YouSaid · the spoken record

Tim Urban

lines on the record: 230
first: 2023-02-20
most recent: 2023-02-20
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It does feel in one way Individuals have an especially big impact right now in that a small number of people are pulling some big levers. And it can be a little meeting of three people at Facebook and they come out and they come in, they come out of that meeting and make a decision that totally changes the world, right? On the other hand, you see a lot of conformity. You see a lot of, you know, they all pulled the plug on Trump the same day, right?”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Also, Tom did it right. The time we were like, oh man, Tom only made like a few million dollars. Sucks to not be Zuck might be living a nice life right now where he doesn't have this nightmare that these other people have”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I think World War II is an example where I kind of think World War II really was kind of the work of, of course, it relied on all these other circumstances. You had to have the resentment in Germany. You have to have the Great Depression. But I think if you take Hitler out, I'm pretty sure World War I, World War II doesn't happen.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's probably a spectrum where there are some cases when a circumstance was such that something like what happened was going to happen. If you pluck that person from the earth, I don't know whether the Mongols is a good example or not, but maybe. It could be that if you plucked Genghis Khan as a baby, there was because of the specific way Chinese civilization was at that time and the specific climate that was causing a certain kind of pressure on the Mongols and the way they still had the great archers and they had their horses and they had a lot of the same advantages. So maybe it was like it was waiting to happen, right? It was going to happen either way and may not have happened to the sit to the extent or whatever. So maybe, or you could go the full other direction and say, actually, this was probably not going to happen.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it's both. I mean, so I said William the Conqueror, right? Or Hitler, right? Not that Hitler was born and destined to be great at all. I think in a lot of cases he's some frustrated artist with a temper who's turning over the table in his studio and hitting his wife and being kind of a dick and a total nobody, right? I think almost all the times you could have put Hitler baby on Earth. He's a Rando, right? And maybe sometimes he becomes a kind of, you know, he uses the speaking ability because that ability was going to be there either way, but maybe he uses it for something else. But that said, but it's not that World War II was going to happen either way, right? So it's both. It's that like these circumstances were one way and this person came along at the right time and those two made a match made in this case hell.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And because of a small handful of people. Sometimes I think I'm like, oh, this part of the world, I can recognize someone's Greek, you know, someone's Persian, someone's wherever because, you know, they kind of have certain facial features. And I'm like, it may have happened. I mean, obviously that's a population, but it may be that someone 600 years ago that looked like that really spread their seed. And that's why the ethnicity looks kind of like that now. Sorry, anyway.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, no, I mean, it's also, that's the other thing. Some of these dudes, by becoming king, by being having a better army at the right time, you know, William the Conqueror or whatever is in the right place at the right time with the right army, you know, and there's a weakness at the right moment and he comes over and he exploits it and ends up probably having, you know, I don't know, thousand children. And those children are high up people who might be having a ton of. The species is different now because of him. Like, forget England's different, or European borders look different. We look different.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, listen, hearing learning about Genghis Khan, it's incredible to me because it's just like this was some Mongolian herder guy who was taken as a slave and he was like dirt poor, you know, catching rats as a young teen with, you know, to feed him and his mom and his, I think his brother. And it's just like, The odds When he was born, he was just one of probably tens of thousands of random teen boys living in Mongolia in the 1200s. The odds of that person, any one of them being a household name today that we're talking about, it's just crazy. Like what had to happen. And for that poor... Dirt poor herder to take over the world? I don't know. So history just like continually blows my mind. Like, you know”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's like the craziest thing to me is that Buddha was a dude. He was a guy with Arms and legs and fingernails that he might be bit and like he liked certain foods, and maybe he got digestive issues sometimes. And like he got cuts and they stung. And like he was a guy and he had hopes and dreams and he probably had a big ego for a while before he, I guess Buddha totally overcame that one. But like, and it's like, who knows, you know, you know, what the myth, the mythical figure of Buddha, who knows how similar he was. But the fact, same with Jesus, like this was a guy. Like to me, he's a primate. What an impact!”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I should have. That would have been awesome. I'm sure that would have endeared the readers to me from right from the beginning of the first page of the book.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“True. Yes, you're right. I could have put in. I actually was thinking about Darwin there too. Yeah, exactly. You really could have put anyone”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And by the way, good for them to be the person. It's not that I could have chosen lots of people for each card, but I think most people would agree. You know, that's a pretty fair choice for each page. And good for them to be able, you know, you crushed it if you can be the person for your whole 250-year page.