• 00:00 🧠 Intelligent people can also adopt false beliefs.

  • Intelligence doesn't safeguard against ideological bias.
  • Studies show that high intelligence correlates with stronger ideological biases.
  • Intelligent individuals may rationalize false beliefs to align with personal goals.

• 02:11 🤔 Intelligent agents pursue goals, not necessarily truth.

  • The orthogonality thesis suggests intelligence is goal-oriented.
  • Human intelligence evolved to fulfill various personal and social goals.
  • Intelligent individuals may excel in justifying irrational beliefs to serve personal needs.

• 03:35 💬 Intelligent individuals are better at self-deception.

  • They convince themselves of what they want to believe.
  • Stronger ideological biases are observed in intelligent people.
  • Self-deception can have significant societal implications.

• 05:18 📚 Wokeism: An example of fashionably irrational beliefs.

  • Wokeism reduces complex societal issues to simplistic oppressor-victim narratives.
  • Academic fields like fat studies and gender studies justify irrational beliefs for social justice.
  • Crafty arguments and idea laundering propagate woke ideologies in cultural elites.

• 06:38 📖 Master debaters utilize academic jargon to promote ideological agendas.

  • Academic fields like fat studies and gender studies rationalize controversial beliefs.
  • Wokeism thrives in industries where status and image are paramount.
  • Woke rituals signal social status but may not effectively address societal issues.

• 08:58 🔄 Historical context: Wokeism as a contemporary manifestation of identity-protective cognition.

  • In the past, intellectualism was used to justify discrimination against certain groups.
  • Today, wokeism perpetuates similar patterns through identity politics.
  • The problem of rationalization spans across different historical periods and ideological spectrums.

• 11:18 🤔 Overcoming biases requires curiosity and humility.

  • Curiosity encourages the pursuit of knowledge and objective truth.
  • Humility enables individuals to challenge their own beliefs and learn from mistakes.
  • Self-awareness and a willingness to change are crucial for mitigating biases.

• 14:36 🎓 Rationality depends more on character than intelligence.

  • Education alone may not mitigate biases; personal qualities like humility and curiosity are essential.
  • Being open to being wrong and embracing curiosity leads to a deeper understanding of truth.
  • Humility and curiosity foster a continuous pursuit of truth despite challenges.

Dilution effect. Adding more points to an argument dilutes the impact. Averaging not cumulative. Focus on main argument. Less is more. Quality over quantity. Think of side effects got drug ad. Listing Major and minor side effects produces average risk assessment. Average major and minor together. List only major and higher risk assessment.