Based Camp - July 07, 2023


Based Camp： The Science of Being a Villain


Episode Stats

Length

26 minutes

Words per Minute

189.16841

Word Count

5,003

Sentence Count

225

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

7


Summary

In this episode, we talk about villainy and how it's used in movies and TV, and why we should be worried about it. We also talk about the Kingsman movies and how they use villainy in order to make us laugh.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 I recently heard the screenwriting trope,
00:00:01.960 villains act, heroes react.
00:00:03.840 While there are counterexamples,
00:00:05.200 it does seem like the good guys
00:00:06.680 are more likely to protect the status quo
00:00:08.800 rather than try to change the world.
00:00:10.700 Would you like to know more?
00:00:12.040 Hello, Simone.
00:00:13.140 It's wonderful to be joining you today
00:00:14.960 for my supervillain lair.
00:00:16.940 We're talking about villainy more generally today,
00:00:19.520 but I like to be super.
00:00:22.400 You are always super in my heart.
00:00:24.400 By the way, people may be wondering
00:00:25.280 why I don't have my ring today.
00:00:26.300 I lose it all the time.
00:00:27.880 And in today's one of those instances,
00:00:30.040 she jokes I'm like Sonic the Hedgehog.
00:00:31.640 I bump into something and rings go flying everywhere.
00:00:35.900 I think I have one tied to the car key.
00:00:38.340 You do.
00:00:38.860 I haven't taken that one
00:00:39.900 because it's hard to get off the car thing,
00:00:41.320 but I'll use it for our meeting today.
00:00:42.540 That's exactly why it's there.
00:00:43.280 We're going to be with some like senator types.
00:00:45.940 And so that's why we always have backups
00:00:48.020 all over the place.
00:00:50.560 I got to look like a traditional conservative male
00:00:53.140 if they're going to fund our campaign.
00:00:54.600 So we got to look normal.
00:00:56.300 Actually, Simone is the one who we're hoping to run.
00:00:59.800 Yeah, that's going to be interesting.
00:01:01.640 But we'll see if people vote for villains,
00:01:04.120 which I honestly think is how we're often framed in the media.
00:01:06.700 But we read a great tweet recently
00:01:08.860 about heroes and villains from a friend of ours
00:01:11.600 that I thought was just brilliant.
00:01:13.260 So she noted,
00:01:14.660 I recently heard the screenwriting trope,
00:01:17.440 villains act, heroes react for the first time,
00:01:20.060 and it destroyed me.
00:01:21.520 While there are counterexamples,
00:01:22.880 it does seem like the good guys are more likely
00:01:25.240 to protect the status quo
00:01:26.520 rather than try to change the world.
00:01:28.280 And that is so true.
00:01:29.960 And I find it really interesting.
00:01:32.200 Yeah, no, I think it is really interesting.
00:01:33.900 And the series that both of us
00:01:35.960 were immediately thinking of when this came up
00:01:38.080 was the Kingsman series.
00:01:39.960 Because the Kingsman is always about
00:01:41.500 somebody has some like vision for the future,
00:01:44.580 often how they can make the world a better place.
00:01:46.520 And then there's this secret society
00:01:48.980 for like wealthy,
00:01:50.920 or at least culturally wealthy,
00:01:52.300 if not individually wealthy.
00:01:53.880 But it seems like the vast majority of the members
00:01:55.900 do come from wealthy families.
00:01:57.580 British like elitists
00:01:59.000 who are maintaining the status quo.
00:02:01.640 It's like about a secret society
00:02:03.020 completely dedicated to maintaining
00:02:04.520 the status quo of the world.
00:02:05.480 But in the second movie,
00:02:08.360 one of the things we thought was really funny
00:02:09.820 is that one of the villains,
00:02:11.140 basically they're lacing,
00:02:12.660 spoiler by the way,
00:02:14.200 drugs with something that kills people
00:02:16.020 to remove the dangers of drug addicts.
00:02:19.420 But one of the other villains like doesn't care.
00:02:21.540 And they're like, yeah, we'll let it happen
00:02:22.980 because it removes the drug addicts from society
00:02:24.940 and we'll make the world a better place.
00:02:26.600 And it's like, that's brutal,
00:02:28.060 but like an interesting theory at least.
00:02:30.960 But what I loved,
00:02:32.140 and Simone pointed this out to me,
00:02:33.360 is how do they demonstrate
00:02:35.580 that they're actually the bad guys
00:02:38.040 and you definitely shouldn't be on their side?
00:02:40.560 They started doctoring festival drugs,
00:02:43.100 which is just a step too far.
00:02:44.700 They started to potentially hurt
00:02:46.140 upper middle class people.
00:02:47.880 And no, the real scene
00:02:50.040 when you're supposed to realize,
00:02:50.920 oh, these guys are really the bad guys
00:02:52.360 is when it turned out
00:02:54.180 the like well-paid office worker
00:02:56.580 was using like Adderall or something
00:02:58.660 as like a performance booster.
00:03:00.680 And you're like, oh.
00:03:00.940 I thought it was when like a bunch of basically
00:03:02.920 Instagram influencers
00:03:04.000 were using the like laced drug
00:03:07.940 and like talking about it
00:03:09.640 and then talking about the side effects.
00:03:11.520 And that's how it showed up in society
00:03:13.360 that this was a widespread issue
00:03:14.880 that many people were being affected.
00:03:16.560 Well, no, but I'm thinking about
00:03:17.760 how they coded for the audience
00:03:20.300 because it was clear that they were afraid
00:03:22.580 that a little too much of the audience
00:03:23.800 would agree with this person.
00:03:25.020 So they need to show it affecting
00:03:26.720 upper middle class people as well
00:03:28.280 because that's the way most people identify
00:03:30.700 regardless of their actual economic circumstances.
00:03:32.860 It's really interesting.
00:03:34.080 There was a study I've done on this
00:03:35.080 that's like something like 95%
00:03:36.300 of Americans identify as middle class.
