Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux - Big Brain vs Unthinking
Aired: 2025-07-04
Duration: 06:16


=== Feeling Compelling Yet Wrong (03:19) ===

[00:00:00]  All right, let me get to your questions.
[00:00:05]  Explain self-monologue language is language for social interaction.
[00:00:11]  Self-monologue language.
[00:00:14]  I mean, I hate to say it's tough to well, it's just this, period, right?
[00:00:18]  It is tough to explain.
[00:00:19]  So, for me, I don't think just in terms of language.
[00:00:22]  I think in emotions, I have a feel when something is wrong.
[00:00:26]  My wife is fantastic this way, too.
[00:00:28]  So, I have a feeling.
[00:00:30]  Like, you ever have this thing, like somebody gives you an argument and it seems compelling, but you feel that it's wrong.
[00:00:36]  Like, I had a conversation, which is available for donors at freedomain.locals.com.
[00:00:41]  I had a conversation with a woman who was an OnlyFans worker, and she was monetized.
[00:00:46]  She had monetized her biological physical attributes.
[00:00:52]  And I said, well, it's not going to be particularly satisfying because you didn't earn it.
[00:00:56]  And then somebody wrote to me, and it was an annoyingly good argument.
[00:01:00]  They said, well, Steph, you just happen to have a big brain and you have commoditized, like by going out on the internet, you ask for donations, freedomain.com slash donate.
[00:01:09]  I'd really appreciate that.
[00:01:10]  But you've monetized Steph.
[00:01:12]  You just happen to be born with this big brain, right?
[00:01:14]  IQ is like 80% genetic by our late teens.
[00:01:16]  So you just happen to be born with this big brain and you're just monetizing it too.
[00:01:22]  What's the difference?
[00:01:23]  Big brain, big boob.
[00:01:24]  What's the difference, right?
[00:01:27]  And you know that that argument is wrong.
[00:01:30]  You feel that it's wrong, but feeling it's wrong isn't enough.
[00:01:34]  That's just the start of the journey.
[00:01:35]  So I get a sense like, well, that's kind of compelling.
[00:01:37]  I can certainly see the surface logic, but it feels wrong.
[00:01:41]  Now, again, just because it feels wrong doesn't mean that it is wrong, but that to me is an incentive to dig in and figure out why it's wrong.
[00:01:52]  I mean, we all know rape, theft, assault, and murder, they're wrong.
[00:01:56]  They're just wrong.
[00:01:56]  This is an old Aristotelian argument.
[00:01:58]  Aristotle said, look, if you've got a moral system that can be used to prove that murder is good, I really don't care what your logic is.
[00:02:04]  You've gone wrong somewhere.
[00:02:05]  And so, you know, rape, theft, assault, and murder, the four big horsemen of the evil apocalypse, we know that they're wrong.
[00:02:13]  But why?
[00:02:15]  But why?
[00:02:15]  Why are they wrong?
[00:02:17]  And it can't be God, because that's an argument from authority, at least not philosophically, theologically, sure, but not philosophically.
[00:02:22]  So, you know, close to 20 years ago, I sat down and I said, I'm not going to get back out from this table until I figured out why rape, theft, assault, and murder are wrong.
[00:02:31]  And you can see the results, of course, essentialphilosophy.com, the last third.
[00:02:35]  And the full book is Universally Preferable Behavior, A Rational Proof of Secular Ethics, which you should absolutely read or listen to.
[00:02:45]  So there's instincts, there's emotions, there's a sort of famous example of the physicist who came up with the structure of the carbon atom, had a dream about a snake eating its own tail, woke up and then, you know, puzzled through it.
[00:02:58]  So that's all part of thinking, having debates.
[00:03:01]  Yes, but, yes, but I debate probably at least once a week, I debate with myself how much empathy I should have for the unthinking.
[00:03:09]  It's a huge issue for me.
[00:03:11]  I won't bore you with my machinations that way, but I have a debate like, well, they don't think, so we should have compassion.

=== Bad Times for the Unthinking (02:56) ===

[00:03:19]  Yeah, but they're responsible for not thinking.
[00:03:21]  Yeah, but there's a lot of propaganda.
[00:03:23]  Yeah, but there's the internet.
[00:03:25]  Yeah, but all of their social arrangements will probably be dissolved by them learning how to think.
[00:03:30]  Yeah, but they value, everyone values those who go their own way and have integrity.
[00:03:33]  Like, honestly, I am like one of these Newton machines or the pendulums that never end.
[00:03:39]  I go back and forth with how much responsibility do I give to people who don't think.
[00:03:47]  And the reason that's important for me, and I think it's important as a whole, the reason why that's important to me is bad times are coming for the unthinking.
[00:04:00]  I mean, bad times are coming for most people, but bad times are definitely coming for the unthinking.
[00:04:04]  And when bad times come for the unthinking, sorry, let me reboot that sentence.
[00:04:11]  When bad times come for the unthinking, the first thing they do is turn to moral emotional manipulation.
[00:04:18]  I'm a victim.
[00:04:19]  Bad things happen.
[00:04:19]  It's not my fault.
[00:04:20]  I need help.
[00:04:21]  Who's going to feed my kids?
[00:04:23]  So I need to know how open or closed my heart needs to be in order to survive.
[00:04:28]  This is an old Anglo-Saxon instinct.
[00:04:32]  Well, I've stored up enough food for the winter.
[00:04:37]  And I told you, bro, you need to store up enough food for the winter.
[00:04:42]  The guy two farms over, right?
[00:04:44]  And he doesn't.
[00:04:48]  And he comes to my door in mid-January.
[00:04:52]  It's cold as the witch's tit out there.
[00:04:54]  Ice puddles on the ground.
[00:04:56]  The cows are shooting out iced milk from their udders.
[00:05:03]  And we're all freezing.
[00:05:08]  And he comes over and he's like, yo, Steph, my kids are starving.
[00:05:14]  Like, I've put this off as long as possible.
[00:05:16]  I've been out hunting every day.
[00:05:17]  Look at how you can count my ribs like a, like a xylophone.
[00:05:21]  Bro, I mean, I'm begging you.
[00:05:22]  I mean, I really did try.
[00:05:24]  And I listened to what you said.
[00:05:25]  I really did try.
[00:05:27]  My kids are dying.
[00:05:29]  And they get emotional and they're like compassion and neighborliness.
[00:05:33]  And I do it for you.
[00:05:34]  And I'd look out for you.
[00:05:35]  and we've got to stick together and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[00:05:42]  But I'm going to feed my kids, not yours, bro.
[00:05:49]  And if he tries to break into the house to get the food that I've stored up for the winter for my family and extended family, I might have to put him down.
[00:06:02]  The bad things are coming for the unthinking.
[00:06:05]  I mean, in their personal life, it's going to happen anyway, because the unthinking stagger from one disaster to another while constantly blaming others.
[00:06:13]  The bad times are coming for the unthinking.