the deep need for careful and judicious skepticism about the dissemination of scientific knowledge.

[@sammyslam1]

@@Muonium1 ....well stated.

[@TheSaffronasha]

@@Muonium1 Science is a method...and kept in it's proper place, it's a useful one. However we have now created a society that has Deified a method, elevated a select few scientists into Preachers, and handed away or bodily autonomy and free will. While we were dismantling and evolving past the Abrahamic Myths we went from the pot to the frying pan. However 'this too shall pass.' Meanwhile you don't need to buy farmland and rip out your toilet to check out. 🍄 online and increasingly becoming legal! ha ha

[@SIZA3]

What a refreshing interview, thank you very much to you both. Like Kingsnorth, I neither fit to the left nor right, as someone who grew up in the humble rural areas of Southern Africa, Swaziland to be precise I used to take such life for granted, I couldn't wait to move to the cities where I was told if you want to progress in life, get an education & move out of the countryside, as there's no future there. Well I didn't just move to the city, I ended moving to the UK & I've been living here for almost 30 years. As I grow older, I now yearn for the countryside & its simplicity & peace. I also yearn to be close to nature in which I now view as my religion. Thanks again for the fantastic interview.

[@peaceonearth4714]

My story too ! A country girl, in South Africa, now in one of the biggest cities in the world, missing the red land and dark starry nights.

[@mickeylee2624]

Self-reliance includes taking charge of your own good health, which means cutting the cord on Big Pharmafia's coercive addiction via drugs/vaccines, big agri compromising our food supply, and biomedical engineering.

[@tracy4616]

This guy to me shows exactly where the old left and the new right become one.

[@djnv4702]

Couldn’t agree more

[@F--B]

A big thing that the new right appears to miss, or ignore, is the indigenous perspective on the world. They also seem to have a very ambivalent relationship with technology.

[@qoph1988]

@@F--B They don't miss that. The new left definitely likes to harp on it endlessly as a cynical alibi for grabbing power, though. They certainly don't give a damn about indigenous people, not really

[@F--B]

@@qoph1988 I agree that they don't care about the indigenous perspective, but I think it's across the board. I think most people's sense of history begins with the Classical age, and indigenous cultures form little more than an aperitif to the main course.

[@MattAngiono]

"This consumer machine fundamentally makes everybody homeless." Such a key take away from this amazing discussion! Anyone who has dove deep into environmental or even cultural issues should be able to see this happening. We must reclaim the sacred!

[@icecreamforcrowhurst]

“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” John 14:23

[@MattAngiono]

@@icecreamforcrowhurst sounds like a pretty authoritarian definition for what love is

[@davidchurchland7406]

Thank you. As a conservative, in the non political sense, who has long valued, even cherished, the joy of living within limits, I assumed I was listening to the words of a non-Christian fellow traveller. To see the joy in the eyes of someone who has recently found a home in the faith that has been my home for decades gave me joy. Thank you again.

[@qoph1988]

Agreed. Anybody who doesn't want to become a mechanical drone doped up on drugs and filled with seed oils and other industrial pollutants in the near future had better start getting comfortable with the idea of being "conservative." We've got to conserve our humanity from the insane desires of those who would like you to believe they are "progressive."

[@GMN360]

A man after my own heart...there is a structured chain of command for a very good reason,,,starting from Christianity. Which leads to the care of the land, care of each other and spending and living wisely. Excellent interview. Thank you

[@69birdboy]

Or that's where everything went wrong.. ownership

[@bitcoinmining6361]

People are starting to unplug from the Matrix!! Kicking and Screaming

[@marydaniel3252]

Spot on!! Seems all we can do if we don’t want to conform to the new normal is make ourselves self sufficient

[@richardharvey1732]

