Aside from "don't send your kids and money" to these increasingly illiberal colleges and universities-what will it take to swing the pendulum back towards ideological diversity, true value for freedom of speech and less militant focus on DEI affirmations/"woke" advocacy?
In a recent interview with Lawrence Krauss, you said the best use of our time and effort is to work towards building institutions that, from the get-go, are committed to truth.
In a panel discussion on the topic "What is life?" in 2011, Lawrence Krauss asked Craig Venter if we had already discovered the minimal configuration to make life. Venter replied definitively that we won't find only one minimal gene set, because the tree of life is a fiction and provides various lines of evidence for coming to this conclusion.
So, my hypothetical question is: If the University of Austin (UATX) hired Craig Venter to teach advanced genetics and he taught that the tree of life concept should be discarded in light of new evidence, would this be permissible at a university committed to truth?
Awesome job Peter. I was curious with the videos you do involving the public, is it to point out their skewed values, and get them to revaluate their logic? or is it more an educational tool for viewers?
Hello Peter, Please unpack why you view conviction as a weakness. You mentioned this in the Q&A portion of your talk on How to Engage in Difficult Conversations at TOS-Con this summer. Thank you.
Hi Peter- I watched your interview with James Lindsay and Tom Ascol of the SBC. (Thank you, btw, that was really helpful) I’ve heard you say you were once part of the New Atheist movement. I was wondering if you have changed your thoughts on God over the last few years. Have you? Thank you for the work you do!
How do you account for the following data points: One out of every three Black boys born today can expect to be sentenced to prison, compared 1 in 6 Latino boys; and one out of 17 white boys? Something is happening to cause this to occur--if not something systemic--what? Thanks for your thoughts.
The correctional branch of the criminal justice system involves a network of agencies that administer prisons and programs like parole and probation boards in a given jurisdiction.
There are 3 million people in jail and prison today, far outpacing population growth and crime. Between 1980 and 2015, the number of people incarcerated increased from roughly 500,000 to 2.2. million.
Despite making up close to 5% of the global population, the U.S. has nearly 25% of the world's prison population.
32% of the US population is represented by African Americans and Hispanics, compared to 56% of the US incarcerated population being represented by African Americans and Hispanics.
In 2014, African Americans constituted 2.3 million, or 34%, of the total 6.8 million correctional population.
African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites.
The imprisonment rate for African American women is 2x that of white women.
Nationwide, African American children represent 32% of children who are arrested, 42% of children who are detained, and 52% of children whose cases are judicially waived to criminal court. African American children represent 14% of the population.
7% of adults in the US are under correctional supervision. That equates to one out of every 37 adults in the United States.
In 2012 alone, the United States spent nearly $81 billion on corrections.
Spending on prisons and jails has increased at triple the rate of spending on Pre‐K‐12 public education in the last thirty years.
Prisons are overpopulated. Since 1970, our incarcerated population has increased by 700%.
Since 1991 the rate of violent crime in the United States has fallen by about 20%, while the number of people in prison or jail has risen by 50%.
If African Americans and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates as whites, prison and jail populations would decline by almost 40%.
$80 billion taxpayer dollars are spent on our current prison system, accounting for one out of every 15-state general fund discretionary dollars (2nd fastest-growing category for state budgets).
Thank you for sharing this--Peter will definitely address your question. I want to say immediately that there are more accurate and thorough sources to find data and statistics.
I'm curious about Bob Edwards and whether he'd be willing to sit and do an interview with you and Matt? So many of us seem to have loved his morning broadcasts, his journalistic style, and his rich radio voice. Have you considered reaching out to him? We still tune in to NPR on Sunday mornings and this last Sunday, we simultaneously burst into paroxysms of laughter. Not because of the content, but because of the vocal quality of the broadcaster. Vocal fry and nasal tone were so grating that it distracted from whatever the story was about. A far cry from the NPR heyday and SNL's "Delicious Dishes" which made fun of smooth radio voices. Keep up the good work, people!
