Being """Rational""" isn't what you think

Summary

This video explores the limitations of human rationality in understanding and deconstructing the world. It challenges the notion that everything must be logically deduced to be valid, using examples like quantum mechanics and gravity to illustrate the inadequacy of human logic. The speaker argues against the rationalistic approach to social constructs, such as gender roles and religion, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the value in things that may seem irrational but serve essential purposes in society and human psychology.

Takeaways

• 🧠 The human brain has evolved to handle certain types of problems but is not equipped to logically deduce everything about the universe.
• 🌐 Quantum mechanics and gravity are examples of scientific concepts that defy traditional logic and challenge our understanding of the universe.
• 🚫 The speaker warns against the deductive ideologies that can lead to the destruction of societal structures when rationality is applied too rigidly.
• 🧬 Human psychology and cultural practices have developed through trial and error, not just rational thought, and serve important purposes.
• 🔄 The speaker criticizes the tendency to deconstruct and discard cultural institutions simply because they seem irrational from a modern perspective.
• 🌿 The concept of 'rationality' is limited and may not be the best tool for planning or understanding society, which grows organically over time.
• 🌟 Societies that are rationally planned are often disastrous because they lack the complexity and adaptability of emergent social structures.
• 🧐 The speaker suggests that things that appear irrational may have important, underlying reasons that are not immediately apparent.
• 🏛️ Traditional gender roles are highlighted as an example of a cultural institution that was deemed irrational but had deeper societal functions.
• 🤔 The video challenges viewers to consider the purpose and function of social institutions, like religion, rather than just their rationality.

Q & A

What is the main argument of the video regarding human understanding and rationality?

The main argument is that humans are not equipped with the mental capacities to fully understand the world around them, and that rational deconstruction of societal constructs can lead to unintended negative consequences.

Why does the speaker believe that rationality alone is insufficient to understand everything?

The speaker argues that our mental capacities and logical frameworks have evolved to address specific environmental and social challenges, not to comprehend the entire universe or to logically deduce every aspect of it.

How does the speaker use quantum mechanics as an example to illustrate the limitations of human understanding?

Quantum mechanics is used to demonstrate that there are aspects of the universe that defy our conventional logic and understanding, showing that our rational models are not universally applicable.

What historical example does the speaker provide to show how human logic can lead to flawed conclusions?

The speaker refers to the concept of gravity as it was first introduced by Newton, which was considered an absurd notion at the time, to show how our understanding of natural phenomena evolves.

What does the speaker suggest about the role of rationality in social constructs like gender roles?

The speaker suggests that rationality can be used to deconstruct and challenge social constructs like gender roles, but warns against the wholesale removal of such constructs without understanding their deeper societal functions.

Why does the speaker criticize the approach of using rationality to plan society?

The speaker criticizes this approach because it assumes that a single human brain can comprehend and manage all variables and complexities of society, which is an unrealistic expectation.

What does the speaker mean by 'cargo cult understanding of rationality'?

The 'cargo cult understanding of rationality' refers to a superficial or misguided application of rational thinking that fails to appreciate the complexity and nuances of societal and psychological phenomena.

How does the speaker view the process of cultural change?

The speaker views cultural change as an emergent, trial-and-error process that evolves naturally over time, rather than something that should be forcibly imposed through rational deconstruction.

What is the speaker's stance on the rational critique of religious beliefs?

The speaker argues against using rational critique alone to dismiss religious beliefs, suggesting that one should consider the practical functions and benefits that religion provides to its adherents.

What is the key takeaway the speaker wants the audience to have from the video?

The key takeaway is that things that appear irrational or that we do not understand may serve important purposes in society and should not be dismissed out of hand.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 The Limits of Human Rationality

The speaker addresses the audience, including readers, thinkers, and teenagers, to discuss the concept of rationality and its limitations. They argue that humans are not equipped to fully understand the world due to our evolved mental capacities being insufficient for comprehending everything around us. The speaker emphasizes that our logical frameworks are not capable of deducing the universe and that attempts to apply deductive ideologies can lead to disastrous outcomes. They use quantum mechanics and gravity as examples of scientific concepts that defy traditional logic and challenge our understanding of the universe. The speaker also touches on the idea that human brains have evolved for specific purposes, such as addressing social problems, but not necessarily for designing society, which is where rationality often breaks down.