Hi Mary Daniel, having had quite a long life during which my first introduction to the concept of self-sufficiency about sixty years ago!. At that time I had little clear understanding of the many interpretations that later appeared. to some extent this was no bad thing, all I had was the basic concepts. as I grew up the whole thing became much more part of my life, my mother was quite rightly convinced that the economies of scale and economics of life clearly indicated the advantages of co-operative life, the production of food had always been understood as fundamental. We had not long passed the point when more than half of everyones daily food was home grown!. this developed into creating a 'commune' with a health food shop and restaurant to give at least a few people a chance to drop out of the rat race!, it very nearly worked!. I lived there for a few years and learned some very important lessons in collaborative effort, the costs and the benefits. What was very clear then and even clearer now is that that while it is vital that we each develop all the life skills that we need to keep body a soul together some degree of co-dependence can be very satisfactory, the personal self esteem and confidence issues can make it difficult!. I then spent several decades just looking after myself, it took me a long time to grow up!. I did in the end manage to make a decent living without too much compromise, I chose to stop lying and stealing, I chose which way I did my work and became an accepted place in this environment, all the time I was well aware of what is happening around me and sensitive to the dreadful degradation of our environment and the myopic greed of our culture, I could not find any way to change all that other than to set myself a set of standards as far below the average aspirations of those around me as I could without suffering!, this leads me to my conclusion in so far as I can do so. I have tried to reduce my dependence on the consumerist model, manage on an annual income at or about the threshold of paying income tax, working only for my friends and family, setting myself the highest feasible standards of behaviour, not because should, but just because I can. My rewards for all this are not in the material world!, my spiritual worth is much higher!, none of it is about being right, all of it is about being better!, all of it is dynamic!, no two days are ever quite the same!. What I am trying to get across is that for me life is not a target! it is just a process. Cheers, Richard.

[@martinliehs2513]

@@richardharvey1732 i live near a Mennonite community where there is a mix of self sufficiency through agriculture, and community via faith and trade. The modern world's situation shows that there is some sense and wisdom in that simpler way of life.

[@richardharvey1732]

@@martinliehs2513 Hi Martin Liehs, I have heard on Mennonite communities and one of the significant features of the success of such arrangements is the fact that everyone has to subscribe to the same fundamental ethic before they join, this gives a sound long term common denominator to resolve conflicts!, Stafford Beer call such things the heuristic principle. It is a dynamic objective that does not specify all the rules, just the overall objective. I would argue that such a basis is imperative and it is vital that every member of the community fully understands it , what ever it is!, this makes life a bit difficult because for that to happen with large numbers of members it necessarily has to very very plain and simple, this means that there will be situations in which it does not properly work, the only way out of that is to avoid having too many members!, I would propose a very large number of differing religious and secular groups with several levels of joint collaboration to resolve disputes where possible and plenty of open space where not!. This would utterly preclude any 'superior' body, national governments, kings and queens and all that rubbish, able to impose restrictions and sanctions on trade which are the backbone of exploitation. Self-sufficiency would then be the better option!. Cheers, Richard.

[@martinliehs2513]

@@richardharvey1732 Yes, to an extent that is true. However, even the Mennonites are not a monolith. The are several orders of orthodoxy. Some will use mechanized farm equipment and cell phones, but have no electricity in the home, for example, while a few still use draft animals for much of the farm work. Some, of course, choose to leave altogether if they no longer can abide by the established order.

[@watershedbarbie9685]

I live in a rural area, and there are days when I can't bear to be alive. I have stopped walking, because every time I go out, I come across another huge plot of land is being logged flat so someone can build their mini mansion. The noise from a highway that is five miles away from me reaches my back deck.The farmers now use front end loaders and bulldozers to "farm", the homeowners all have "shops" on their property, within which they use all kinds of noisy equipment sometimes into the night. I won't get into why I can no longer go to the lake, or go camping. Or why I can't even go outside in my own yard. A hint: leafblowers and tractor lawnmowers.Did I mention pick up trucks to drive to the bars and grocery stores?

[@olgakuchukov6981]

Same. It is autumn in New England, USA, where there are many wonderful trees and the humans who battle them and their leaves daily. It’s a sickness.

[@phillipcarr3469]

What a gem of a guy Paul Kingsnorth is. Great interview …thanks Freddie!

[@rosered9029]

This conversation blossomed into something breathtakingly lovely...and true. 🌹🕊

[@Nicofloretti]

Thank you to your thoughtful guest.

[@sadiaansari4574]

I’d like to know why his wife left her profession of Psychiatry! The story of her disillusionment there seems worth listening to

[@bfpskater]

If I were to guess, it might have to do with the field of psychiatry being reduced to distributing pharmaceutical drugs with side effects and not treating the root cause but only the symptom. So the patient must take the drugs forever.

[@jamesnativeenglish7581]

@ Talk therapy debunked??? How so?

[@mjschoensee93]

Talk therapy will never be debunked. However, psychiatrists in the US do "medication management". This has been a joy to partake of. Thank you both.

