The Great Bertrand Russell Had The Intellect Of Ray Peat

[ecstatichamster]

He was always someone I admired so greatly. He could write clearly. He went to jail to protest WW I. He wrote amazing mathematical books far beyond my understanding.

I see a lot of Dr. Peat in Bertrand Russell in terms of being independent brilliant thinkers.

This is a fabulous interview of less than 30 minutes.

 

[ecstatichamster]

I disagree with Russell on almost everything but he was incredibly brilliant and a free thinker.

 

[LUH 3417]

You can really tell Peat was influenced by Bertrand Russel if you listen to the podcast with Dany Roddy “On Authoritarians”. In it Peat makes mention of Platonic forms and ideals as an early form of illogical authority, and talks a bit about the cult of Parmenides (goddess fortuna, geometry), in which members had to be initiated in order to belong and spoke their own language.

 

[postman]

He wrote some absolutely disgusting things about the organization of society, although I'm not sure if he was in favor or against those things. Considering the fact that he was a globalist and an advocate of "scientific society", he was probably in favor of those things.

 

[ecstatichamster]

You can really tell Peat was influenced by Bertrand Russel if you listen to the podcast with Dany Roddy “On Authoritarians”. In it Peat makes mention of Platonic forms and ideals as an early form of illogical authority, and talks a bit about the cult of Parmenides (goddess fortuna, geometry), in which members had to be initiated in order to belong and spoke their own language.

I think so too. I think he was. Russell was a towering intellect and very famous and I think influenced Dr. Peat.

@postman absolutely, I disagree with everything he says which is in the abhorrent tradition of Jeremy Bentham and if you look at it, behind a lot of ideas that are generally regarded as true today, but which are false.

 

[Kartoffel]

I think so too. I think he was. Russell was a towering intellect and very famous and I think influenced Dr. Peat.

@postman absolutely, I disagree with everything he says which is in the abhorrent tradition of Jeremy Bentham and if you look at it, behind a lot of ideas that are generally regarded as true today, but which are false.

How can you perceive someone as brilliant, if you disagree with him on basically everything?

 

[ecstatichamster]

How can you perceive someone as brilliant, if you disagree with him on basically everything?

because of his processes. His thought processes. His intellect. I don't have to agree.

 

[Kartoffel]

because of his processes. His thought processes. His intellect. I don't have to agree.

If his thought processes lead to conclusions that you disagree with across the board, how can you admire them and abhor the results? If I think that all of a person's ideas are idiotic, I will think the same about his thought processes. You can't be a brilliant thinker and come up with only idiotic ideas.

 

[ecstatichamster]

If his thought processes lead to conclusions that you disagree with across the board, how can you admire them and abhor the results? If I think that all of a person's ideas are idiotic, I will think the same about his thought processes. You can't be a brilliant thinker and come up with only idiotic ideas.

I think that someone's intellect can lead them to different conclusions but they are still brilliant.

Dr. Peat's beliefs about politics are abhorrent to me, but I don't doubt his intellect. People who are brilliant can reach different conclusions than mine and still be brilliant.

 

[tallglass13]

Do we know what his Diet was like? He lived to be 97

 

[ecstatichamster]

Diet, injections, and injunctions will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and the sort of beliefs that the authorities consider desirable, and any serious criticism of the powers that be will become psychologically impossible. Even if all are miserable, all will believe themselves happy, because the government will tell them that they are so.

 

[tallglass13]

Diet, injections, and injunctions will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and the sort of beliefs that the authorities consider desirable, and any serious criticism of the powers that be will become psychologically impossible. Even if all are miserable, all will believe themselves happy, because the government will tell them that they are so.

Totally

 

[ecstatichamster]

Totally

he wasn't a fool...

 

[ecstatichamster]

His secret was pick your ancestors and have a zest for life.

 

[Kartoffel]

Dr. Peat's beliefs about politics are abhorrent to me

Out of curiosity, which of his beliefs exactly do you find abhorrent?

 

[ecstatichamster]

Out of curiosity, which of his beliefs exactly do you find abhorrent?

He thinks the Soviets were good, and he is at heart a believer in communism, I gather from random remarks. He does not believe in the free market at all.

I base this on remarks on the Danny Roddy interview about the Mighty Wurlitzer and other remarks, as he doesn’t focus on this stuff in general unless asked. My theory is his parents were committed communists and Dr. Peat was and still is. He mentions trip to the Soviet Union at a time when the people who went were generally communist sympathizers (such as supposed Kennedy killer Oswald and Bernie Sanders)

 

[Kartoffel]

He thinks the Soviets were good

Very specific statement. Where exactly did he say that? Do you deny that some of the Soviet people he talks about were great scientists?
You can't say anything specific regarding his political beliefs, yet you feel confident enough to call them abhorrent? Just because he isn't as dumb as the average American, and maintains that all Soviet people were dumb, mindless slaves, doesn't mean he thinks "Soviets were good".

 

[postman]

Very specific statement. Where exactly did he say that? Do you deny that some of the Soviet people he talks about were great scientists?
You can't say anything specific regarding his political beliefs, yet you feel confident enough to call them abhorrent? Just because he isn't as dumb as the average American, and maintains that all Soviet people were dumb, mindless slaves, doesn't mean he thinks "Soviets were good".

He has spoken positively of Stalin and Mao.

I haven't read any of it so I can't really lay judgement on it, but a lot of leftists have revisionist views about communist states and their genocides.

 

[Kartoffel]

He has spoken positively of Stalin and Mao.

I haven't read any of it so I can't really lay judgement on it, but a lot of leftists have revisionist views about communist states and their genocides.

What positive remarks do you mean?

 

[LUH 3417]

He thinks the Soviets were good, and he is at heart a believer in communism, I gather from random remarks. He does not believe in the free market at all.

I base this on remarks on the Danny Roddy interview about the Mighty Wurlitzer and other remarks, as he doesn’t focus on this stuff in general unless asked. My theory is his parents were committed communists and Dr. Peat was and still is. He mentions trip to the Soviet Union at a time when the people who went were generally communist sympathizers (such as supposed Kennedy killer Oswald and Bernie Sanders)

Dr. Peat’s admiration of Soviet science is based on the orienting reflex and their inclusion of desire into the process of human experience. When contrasted with the behaviorist psychology coming from the US, I would say Soviet ideas were much more humane. Leninist were not Stalinists and within the communist party there was much disagreement. Russell seemed to be acutely aware of and interested in the problem women faced relying on men for material sustenance.