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is a great thing because really what is patriotism? I mean, it's if you love your country, you should love your fellow countrymen. You know, that's a Reagan quote. It's like patriotism is like, I think a feeling of unity, but it also comes along with an implicit kind of concept of gratitude because it's like we are so lucky to live in, you know, people, you know, think it's chauvinist to say we live in the best country in the world, right? And, you know, yes, when Americans say that, no one likes it, right? Actually, it's not a bad thing to think. It's a nice thing to think. It thinks it's a way of saying, I'm so grateful for all the great things this country gives to me and this country has done. And I think, you know, if you heard the Philip, you know, a Filipino person say, you know what, the Philippines is the best country in the world. No one in America would say, that's chauvinist. They'd say, awesome, right? Because when coming from someone, you know, who's not American, it sounds totally fine. But I think, you know, national pride is actually good. Now, again, that can quickly translate into xenophobia, nationalism. And so, you know, you have to make.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Germany between the two world wars. Like you said, the Soviet kind of mentality. So, yeah, and then when you're soaking in a culture, so there's kind of two factors, right? It's what's going on in your own head and then what's surrounding you. And what's surrounding you kind of has concentric circles. There's your immediate group of people because that group of people, if they're a certain way, if they feel a lot of gratitude and they talk about it a lot, that kind of insulates you from the broader culture because people are going to have the most impact on you or the ones closest. But often all the concentric circles are saying the same thing, the people around you or feeling the same way that the broader community, which is feeling the same way as the broader country. And, you know, I think this is why I think American patriotism, nationalism, can be tribal, can be very not a good thing. Patriotism, I think is...”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you are constantly just saying, man, I'm lucky. Or I'm so grateful for this. And it's a good thing to do because you're reminding yourself, but you're also reminding other people to think that way. It's like, we are lucky, you know. And so anyway, I think that scale can go from one to 10. And I think it's hard to be in 10. I think you'd be very happy if you could be. But I think trying to be above a five and looking down at the things you have more often than you are looking up at the things you don't or being resentful about the things that people have wronged you.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Envy, that's yearning. Or often, if you think about your past, it's grievance, right? And so then you go into a one and you have someone who feels like a complete victim. They are just a victim of the society, of their siblings and their parents and their loved one. And they are wallowing in everything that's happened wrong to me. Everything I should have that I don't, everything that has gone wrong for me. And so that's a very unhealthy, mentally unhealthy place to be. Anyone can go there. You know, there's an endless list of stuff. It can be aggrieved about and an endless list of stuff you can have gratitude for. And so in some ways, it's a choice and it's a habit. And maybe it's part of how we were raised or our natural demeanor, but it's such a good expert. You are really good at this, by the way. Your Twitter is like...”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But I still think it's case by case in that there's like a meter in everyone's head that I think at a 10, you're experiencing just immense gratitude, right? Which is a euphoric feeling. It's a great feeling. And it makes you happy to savor what you have, to look down at the mountain of stuff you have that you're standing on, right? To look down at and say, oh my God, I'm so lucky. And I'm so grateful for this and this and this. And obviously that's a happy exercise. Now when you move the meter meter down to six or seven, maybe you think that sometimes, but you're not always thinking that because you're sometimes looking up at this cloud of things that you don't have and the things that they have but you don't or the things you wished you had or you thought you were going to have or whatever. And that's the opposite direction to look, right? And that's either that's.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And the boomers, some of them started off middle class, and many of them ended up quite wealthy. And I feel like that life trajectory is naturally going to foster gratitude, right? Because you're not going to take for granted these things because you didn't have them. I didn't go out of the country, really, in my childhood very much. We traveled, but it was to Virginia to see my grandparents or Wisconsin to see other relatives or, you know, maybe Florida after going on to the beach. And then I started going out of the country like crazy in my 20s because I really, you know, became my favorite thing. And I feel like because if I had grown up always doing that, it would have been another thing. I'm like, yeah, that's just something I do. But I still every time I go to a new country, I'm like, oh my God, this is so cool. And in another country, this thing I've only seen on the map, I'm like, I'm there now. And so I feel like it's a lot of times it's a product of what you didn't have. And then you suddenly had.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's a person by person basis. I mean, I'm sure, yes, of course, in the West, we will on average feel gratitude towards different things or maybe a different level of gratitude. Maybe we feel less gratitude than countries that obviously I think the easiest, the person that's most likely to feel gratitude is going to be someone who's life happens to be one where they just move up throughout their life. A lot of people in the greatest generation, you know, people who were born in the 20s or whatever. And a lot of the boomers too. This story is the greatest.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, it's like we don't even know what to have, like we don't even know the proper levels of gratitude. Walking around the grocery store, I don't know to be like the bread's nice, but the bananas are like we're so lucky. I don't know. I'm like, oh, I could have been the other way. I have no idea.