Gurwinder Bhogal is a writer and programmer who writes about the myriad ways in which technology and psychology conspire to fool us and how we can withstand the covert assault on our senses. Gurwinder is known for his epic Twitter ‘Megathreads’ which set out a series of powerful concepts for understanding the world. He joins the show to discuss our tendency to narrativize information, how to overcome the bandwidth tax, why Wikipedia is the world’s largest source of misinformation, and MUCH more! Important Links: - Megathread: Feb 7, 2020 - https://twitter.com/G_S_Bhogal/status/1225561131122597896 (53,000 likes) - Megathread: Feb 11, 2022 - https://twitter.com/G_S_Bhogal/status/1492255231169679365 (62,000 likes) - Megathread: March 18, 2023 - https://twitter.com/G_S_Bhogal/status/1636875003810525188 (most recent) - Gurwinder's Substack - https://gurwinder.substack.com/ - Gurwinder's Twitter - https://twitter.com/G_S_Bhogal - The Toxoplasma of Rage - https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/17/the-toxoplasma-of-rage/ 00:00 155. YT 01:06 Main Podcast 01:24 Megathreads & the Woozle effect 12:18 AI, the Encyclopedia Disinformatica, and cultivating a garden of Mithridates 27:50 Capturing the nuance between dishonesty and lying 32:27 The Toxoplasma of Rage 39:22 Overcoming the bandwidth tax 46:59 Brandishing the golden hammer; why we can’t comprehend large numbers 51:29 Tribalism & intersubjectivity 01:01:44 The purity spiral 01:07:49 Are we facing a lost generation? 01:11:20 We are programmed to like complex explanations 01:16:16 Narratavizing information 01:23:21 “Certainty is the death of thought” 01:30:48 Climbing the thinking ladder Books Mentioned: - The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a - Talking to Strangers; by Malcolm Gladwell - Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu - What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies; by Tim Urban
“We have created for ourselves a world that we didn't evolve for.” Gurwinder Bhogal is, for my money, one of the most independent, original and insightful thinkers you’ll find in our corner of the internet. He returns to discuss how willpower and good old-fashioned human agency can help us reclaim our mental sovereignty and escape the “constant avalanche of concerns that are being vomited over us through our laptop screens, our phones, our TV screens, and in conversations.” For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other stuff designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!” check out our Substack - https://newsletter.osv.llc/. Important Links: - Gurwinder's Substack - https://gurwinder.substack.com/ - Gurwinder's Twitter - https://twitter.com/G_S_Bhogal - Gurwinder’s previous Infinite Loops appearance - https://www.infiniteloopspodcast.com/gurwinder-bhogal-certainty-is-the-death-of-thought-ep155/ Show Notes: 0:00:00 Intro 0:00:42 “We have created for ourselves a world we didn’t evolve for” 0:05:42 The dogged persistence of our stubborn beliefs 0:09:57 Gamification; generational differences in agency 0:20:02 The societal impact of the education system’s changing priorities 0:29:38 How to zombify a population 0:35:50 Skin in the game: Gurwinder’s guide to reclaiming agency 0:42:07 LLMs, bullshit, and the atomization of culture 1:01:50 How to play better games 1:27:02 Willpower is the bottleneck 1:40:11 Gurwinder as emperor of the world Books Mentioned: - Why Everything is Becoming a Game - https://www.gurwinder.blog/p/why-everything-is-becoming-a-game; by Gurwinder Bhogal - Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know; by Adam Grant - The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr - The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements; by Eric Hoffer - Why the Mental Health of Liberal Girls Sank First and Fastest - https://www.afterbabel.com/p/mental-health-liberal-girls; by Jonathan Haidt (After Babel) - America’s Colleges Are Reaping What They Sowed - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/college-activism-hypocrisy/678262/; by Tyler Austin Harper (The Atlantic) - Joe Biden and the Common Knowledge Game - https://www.epsilontheory.com/joe-biden-and-the-common-knowledge-game/; by Ben Hunt (Epsilon Theory) - The Emperor’s New Clothes; by Hans Christian Andersen - Futarchy Details - https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/futarchy-details; by Robin Hanson (Overcoming Bias) - The Enlightenment Trilogy; by Jed McKenna - The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by Joseph Henrich