I have a question involving Venn diagrams. In a conversation between you and Richard Dawkins youtube.com/watch?v=RoQurwEZmmQ, Dawkins was explaining the difference between natural, supernatural, superhuman, human, and aliens. I drew a Venn diagram of the concepts https://ibb.co/x7nrCTx based primarily on three Dawkins quotes from the video:
“You would have to have a supernatural, superhuman intelligence to know exactly what values to twiddle the knobs to.”
“A non-supernatural second coming could be aliens from outer-space, a superhuman, but not supernatural civilization.”
“If at some future date somebody, thousands of years hence, finds a particular bacterium...and they were to find written into the DNA, this was made by C. Venter, it’s remarkable, but it’s not supernatural.”
I constructed a Venn diagram of my own to help think about the concepts. https://ibb.co/LnhgyLs
The various ways of arranging the diagram seem to depend on how one classifies intelligent causation. Would you classify intelligence, as a cause, as natural, unnatural, supernatural, or something else? How would you arrange the following on a Venn diagram of causation?
Do you believe that the ex-wives of trans-identifying men deserve to have their stories told in the mainstream media. So far, Oprah Winfrey gives free publicity to trans ideology, but there is little out there on the true grief, followed by public disrespect of these women, who often shoulder the entire financial burdens of raising their children.
Link to new documentary on trans widows, due out 2023
Aside from "don't send your kids and money" to these increasingly illiberal colleges and universities-what will it take to swing the pendulum back towards ideological diversity, true value for freedom of speech and less militant focus on DEI affirmations/"woke" advocacy?
In a recent interview with Lawrence Krauss, you said the best use of our time and effort is to work towards building institutions that, from the get-go, are committed to truth.
https://youtu.be/fcplmS36Xk4?t=6395
In a panel discussion on the topic "What is life?" in 2011, Lawrence Krauss asked Craig Venter if we had already discovered the minimal configuration to make life. Venter replied definitively that we won't find only one minimal gene set, because the tree of life is a fiction and provides various lines of evidence for coming to this conclusion.
https://youtu.be/xIHMnD2FDeY?t=527
http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/the-great-debate-what-is-life/what-is-life-panel
So, my hypothetical question is: If the University of Austin (UATX) hired Craig Venter to teach advanced genetics and he taught that the tree of life concept should be discarded in light of new evidence, would this be permissible at a university committed to truth?
Awesome job Peter. I was curious with the videos you do involving the public, is it to point out their skewed values, and get them to revaluate their logic? or is it more an educational tool for viewers?
Hello Peter, Please unpack why you view conviction as a weakness. You mentioned this in the Q&A portion of your talk on How to Engage in Difficult Conversations at TOS-Con this summer. Thank you.
Hi Peter- I watched your interview with James Lindsay and Tom Ascol of the SBC. (Thank you, btw, that was really helpful) I’ve heard you say you were once part of the New Atheist movement. I was wondering if you have changed your thoughts on God over the last few years. Have you? Thank you for the work you do!
How do you account for the following data points: One out of every three Black boys born today can expect to be sentenced to prison, compared 1 in 6 Latino boys; and one out of 17 white boys? Something is happening to cause this to occur--if not something systemic--what? Thanks for your thoughts.
Hi Mark--thank you for this excellent question. Can you supply the source for this specific data?
https://naacp.org/resources/criminal-justice-fact-sheet
Here's a taste from THE FACTSHEET:
The correctional branch of the criminal justice system involves a network of agencies that administer prisons and programs like parole and probation boards in a given jurisdiction.
There are 3 million people in jail and prison today, far outpacing population growth and crime. Between 1980 and 2015, the number of people incarcerated increased from roughly 500,000 to 2.2. million.
Despite making up close to 5% of the global population, the U.S. has nearly 25% of the world's prison population.
