EF26 SHOW NOTES
Looking to play or download the episode? Click here… EF26 (AMA-EF7): The Impossibility of Honest Politicians and Protecting Our Kids from The Most Insidious Fake News — Ask Me Anything for Episode EF7
EPISODE EF26 SUMMARY
Spoiler alert: You’re about to listen to an Ask Me Anything (AMA) of Episode EF7, which was Season 1, Episode 5 of the Evolve Faster Podcast titled All Aboard the Sleight of Mind: The Black Magic of Rhetoric. The driving question of this episode (and this AMA) for you to think through is … can we trust reason? It’s a fascinating question that actually has surprisingly little research or philosophical investigation.
As a reminder about Episode EF7: Edward, a marketing master and spokesperson for the dark arts of rhetoric and propaganda, is hired to educate a controversial businessman running for an important public office. It’s Edward’s job to bestow the black magic of verbal and written manipulation on the businessman to win the election. Where the tongue is quicker than the mind—and the pen sharp enough to cut—are these skills a well-respected art? Or are they just cheap mental tricks wielded by insincere charlatans?
The fifth episode of the first season of the Evolve Faster Podcast Episode is driven by the big question Can we trust reason. Fake news can look very reasonable, especially when packed with numbers and percentages. If our reason is fake and new are fake, does that mean we’re becoming fake as well?
To peek behind the curtain of Episode EF7, we’ll dissect the following submitted questions:
- Is this really what happens in politics?
- Are there any honest politicians anymore?
- Does just knowing about conformism help you to not allow it to happen?
- What do we do about the problem of fake news?
- Was there fake news before the Internet?
- If rhetoric was once honorable, what happened?
- Is this really what happens in politics? Are elections really won more on misdirection and fallacy than on a platform of truth, say, in the USA?
- Who can I trust?
- Who is most at risk and how can I help keep my kids away from shit like this?
- And more…
dedication
DEDICATION: Episode EF7 is dedicated to George Orwell. This episode builds off of the investigation started in Episode EF5 of what is the truth. Here, however, we add in the complex reality that important facts and truths are both manipulated by the organizations which dominate our lives — like governments, corporations and other institutions. Few have explored this particular art of mental manipulation better than George Orwell in books like1984 and Animal Farm.
Orwell worked in a literal propaganda department of the BBC during WWII called the Ministry of Information. His job was to send slanted views about the war to India and, in a hilarious twist of fate, almost no one he was targeting (college-age adults) got the fake messaging because they didn’t have radios! Oops. But thankfully that job existed for Orwell because it led him to create the four Ministries (Love, Peace, Plenty and Truth) in the fictitious dystopia of 1984.
HOW George Orwell INSPIRES EF7
Episode EF7 goes a step deeper into the dark arts beneath the end products of things like propaganda. That is to say, the unsavory but powerful characters of EF7 are learning how to wield ancient techniques of rhetoric to weaponize their words and manipulate the masses via political elections. If Orwell had lived to see the power of rhetoric and propaganda leveraged up by the laser-targeting of fake social media marketing — leading, for example, to the election of Trump in 2016 — he’d probably have another book to write, possibly called 2061
Politics is a game played with gloves off no matter in what corner you prefer to be. Episode EF7 tries to provide a backstage insight into the training for the fight. Orwell wrote in his diaries after his BBC work that “All propaganda is lies, even when one is telling the truth.” Have a listen to Episode EF7 if you’d
To learn more about George Orwell, please check out the following resources:
inspirations
INSPIRATIONS: Leo Strauss, known as Sage of Princeton, a silent political philosopher who could turn even Hitler into a logical fallacy. Aristotle and Isocrates, two philosophers who first saw rhetoric as the art that shapes societies and individuals for the better. Edward Bernays, the father of modern propaganda and the crazy idea that you can sell cancer if you sprinkle it with happy emotions. Solomon E. Asch, a psychologist whose experiments showed how we can unconsciously break under the pressure of majority. Episode EF7 was further inspired by Warren G. Harding, Madsen Pirie, Stephen Toulmin, Richard Vatz, Gertrude Buck, Lemmings, Carrots, Pythia. For a full list of data and references please see Episode EF7 Show Notes.
references
Andrew Prokop, 40 charts that explain money in politics. www.vox.com, https://www.vox.com/2014/7/30/5949581/money-in-politics-charts-explain (Accessed: Feb 19, 2019).