[@B.A.512]

I think this is mentioned in: de aarde draait door from VPRO in the Netherlands. Don't know for shure.

[@qoph1988]

A cult of drug-dealing anti-humans, almost always with extremist political views. I wouldn't want to be around them either. Not to say there are no good ones.

[@randallpeaslee1779]

This humbly intelligent man - who I had never heard of before - had already won me over. Then he mentions his conversion to Christianity! I sang an 'Hallelujah!' at the moment. Welcome home, Paul Kingsnorth, my brother.

[@tprince1377]

Amazing interview and guest. I now feel less alone in the world knowing there are actual reasonable people out there, not putting politics inside every important topic. I feel the same way he does about a lot of things and I hate how environmentalism has become so polarized. Well done Freddie!

[@CarnivoreAnesthetist]

Nice interview! I’m a scientist. so I generally don’t watch videos with philosophers. I have to say, I really did dig this guy. Very enlightening. He made me think a different way. very nicely done.

[@eggymixes]

As a dad of a young kid the thing I really struggle with is the lack of rites of passage, of cultural markers that can sort of sanctify and legitimize and therefore give confidence to a kids passage through life. There doesn’t seem to be any of those any more, really. Not one that have a mythic or spiritual context. I’ve asked people about this and they say things like learning how to drive or leaving home to go off to university, or whatever. I just don’t think that’s anything remotely similar to what there used to be. It feels like - as just one guy - I’m having to recreate all that previous culture and significance pretty much solo. Or just not try. The consequence of not having that, I think, is that life is just much much harder.

[@02sweden]

I agree. Luckily two of my kids, did confirmation in the Evangelican protestant church in Sweden when they where 14 -15 years old, and that is a sort of step that i can se helps as a spiritual rite.

[@albateclabosco2059]

He is a sincere person, thank you Freddie. Yes, the technological solutions to the environmental crisis are disputable.

[@annawray2220]

I’m so greatfull for this channel

[@chriskii12344]

Man this guy nails all the buzzwords.

[@user-nx6ji9tk8i]

Well worth the 50 mins of challenging thinking. Strikes many chords.Thank you both.

[@djpitns]

This is exactly the point, we are not looking at the same feeds (20:12); we might think we are, but in fact we are being pushed by algorithms deeper and deeper into our social media bubbles. This is how the social media platforms sell our views to the advertisers: our behaviour needs to be predictable and is constantly reinforced by the content suggested based on our past interactions, which are being closely watched, analysed, and used. So again, no - we are not looking at the same feeds; we are ever more distant from each other.

[@funma2353]

Came back to this interview after viewing his most recent one. My background is in ecology, im fairly young and have been involved in environmental policy regulstion/implementation within my countrys central government. Something about what Paul discusses and how he delivers it makes me feel something in my gut that not many other thinkers can replicate in me. Like some sort unwelcomed, bleak yet necessary revelation. Incredibly enlightening and im thankful for it.

[@RichardEllamElemental]

Our battle is between good and evil forces... Paul only mentioned spirituality at the end, so I look forward to part 2. My favourite quote is "Start From Where You Stand".

[@DarkFabulist]

Thank you for bringing Paul Kingsnorth back to my attention. I read all his books up until Confessions where he stated he was giving up on direct activism and retreating to Ireland. At that point I wrote him off, and he dropped from my radar. Now I have moved on in my thinking, and I am delighted to find he has too, and I very much look forward to catching up with his writing again. His insights are often real and profound, he bridges the logos/mythos divide, and he could be a valuable mediator in our increasingly fractured world. It may be too soon but I would love to see a discussion on his conversion to Christianity. There is indeed a God-shaped hole in the modern world as many secular writers have acknowledged. Thank you both so much for this interview.

[@peaceonearth4714]

He is interviewed on his conversion on a channel called Protecting Veil. It is where I first saw him, a few months ago, not knowing who he is. Now I find him twice on Unherd. (He was interviewed a few days ago, so that video might interest you.)

[@tensevo]

I know the Pennine's and Peak District will do that to you. All the urban strangeness is blown away and you are just presented with pure nature. Really good for clear thinking.

