Konstantin, brilliant Podcastistan piece—really resonated. What, in your view, helps people build discernment in an age where charisma and certainty often override credibility?
Do you think we can recover a healthy respect for expertise—without sliding back into the blind credentialism that caused the backlash in the first place? How do we do it?
That is not a fair comparison. Joe Rogan and Triggernometry are 3 people without whom the world would suffer ALOT MORE!!! Why did you state the preference?
Much celebration of the fact that the UK Supreme Court has ruled that your sex is determined by your biology. Understandably so - it's been a long, hard fight won primarily by lots of principled and courageous women.
But the fact that it ever got this far is an embarrassment.
How does a entity like, e.g. the Scottish Government (inc. whole swaths of the civil service), go about undoing decades of institutional capture on this issue?
The Scot Govt not fit for purpose so cannot expect them to have the brain to undo, they helped do it by supporting Scot Greens whose idea it was/is. …….A lot of the Civil Service's globalists want trans issue, - it causing confusion and eventually nobody will know who’s who or what, it’s an extreme form of contraception, as well as a population easier to control as original of any human will not be a thing.
Do you think there is a way to reindustrialise UK without tariffs? Seems tariffs didn't work so great in the US and are risking to destroy their creditworthiness, we can't risk that
And introduce Regulatory Red Teams! There is a great substack called Notes on Growth- when I read that particular article I was amazed by the simplicity of a genius idea. The argument is that Regulatory Bureaucracies have no natural incentives to consider the costs they impose.
I can't not mention the USA expat tax here. The most inane brute force approach to investment to exect from "the leader of the free world". And it's been around for a while, too. It would be great if you could comment on using such tools, perhaps I'm just missing something.
America has a particular problem when it comes to trade and deficits. Because they are the world's reserve currency, when they use QE (or MMT) a substantial portion of the stimulus goes to subsidising the economies of other countries- especially China.
The issue with tariffs in the US was that Mark Carney had bought a position in US bonds (debt) and encouraged other leaders to do the same. When Trump pushed the tariffs to the point where they looked like becoming a reality, rather than just leverage, they started to sell US debt, with the result that the US borrowing began to soar. This was what scared the markets, and caused Trump to hit pause.
It's difficult to know how true this argument was, because countries don't always disclose their holdings of other countries debt. But it's an argument I read from a plausibly knowledgeable Canadian Substack writer on the subject. Dumping US debt is the sort of strategy a central banker would naturally consider, as a means of preventing the tariff regime from taking place.
Market analysis notes that the surge in US borrowing rates were a result of a loss of foreign investor confidence, but this could just as easily be a coordinated strategy by other national leaders. Foreign ownership in US debt is a matter of record, and we can see that foreign investor confidence fell, whilst American investor confidence remained static. Make of that what you will.
Hi K, Have you ever heard of one reasonable alternative to what Israel should have done after October 7 than what it did do? I ask because I haven't. Peter
Eric Prince talked about flooding the tunnels with sea water. I don't know if that is a viable option but that's one that sounds like a potentially better way of dealing with Gaza than levelling it.
So what’s the difference between flooding tunnels, killing women and children hiding in them as well as potential hostages - and bombing buildings, killing women and children and potential hostages? Tough situation for the IDF…no clear ‘reasonable alternative’ in my opinion.
I think the only difference would be the optics. The bombed out drone footage is 1000x worse than the abstract knowledge of casualties in flooded tunnels. Even if the deaths had been the same there is something gut wrenching about the visual evidence. It's #1 reason why the Palestinians started displaying their dead babies all over the internet. It's very nerve wrangling to be watching something on YouTube and get what appears to be any other pop up ad but with dead infant pics.
From what I know, the Israelis tried flooding the tunnels. Hamas built them to be able to withstand hard rain/flash floods that are common to that area, so you cannot flood them in such a way as to force people out of there by raising the water level slowly. Only way, and maybe what Prince suggested, would be to flood them with so much water that it overwhelms the rain drainage systems. but that is for sure going to drown everyone in the tunnels including most of the remaining hostages.
Remember, while the west may care about civilians on both sides, Israel has a duty to its citizens first and foremost. As should any country.
Optics are important in Marketing and Propaganda. In everything else, results are what matters, whether our woke world understands that or not.
I thought your piece on the corruption of alternative media was magnificent and hit many nails on the head. I resubscribed to be able to read it. But I wondered in the end if it was laying the groundwork for making a case for suppression of criticism of Israel. Is it? I’m Jewish, and feel while criticism that skews into being “pro-Hamas” is ignorant and irresponsible, Israel’s actions are appalling, yes genocidal, spiritually suicidal, and have played into actual anti-Semites’ narrative. Should people like me be silenced? Or deported?