00:03:38.260 Yes.
00:03:38.880 Yeah, actually I was just reading
00:03:39.960 a 1982 Ms. Manners book
00:03:41.740 while we were on a call like earlier today.
00:03:43.960 And she, Emily Post joked
00:03:46.120 that there are three classes in America,
00:03:48.420 lower middle class, middle class,
00:03:50.240 and upper middle class.
00:03:51.360 And there's like literally nothing else.
00:03:53.280 Yeah, the versions, I love that you say that.
00:03:57.340 That is so true
00:03:59.080 because that's how everyone identifies.
00:04:00.900 Totally.
00:04:01.580 Because nobody wants to identify
00:04:02.980 as upper class in our society.
00:04:03.960 Except for us because we're scare quotes elite.
00:04:06.500 Yeah, we're scare quotes elite.
00:04:07.700 We will take on the,
00:04:08.780 we will be the only upper class family
00:04:10.740 in all of America.
00:04:11.800 That is what we're going to do.
00:04:14.500 We will just take that segment in society
00:04:17.260 just for us, just for Malcolm and Simone.
00:04:19.740 And noblesse oblige, you could say.
00:04:21.860 Noblesse oblige.
00:04:22.640 Yeah, I remember I got a long thing
00:04:25.160 about basically noblesse oblige
00:04:27.140 when I got into Stanford Business School,
00:04:30.300 but it was from a family member.
00:04:31.940 They like sent me this,
00:04:32.900 but they said with great power
00:04:35.140 comes great responsibility.
00:04:36.580 Of course, I'm thinking Spider-Man, right?
00:04:38.840 I'm like, oh, this is a Spider-Man quote.
00:04:40.780 And what I love is it's Spider-Man.
00:04:43.140 And I realized, no,
00:04:43.740 that's just like noblesse oblige summarized.
00:04:46.160 Spider-Man, is Spider-Man based on noblesse oblige?
00:04:48.660 I think that's antithetical to his character,
00:04:50.640 but that is what I associate that quote with most.
00:04:54.660 Oh God, yeah.
00:04:55.340 This is so indicative of our generation.
00:04:57.280 I was also just watching a YouTuber who was like,
00:04:59.520 oh, it's like they say in The Office,
00:05:00.940 dress for the job you want.
00:05:02.420 And I'm like, that didn't come from The Office, lady.
00:05:06.920 But no, this is, yeah, of course,
00:05:08.520 as Spider-Man's uncle says.
00:05:11.080 Yeah, as Spider-Man's uncle says.
00:05:12.800 It's famously quoted in the show, The Office.
00:05:16.660 Oh my gosh.
00:05:18.580 Wasn't there a joke like that?
00:05:19.480 That's so middle class.
00:05:20.780 I don't know what to say.
00:05:22.780 I think you're a goof.
00:05:24.060 But no, I want to talk about this larger concept
00:05:26.260 because I think it leads to a lot of problems
00:05:28.500 in our society where any organization
00:05:31.520 that is trying to change things from the status quo
00:05:35.440 or any individual that's trying to change things
00:05:37.740 from the status quo is seen as villainous.
00:05:40.740 Oh, yeah.
00:05:41.660 And it's actually really interesting.
00:05:44.720 I think that the people who fight for the status quo
00:05:47.720 in many ways want to see themselves
00:05:49.680 as like the big heroes.
00:05:50.660 I think that's what like Meghan and Harry have been doing.
00:05:53.820 They're the true warriors of the status quo.
00:05:57.520 And that's how they show that they're good people
00:05:59.800 because they look, they say,
00:06:00.720 what does society say makes you a good person?
00:06:03.100 And then I'm going to do and care about those things
00:06:06.500 that society say make you a good person.
00:06:09.380 But I think in reality, when people see individuals,
00:06:13.060 especially individuals in positions of enormous privilege,
00:06:16.420 just going along with what society tells them to,
00:06:18.520 it also makes them, at least a large portion
00:06:20.940 of the population disgusted with them.
00:06:22.400 But they don't see them as villains.
00:06:23.980 What's interesting is they're often not displayed as villains.
00:06:26.400 They're displayed as like slimy.
00:06:29.000 They're displayed as pathetic and like money grubbing,
00:06:33.400 but not villains.
00:06:34.200 But Elon Musk, Elon Musk clearly has like a vision
00:06:38.660 of how he sees the world could be better
00:06:40.440 and is trying to move towards that vision,
00:06:44.340 even if he does get distracted at times,
00:06:46.380 because his vision is quite expansive
00:06:48.420 and not a lot of other people are working on it.
00:06:49.880 He does a lot of stuff.
00:06:51.300 But I mean, what a super villain character,
00:06:54.600 to the extent that if you look at,
00:06:56.320 I think a lot of content now,
00:06:57.840 they are actually framing the villains
00:07:00.340 around archetypes of Elon Musk is you see this
00:07:05.420 in a lot of shows now, Elon Musk-based villains.
00:07:07.900 I've like noticed this.
00:07:08.620 Yeah, but I mean, Iron Man was also like broadly inspired
00:07:11.400 by his archetype as well.
00:07:13.560 Although I guess you could argue that.
00:07:14.400 Oh, is he trying to change the world in you?
00:07:16.080 I don't know.
00:07:16.440 I watch Iron Man and he's trying to have there be less,
00:07:22.580 not like in wars,
00:07:24.360 just have like weapons in wars be less efficient.
00:07:27.440 I thought he was, wasn't he a weapons dealer?
00:07:29.200 I thought he was-
00:07:29.960 Yeah, and he was a weapons dealer before that.
00:07:31.680 So he's only like trying,
00:07:32.400 I don't see him as being somebody,
00:07:34.140 he doesn't fit the villain trope,
00:07:35.580 but the villain trope is somebody
00:07:36.540 who's fighting against the status quo
00:07:38.040 to try to make things potentially better.
