Competing Intellectual Systems

This week, I ran across a podcaster who blamed the influence of the "Rockefeller-funded" General Education Board in the 1930s for the inability of Boomers to see that Israel was behind most of the problems in the world. The internet allowed podcasters to show younger people the truth. He thought most Boomers were stuck in limited ways of thinking like Mike Huckabee - - unable the process "gotcha" questions of Tucker Carlson, like one about the ancestors of the Prime Minister of Israel.

Hmmmm.

I kinda think that Mike Huckabee is not the best example of a guy who thinks on his feet in confrontations with intellectual foes. There has been some conflict centered around him recently in connection with his role as ambassador to Israel. While the "Woke Right" thinks he always kowtows to the Israeli point of view, he seems in at least one instance here to have gone in the other direction to appease Catholics and others without knowing the facts. I don't think this had much to do with the General Education Board in the 1930s and Boomers in general.

I'm also not real sure that the typical under-a-minute hot takes from today's podcasts are advances in our intellectual lives, especially if most people stay in "bubbles" with people who agree with them.

Do you think the next step from the internet - robot teachers - will help?

"Figure 03" AI-powered robot accompanies first lady Melania Trump to a White House summit on empowering children with educational technology. pic.twitter.com/RShdfvEG38

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 25, 2026

Update: Think a robot would show this film to Tucker's followers, or the followers of podcasters who follow him?

This colorized video is a collection of B-roll footage mostly shot in the Arab town of Akko (a shot of Jewish sunbathers on a beach slips in momentarily) for a “March of Time” documentary on British ruled Palestine praising the prosperity brought to the land by the Jews 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Zxd8uLDWIa

— Boaz Arad 博雅 (@aradboaz) March 26, 2026

When can being too smart get in your way?

The thread (not real current) below includes ideas concerning ways that being too smart can get in the way of progress. Several of them may be relevant to current military actions:

John Fowles explains in "The Aristos" (1964) how high IQ can subvert your will to act: "High intelligence leads to multiplicity of interest and a sharpened capacity to foresee the consequences of any action. Will is lost in a labyrinth of hypothesis." Rule 1: Do not lose the will pic.twitter.com/qvBc8TdHZg

— Jash Dholani (@oldbooksguy) September 15, 2024

A LOT of interesting stuff here. But below are a few selections from the thread above if you don't have time to read it all:

1/ Carlyle in 1841: "A man lives by believing something; not by debating and arguing about many things." Chesterton on how an open mind is no more a virtue than an open mouth: "The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid”

2/ A knight who owns a sharp sword should make sure he does not cut himself with it, and a man gifted with a great mind should make sure he does not start living inside it...

This is gold. One of the less talked about side-effects of intelligence—seeing every possible outcome from every possible perspective = philosophical rumination, stagnation. I practice now setting boundaries with my open mind, directing it wisely instead of being a slave to it.

— Masha (@mmaria_maya) September 15, 2024

Napoleon on how he planned wars: "There is no man more pusillanimous than I when I am planning a campaign" In the planning stage, Napoleon exaggerated, in his mind "all the dangers and calamities" possible BUT while fighting, he forgot everything "except what led to success"

Weekend

The Week in Pictures: Iran Derangement Syndrome

Does it seem sometimes like life is just one long TSA line? Cheer up! You could be a ship stuck at the Strait of Hormuz. But I have an idea that will supercharge this weekend’s off-Broadway revival of the “No Kings” improv troupes. . .

Music

✨🇨🇳Robots play traditional Chinese drums in perfect sync—what a cool mix of tech and culture! pic.twitter.com/wlkKjJ5QE0

— 🇨🇳XuZhenqing徐祯卿 (@XueJia24682) December 23, 2025

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Last week's thread, Last week's thread, March 21, Women of The New Religious Wars

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 11:23 AM

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