[@doonray]

An excellent and level headed discussion. Much of this resonates very strongly with me. I'm still relatively young but the rate of technological 'progress' over my lifetime already makes me feel like I'm living in an alien world, compared to the one I was born into. I've also found the way environmentalism is never framed as a problem that can be solved via negativa, symptomatic of the way every element of our lives is forced to fit a consumerist model. We're always encouraged to purchase new products that are 'better for the environment' but never allowed to consider that avoiding manufacturing these new products in the first place may have been the more sustainable option. The reference to a modern 'technological machine' always reminds me of Robert Pirsig's term 'the ghost of rationality'. I think this is a very appropriate term. Referring to a kind of disembodied utilitarianism, that possesses us all and forces us towards continual technological proliferation with no real goal.

[@mark94213]

I loved Paul’s mindfulness about not only the environment but also the nature of humanity. Though he was not trying to persuade me his openness and humility has me rethinking several of my own views as they relate to modernity and technology. Thanks to you both.

[@Laurefin]

Paul Kingsnorth's ideas, and the angle from which he presents them are really interesting.

[@tia904]

Kind man, his peaceful and modest qualities unlike many self righteous and aggressive vegan and environmentalists.

[@francinebotton2635]

Hello my brother in Christ...I am from the thought pattern of the 70's that said to minimize our footprint, not easy in this increasingly material world. I have been Orthodox for 22 years, so grateful!

[@mikehardwicke23]

Great, thought provoking interview. Thanks.

[@maureenmalone7249]

I love this type of thinking. A passionately prolific thinker that Freddie engages and leads us into the sacred space of provoking thought

[@tensevo]

being "lifted out of poverty" is a euphemism for being "spawned into the economic game world"

[@palmtree9815]

I love him! Your interviews are the best thing that happened during lockdown

[@Conroy13]

Excellent interview. Great questions and what an insightful guy. Thank you both

[@anasarac5238]

to everyone in comments that seem offended he is not telling you what to do he is telling what he is doing

[@david_6063]

Your identity is your personhood. This is not something that can be described in a few bullet points that fit on a poster. Your personhood reveals itself over time as you face (or run from) the problems of life. This your character. I have no idea why people confuse their "soul" or character with superficial things like their ethnic history or race. Please wake me up when the era of identity politics is over and we are in a post racial world where people are just people.

[@Samieseeker]

Excellent conversation. Great guest.

[@peterchristo196]

Tecnocracy radiats my electro-biological being, in a way causes stress in interference, enough to make you turn green with frustration.

[@daddycool228]

Thank you UnHerd and thank you Freddie. This channel is a breath of fresh air.

[@deborahhebblethwaite1865]

Great interview. Wonderful guest🇨🇦

[@tvgerbil1984]

Science doesn't have all the answers but it gives you a systematic way to find them. It is a great tool, the finest Man has ever devised but there is no need to worship your tools.

[@hlwebb9877]

Chilling. Thanks for this guest, Freddie.

[@StephenGrew]

Absolutely spot on, I thoroughly agree.

[@rachelh3938]

I wish I could like this more than once. So many good points discussed, lots to keep thinking about 💕

[@jeffsmith1798]

There’s an interview of Robert Frost in which he says “there’s a whole half of life that can’t be made a science of, can’t ever be made a science of...”. It’s worth a listen.

[@EnvironmentalCoffeehouse]

Excellent interview. I am a huge Paul Kingsnorth fan.....follower. The books are really lovely from Dark Night. The journalists and writers are excellent- I highly recommend.

[@wavyremix]

I tend to listen to men with beards of this length.

[@just_another32]

Hehe!

[@KokowaSarunoKuniDesu]

The way I determine how much I have in common with any of your guests is to see how many books on their shelves we have in common. To that end, can you get them to bring the bookshelf into focus now and again?

[@judithjohnson5055]

I sometimes wonder how many bookshelves I have looked at in the past year. I saw the tidiest and untidiest on the same day; the former was David Olusoga

[@mattball3118]

I hadn't realised until it was said in this podcast that both sides of the culture war are fighting for their identity. Maybe I'm a little slow on the uptake with that one because it seems so obvious in retrospect. The people who profess to be against identitarianism, aren't against it, they just want different categories.

[@sarahrobertson4629]

Well, no, in some cases it's people fighting for needed protections (e.g. on the basis of sex, which is logical).

[@mattball3118]

@@sarahrobertson4629 and in other cases, it isn't. I was speaking generally, pointing out that what I said doesn't apply universally is obvious, so why bother? Seems like you are disagreeing for the sake of disagreement.