05:00

🌐 The Fallacy of Rationally Planned Society

In the second paragraph, the speaker continues the discussion on rationality by arguing against the idea of a society that is rationally planned. They assert that a good society is not one that is designed through rational planning but rather one that emerges organically over time. The speaker points out that every society that has been rationally planned has been a disaster because it is limited by the capacity of a single human brain. They contrast this with societies that grow and change through a natural process of trial and error. The speaker also critiques the rationalistic mindset that deems things irrational if they cannot be logically explained, using the example of religious beliefs. They suggest that instead of questioning the rationality of such beliefs, one should consider the purpose and function they serve in society. The speaker concludes by encouraging the audience to not dismiss things that appear irrational, as they may serve important, albeit not immediately apparent, functions.

Keywords

💡Rational

Rational refers to the quality of being based on or according to reason or logic. In the video, the speaker challenges the notion that humans are fully equipped to understand the world through rationality alone. The script mentions that 'humans are not fit to understand the world around us' and argues against a purely rational deconstruction of societal norms and scientific concepts like quantum mechanics.

💡Irrational

Irrational denotes something that is not logical or reasonable. The video discusses how things perceived as irrational might have important, underlying purposes that are not immediately apparent. The speaker uses the example of traditional gender roles, which were deemed irrational by some, leading to a push for their removal without fully understanding their societal function.

💡Deductive Ideologies

Deductive ideologies are systems of belief that rely on deductive reasoning to arrive at conclusions. The video warns against the dangers of deductive ideologies, suggesting that they can lead to the destruction of societal structures. The speaker states that 'the road to hell is sort of paved with people who have deductive ideologies', implying that a purely deductive approach can be harmful.

💡Quantum Mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that describes nature at the smallest scales of energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles. The video uses quantum mechanics as an example of a scientific concept that defies traditional logic and challenges our understanding of the universe, thus illustrating the limits of human comprehension.

💡Evolutionary Environs

Evolutionary environs refer to the environments in which human beings evolved, which shaped our cognitive abilities and social structures. The video suggests that our mental capacities are suited for these environments rather than for understanding the complexities of the universe or for planning societies, as 'human brains are really developed for... the African savannah'.

💡Social Conventions

Social conventions are the norms and customs that govern behavior in society. The script argues that social conventions are not rationally planned but emerge organically over time. The speaker criticizes the idea of forcibly changing social conventions simply because they are deemed irrational, emphasizing the importance of natural, gradual change.

💡Rational Planning

Rational planning implies the use of reason and logic to organize and structure society. The video contends that a society designed purely through rational planning is limited and often fails because it does not account for the complexity and dynamism of human societies, which are better described as 'emergent' rather than planned.

💡Cargo Cult Understanding

Cargo cult understanding refers to a superficial imitation of practices without understanding their underlying principles. The video uses this term to describe a shallow approach to rationality, where people assume that if something cannot be rationally explained, it should be discarded, similar to how a cargo cult might mimic technological practices without understanding them.

💡False Positives and Negatives

False positives and negatives are terms used in statistics and decision-making to describe incorrect outcomes. In the context of the video, false positives are overreactions to non-threats, while false negatives are underreactions to actual threats. The speaker argues that in human psychology, false positives are less harmful than false negatives, as the latter can be lethal, thus justifying 'irrational' reactions.

💡Religion

Religion is a cultural system of beliefs, practices, and moral codes related to the way humans relate to what they consider divine or sacred. The video uses religion as an example of an institution that might seem irrational when analyzed through a rational lens but serves important purposes for its practitioners. The speaker suggests that understanding religion's role in society is more valuable than questioning its rationality.

Highlights

Humans are not fully equipped to understand the world around us due to our evolved mental capacities and habits.

The logical deductive approach to understanding the universe is insufficient and may lead to destructive outcomes.