00:07:40.380 Because to make things better,
00:07:42.020 that's the thing about the status quo, right?
00:07:44.060 You can be at a local optimum,
00:07:45.580 but to really make things better,
00:07:47.000 you have to move things past the status quo.
00:07:49.460 You have to move things to the next potential stage.
00:07:53.720 And what's really interesting is if you look at our message
00:07:55.860 and all of our perinatalist advocacy,
00:07:57.520 you could say, well, a lot of people,
00:07:58.720 one of the problems was trying to move things
00:08:00.360 past the status quo,
00:08:01.640 is it removes individual agency to an extent,
00:08:04.680 which is what you see a lot of climate activists doing.
00:08:06.580 So I can guess,
00:08:07.180 I can see how those people can be framed as villainous.
00:08:09.020 But when you look at perinatalist advocacy,
00:08:10.260 it's all based around individual,
00:08:13.400 like the major organization, which is ours.
00:08:16.180 Like the core mission we have
00:08:17.880 is to ensure maximum reproductive freedom
00:08:21.440 at the level of individual families
00:08:22.920 and maximum cultural freedom
00:08:24.360 at the level of individual families.
00:08:25.780 So even when we're fighting for more individual autonomy,
00:08:29.740 insofar as that autonomy removes the autonomy of the system,
00:08:32.200 like trying to create new school systems and stuff
00:08:34.300 for high school instead of these government ones,
00:08:36.820 which we see as erasing people's cultures,
00:08:39.040 we get framed as supervillains
00:08:40.660 because we're trying to change the world.
00:08:42.780 Well, I think there are two broad things in place.
00:08:45.920 One is on an individual level.
00:08:49.580 Humans are afraid of change.
00:08:50.720 Humans really don't like change.
00:08:52.040 Different is bad.
00:08:52.940 Having to try something new is bad and scary.
00:08:55.800 So that's one side of it.
00:08:57.240 So anyone who's trying to push something new on you,
00:08:59.360 even if like, let's say they're trying to get you
00:09:00.860 to try a new food and it looks gross
00:09:02.480 and it ends up tasting really good,
00:09:03.960 but you're still like hating them
00:09:05.040 for making you try it, right?
00:09:07.020 That's something that is ultimately villainous
00:09:09.620 because it's different.
00:09:10.560 We don't like different.
00:09:11.200 The other thing is societies at large
00:09:14.500 are very optimized around deriving
00:09:16.880 and enforcing conformity.
00:09:18.480 So anything that fails to conform,
00:09:21.380 anything that is different or new,
00:09:23.040 even if it's better,
00:09:24.140 is going to be villainized
00:09:25.800 because of course, I think in the past
00:09:28.740 and like from an evolutionary standpoint,
00:09:31.220 that which is extremely different
00:09:32.900 is more likely to probably do something
00:09:36.100 that is going to cause risk, harm, infection,
00:09:41.420 also vulnerability.
00:09:42.260 Just the cultural evolution standpoint,
00:09:44.640 which is to say the cultures that have survived
00:09:47.100 are the ones that are the best
00:09:48.760 at stamping out ideas and world perspectives
00:09:51.720 that clash with their own
00:09:53.380 because they represent an intrinsic threat
00:09:56.360 to the existing world order, right?
00:09:58.420 That's why you burn witches, right?
00:10:00.260 Because they represent a cultural mutation
00:10:02.720 and that's what we are seeing
00:10:04.920 the dominant culture do today.
00:10:06.640 So you are right.
00:10:07.300 It definitely has that element to it.
00:10:09.640 To the first point you made though,
00:10:12.360 that different is scary.
00:10:13.860 I think even the idea,
00:10:15.700 even making people aware
00:10:17.260 that things will change,
00:10:18.800 that society will change,
00:10:19.960 that the world will change
00:10:21.180 is threatening
00:10:22.940 and to an extent can make you a villain
00:10:25.400 just airing that.
00:10:26.760 So one of the points that we make is
00:10:28.640 if you look at humanity,
00:10:30.660 what it means to be human will change,
00:10:34.400 whether it's through genetic technology
00:10:36.940 technology or AI or human integration
00:10:40.120 with electronics and stuff.
00:10:41.760 And so a lot of cultural groups,
00:10:42.880 they're like, well, that is bad.
00:10:44.660 Like humans should say exactly
00:10:46.320 what humans are today
00:10:47.520 because if we deviate from that,
00:10:49.000 then we're something else
00:10:49.980 and that is bad or monstrous
00:10:51.420 or whatever, right?
00:10:53.760 But the problem is,
00:10:55.300 is then you really only have
00:10:56.740 two potential futures.
00:10:57.920 Either we do differentiate
00:10:58.920 and we will differentiate in the future.
00:11:00.340 I think it's inevitable.
00:11:01.240 Because even if one country
00:11:03.200 or one region
00:11:04.140 or one culture
00:11:05.100 effectively prevents
00:11:07.160 this type of experimentation
00:11:08.720 and change,
00:11:10.060 any region that does
00:11:11.500 will just so significantly
00:11:12.860 outcompete the ones that don't.
00:11:15.020 Those cultural groups
00:11:15.860 will become economically irrelevant
00:11:17.600 due to the advantages
00:11:18.760 that cultural groups
00:11:19.440 that engage in genetic
00:11:20.880 and technological change will have.
00:11:22.820 But then the cultural groups
00:11:24.380 that are against that stuff,
00:11:25.440 they will need to be very dictatorial
00:11:27.680 in how they impose that stuff.
00:11:29.100 So whenever I see a show
00:11:30.160 like when we were watching
00:11:31.020 Orville or something yesterday
00:11:33.120 and that the characters in it,
00:11:36.120 like the human characters,
00:11:37.340 that they think far in the future,
00:11:39.260 thousands of years in the future,
00:11:40.280 that humans would look still broadly
00:11:42.000 like we think humans look today.
00:11:43.940 That's just absurd.