[@adamsmith307]

@@sarahrobertson4629 “needed protections” you mean preferential treatment for “protected groups”. The problem with this analysis is that it does not take other factors, most importantly - class.

[@sarahrobertson4629]

@@mattball3118 It didn't come across that way in the interview itself, and I am searching for an example where it does apply. Help me out? It just seemed to me that the interviewee didn't know a whole lot about some of the debates around identity issues.

[@eslinc]

This was a superb interview 👍 Absolutely superb 👍

[@cranstonfranc]

Choosing to live as a malcontent, believing you have a better idea for where the world should be going, makes you ‘Paul’, the maddest ‘scientist’ of them all.

[@qoph1988]

Living a self-sufficient life out of the way of others is "living as a malcontent?" It's time for you to ask yourself how you got here

[@ZZZ-mt6wn]

I can't agree more. When nature revolves, the outcomes are always life. When human society tries to move "forward", we always create death, no matter how magnificent we can achieve, if we stop pouring more resources into it, it will vanish, nature will take over. The new movie by Nomadland by Chloé Zhao tells this story beautifully - The forever lively and forgiving nature heals and accepts us all as we are at the end of the road.

[@deadlee0b1]

Captain America said it best: "We are far from perfect, but the safest hands are still our own"

[@Changeworld408]

superb and most needed conversation wich we all should be discussing around the dinner table in all families around the world. I had wonderfull new perspectives on how to continue life(i will relisten again) Thanks for all yr interesting guests

[@davidloftus300]

Wonderful interview.

[@Pitollie]

I love this channel. Thank you for the wonderful content.

This is a very interesting interview. I will say that I think the perspective that we are going down this terrible road into a dystopia is not valuable contribution to human beings. In regards to capitalism, it does appear that it has improved at least the levels of poverty and starvation in the world, despite without doubt making certain aspects of culture null or unnecessary. Instead of what essentially amounts to a defeatist view expressed by this gentleman, human beings need to be more creative with how will frame the world, what we can do to maintain our humanity in this change and use the technology we have to talk about things we can do to remain connected to nature etc. I simply cannot see what value can ever come from a world view that cannot see out of 'everything is going to hell'.

[@wavyremix]

I think his point is that "we" cannot really do anything, so the best possible scenario is maximum freedom so each person can at least do what they want, and maybe things will work out and maybe they won't. Collective solutions will ultimately fail.

@@wavyremix I appreciate that and I appreciate that the fresh perspective he has, I found though that ultimately his perspective seems stuck in a world view that the current world has to be destroyed before things can get better. The point of view disregards the sometimes instantly world changing innovations that we have seen in the last 150 years. Humanity should be given more credit for our ability to get ourselves out of problems.

[@wavyremix]

@ There's certainly plenty to be optimistic about. I don't share his views on climate change being an emergency, but the great part about his extreme environmentalism is that it doesn't actually advocate for any solution. "Solutions" obviously creating as many problems as they solve. He accepts that will happen and wants nothing to do with it.

@@wavyremix That sounds about right. Now if that is the case, what perspective does he have to offer in the world of writing and interviews if it’s a done deal which we can’t do anything about?

[@wavyremix]

@ Helping individuals focus on things they can actually change in their own and their families + communities lives. And teaching them that freedom is the ultimate ideal to want for all people. Higher order thinking leads only to authoritarianism and slavery.

[@mjschoensee93]

Very refreshing. Welsh American here. I have a hopeful feeling.

[@parmafoi4066]

What a beautiful talk about imponderabilia. Thank You

[@jeffreyschroeder9350]

He sounds like a Monty Python character from Holy Grail (ie the sod farmers) or Life of Brian (ie “What have the Romans ever done for us.”) It’s great that he has the option to live like he wants to - thanks to capitalism, etc.

[@deborahrenaut3150]

Evangelical Christians in America need to hear this. Most are joined at the hip to industrial capitalism. What fascinates is that they are so desperate to defend a system based on greed. Thank you both for a great and insightful discussion.

[@MrSmith-zy2bp]

As convert to Orthodox from Protestantism, this is correct. To me, Paul Kingsnorth is far more conservative than any of the so-called conservatives.

[@deborahrenaut3150]

So true, I'm considering Orthodoxy.@@MrSmith-zy2bp

[@kkrenken895]

The questions he asks at around 36 minutes remind me of the Amish and Mennonites, who have been guided by similar questions for a very long time. Great thoughts!