Quantum mechanics exemplifies a scientific concept that defies traditional logic and our understanding of the universe.

Newton's concept of gravity was initially seen as absurd, highlighting the limitations of human comprehension.

Human brains have evolved for specific environments and social problem-solving, not for rationally planning society.

Reason often breaks down in social domains, such as traditional gender roles, which have been questioned for their rationality.

The attempt to rationally deconstruct and remove cultural institutions can lead to the lobotomization of society.

A rationally planned society is limited by the capacity of a single human brain and often results in disaster.

Societies are not planned but emerge and grow over time through a natural trial-and-error process.

Cultural changes are not inherently bad, but rationalistic thinking that deems things irrational if not understood is problematic.

Psychology shows that what is deemed irrational, like fear reactions, may have vital uses for survival.

Religion is an example of a social institution that should be understood in terms of its purpose and function, not just rationality.

Things that appear irrational may have important reasons for existence that are not immediately apparent.

The video concludes by encouraging viewers to consider the importance of things that seem irrational and their role in society.

Transcripts

so this video goes out to all you read

it to your thinkers out there and also

all you edgy teenagers I want to talk

about how people understand the word

rational or irrational or you know

logical or other stuff like this because

I think there's a lot of things that are

going wrong in the world and I think

it's becomes from a kind of rational

deconstruction of the world around us

now I'm gonna make a very elementary I

think is something I think of as a very

elementary note but I think I don't

think it it's not either said enough or

the implications of it aren't adequately

stated and that is humans are not fit to

understand the world around us and I

don't mean that that oh there are things

about the universe we don't know or

something like that I mean that we have

evolved and developed mental capacities

and mental habits and you know logical

bags of tricks that are not sufficient

to understand everything around us

they're not sufficient to we cannot sit

down and logically deduce the universe

it's not gonna happen

in fact you know the road to hell is

sort of paved with people who have

deductive ideologies and they rationally

work out how everything should work and

then they destroy everything okay so

when it comes to rationality well oh oh

save to the end my point but let's put

it this way so there's a tendency for

well we'll put it this way

okay so humans let's say something like

quantum mechanics because people I don't

know is like people some people talk

about it's like a buzzword almost but

quantum mechanics is a good example of

something in science where we are sort

of being exposed to a mechanism of the

universe that it isn't just like oh we

didn't know we didn't know about it

before but it's something that uh turley

you know flips up and down or under you

know the mechanism that we think of in

the universe like the the logic that we

sort of imply is always going to be

there in the universe is totally

upturned by something like quantum

mechanics it's just utterly different or

even something we now take for granted

something like gravity when Newton

coined gravity as a concept as we now

understand it gravity I mean was it's an

absurd notion it's like an occult force

that draws together all the matter in

the universe it totally went against

everyone's understanding and even today

when we really I mean really when you

think about gravity most people are just

thinking of the force that draws

everything down to the ground we just

happen to have a name for it but so you

know there are a lot of things in the

history of science for example that have

shown us that you know human brains are

really developed for I don't know the

African savannah or I mean not really

but you know you know what I mean the

evolutionary environs that we find

ourselves in and really to address the

social problems of humans but even then

well not even the social problems of

humans but we have the capacities to act

as individual humans not necessarily - I

guess design society now what I mean by

that is even in I guess social domains

reason breaks down pretty quickly so if

you take something you know let's take

something like traditional gender roles

okay so recently I mean especially since

the 1960s but there's a good bit of this

going on beforehand you know people sat

down and they said well guys I don't

think it's fair that or it doesn't make

sense there's no rational reason for

example for there to be different social

expectations of men and women okay no

there's no rational reason for that and

for them that that was true they

couldn't say they put their human logic

to the test they you know went around

and you know tried to think up reasons

and they couldn't find any and so yeah I

guess I guess you're right there's no

particular reason for traditional gender

roles I mean it's stupid to call them

traditional gender roles they're just

gender I mean they're just how men and

women are in every society including in

our highly deconstructed unselfie so you

know people of course once you fight

once you deduce that this kind of

cultural institution is irrational

you then have to deconstruct you have to