00:11:45.060 Like that could only happen
00:11:46.560 if basically a fascist
00:11:48.660 one world government takes power
00:11:50.620 that systematically prevents
00:11:53.940 any sort of human
00:11:54.820 technological integration
00:11:55.820 and any sort of genetic selection
00:11:57.700 or genetic advancement.
00:12:00.160 But even if you had that,
00:12:01.720 it really wouldn't work.
00:12:02.480 And the reason why it really,
00:12:03.560 you'd also then need
00:12:04.300 to kill a lot of babies.
00:12:05.460 So the reason you need
00:12:06.260 to kill a lot of babies
00:12:07.140 in that scenario
00:12:07.820 is only a few generations ago,
00:12:10.380 it was true that about 50%
00:12:11.520 of human infants died
00:12:13.500 when they were babies, right?
00:12:15.600 Young deaths was really common.
00:12:17.240 But this had a big impact
00:12:18.200 on our genes.
00:12:18.860 It took a lot of potentially
00:12:20.500 negative things out of our genes.
00:12:22.980 Now that most babies survive,
00:12:25.920 what it means is the things
00:12:27.280 that were being selected
00:12:28.260 against cancers and the like
00:12:29.960 are going to begin to build up
00:12:32.100 in the human genome
00:12:32.940 at a really fast rate.
00:12:34.700 So if you go three or four generations
00:12:36.740 down the line,
00:12:37.380 we are going to be,
00:12:38.760 and nothing happens,
00:12:40.420 we're going to be
00:12:40.860 walking balls of cancer.
00:12:42.300 Of course, there's three solutions
00:12:43.680 to this.
00:12:44.160 One is to genetically CRISPR out
00:12:47.080 the parts of the gene
00:12:48.700 that are causing these problems.
00:12:50.120 Another is to pre-select embryos
00:12:53.840 that aren't pro to these problems.
00:12:55.380 So you're still having
00:12:55.940 the babies die basically,
00:12:57.240 but the babies are dying
00:12:58.000 at the embryo stage
00:12:58.980 instead of at the stage
00:12:59.900 of a human child.
00:13:02.700 Or you kill the children
00:13:04.040 who are prone to this.
00:13:05.700 You test them,
00:13:06.260 which seems like
00:13:07.080 the obviously immoral answer.
00:13:09.360 But I don't know.
00:13:10.620 I guess you could say
00:13:11.340 that you could use some technology
00:13:12.980 to edit the genes of adults,
00:13:15.220 like use maybe a virus
00:13:16.400 as like a vector.
00:13:17.460 But that's really hard to do.
00:13:18.520 Whenever you're talking about
00:13:19.300 like editing a person's genes
00:13:20.720 for like cancer
00:13:21.420 or something like that,
00:13:22.200 the problem is our bodies
00:13:24.120 are made up of billions,
00:13:26.780 I want to say, of cells.
00:13:27.640 Billions of cells.
00:13:28.800 And you need to edit the DNA
00:13:31.260 of every one of those cells.
00:13:33.540 It's really hard to do.
00:13:35.840 And then, I don't know,
00:13:37.720 that to me also doesn't seem
00:13:39.520 like a good answer
00:13:41.460 with any sort of
00:13:42.420 near future technology.
00:13:43.900 Yeah, not near future.
00:13:45.400 Not near future technologies,
00:13:46.640 but there might be
00:13:47.180 other solutions to it.
00:13:48.080 The broad point here being
00:13:49.180 is that the only way
00:13:50.180 that we end up with a future
00:13:51.500 where humans
00:13:52.260 five, 10,000 years from now
00:13:54.980 look broadly
00:13:55.720 like humans do today
00:13:56.900 is if you have a fascist state
00:13:59.000 that is essentially
00:14:00.560 preventing human genetics
00:14:02.980 or human genetic twang
00:14:04.280 or human integration
00:14:06.680 with technology.
00:14:07.600 But the other thing
00:14:08.260 that always shocks me
00:14:08.960 is when these shows
00:14:09.940 think they're being like
00:14:11.080 progressive
00:14:11.820 by showing different ethnic groups,
00:14:13.660 the only way
00:14:14.800 that 10,000 years from now
00:14:16.300 we would still have
00:14:17.420 black people
00:14:18.600 and white people
00:14:19.520 is largely
00:14:20.840 if racism survives
00:14:22.560 in like a big way.
00:14:24.040 Oh, like if, yeah,
00:14:25.180 if groups still
00:14:25.940 like stay isolated
00:14:27.100 and don't intermix.
00:14:28.260 You would need to have
00:14:28.860 some sort of genetic isolation
00:14:30.480 of the different ethnic groups
00:14:31.780 for those groups
00:14:32.700 to stay
00:14:33.660 looking anything
00:14:35.420 like we think of today
00:14:36.520 as black people,
00:14:37.400 white people,
00:14:38.100 Asian people.
00:14:39.060 Yeah.
00:14:40.420 So again,
00:14:41.160 like when I see a show,
00:14:42.480 which is so interesting,
00:14:43.260 you see a show
00:14:43.720 like Star Trek
00:14:44.260 and they're trying to
00:14:45.500 portray it as all really good
00:14:47.140 and in the back of my head,
00:14:48.000 I'm thinking,
00:14:48.380 oh, so this is like
00:14:49.000 a super racist society
00:14:51.000 was a fascist
00:14:51.900 dictatorial government,
00:14:53.140 which I suppose
00:14:54.720 is why I see
00:14:55.440 like Starship Troopers
00:14:56.940 is such a brighter future
00:14:58.280 because at least
00:14:59.540 it's an honest future.
00:15:00.940 At least they admit
00:15:01.640 it's a dictatorial
00:15:03.640 fascist government
00:15:04.640 that does honestly
00:15:06.480 seem to be trying
00:15:07.260 its best for people.
00:15:08.420 For honesty,
00:15:09.020 for sure.