Mike Colagrosi, Why voters value loyalty over honesty in politics. bigthink.com, https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/why-voters-value-loyalty-over-honesty (Accessed: Feb 19, 2019).
Renee Diresta, ONLINE CONSPIRACY GROUPS ARE A LOT LIKE CULTS. www.wired.com, https://www.wired.com/story/online-conspiracy-groups-qanon-cults/ (Accessed: Feb 19, 2019).
Renee Diresta, THE INFORMATION WAR IS ON. ARE WE READY FOR IT?. www.wired.com, https://www.wired.com/story/misinformation-disinformation-propaganda-war/ (Accessed: Feb 19, 2019).
4 of Illinois’ last 7 governors went to prison, daily-journal.com. https://www.daily-journal.com/news/local/of-illinois-last-governors-went-to-prison/article_570fe718-8c52-5db3-8bc5-13d49974d930.html (Accessed: Feb 19, 2019).
Evolve Faster Podcast EF8, https://evolvefaster.com/podcast/ef8-s1-e6-without-a-compass-all-who-sail-the-seas-of-identity-are-not-lost/
Evolve Faster Podcast EF9, https://evolvefaster.com/podcast/ef9-s1-e7-i-feel-therefore-i-am-capsized-on-the-river-emotion/
Joe Rogan Experience, Episode #1035, Paul Stamets
episode quotes
Any of these quotes make you think? If so, please support the show by sharing…
Humanity achieved consciousness through evolution, but we still don’t know what the hell to do with it.
Love is paying attention for potential problems before they manifest into dangerous monsters.
What is the worse reality: Complete freedom where anyone can create fake news and thus manipulate society? Or constrained press where the government can manipulate society with the laws?
The insidious nature of modern propaganda and social media algorithms has the deck stacked against you.
Selling to fear and other powerful emotions is the only true path to sales… and votes.
Season One: The journey begins as we embark on 11 episodes on big questions relating to MIND. What is the truth? Can we trust reason? Why do we have emotions? Does happiness define the good? What is identity? What is creativity?
(EF1) Trailer: The Evolve Faster Podcast (Extended) Trailer
(EF2) Intro: Life is a Near Death Experience: Welcome to The Evolve Faster Podcast
(EF3) S1-E1: All Aboard the Experience Machine: Destination…Unknown (Season One, Episode One)
(EF4) S1-E2: The Decapitation of Reason: A Skeptic’s Guide (Season One, Episode Two)
(EF5) S1-E3: The Truth is Clay in the Hands of a Sculptor (Season One, Episode Three)
(EF6) S1-E4: Information Mainlining and the Folly of Modern Wisdom (Season One, Episode Four)
(EF7) S1-E5: Sleight of Mind: The Black Magic of Rhetoric (Season One, Episode Five)
(EF8) S1-E6: Without a Compass: All Who Sail the Seas of Identity Are Not Lost (Season One, Episode Six)
(EF9) S1-E7: I Feel Therefore I am: Capsized by the River Emotion (Season One, Episode Seven)
(EF10) S1-E8: The Road to Happiness is Inked in Suffering (Season One, Episode Eight)
(EF11) S1-E9: When the Lights Go Out: The Blinding Light of an Artificial Future (Season One, Episode Nine)
(EF12) S1-E10: Wired to Fail: Leveling Up in the Game of Life (Season One, Episode Ten)
(EF13) S1-E11: The Bloody Fingerprint of Creativity (Season One, Episode Eleven)
(EF14) BTP: Behind the Evolve Faster Podcast - The Making of a Speculative Fiction Meets Philosophical Nonfiction Podcast
(EF15) AMA: Ask Me Anything: About Scott Ely and Evolving a Philosophy for Life
(EF16) BTP: On Creative Writing, Video Games and the Future of the Evolve Faster Podcast (About Antonio Rozich)
(EF17) BTP-EF3: What Am I Supposed To Do Free Will and Other Everyday Problems Behind the Podcast of Episode EF3
(EF18) AMA-EF3: The Mystical Allure of Converting to Buddhism and Speculating about Quantum Mechanics Ask Me Anything for Episode EF3
