The Dangers of Postmodernism | Bach and Fridman

Name: The Dangers of Postmodernism | Bach and Fridman
Uploaded: 2023-08-21 09:53:52
Description: Postmodernism, with its dismissal of objective truth and emphasis on subjective interpretations, can be a dangerous ideology that limits critical thinking and hinders progress.

This article is a summary of a YouTube video "Postmodernism is Dangerous | Joscha Bach and Lex Fridman" by Lex Clips

TLDR Postmodernism, with its dismissal of objective truth and emphasis on subjective interpretations, can be a dangerous ideology that limits critical thinking and hinders progress.

Key insights

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The idea that the world is just a set of arbitrary stories is wrong and unproductive.
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The idea that truth is relative has influenced ideology and has become an ideology itself, justifying itself through the notion of relative truth.
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Developing norms that treat truth as completely negotiable is incompatible with the scientific project.
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Ideologies, including postmodernism, can be harmful as they cut individuals off from the rest of human thought space and restrict their ability to consider alternative perspectives.
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The danger of dogmatic certainty lies in the creation of strong priors that reinforce one's own truth, disregarding other perspectives.
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The normative nature of certain thoughts can limit our ability to consider alternative perspectives and stifle creativity.

Timestamped Summary

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00:00
Post-modernism is a set of philosophical ideas that is difficult to define and not useful to the speaker.
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00:54
The idea that different interpretations of the world through different ontologies make the world a set of arbitrary stories is wrong, and engaging in this type of philosophy is unproductive.
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01:26
The idea that truth is relative has influenced ideology, but not physics, engineering, or politics.
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02:02
The dismissal of objective truth in favor of a pluralism of ideas can become a dangerous political weapon, incompatible with the scientific project.
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02:47
An ideology is a viral memplex that warps reality and cuts off individuals from considering ideas outside of their own, making it harmful.
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03:18
The danger of postmodernism lies in the dogmatic certainty it creates, which is based on strong prior beliefs rather than objective truth.
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03:38
The evidence is weaker than you think, and normative thinking limits creativity and agency over your own thoughts.