Where do your opinions come from?
Do we ‘think’ our world views, or ‘feel’ them? And what do our beliefs mean for politics and society?
In each episode of On Opinion, Turi Munthe asks thought leaders to share their perspectives on why we think what we think and what it means for the world today, discussing everything from the war on truth to how to argue with people you hate.
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S2 E29: Our Stone-Age Brains
“We have mental mechanisms that have been there since the Stone Age and no longer function in this environment”
Short-term thinking, lazy reasoning and stereotyping, and too much focus on what’s bad (the ‘negativity bias’)… all are throw-backs to our last major evolutionary stage, when humans lived in a world of scarcity, danger and constant tribal fighting.
In today’s more clement environment where resources are plentiful and the likelihood of being murdered minimal, those mental models no longer apply. In fact, over-reliance on those outmoded forms of thinking risk bringing us back to an age of conflict.
“We can either change by design or change by disaster. I prefer the former.”
Listen to Maren make the case for embodied thinking, and explain how a new approach to conversation can change the way we engage socially and politically:
The 3 Principles of Dynamic Thinking
How to redefine groups
Switching our focus from the individual to the collective
Constructive Journalism
Why thinking is embodied
Why rational decision-making is always emotional
The danger of habits
Prof. Maren Urner (https://maren-urner.com/)
Maren Urner is a neuroscientist, professor of media psychology, and the best-selling author of Raus aus der Erwigen Dauerkrise (https://www.buch7.de/produkt/raus-aus-der-ewigen-dauerkrise-maren-urner/1040611765?ean=9783426278413). She is also the founder of Perspective Daily (https://perspective-daily.de/), a German-language online magazine for constructive journalism.
More on this episode (https://www.parlia.com/article/our-stone-age-brains-with-maren-urner)
Learn all about On Opinion (https://www.parlia.com/article/opinion-parlia-podcast)
Meet Turi Munthe: https://twitter.com/turi (https://twitter.com/turi)
Learn more about the Parlia project here (https://go.parlia.com/share-your-opinion)
And visit us at: https://www.parlia.com (https://www.parlia.com/)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
12 Jan 2022
The Spirituality Movement, with Jules Evans
S2 E28: The Spirituality Movement
“A lot of those who’ve left the church tend to be younger people, who nonetheless still consider themselves spiritual. They’ve been turned off by churches, but they haven’t necessarily gone full atheist, materialist…”
Religion is declining around the world. Even in America, the great outlier of the post-Christian West, half the population doesn’t believe in organised religion any more.
But the loss of our traditional beliefs has given rise to a growing number of ‘spiritualist’ alternatives. They range from mainstream ‘Wellness’ culture, through eco-spiritualism, occultism, witch culture on Instagram and astrology on TikTok, through to the darker visions of QAnon and Millenarianism.
What defines Spiritualist thinking? What are its roots? Why is it flowering now? And why does it bleed so easily into Conspiracy?
“In the last two years, spiritual culture has curdled - from positive and optimistic to a much more fearful and paranoid kind of message…”
Listen to Jules and Turi discuss:
The history of spiritualism, from the 16th century to today
The cornerstones of spiritualist thinking: from myths and monsters through to harmony and health
The ‘Meaning Gap’
‘Conspirituality’: why conspiracy theories and spirituality so easily bleed into each other.
Intuition (over Reason) as a path to knowledge
What Rationalists have lost
How Spiritualists have reacted to Covid
Jules Evans (https://www.philosophyforlife.org/about)
Jules Evans is a writer and practical philosopher interested in emotions, well-being, transcendence and flourishing. He is the author of Philosophy for Life: And Other Dangerous Situations, and The Art of Losing Control: A Guide to Ecstatic Experience. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32596206-the-art-of-losing-control)
More on this episode (https://www.parlia.com/article/spiritualism-today-with-jules-evans)
Learn all about On Opinion (https://www.parlia.com/article/opinion-parlia-podcast)
Meet Turi Munthe: https://twitter.com/turi (https://twitter.com/turi)
Learn more about the Parlia project here (https://go.parlia.com/share-your-opinion)
And visit us at: https://www.parlia.com (https://www.parlia.com/)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
15 Nov 2021
Generational Politics, with Bobby Duffy
S2 E27: Generational Politics
“If you truly understand what’s different between generations, you have a much better idea of what’s coming up in the future.”
It turns out there are very real differences between the generations. Key external events - a world war, a crippling global financial crash, 9⁄11, or even a pandemic - will mark a generation in a way that differentiates them from previous or later ones.
But there are also slower cultural and technological differences that also make their mark: consider the dwindling role of religion across the West over 4 generations, or the impact of smart phones on the way we all think.
”The concept of the Generation is the most important one… because it is how history moves, changes, wheels and flows” - Ortega y Gasset
Bobby Duffy has written the book on generational differences, and here explains what brings us together and splits us apart - from our attitudes to sex, money and moral values to the way we think of driving or home-ownership.
“Because we’re so deeply connected, looking at things generationally is really important to us because we want each generation after us to do better”
Listen to Bobby discuss:
How to go about defining generations
How we get our stereotypes right and wrong
Why Gen Z are in a ‘sex recession’
Why Gen X are so miserable
Whether the Baby Boomers really did have it so much easier
Whether there is space for the ‘individual’ in a demographic analysis of culture and personality
The 3 Key drivers of attitudinal change
And why we all live 200 years…
Read the Full Transcript (https://www.parlia.com/article/transcript-generational-politics-with-bobby-duffy)
Bobby Duffy (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/bobby-duffy)
Bobby Duffy is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute. He has worked across most public policy areas in his career of nearly 30 years in policy research and evaluation, including being seconded to the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. He is the author of Generations - Does when you’re born shape who you are? (https://generations-book.org/the-book)
More on this episode (https://www.parlia.com/article/generational-politics-with-bobby-duffy)
Learn all about On Opinion (https://www.parlia.com/article/opinion-parlia-podcast)
Meet Turi Munthe: https://twitter.com/turi (https://twitter.com/turi)
Learn more about the Parlia project here (https://go.parlia.com/share-your-opinion)
And visit us at: https://www.parlia.com (https://www.parlia.com/)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
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