32% of the US population is represented by African Americans and Hispanics, compared to 56% of the US incarcerated population being represented by African Americans and Hispanics.
In 2014, African Americans constituted 2.3 million, or 34%, of the total 6.8 million correctional population.
African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites.
The imprisonment rate for African American women is 2x that of white women.
Nationwide, African American children represent 32% of children who are arrested, 42% of children who are detained, and 52% of children whose cases are judicially waived to criminal court. African American children represent 14% of the population.
7% of adults in the US are under correctional supervision. That equates to one out of every 37 adults in the United States.
In 2012 alone, the United States spent nearly $81 billion on corrections.
Spending on prisons and jails has increased at triple the rate of spending on Pre‐K‐12 public education in the last thirty years.
Prisons are overpopulated. Since 1970, our incarcerated population has increased by 700%.
Since 1991 the rate of violent crime in the United States has fallen by about 20%, while the number of people in prison or jail has risen by 50%.
If African Americans and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates as whites, prison and jail populations would decline by almost 40%.
$80 billion taxpayer dollars are spent on our current prison system, accounting for one out of every 15-state general fund discretionary dollars (2nd fastest-growing category for state budgets).
Thank you for sharing this--Peter will definitely address your question. I want to say immediately that there are more accurate and thorough sources to find data and statistics.
Wonderful – lead me to the more accurate and thorough sources for data and statistics. Thanks for the help. Long day you wave ;-)
I'm curious about Bob Edwards and whether he'd be willing to sit and do an interview with you and Matt? So many of us seem to have loved his morning broadcasts, his journalistic style, and his rich radio voice. Have you considered reaching out to him? We still tune in to NPR on Sunday mornings and this last Sunday, we simultaneously burst into paroxysms of laughter. Not because of the content, but because of the vocal quality of the broadcaster. Vocal fry and nasal tone were so grating that it distracted from whatever the story was about. A far cry from the NPR heyday and SNL's "Delicious Dishes" which made fun of smooth radio voices. Keep up the good work, people!
I have a question involving Venn diagrams. In a conversation between you and Richard Dawkins youtube.com/watch?v=RoQurwEZmmQ, Dawkins was explaining the difference between natural, supernatural, superhuman, human, and aliens. I drew a Venn diagram of the concepts https://ibb.co/x7nrCTx based primarily on three Dawkins quotes from the video:
“You would have to have a supernatural, superhuman intelligence to know exactly what values to twiddle the knobs to.”
“A non-supernatural second coming could be aliens from outer-space, a superhuman, but not supernatural civilization.”
“If at some future date somebody, thousands of years hence, finds a particular bacterium...and they were to find written into the DNA, this was made by C. Venter, it’s remarkable, but it’s not supernatural.”
I constructed a Venn diagram of my own to help think about the concepts. https://ibb.co/LnhgyLs
The various ways of arranging the diagram seem to depend on how one classifies intelligent causation. Would you classify intelligence, as a cause, as natural, unnatural, supernatural, or something else? How would you arrange the following on a Venn diagram of causation?
Intelligence
Natural
Unnatural
Supernatural
Superhuman
God
Alien
Human
Murder
Insanity
Thank you for answering my question last time. Looking forward to the upcoming book release.
This question comes through me from a young adult family member, Tyler.
"Is what you do know (Podcasting, Youtube, Street Epistemology, etc.) more fulfilling, than when you where teaching at a University? "
"Do you missing teaching in a class room?"
Thank you for your reply and to all those around you that generate such thoughtful content.
Do you believe that the ex-wives of trans-identifying men deserve to have their stories told in the mainstream media. So far, Oprah Winfrey gives free publicity to trans ideology, but there is little out there on the true grief, followed by public disrespect of these women, who often shoulder the entire financial burdens of raising their children.
Link to new documentary on trans widows, due out 2023
https://youtu.be/QhAlvw_kAHs
Ute Heggen, author and participant in the documentary
uteheggengrasswidow.wordpress.com