[@sunnyroad5644]

He is super articulate

[@paulineliste4545]

The problem with some of us who want the more natural world is that those who want the other are not willing to leave any place for diversity. An example for me is that northern Canada was always a place sparsely populated and very rural in what it offered people.... then came the exploration of that environment for gas and oil when there was no need in the world for those resources.But because there are so many wealthy people who need to invest their money and make more there is a constant push to open up more and more opportunities for the wealth grow for these people. A lack of respect for other people is ingrained in those who are so greedy.

[@cometier]

No need for oil and gas?? Are you on drugs.

[@isobelmcbride2672]

Great interview, Paul Kingsnorth is spot on….

[@marycollins8215]

Thank you. Here in the US I really enjoy you and your guests and am able to pursue their work more.

[@richardharvey1732]

Hi Freddie, yet another very good interview, I have had some very similar experiences, there do seem to be a lot of things that many of us share!. I definitely concur on the issue of humans ability for rational thought, it is not hat we cannot do it it is just that it changes nothing, as he says our entire lives are directed by our emotions!, we do not even react to anything at all unless it triggers some emotion!, then we get to thinking that it is the event that called the feeling and controlling events will influence our feeling!, big mistake!, put the cart before the horse and you won't get far. One of the fundamental issues here is what sort of environment do we actually live in, is it one that we can control, or is it nature that controls us?, I still can't make up my mind but maybe that is for the best, a made up mind is a closed mind. In the meantime I am satisfied to make use of science and my understanding of the natural world based on the fundamental assumption that since we are part of not it part of us it is in control and the better I understand that the less foolishness I fall into!. I am not concerned about getting anything right!, only to try not to get it all wrong!. Cheers, Richard.

[@MattAngiono]

Loved the Walt Whitman reference and his answer about how environmentalists find themselves in this huge paradox... It has been my experience to explore both these extremes as well!

[@BitterClinger1947]

This interview proves that we all have too much time on our hands.

[@ricksflicks-]

Love Paul. Very smart and interesting guy. Thanks!

[@thestuff1014]

Science does not provide any answers because science it is not knowledge itself but the process of gaining knowledge. Science is a tool which helps you to seek answers. Knowledge is merely a byproduct of applying science. If you are looking for an answer you have to find it yourself. You can use science but if you prefer you can refer to religion and benefit from divine intervention (which is no stranger to you average Americans).

[@familymediacablevasquez8563]

Great interview, thank you

[@captainbritain6737]

Thanks good vid. I’d forgotten how good this channel was

[@randygault4564]

When the ads on your channel are telling me how to poop, maybe it's time to re-evaluate.

[@mediaisthevirus7275]

You have ads? I'm on my 4th free trial to premium... No ads for 4 months... Its not hard to do

[@mediaisthevirus7275]

Plus you get to ditch having your full name on your Google account... Cause that's for mugs lol

[@familymediacablevasquez8563]

use the brave browser and add the Adblock for KZbin™. i never see ads.

[@mokitaism]

I really wish 'thinkers' would stop referring to tribalism as identity politics.

[@petersutton523]

This is one of the most brilliant and balanced conversations I’ve ever listened to. Thank you.

[@SymbioticCulture]

"the conspiracy around the Great Reset, arguably although you could say the details of it are not true" What "details" are "not true"? It's spelled out pretty clearly on their website.

[@RobofMarr]

I was loving this interview right up till that point. I do appreciate Freddy and his work, but after that comment he’s dropped in my estimations.

[@SymbioticCulture]

@@RobofMarr it is a shame that so many feel the need to do this kind of 'damage control' .

[@andrewbartlett9282]

Great interview. Thx both

[@KarlDMarx]

When I was 20, 46 years ago, I wanted to continue to be paid in cash. Back then I realised how I was gradually disenfranchised.

[@romanbys]

Living with our limits is something we can all strive to do. For example, a 2017 Ellen MacArthur Foundation report states that at least 8 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the oceans each year. If action is not taken by 2050, there will be more plastic in the sea than fish, weighing 850 million metric tons (937 million tons) or equal to over 2,500 Empire State Buildings or over 550 million cars. Those 550 million cars placed bumper to bumper would wrap around the Earth over 66 times.