00:15:11.520 But it is interesting
00:15:13.300 that when you point out
00:15:16.040 these basic things
00:15:17.000 that humans will change,
00:15:20.200 that things will change,
00:15:21.260 that the world will change,
00:15:22.960 people freak out.
00:15:23.680 It reminds me
00:15:24.140 of these environmentalists
00:15:25.140 who go out there
00:15:26.240 and there's almost
00:15:26.700 this form of morality,
00:15:28.060 which I've always found
00:15:28.720 really disgusting myself
00:15:30.340 because it's so short-sighted,
00:15:31.980 where when you're talking
00:15:32.940 to environmental groups,
00:15:34.120 there's sometimes
00:15:34.700 two groups of thought,
00:15:35.920 which is,
00:15:36.400 okay,
00:15:36.500 we want to reintroduce
00:15:37.740 like these old coyotes
00:15:38.640 that went extinct
00:15:39.240 a while ago.
00:15:39.760 But okay,
00:15:39.980 but now you're interrupting
00:15:40.880 the new ecosystem,
00:15:42.140 right?
00:15:42.360 Because things have evolved
00:15:44.120 to fill that cultural niche.
00:15:45.880 The animals have since evolved
00:15:47.420 to deal with sort of
00:15:48.840 the new environment
00:15:49.480 that they're dealing with.
00:15:50.760 But they believe
00:15:52.260 that the state,
00:15:54.780 and you see this in this,
00:15:56.060 let's keep humans
00:15:56.880 exactly the way they are now.
00:15:58.160 Like keep humans
00:15:59.120 exactly how they were
00:16:01.300 when we first built
00:16:03.100 our first cities.
00:16:04.020 And they're like,
00:16:04.600 and let's also keep
00:16:05.600 the environment,
00:16:07.320 like exactly,
00:16:07.720 well,
00:16:07.800 not even our first cities
00:16:08.600 because they don't want
00:16:09.000 to bring like mammoths back
00:16:10.040 and stuff like that.
00:16:10.980 They want to keep the world
00:16:12.220 exactly.
00:16:12.700 No,
00:16:12.920 isn't there a company
00:16:13.640 right now that's bringing
00:16:14.400 back mammoth for me?
00:16:15.600 I'm talking about
00:16:16.060 this type of environmentalist.
00:16:17.780 Ah,
00:16:18.000 yes,
00:16:18.340 right.
00:16:18.460 They want the world
00:16:19.540 to be exactly
00:16:20.500 where it was
00:16:21.620 like 1900.
00:16:23.880 Like that environment,
00:16:25.400 those species
00:16:26.120 need to stay static forever.
00:16:28.000 No further evolution.
00:16:29.520 Humans need to stay static
00:16:30.720 like that forever.
00:16:32.240 So in a way,
00:16:33.720 humans are becoming
00:16:34.580 this sort of perverse actor
00:16:36.080 on the environment
00:16:36.780 where we are now
00:16:37.420 preventing further evolution
00:16:38.760 of species,
00:16:39.520 preventing extinction
00:16:40.420 of species,
00:16:41.480 preventing them
00:16:42.240 from having to
00:16:44.340 come to terms
00:16:45.340 with rapid environmental
00:16:47.180 shifts or something
00:16:48.160 like that.
00:16:48.660 Something that has
00:16:49.240 happened multiple times
00:16:50.300 throughout the history
00:16:50.800 of the world,
00:16:51.200 right?
00:16:51.500 But no,
00:16:52.080 not this time.
00:16:52.600 We got to end it
00:16:53.140 this time.
00:16:54.020 And they go,
00:16:54.620 oh,
00:16:54.740 it's because a species
00:16:55.660 is causing it.
00:16:56.920 Except that's happened
00:16:58.920 before.
00:17:00.460 There was,
00:17:01.040 it's happened a couple
00:17:02.380 times before.
00:17:03.040 There was a time
00:17:03.540 when the first bacteria
00:17:04.720 started producing oxygen
00:17:05.800 and that was what
00:17:06.540 called the great
00:17:07.260 oxidation event,
00:17:08.060 I think I want to say.
00:17:09.360 And they made themselves
00:17:11.060 and almost everything
00:17:11.880 like them extinct
00:17:14.140 because they were
00:17:15.200 producing oxygen
00:17:15.960 as a waste product
00:17:16.760 and oxygen
00:17:17.460 in oxidation
00:17:18.960 is very caustic
00:17:20.400 to any sort of
00:17:21.880 cell or biology
00:17:22.780 that hasn't evolved
00:17:24.380 specifically to deal
00:17:25.740 with oxygenated
00:17:26.600 environments.
00:17:27.300 So it caused
00:17:28.560 its own mass extinction.
00:17:29.900 So it's like
00:17:30.420 not the first time
00:17:31.220 we've seen this either.
00:17:32.360 Yeah.
00:17:32.860 Also discussed
00:17:33.560 in the Twitter thread
00:17:34.280 was an observation
00:17:35.360 that often
00:17:37.180 the villains
00:17:38.020 are either
00:17:39.860 like nouveau riche
00:17:41.560 or not aristocratic
00:17:43.920 and that the heroes
00:17:45.080 are aristocratic
00:17:46.020 which definitely
00:17:46.640 shows up in Kingsman.
00:17:47.780 I think in both
00:17:49.000 Kingsman movies
00:17:49.700 the first two
00:17:50.380 it was like
00:17:51.360 tech elites more
00:17:52.360 that were the villains.
00:17:53.260 I think inheriting
00:17:54.360 your powers,
00:17:55.280 right,
00:17:55.640 is a really common
00:17:56.940 trope of heroes
00:17:57.880 and achieving powers
00:17:59.940 on your own
00:18:00.560 is a very common
00:18:01.420 trope of villains.
00:18:02.580 Interesting.
00:18:02.980 Even when heroes
00:18:04.900 didn't inherit
00:18:05.400 their powers
00:18:05.860 like Batman
00:18:06.380 he inherited
00:18:07.080 his money.