So let’s get this straight .You are critical of those who say criticism of Israel is support for Hamas. (Though I would say it is, even if inadvertently, giving Iran and its proxies succor, they love the west for anti Israel rhetoric, that’s inescapable). Then you go on to ask KK if you’ll be silenced or deported if you espouse your views. A little extreme, no? You’re practicing your own form of hyperbole surely.
Rhetorical hyperbole, certainly, in a tribute to President Trump, who increasingly equates criticism with crime or treason and speaks of shipping “homegrown” criminals—US citizens—to CECOT. We’ll see if he means it.
A tourist (European, I think) was denied entry to the US because a search of her phone found texts critical of Trump. This reminded me of 1930s Romania where affixing a stamp with the king’s portrait upside down would land you in jail. I would prefer to assume it can’t happen here.
Here you go. It wasn't a tourist, it was a scientist going to a conference. Different government branches contradict each other about whether the issue was over political views or (a later amendment) classified information.
You didn't read what I said. No one was deported, careless of you. Going by memory, I said a "tourist"—more correctly, a visitor—who was refused entry because of texts criticizing Trump. That's accurate as far as it goes. It was a scientist coming to a conference who had texts critical of Trump's cuts to NIH funding. That's an opinion, not a threat to national security. That was the official story until another story was presented, that the scientist had classified material. Whether that was an emerging truth or a cover story to justify the action, I don't know. People will decide for themselves based on their emotions.
What are the chances of ever getting JK Rowling on your podcast? She is such a strong advocate for women's rights in the UK and after the Supreme Courts decision it'd be great to hear from her.
Top resources that helped you avoid stupidity when you were growing up? What should people ground themselves with to combat all the easy brain rot and false paths?
Many argue the situation is so bad that it’s in the interest of young people to leave (Peter Hitchens comes to mind), whilst many argue that Britain is worth fighting for and true patriots don’t flee at the first sign of trouble.
If leave, why and where.
If remain, what do and how.
Obviously the question assumes you think Britain is tough on young people, perhaps you disagree with my premise, in which case “go Labour!”
Do you think it would be a good approach for Rogan, and others like him, to try to host "pairs" more often, where he brings on opposing opinions, at least one of whom has "credentials" on the topic?
Do you and Francis ever differ on onion on guests after an interview? As in, are there ever times when one of you liked the guest and believed they were earnest and the other didn’t agree?
Is it possible to change the culture in the US academy which has been established over 30 years of post modern / critical theory craziness. How and how long will it take?
Thanks for getting back anyhow. I think it’s a topic worth looking into as it seems that so much of what ails us is the corruption of the minds of students coupled with the challenge to the rules based system that comes from this move away from critical thinking and unambiguous crimes - now replaced with an overwhelming sense that all behaviours are justified if you can be categorised as oppressed.
I would posit young minds couldn’t become so corrupted if they had good parenting. Yes, some will go off the rails anyway, but generally good parenting will keep them grounded.
I’m afraid the problem has gone deep into academic institutions and by the time young adults get exposed to university professors, parental influence has all but gone. Good reading on the topic is “the cancelling of the American mind” by lukianoff and Schlott.
I understand and I agree with you but I think there is a component you are missing and would love for you to read the book I recommended and revert. The state of Society is way beyond a good/bad parenting dichotomy. I know many kids who were parented well who went on the tried and tested journey of discovering left wing and progressive values which have shape shifting into the situation we now find ourself in.
I can tell you if children have good parental guidance they will either not be influenced by rogue professors to begin with or eventually see through them. NB, I said “good” parental guidance.
I think you are only partially right. The capturing of the US academy is highly subtle hence why so many people have flung themselves into bed with the Houthis et al. Not all of these people come from bad homes.
That's us for this time. Let's do another AMA soon - thank you for playing!
Thanks for the opportunity to ask you about AngloFuturism. Once you’ve had a look at it, I’d love to hear what you think. 👍🏽 ✨🚀✨
Konstantin, brilliant Podcastistan piece—really resonated. What, in your view, helps people build discernment in an age where charisma and certainty often override credibility?
A focus on truth over what makes them feel good.
And a follow up:
Do you think we can recover a healthy respect for expertise—without sliding back into the blind credentialism that caused the backlash in the first place? How do we do it?
Goddam. I missed this. But I am now a paying subscriber after many years of listening. I actually prefer Triggernometry to Joe Rogan
That is not a fair comparison. Joe Rogan and Triggernometry are 3 people without whom the world would suffer ALOT MORE!!! Why did you state the preference?
Are you mental?
You X-ed yesterday:
Much celebration of the fact that the UK Supreme Court has ruled that your sex is determined by your biology. Understandably so - it's been a long, hard fight won primarily by lots of principled and courageous women.