[@skemsen]

Would you please consider making videos interviewing people like Bernardo Kastrup, Eban Alexander, Tom Campbell and other alike about the spiritual side (exploring consciousness) of human existence? You're a rare gem and we need your superior calm wit and ditto intellect interviewing people on so many topics - like the one you did with the woman in porn.

[@lalaland4961]

The great reset slogan "you will OWN nothing and be happy" 😵

[@davidbobberdi965]

Who are we kidding? You got to be pretty stupid to believe this shit. Do you feel happy when you buy something? Let’s see how happy you are when you don’t own a roof over your head and can be “kick out” anytime....

[@StephenGrew]

Definitely lost. I don't feel lost most of the time, if not all of the time. Very lucky, and yet we have organised our life like that. To be close to Nature, to create, and to survive within the system as such.

[@kennenhaas1317]

At the end of all the discussions in this space is a clear solution, in my mind. We need to congregate in artificially small communities so that we can engage in meaningful interactions with a community of people small enough to know by name and large enough to shop for friends and life partners. These communities must be geographic and must have a degree of exclusivity, that it be considered bad manners to have more than minimal social interactions outside (social media included). These communities need not be self sufficient mini-economies, losing all the advantages of our highly specialized economy. They only need to comprise a sort of union, which provides labor to several local businesses such that the members work along side each other. They need not be communes either. But, perhaps these communities could provide some services internally which take advantage of their association, for which each would pay their own part. And such a community need not be defined by a particular faith. It needs to be bound only by the conviction that authentic human interaction is necessary for people to live their best life.

[@timolsen8252]

He sounds like he reads Wendell Berry. Very good opinions and ideas.

[@jeffreychongsathien]

Environmentalists never talk about the reproduction monster, always the capitalist one. It's both, for me.

[@thegentleman4873]

Well they are connected, a meaningless amount of people, leading meaningless lives to be fed rubbish and taxed like cattle. BTW I am probably economically right of centre, but it does seem like our biggest successes in capitalism and democracy are our biggest challenges.

[@quentinnewark2745]

@@thegentleman4873 The only grand-scale alternative we seem to have, Socialism-Communism, pursued the same industrialised society, but with far fewer constraints, vastly more pollution, culminating in Chernobyl. The propounders of an alternative to the "machine", as the interviewee calls it, always take advantage of all the comforts the machine provides. The interviewee has a huge bookshelf of industrially produced acid-washed farmed-paper books, including a goodly number of travel guides of places travelled to by airplane, as he talks to us on a laptop running on mined metals and electricity. Not lit by homemade beeswax candles, in homemade flax clothes, with Freddie reading his thoughts written with pale homemade ink. People have always felt that we were inches from doom, since Hesiod who thought his era was ill-fated, and invented a better past he called the "golden age". Meanwhile, as time goes by, our lives get longer, infant death declines, science expands, our lives get fuller and fuller of pleasure and leisure.

[@thegentleman4873]

I agree but people get less happy. Are you familiar with the concept of the behavioural sink? An experiment conducted on rats that provided them with everything they need and took away any threats ultimately led to their dissolution. We have evolved in crisis and I’m not used to a world where no one relies on us in particular and we rely on no one in particular. The same reason people are depressed when they leave the army. The paradox of comfort is that it makes us less happy and we can see that with rates of depression particularly amongst younger generations.

[@thegentleman4873]

@@quentinnewark2745 phone won't link soz

[@quentinnewark2745]

@@thegentleman4873 Yes, greatest societal strength is on the way up, Republican Rome, the Ottomans as outsiders, Britain post-war, and dissolute at the top with too much money, and no hunger. But still, I suspect depression maybe more common because it is searched for with more precision, like the PCR test could probably find several lethal molecules inside you right now, set to high enough cycles, and yet you wont contract any disease from those pathogens. Overall all the broad indicators, violence, life-length, reproduction, shows human society in most places (not at war) better now than ever, where there are measurements to compare.

[@theknave4415]

Rootless consumerism. Disconnected from family, friends ('tribe'), and w/o emotional or cultural support structure. Learn more about the history and folklore of your own people. Hint: You're not getting any of that from your educational institutions.

[@suzywilliams4424]

Flushing toilets stop making sense when you get used to compost toilets. Why am I flushing 5ltrs of clean water down the drain everytime I have a wee?? 😆

[@the_artisan]

Roger Scruton is another thinker who touches on many of the themes Paul talks about here