00:18:08.220 Come on,
00:18:08.780 Batman's,
00:18:09.320 no.
00:18:10.400 Batman doesn't have
00:18:11.240 Bruce Wayne's power
00:18:13.120 is he's rich
00:18:14.060 and autistic.
00:18:15.320 No, he was born rich.
00:18:15.720 His power isn't that
00:18:16.400 even though he was
00:18:17.500 born rich
00:18:18.380 that's his power.
00:18:19.640 That's his power.
00:18:20.300 The people he's fighting
00:18:21.000 are like these self-made
00:18:22.360 like you've got
00:18:23.640 Poison Ivy
00:18:24.340 who's basically
00:18:25.020 an environmentalist.
00:18:26.320 Yeah.
00:18:26.520 I do agree
00:18:27.100 environmentalists
00:18:27.800 are largely evil
00:18:28.660 but she's trying
00:18:29.780 to engage action
00:18:31.080 in the world.
00:18:32.000 You've got
00:18:32.300 the Joker
00:18:33.060 definitely
00:18:34.340 a self-made man.
00:18:35.920 You've got people
00:18:36.620 like the Penguin
00:18:37.460 who in most iterations
00:18:38.980 has the affectations
00:18:40.840 or was born
00:18:41.740 into a wealthy family
00:18:43.080 but lost it all
00:18:44.340 and had to rebuild himself.
00:18:46.320 Yeah.
00:18:47.080 But of course
00:18:47.520 that makes him
00:18:48.160 truly villainous.
00:18:49.480 Similar to me,
00:18:50.180 my own backstory
00:18:51.220 going through that.
00:18:52.000 Do you share Penguin's backstory?
00:18:54.320 Court-appointed
00:18:55.220 prison alternatives
00:18:56.160 and stuff like that
00:18:57.220 and then yeah
00:18:57.700 I have a backstory
00:18:59.040 similar to the Penguin
00:19:00.940 from Tim Burton's
00:19:02.420 Batman Return.
00:19:03.340 So you're not so much
00:19:04.560 Batman as you are Penguin.
00:19:06.800 I guess look at how
00:19:07.420 you're dressed
00:19:08.000 unless you're like
00:19:08.940 off the English way.
00:19:09.760 Yeah, I'm going for it.
00:19:10.220 I got the Kaffepot
00:19:11.160 I got the Kaffepot
00:19:12.120 virtue here.
00:19:12.900 No, but it is interesting
00:19:13.960 because I think
00:19:14.580 that society
00:19:15.400 fundamentally believes
00:19:17.520 like in the back
00:19:18.200 of our cultural brains
00:19:19.260 what feels nice
00:19:20.280 is actually classism.
00:19:23.100 Yeah, that you want
00:19:24.260 the king
00:19:26.020 to save the day.
00:19:27.740 Right?
00:19:28.000 Well, you want
00:19:29.320 the rich
00:19:29.940 the people who deserve
00:19:31.000 like the inherited rich
00:19:32.700 this long aristocratic
00:19:34.540 the people who inherited
00:19:35.500 their powers
00:19:36.000 the people who
00:19:36.760 they are there
00:19:38.120 to maintain social order
00:19:39.720 and those high
00:19:40.580 in the great chain of being
00:19:41.620 because historically
00:19:43.120 that's what the story's told.
00:19:44.260 What's a knight
00:19:45.060 but often somebody
00:19:46.260 who was born
00:19:47.000 to a noble family
00:19:48.040 and then was appointed
00:19:49.100 to maintain
00:19:49.920 the status quo
00:19:51.240 and those are the stories
00:19:52.800 that culturally
00:19:53.980 our visions
00:19:55.460 of heroes
00:19:56.640 came from
00:19:57.720 and who's the villain?
00:19:59.440 Well, it's the person
00:20:00.320 with the other religion
00:20:02.120 typically like the witch
00:20:03.200 from the woods
00:20:03.940 like your Morgana
00:20:04.980 or something.
00:20:05.460 I don't know if she came
00:20:06.200 from a long line
00:20:07.040 or something
00:20:07.400 but I typically think
00:20:08.560 of the villains
00:20:09.480 of the knight stories
00:20:11.160 as being some witch
00:20:11.920 someone culturally deviant
00:20:12.920 often didn't come
00:20:14.600 from a position of power
00:20:15.560 but they came through
00:20:17.040 power perversely
00:20:17.880 because they earned
00:20:18.640 it themselves.
00:20:19.500 They went out
00:20:20.440 and studied
00:20:20.940 they found it
00:20:21.680 in books
00:20:22.660 and working.
00:20:24.040 Oh, because isn't
00:20:24.660 that also in itself
00:20:26.260 a villainous act
00:20:27.300 if it's a subversion
00:20:28.160 of the social order?
00:20:29.540 It is!
00:20:30.180 You're right!
00:20:30.960 Subverting the social order
00:20:32.100 is a villainous act
00:20:33.000 and so I think
00:20:34.200 in many ways
00:20:35.120 we are the
00:20:36.200 archetypical villains
00:20:37.600 of society
00:20:38.600 and as such
00:20:40.900 people are right
00:20:42.280 to hate us
00:20:42.920 because that is
00:20:44.560 the role
00:20:45.180 of the villain.
00:20:46.040 We believe
00:20:46.680 we're trying
00:20:47.220 to make the world
00:20:47.980 a better place
00:20:48.700 but isn't that
00:20:49.440 true of all?
00:20:50.500 Yeah, it's exactly
00:20:51.640 what, well, I don't know
00:20:52.520 there are some villains
00:20:53.280 like Bond villains
00:20:54.160 and stuff
00:20:54.560 who are just out
00:20:55.140 to make money
00:20:55.640 but I think
00:20:56.180 that's the other thing
00:20:56.740 is we're also
00:20:57.520 we're often villainized
00:20:59.320 for being capitalist
00:21:00.380 and people see
00:21:01.800 I think capitalists
00:21:03.020 is like a whole
00:21:03.760 different sort of villain
00:21:04.700 I don't know
00:21:05.060 if that's just because
00:21:05.720 like socialism
00:21:06.980 is a very pervasive
00:21:08.080 kind of sentiment
00:21:09.440 now that like
00:21:10.820 a lot of villains
00:21:11.420 are just easily
00:21:12.480 just capitalists
00:21:13.840 it's easy
00:21:14.300 to hate people for it.