(EF19) BTP-EF4: Head Transplantation and Finding Inspiration for Speculative Fiction - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF4
(EF20) AMA-EF4: The Declining Value of Information and Taking Risks to Determine What is the Truth Ask Me Anything of Episode EF4
(EF21) BTP-EF5: Should Lying be Made Illegal and the Importance of Figuring Out Why You Believe What you Believe --Behind the Podcast of Episode EF5
(EF22) AMA-EF5: Defeating Fake News and Critical Thinking as the Superpower the World Needs Most Ask Me Anything of Episode EF5
(EF23) BTP-EF6: Scaling Mount Wisdom Without Suffocating Under an Avalanche of Ego Behind The Podcast of Episode EF6
(EF24) AMA-EF6: Is Less Really More When it Comes to the Pursuit of Wisdom or is Ignorance Bliss - Ask Me Anything of Episode EF6
(EF25) BTP-EF7: The Power of Propaganda and Rhetoric to Divide Us and the Quest for a Better World - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF7
(EF26) AMA-EF7: The Impossibility of Honest Politicians and Protecting Our Kids from The Most Insidious Fake News Ask Me Anything for Episode EF3
(EF27) BTP-EF8: Who are You and is it Possible to Upgrade Your Identity as an Adult? - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF8
(EF28) AMA-EF8: Drugs, Consciousness Manipulation and Cheating Your Way To a Better You - Ask Me Anything for Episode EF8
(EF29) BTP-EF9: Waging War Between Reason and Emotions and the Importance of Leaving Things Unresolved Behind the Podcast of Episode EF9
(EF30) AMA-EF9: Emotional Manipulation Tribalism and Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Think Before you Feel - Ask Me Anything for Episode EF9
(EF31) BTP-EF10: Dharma Modifying Negative Thinking and the Never-Ending Pursuit of Happiness by Embracing Suffering - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF10
(EF32) AMA-EF10: Mind Control Through a Well Chosen Tattoo and the Unlikely Case of Being Happy Enough - Ask Me Anything for Episode EF3
(EF33) BTP-EF11: The Evolution of Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Creativity - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF11
(EF34) AMA-EF11: On Perfection, the AI Alignment Problem, and the Possibility of Quantum Leaps of Creativity - Ask Me Anything for Episode EF11
(EF35) BTP-EF12: Cryptocurrencies Gaming and Leveraging Failure to Help Us Define Who We Are - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF12
(EF36) AMA-EF12: Pyrrhic Victory and Finding the 10% of Your Mind that Defines Who You Are - Ask Me Anything for Episode EF12
(EF37) BTP-EF13: Where Creativity Comes From and How to Find Your Uniquely Bloody Fingerprint - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF13
(EF38) AMA-EF13: Flow, Creative Improvisation and Other Altered States of Consciousness Ask Me Anything for Episode EF13
(EF39) S2-E0: LIFE, UPGRADED: Welcome to Season Two of the Evolve Faster Podcast
(EF40) S2-E1: Dehumanized: The Search for Self in the Devil’s Looking Glass
(EF41) S2-E2: Transhuman Fallibility: The Existential Risk of a Superhuman Future
(EF42) S2-E3: Civil Individualism: Loneliness Atop Mount Empowerment
(EF43) S2-E4: Evil Urges: The Fiery Duality of Human Nature
(EF44) S2-E5: Reality Unchained: Smashing the Icons of Social Delusion
(EF45) S2-E6: Weaving Society’s Web: Purpose in a Future Without Work
(EF46) S2-E7: Empathetic Distortion: Rigging the Scales of Justice
(EF47) S2-E8: Infinite Regress: Drawing Back The Veil of Perception
(EF48) S2-E9: Checkmate: A Child’s Guide to the Good Life
(EF49) S2-E10: The Domino Effect: The Momentum of an Unstoppable Future