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Likewise, I think they would be completely awestruck on their knees crying tears of joy. And then they'd get used to it and they'd be complaining about like you don't have this oranges in stock is like, you know.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“On the other hand, if you brought them here, you know, I always think it would be so fun to just bring forget the hunter-gatherers, bring a 1700s person here and tore them around, take them on an airplane, show them your phone and all the things it can do. Show them the internet, show them the grocery store. Imagine taking them to a Whole Foods.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Would happen is you would get these new things, or you would get these new opportunities, and then you would get used to it, and then you would, this is the hedonic treadmill, you'd come back to where you are. And likewise, though, because you think, oh my God, what if I had to have this kind of job that I never would want or I had this kind of marriage that I never would want? You know what? If you did, you would adjust and you get used to it and you might not be that much less happy than you are now. So on the other side of the you being okay going back, you know, we would survive if we had to go back. You know, we'd have to learn some skills, but we would buck up and, you know, people have gone to war before that were in the shopkeepers a year before that. They were in the trenches the next year.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Your scale recalibrates. I was saying the other day to a friend that whatever you're used to, you start to think that, oh, the people that have more than me or are more fortunate, it just sounds incredible. I would be so happy. But you know that's not true because you experience.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, how about the disease? How about the cockroaches and the rats and the disease and the plagues? And then when they got, so they caught more diseases, but then when they caught the disease, they also didn't have treatment for it. So they often would die or they would just be in a huge amount of pain. They also didn't know what the disease was. They didn't know about microbes. That was this new thing. The idea that these tiny little animals that are causing these diseases. So what did they think? You know, in the bubonic plague, you know, in the Black Death, the 1300s, people thought that it was an act of God because, you know, God's angry at us. Because why would you not think that if you didn't know what it was? And so the crazy thing is that these were the same primates. So I do know something about them. I know in some sense what it's like to be them because I am a human as well. And to know that this particular primate that I know what it's like to be experienced such different things.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Maybe it's all relative. How many people in history have experienced a hot shower? Like almost none. Like when more hot showers invented 100 years ago, like less. George Washington never had a hot shower. It's like, it's just kind of weird. He took cold showers all the time. Or like, and again, we just take this for granted, but that's like an unbelievable life experience to have rain, a controlled little booth where it rains hot water on your head. And then you get out and it's not everywhere. It's like contained. That was like, you know, a lot of people probably lived and died never experiencing hot water. Maybe they had a way to heat water over a fire, but like then it's, I don't know. It's just like there's so many things about our lives now that are complete, just total anomaly.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We know that the Earth is a ball floating in space, and we know that we're going to die one day, and we know that we evolved from animals. Those were all incredible epiphanies quite recently. And the people a long time ago, they just had no idea what was going on. And like, I'm kind of jealous because I feel like it might have been scary to not know what's going on, but it also, I feel like, would be you'd have a sense of awe and wonder all the time. And you don't know what's going to happen next. And once you learn, you're kind of like, oh, that's like, it's a little grim.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“For so, so long. And who are they all? And what was their life like? And it's, you know, I think we have no idea what it was like to be them. The thing that's craziest about the people of the far past is not just that they had different lives, they had different fears, they had different dangers and different responsibilities and they lived in tribes and everything, but they didn't know anything. Like we just take it for granted that we're born on top of this tower of knowledge. And from the very beginning, we...”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, 25 pages of actual recorded history. So when we think of prehistoric, we're talking about pages one through 975 of the book. And then history is page 976 to 1000. If you were reading the book, it would be like epilogue AD, you know, the last little 10 pages of the book. And we think of AD as super long, right? 2,000 years, the Roman Empire, 2,000 years ago. Like, that's so long. Human history has been going on for over 2,000 centuries. That is, it's just hard to wrap your head around. And this is, I mean, even that's just the end of a very long road. Like, you know, the hundred thousand years before that, it's not like that was that different. So it's just, there's been people like us that have emotions like us, that have physical sensations like us.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a boring book, so 950 pages, 95% of the book Hunter Gatherer is kind of doing their thing. I'm sure there's obviously some major cognitive and advancements along the way in language. And I'm sure the bone arrow comes around at some point. So tiny things, but it's like, okay, now we have 400 pages till the next thing. But then you get to page 950 and things start moving.”
2023-02-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #360 – Tim Urban: Tribalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Justice, and Politics · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source