july

thomas

Continuing on the theme of intellectual humility from last week’s cast.

I warmly recommend this 20’ video about Bonhoeffer’s theory of functional stupidity, which is *not* the opposite of intelligence, but rather the surrender of intellectual independence under peer pressure, stress, or urgency. It’s a sociological (rather than individual) phenomenon by which even intelligent people end up suspending critical thinking and espousing group beliefs.

Bonhoeffer observed functional stupidity taking hold around him in the 1930s when even the intelligent German elites surrendered to the superficially enticing, but deeply flawed tenets of nazism.

The parallel with contemporary trends is unmistakable, and only exacerbated by the firehose of social media through which seductive falsehoods propagate faster than they can be critically examined. 1/2

https://youtu.be/Sfekgjfh1Rk

https://farcaster.xyz/aviationdoctor.eth/0x67091196

I second this recommendation. 

“….choose curiosity over certainty, evidence over emotion, careful thinking over quick reactions…”