Skip to content

Details

This week's location: Mission Delores Park.

PLEASE LISTEN TO THE PODCAST BEFORE ATTENDING THE EVENT. If you find you're unable to do so, please instead join one of our future events when you're able to prepare so that we can all be engaged in the discussion.

Source: https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/martin-gurri-revolt-of-the-public/
Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/episode/5109a08f-3967-4e9a-9cd2-9ec020340cf8
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/51-martin-gurri-on-revolt-public-crisis-authority-in/id1245002988?i=1000428671145

Length, 2h 31m

---

What's this week's podcast about?

According to Gurri, trust in society's institutions - police, journalists, scientists and more - has been undermined by constant criticism from outsiders, and exposed to a cacophony of conflicting opinions on every issue, the public takes fewer truths for granted. We are now free to see our leaders as the flawed human beings they always have been, and are not amused.
Suspicious they are being betrayed by elites, the public can also use technology to coordinate spontaneously and express its anger. Keen to 'throw the bastards out' protesters take to the streets, united by what they don't like, but without a shared agenda or the institutional infrastructure to figure out how to fix things. Some popular movements have come to view any attempt to exercise power over others as suspect.
If Gurri is to be believed, protest movements in Egypt, Spain, Greece and Israel in 2011 followed this script, while Brexit, Trump and the French yellow vests movement subsequently vindicated his theory.
In this model, politics won't return to its old equilibrium any time soon. The leaders of tomorrow will need a new message and style if they hope to maintain any legitimacy in this less hierarchical world. Otherwise, we're in for decades of grinding conflict between traditional centres of authority and the general public, who doubt both their loyalty and competence.
But how much should we believe this theory? Why do Canada and Australia remain pools of calm in the storm? Aren't some malcontents quite concrete in their demands? And are protest movements actually more common (or more nihilistic) than they were decades ago?

---

What's a podcast club?
It's like a book club for podcasts. Each week we discuss an episode from podcasters like Sam Harris, Ezra Klein, or Michael Shermer. We start off as a large group and spend most of the time chatting in smaller groups. Our conversations are casual and open. We encourage everyone to speak freely, respectfully, and concisely. To do this we try to adhere to Grice's Maxims: https://bit.ly/2p4uSQm

Ultimately, the idea is to help each other think a little differently, learn a thing or two and have some fun.

---

Feedback
If you have any suggestions or feedback about this event, we'd really like to hear about it: https://forms.gle/DdN6JJY3HPKzsGAX8

---

Donations: If this is one of your first MindFood events, please join us gratis! If you'd like to chip in, anything between $1-$10 is greatly appreciated. Here's how:

Events in San Francisco, CA

Members are also interested in