Being """Rational""" isn't what you think
Summary
TLDRThis 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
🤔 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.
🌐 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Rational
💡Irrational
💡Deductive Ideologies
💡Quantum Mechanics
💡Evolutionary Environs
💡Social Conventions
💡Rational Planning
💡Cargo Cult Understanding
💡False Positives and Negatives
💡Religion
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
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