00:21:16.100 No, I think
00:21:16.620 it's that socialists
00:21:17.680 so when people
00:21:18.520 believe in capitalism
00:21:20.020 I think it's typically
00:21:20.920 because they've
00:21:21.360 thought through it
00:21:22.160 when people believe
00:21:23.240 in socialism
00:21:23.820 or communism
00:21:24.600 I think it's much
00:21:25.320 more like a religion
00:21:26.320 and like a religion
00:21:27.840 when we talk about
00:21:28.480 evolved systems
00:21:29.180 that shut down
00:21:29.860 any idea
00:21:30.380 that's a threat to it
00:21:31.260 they react
00:21:32.820 as if they're reacting
00:21:34.580 to a religious threat
00:21:36.480 so one of the things
00:21:37.420 we talk about
00:21:37.900 in our book
00:21:38.320 is the concept
00:21:38.880 of cones
00:21:39.360 and people are aware
00:21:40.040 in Buddhism
00:21:41.220 there's this thing
00:21:42.280 where they'll be like
00:21:42.780 oh, a tree falls
00:21:43.660 in the woods
00:21:44.200 and no one hears it
00:21:45.100 like what
00:21:45.640 does it really
00:21:46.640 make a sound, right?
00:21:47.680 this is a cone
00:21:48.300 but mini-religion
00:21:49.000 Kabbalism has things
00:21:49.920 like this
00:21:50.180 what these really are
00:21:50.940 is gaslighting
00:21:52.500 it's a form of gaslighting
00:21:53.780 that's used to enforce
00:21:55.260 a master's authority
00:21:56.560 over the pupil
00:21:57.440 and to get people
00:21:58.440 to doubt their own beliefs
00:21:59.880 about reality
00:22:00.480 so what they're doing
00:22:01.500 is you go
00:22:01.780 oh, what's the sound
00:22:02.460 of one hand clapping
00:22:03.100 well, no
00:22:03.440 either it's no sound
00:22:04.200 like this is a
00:22:04.680 definitional thing
00:22:05.240 and they're like
00:22:05.540 oh, no
00:22:05.900 you don't understand
00:22:06.640 the question
00:22:07.180 if you come to me
00:22:09.760 with that answer
00:22:10.260 which what they're
00:22:10.740 really doing
00:22:11.180 is just saying
00:22:11.860 I have authority
00:22:13.160 over you
00:22:13.780 basically no matter
00:22:14.400 how you answer
00:22:15.040 I always have
00:22:15.760 a greater access
00:22:16.400 to truth than you
00:22:17.200 and this causes people
00:22:18.340 to distrust
00:22:19.100 their own logic
00:22:20.060 and it helps
00:22:20.880 it's a good system
00:22:22.040 for establishing authority
00:22:22.880 but what's really
00:22:23.320 interesting is that
00:22:23.960 you see this
00:22:24.480 within the communist
00:22:25.160 worldview often
00:22:26.120 is when you describe
00:22:28.080 to someone
00:22:28.340 why communism is stupid
00:22:29.080 is oh, you don't
00:22:30.020 really understand communism
00:22:31.020 if that's why
00:22:32.120 you say communism
00:22:32.780 is stupid
00:22:33.420 wow, I did not expect
00:22:34.680 you to connect
00:22:35.440 like Buddhist cones
00:22:37.100 with communist gatekeeping
00:22:40.120 but it works
00:22:41.280 but you see this
00:22:42.160 constantly
00:22:42.640 whenever you explain
00:22:43.400 why communism is stupid
00:22:44.180 they go
00:22:44.480 well, that's not
00:22:45.300 either that's not
00:22:46.100 true communism
00:22:46.540 or that shows
00:22:47.740 that you think
00:22:48.240 that that's why
00:22:48.640 communism doesn't work
00:22:49.620 that you don't
00:22:50.120 understand
00:22:50.720 yeah, you just
00:22:51.460 don't understand
00:22:52.260 and then they start
00:22:53.160 using like
00:22:53.760 oh, well, you haven't
00:22:54.620 read this
00:22:55.160 or you don't
00:22:55.680 follow this person's
00:22:56.780 well, then you're like
00:22:57.340 actually I have
00:22:58.260 or I have engaged
00:22:58.960 or I have gone over this
00:23:00.160 I do have
00:23:01.340 one of our books
00:23:02.260 it was a top
00:23:03.020 top selling
00:23:04.180 non-fiction book
00:23:05.040 in the US
00:23:05.600 by Wall Street Journal
00:23:06.420 it's on governing
00:23:07.500 structures
00:23:08.100 right?