remove it from society because it would

be irrational not to so you get rid of

you basically lobotomize poor

tons of human society that you can't

figure out the purpose for you know it'd

be like if some kind of culture yeah you

know and popular cult I don't know if

this is actually true but you know the

Egyptians didn't think the brain was

useful for anything so they extracted it

from mummies now let's say the Egyptians

thought that the brain was useless

so they extracted it from normal people

and they couldn't think of a rational

reason for you know not to do that

that's sort of what we do to our culture

and we do it because we have this sort

of cargo cult understanding of

rationality now what what is the problem

now I sort of alluded to it but I didn't

say it explicitly the problem is that

you the thing the things that we think

of as rational the concepts that are in

our brain the chain of deductive logic

that we think of as being rational that

is not sufficient to sit down and plan

society because the we do not have every

variable at play in our brains and even

if we did it would be a little too much

for us to analyze all at once so society

a good society is not one that's

rationally planned in fact every single

society that is rationally planned is a

disaster and will always be a disaster

because a rationally designed society is

one that is only as as as capable as

managing problems as one human brain

that's ultimately because something

rational is really just something

comprehensible to the human brain but

societies that exist are they're not

planned they're emergent they grow over

time social conventions grow and change

not because some journalists told me

that gender roles are irrational

therefore I'm going to force myself to

change but a kind of natural a

trial-and-error process and that

cultures do change not all cultural

changes are bad what I am critiquing is

the kind of rationalistic mode of

thinking where you know if I can't

understand the reason for something it's

irrational now I actually get a podcast

episode on just check out my podcast not

related X Y Z that's the website I did a

podcast episode on this and it's also

very common in psychology for example to

look at things in the human brain and to

say that they are irrational so like you

know I'm out in the forest right now as

you can see you know let's say it

in a couple hours it's gonna be really

dark and I might hear a rustle in the

bush okay now what actual chance is

there of that being some kind of

dangerous predator I don't know you know

point zero zero one percent out here

it's not very high but I am going to

react as if it's you know a hundred

percent or you know fifty percent at

least if I hear that you know I have

this irrational reaction and you might

sit you might sit down and say that

that's an irrational thing and that's an

aspect of human psychology I'm not going

to be able to change but the fact of the

matter is if I if if I have a false

negative that's something that can kill

me but false positives don't there's a

big difference there you know human

psychology because in the same way that

cultures grow via trial and error human

psychology has developed over a kind of

trial and error and a lot of the things

that smug redditors will call irrational

are really just aspects of our psyche

all psychology that have a very

important and basically vital use and if

we lobotomize that portion of our brain

it would be disastrous but they might

not necessarily see the use or the

origin of it so what i want you to come

away from this video from i'm not really

talking about anything particular in

this video other than the idea that you

can rationally sit down and you know

you're you're smart guy if you can say

something like you know religion really

Oh religions a good point actually I

should probably mention that before we

go you know religion is an example of

something which if you sit down and you

rationally ask yourself does it really

make sense the Jonah was eaten by a

whale and blah blah blah does it really

makes it this Hinduism really makes

sense does you know below blood is any

of these religions really make sense

dude I'm so smart because I realize this

sounds stupid that you're missing the

point if you do something like that

when you look at a social institution

like religion your approach should not

be does it make sense to my rational

faculties you should look at in terms of

what does religion actually do for the

people who practice it what is its

purpose and honestly if you want to have

big brained esoteric takes of

religion you can understand the

mythology true or false I mean mythology

is beyond true and false but you can all

understand the mythos of you know even

something that seems extremely

irrational like religion in the light of

its actual what how it actually serves

people in society now so anyway what I

want you to take away from this video is

things that you do not understand the

reason for or things that you think are

irrational that doesn't mean that

they're actually bad and in fact things

that can survive and appear irrational

are probably things that are there for a

very very important reason and a reason

much more important than you can

probably anticipate so that's what I

want you guys to take away so anyway

this has been another episode of boomer

rants in the woods I will see you next

time oh wait I'm gonna wait till ten

minutes I'm gonna keep the video running

but I will see you guys next time see ya