Based Camp - Based Camp： The Science of Being a Villain

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. 0.69

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. 1.00

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 0.97

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. 1.00

00:05:22.780 I think you're a goof. 0.99

00:05:24.060 But no, I want to talk about this larger concept 0.99

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. 0.99

00:06:29.000 They're displayed as pathetic and like money grubbing, 0.99

00:06:33.400 but not villains. 0.98

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? 0.92

00:09:58.420 That's why you burn witches, right? 0.90

00:10:00.260 Because they represent a cultural mutation 1.00

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 0.96

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 1.00

00:12:04.300 to kill a lot of babies. 0.99

00:12:05.460 So the reason you need 1.00

00:12:06.260 to kill a lot of babies 1.00

00:12:07.140 in that scenario 0.99

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 0.54

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. 0.87

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. 1.00

00:13:02.700 Or you kill the children 1.00

00:13:04.040 who are prone to this. 1.00

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 0.97

00:14:51.000 was a fascist 0.91

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 0.74

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, 0.75

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 0.68

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 0.98

00:18:27.800 are largely evil 0.97

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 0.95

00:19:11.160 I got the Kaffepot 0.95

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 0.81

00:20:02.120 typically like the witch 0.96

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 0.84

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 0.83

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 1.00

00:22:28.340 why communism is stupid 1.00

00:22:29.080 is oh, you don't 1.00

00:22:30.020 really understand communism

00:22:31.020 if that's why

00:22:32.120 you say communism 1.00

00:22:32.780 is stupid 1.00

00:22:33.420 wow, I did not expect 1.00

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 1.00

00:22:43.400 why communism is stupid 1.00

00:22:44.180 they go 1.00

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 1.00

00:23:17.120 communism is stupid 1.00

00:23:19.180 like you have to be 1.00

00:23:21.020 actually kind of dumb 0.99

00:23:22.000 to think it's still 0.98

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 0.99

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 1.00

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 0.98

00:24:12.020 needs a punchable face 0.70

00:24:13.140 and I think I 0.97

00:24:13.800 a punchable face 0.77

00:24:14.600 just means you need 1.00

00:24:15.380 to punch the face 1.00

00:24:16.060 I don't know 1.00

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

Based Camp - July 07, 2023

Based Camp： The Science of Being a Villain

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