00:23:08.780 like we are
00:23:10.280 something of
00:23:11.460 I wouldn't say
00:23:12.060 full world experts
00:23:13.260 on governance
00:23:13.700 but we're definitely
00:23:14.380 in the top
00:23:15.020 percent
00:23:16.080 and
00:23:17.120 communism is stupid
00:23:19.180 like you have to be
00:23:21.020 actually kind of dumb
00:23:22.000 to think it's still
00:23:22.620 a good idea
00:23:23.020 and we've done
00:23:23.420 other videos on this
00:23:24.220 but the point being
00:23:25.200 is the people
00:23:26.260 who believe it now
00:23:26.800 they believe it
00:23:27.280 for more religious reasons
00:23:28.320 so when they're
00:23:29.140 attacking us
00:23:29.800 they're more
00:23:30.300 reflexively trying
00:23:31.460 to determine
00:23:31.960 if we're part
00:23:33.040 of their social group
00:23:33.840 or not
00:23:34.260 and when they
00:23:35.160 determine we're not
00:23:35.860 part of their social group
00:23:37.080 they then just
00:23:37.900 reflexively are like
00:23:38.920 I hate you
00:23:39.480 because you're not
00:23:40.100 a part of my social group
00:23:41.000 and that's what
00:23:41.880 they're saying
00:23:42.300 when they're saying
00:23:42.720 I hate you
00:23:43.180 because you're
00:23:43.600 capitalist
00:23:43.920 whereas
00:23:44.640 when capitalists
00:23:46.180 are people
00:23:46.480 with more nuanced
00:23:47.100 we're not like
00:23:47.620 pure capitalists
00:23:48.280 either
00:23:48.460 I think the government
00:23:49.180 definitely has a role
00:23:50.200 in the economy
00:23:50.740 when people
00:23:51.660 with a more nuanced
00:23:52.280 understanding
00:23:52.780 of economics
00:23:53.780 attack us
00:23:54.520 they're attacking us
00:23:55.820 often for issues
00:23:56.980 that are more germane
00:23:58.020 to the actual reasons
00:23:59.760 that they specifically
00:24:01.120 don't like us
00:24:01.900 I don't know
00:24:04.360 that we're not using
00:24:05.060 all of our embryos
00:24:05.980 or something
00:24:06.460 that and we have
00:24:08.100 punchable faces
00:24:08.840 but yeah
00:24:09.740 but that's a good reason
00:24:10.900 to attack us
00:24:11.500 a super villain
00:24:12.020 needs a punchable face
00:24:13.140 and I think I
00:24:13.800 a punchable face
00:24:14.600 just means you need
00:24:15.380 to punch the face
00:24:16.060 I don't know
00:24:16.560 what to tell you
00:24:17.060 I'll do this
00:24:18.060 for like the picture
00:24:18.920 that'll be the
00:24:23.660 YouTube picture
00:24:24.480 for this one right
00:24:25.240 very good
00:24:25.960 very good
00:24:26.580 well
00:24:27.020 can you do
00:24:27.600 a super villain face
00:24:28.420 what's your
00:24:28.800 super villain face
00:24:29.760 that's just
00:24:35.980 Dr. Evil
00:24:36.940 it's a universal
00:24:38.500 sign language
00:24:39.200 for evil
00:24:40.040 hello
00:24:41.480 I don't know
00:24:42.940 what to tell you
00:24:43.620 I think we are
00:24:44.920 universal sign language
00:24:45.860 for evil
00:24:46.320 and I like being
00:24:47.140 a super villain
00:24:47.740 I like being
00:24:48.280 a super villain
00:24:48.740 I as a kid
00:24:50.040 I always identified
00:24:50.940 with the villains
00:24:51.580 over the heroes
00:24:52.240 I always
00:24:52.860 I never saw the heroes
00:24:54.420 and I was like
00:24:54.760 I want to be like that
00:24:55.500 I was like
00:24:56.020 because the villains
00:24:56.540 I could be like them
00:24:58.360 I could make my own suit
00:24:59.960 I could build
00:25:00.880 my own science powers
00:25:02.180 I could maybe
00:25:03.600 one day make my own money
00:25:04.840 they're self-made
00:25:05.520 yeah they're self-made
00:25:06.580 they're very
00:25:07.440 yeah
00:25:07.920 and so I always
00:25:08.880 identified with that
00:25:09.700 because I was like
00:25:10.280 that is my path
00:25:11.520 respect
00:25:12.080 and so one day
00:25:13.460 people will fear me
00:25:14.860 and
00:25:15.520 well I love being
00:25:18.520 in an evil duo
00:25:19.920 with you
00:25:20.660 you are
00:25:21.460 my
00:25:22.160 OTP
00:25:23.100 of evil
00:25:24.040 I love you so much
00:25:25.440 and one thing
00:25:25.960 we've mentioned before
00:25:26.760 is in movies
00:25:28.180 another thing about
00:25:28.920 villains
00:25:29.240 only ones who have
00:25:30.580 healthy relationships
00:25:31.340 whether it's
00:25:32.880 Team Rocket
00:25:33.600 or the Adams family
00:25:34.820 or you go through
00:25:35.920 media
00:25:36.280 vast majority
00:25:37.480 of healthy relationships
00:25:38.480 are villains
00:25:39.000 because in our
00:25:40.140 society's mind
00:25:40.880 I think when you're
00:25:41.340 talking about these
00:25:42.140 progressive Hollywood
00:25:43.260 writers
00:25:43.760 to them
00:25:44.820 they cannot imagine
00:25:46.080 anyone who's like
00:25:47.220 them ever having
00:25:48.500 a happy relationship
00:25:49.440 so it becomes
00:25:51.660 villainous
00:25:52.660 and socially
00:25:53.400 transgressive to them
00:25:54.700 to have a genuinely
00:25:55.960 happy relationship
00:25:57.020 well it's the creative
00:25:58.120 types
00:25:58.420 they are not
00:25:59.160 they are not prone
00:26:00.220 they often really
00:26:01.540 buy into this
00:26:02.340 urban megaculture
00:26:03.080 which makes it
00:26:03.600 really hard to
00:26:04.260 form healthy
00:26:04.720 relationships
00:26:05.180 so yes
00:26:06.640 I think we
00:26:07.480 have a healthy
00:26:08.660 relationship
00:26:09.160 and that healthy
00:26:10.880 relationship
00:26:11.340 is in itself
00:26:12.340 socially
00:26:12.820 transgressive
00:26:14.140 it's monstrous
00:26:15.920 evil
00:26:16.500 villainous
00:26:16.980 it's beautiful
00:26:17.420 and I love it
00:26:18.380 and I don't care
00:26:19.220 if this is what
00:26:19.920 evil feels like
00:26:21.080 I want to be evil
00:26:22.560 because it's so good
00:26:23.980 I love you
00:26:25.040 I love you too
00:26:26.760 I love you too