But the fact that it ever got this far is an embarrassment.
How does a entity like, e.g. the Scottish Government (inc. whole swaths of the civil service), go about undoing decades of institutional capture on this issue?
The Scot Govt not fit for purpose so cannot expect them to have the brain to undo, they helped do it by supporting Scot Greens whose idea it was/is. …….A lot of the Civil Service's globalists want trans issue, - it causing confusion and eventually nobody will know who’s who or what, it’s an extreme form of contraception, as well as a population easier to control as original of any human will not be a thing.
Do you think there is a way to reindustrialise UK without tariffs? Seems tariffs didn't work so great in the US and are risking to destroy their creditworthiness, we can't risk that
Yeah. End Net Zero and lower business taxes.
And introduce Regulatory Red Teams! There is a great substack called Notes on Growth- when I read that particular article I was amazed by the simplicity of a genius idea. The argument is that Regulatory Bureaucracies have no natural incentives to consider the costs they impose.
I can't not mention the USA expat tax here. The most inane brute force approach to investment to exect from "the leader of the free world". And it's been around for a while, too. It would be great if you could comment on using such tools, perhaps I'm just missing something.
typo: "expect"
America has a particular problem when it comes to trade and deficits. Because they are the world's reserve currency, when they use QE (or MMT) a substantial portion of the stimulus goes to subsidising the economies of other countries- especially China.
The issue with tariffs in the US was that Mark Carney had bought a position in US bonds (debt) and encouraged other leaders to do the same. When Trump pushed the tariffs to the point where they looked like becoming a reality, rather than just leverage, they started to sell US debt, with the result that the US borrowing began to soar. This was what scared the markets, and caused Trump to hit pause.
It's difficult to know how true this argument was, because countries don't always disclose their holdings of other countries debt. But it's an argument I read from a plausibly knowledgeable Canadian Substack writer on the subject. Dumping US debt is the sort of strategy a central banker would naturally consider, as a means of preventing the tariff regime from taking place.
Market analysis notes that the surge in US borrowing rates were a result of a loss of foreign investor confidence, but this could just as easily be a coordinated strategy by other national leaders. Foreign ownership in US debt is a matter of record, and we can see that foreign investor confidence fell, whilst American investor confidence remained static. Make of that what you will.
Hi K, Have you ever heard of one reasonable alternative to what Israel should have done after October 7 than what it did do? I ask because I haven't. Peter
Eric Prince talked about flooding the tunnels with sea water. I don't know if that is a viable option but that's one that sounds like a potentially better way of dealing with Gaza than levelling it.
So what’s the difference between flooding tunnels, killing women and children hiding in them as well as potential hostages - and bombing buildings, killing women and children and potential hostages? Tough situation for the IDF…no clear ‘reasonable alternative’ in my opinion.
I think the only difference would be the optics. The bombed out drone footage is 1000x worse than the abstract knowledge of casualties in flooded tunnels. Even if the deaths had been the same there is something gut wrenching about the visual evidence. It's #1 reason why the Palestinians started displaying their dead babies all over the internet. It's very nerve wrangling to be watching something on YouTube and get what appears to be any other pop up ad but with dead infant pics.
Wouldn't this risk drowning the hostages too?
From what I know, the Israelis tried flooding the tunnels. Hamas built them to be able to withstand hard rain/flash floods that are common to that area, so you cannot flood them in such a way as to force people out of there by raising the water level slowly. Only way, and maybe what Prince suggested, would be to flood them with so much water that it overwhelms the rain drainage systems. but that is for sure going to drown everyone in the tunnels including most of the remaining hostages.
Remember, while the west may care about civilians on both sides, Israel has a duty to its citizens first and foremost. As should any country.
Optics are important in Marketing and Propaganda. In everything else, results are what matters, whether our woke world understands that or not.
I thought your piece on the corruption of alternative media was magnificent and hit many nails on the head. I resubscribed to be able to read it. But I wondered in the end if it was laying the groundwork for making a case for suppression of criticism of Israel. Is it? I’m Jewish, and feel while criticism that skews into being “pro-Hamas” is ignorant and irresponsible, Israel’s actions are appalling, yes genocidal, spiritually suicidal, and have played into actual anti-Semites’ narrative. Should people like me be silenced? Or deported?
I am not calling for censorship and, in fact, we have had as real pro-Israel guests on.
? I didn't understand this answer, it looks like it may have gotten auto-uncorrected.
So let’s get this straight .You are critical of those who say criticism of Israel is support for Hamas. (Though I would say it is, even if inadvertently, giving Iran and its proxies succor, they love the west for anti Israel rhetoric, that’s inescapable). Then you go on to ask KK if you’ll be silenced or deported if you espouse your views. A little extreme, no? You’re practicing your own form of hyperbole surely.
Rhetorical hyperbole, certainly, in a tribute to President Trump, who increasingly equates criticism with crime or treason and speaks of shipping “homegrown” criminals—US citizens—to CECOT. We’ll see if he means it.
A tourist (European, I think) was denied entry to the US because a search of her phone found texts critical of Trump. This reminded me of 1930s Romania where affixing a stamp with the king’s portrait upside down would land you in jail. I would prefer to assume it can’t happen here.
OK, you need to provide evidence of this “tourist” and what the “criticism” was or you’re not going to be taken seriously. We’re all ears.
Here you go. It wasn't a tourist, it was a scientist going to a conference. Different government branches contradict each other about whether the issue was over political views or (a later amendment) classified information.
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5205954-french-scientist-denied-entry-to-us-over-anti-trump-messages/
So not at all some random person who said he didn’t like Trump and so was deported. Which is what your original post implied.
You didn't read what I said. No one was deported, careless of you. Going by memory, I said a "tourist"—more correctly, a visitor—who was refused entry because of texts criticizing Trump. That's accurate as far as it goes. It was a scientist coming to a conference who had texts critical of Trump's cuts to NIH funding. That's an opinion, not a threat to national security. That was the official story until another story was presented, that the scientist had classified material. Whether that was an emerging truth or a cover story to justify the action, I don't know. People will decide for themselves based on their emotions.
Are you going to get on any guests about Xi Jingping thought and Chinese foreign policy as it becomes more powerful
Great idea.
Love your pursuit of truth. What for you is truth and how has your pursuit of it changed over the years?
What are the chances of ever getting JK Rowling on your podcast? She is such a strong advocate for women's rights in the UK and after the Supreme Courts decision it'd be great to hear from her.
Have been trying for ages but she just doesn't do interviews. We would LOVE to have her.
Any plans to cover the current political situations in the EU - France, Germany, Romania, for example?
Top resources that helped you avoid stupidity when you were growing up? What should people ground themselves with to combat all the easy brain rot and false paths?
Arguing with my dad Endless over the kitchen table 😂
Hi KK,
In your humble opinion…
Should young people (18-30) leave the UK?
Many argue the situation is so bad that it’s in the interest of young people to leave (Peter Hitchens comes to mind), whilst many argue that Britain is worth fighting for and true patriots don’t flee at the first sign of trouble.
If leave, why and where.
If remain, what do and how.
Obviously the question assumes you think Britain is tough on young people, perhaps you disagree with my premise, in which case “go Labour!”
It depends on a lot of factors. No two young people are the same. The UK is in bad shape but where do you go?
Boring! At least give a half baked opinion. 🖤
I’m leaving to Barcelona, because Britain everything is very expensive and isn’t very good.
The AI mainlining for growth is more of a drip feed.
Do you think it would be a good approach for Rogan, and others like him, to try to host "pairs" more often, where he brings on opposing opinions, at least one of whom has "credentials" on the topic?
Yes.
Do you and Francis ever differ on onion on guests after an interview? As in, are there ever times when one of you liked the guest and believed they were earnest and the other didn’t agree?
FF and I differ on lots of things frequently but oddly I can't remember this particular type of disagreement we've had, actually.
Is it possible to change the culture in the US academy which has been established over 30 years of post modern / critical theory craziness. How and how long will it take?
I am really not knowledgeable enough to answer this.
Thanks for getting back anyhow. I think it’s a topic worth looking into as it seems that so much of what ails us is the corruption of the minds of students coupled with the challenge to the rules based system that comes from this move away from critical thinking and unambiguous crimes - now replaced with an overwhelming sense that all behaviours are justified if you can be categorised as oppressed.
I would posit young minds couldn’t become so corrupted if they had good parenting. Yes, some will go off the rails anyway, but generally good parenting will keep them grounded.
I’m afraid the problem has gone deep into academic institutions and by the time young adults get exposed to university professors, parental influence has all but gone. Good reading on the topic is “the cancelling of the American mind” by lukianoff and Schlott.
I’m not saying they come from bad homes. I’m saying they may lack good parenting.
I understand and I agree with you but I think there is a component you are missing and would love for you to read the book I recommended and revert. The state of Society is way beyond a good/bad parenting dichotomy. I know many kids who were parented well who went on the tried and tested journey of discovering left wing and progressive values which have shape shifting into the situation we now find ourself in.
You might also be interested in the Marxification of Education by James Lindsay.
I can tell you if children have good parental guidance they will either not be influenced by rogue professors to begin with or eventually see through them. NB, I said “good” parental guidance.
I think you are only partially right. The capturing of the US academy is highly subtle hence why so many people have flung themselves into bed with the Houthis et al. Not all of these people come from bad homes.