“We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things, he is not lord of himself. He feels lost amid his own abundance. With more means at his disposal, more knowledge, more technique than ever, it turns out that the world today goes the same way as the worst of worlds that have been: it simply drifts”.
In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Revolt of the Masses by José Ortega y Gasset. In this pre-WWII collection of essays Ortega y Gasset critiques and predicts the rise and predominance of the “Mass-man” class and instigates us to be accountable of our destiny.
“The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest, even though he may not fulfill in his person those higher exigencies”.
We cover a wide range of topics, including:
And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of Revolt of the Masses and to check out Nat’s Notes on the book!
Mentioned in the show:
Books mentioned:
People mentioned:
0:00 – “We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things, he is not lord of himself. He feels lost amid his own abundance. With more means at his disposal, more knowledge, more technique than ever, it turns out that the world today goes the same way as the worst of worlds that have been: it simply drifts.”
0:26 – Welcome to Pepper, the third show host!
0:59 – Intro to Revolt of the Masses (Spanish: La rebelión de las masas), a book written by José Ortega y Gasset.
1:05 – Similarities of Revolt of the Masses with The Sovereign Individual and Finite and Infinite Games. Mention of “Horizonal Thinking” in one of the essays. Introduction of terms used by Ortega, the Mass Man, one who thinks deserve things, vs the Elite/Noble Man, one who thinks about improving himself.
3:16 – Organization of the book in unordered essays instead of chapters.
3:50 – Why Ortega got many predictions right, but may have missed many others by publishing this book before WWII and the Cold War. For example, he didn’t expect the US to become a super-power. “The US had the seeds to be great“.
5:04 – Tangent. About the difficulty to translate from romance languages to English. Translators vs interpreters. Socially acceptable traits in some countries and not others.
7:06 – Details on the situation of Europe at the time of publishing the book. Europeans worry about spreading of Russian Communism. Socialism in China.
9:11 – Tangent. Socialists of NYC. Perceptions: Nazism vs Socialism as counter-culture; fraud and violence vs crimes of omission and neglect. “It wouldn’t be that bad if other people were in charge” argument. Vegans about killing lionfishes example. Jainism (indian religion).
14:14 – Political views of Ortega. Liberalism concepts today and in the past, interpretations and misinterpretations. Free markets and protectionism example.
16:31 – Tangent. New tax to “punish” liberal states. Moving to Texas for tax purposes. Buying an apartment may be cheaper than paying taxes in NY. Zero income tax. San Francisco diaspora.
20:24 – Essay. Distinguishing the Mass man vs the “Select”/Aspirational man. “The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest, even though he may not fulfil in his person those higher exigencies“. Being elite as mindset vs being rich. Access to resources today compared to the past.
25:15 – Tangent. The rise of general quality of life in the last century was due to fossil fuel driven. Humans as the cancer of this planet. Broad philosophy vs personal action.
27:37 – Conformity. Groups of people against others. Fear of strangers. Nature preserve in Costa Rica for dogs.
31:55 – Essay. Masses have more than they ever had, and appreciate less and less. Upward mobility viewed by different people. “Poor people are lazy” argument. Girardian Terror concept. Selection bias and Game of Thrones. Conflicts within casts vs between casts, in India.
37:13 – “The sovereignty of the unqualified individual, of the generic human being as such, generically, has now passed from being a juridical idea or ideal to be a psychological state inherent in the average man. And note this, that when what was before an ideal becomes an ingredient of reality it inevitably ceases to be an ideal“. Critique of the Mass person as a human that is not striving. The “Useless” Class.
38:34 – Tangent. Going back to the serves-and-lord state.
39:10 – The meaning of life in a world without work. Living in Virtual Reality, and Religion as VR. Artificial Intelligence and the need of Basic Universal Income.
41:15 – City states as the economic hubs of the future. Singapore and Hong Kong, San Francisco and New York. Importing beer in Hong Kong and in the US. Moving away from regulation because “nobody cares” and generational approaches to law.
45:41 – How regulation scares bitcoin price. About bitcoin wallets reporting to the IRS. How bitcoin relates to some many other topics: nation-states, business, currencies, politics, finance, politics, geography, cryptography, computer science, philosophy, etc.
51:45 – “The Mass-man is he whose life lacks projects and just drifts along. As a result, though his possibilities and his powers be enormous, he constructs nothing“. Having the ability and motivation to improve thanks to today’s technology. How today’s responsibility falls on the individual. Parents wanting their kids to be better off. Sending kids to private school while criticizing public school. Minorities.
55:33 – Essay. Why the masses intervene in everything and why their intervention is solely by violence. Why people are wrong when they believe they can have an opinion now. Level 3 thinking.
58:30 – Tangent. Blog posts with Top X types titles.
1:00:07 – Celebrities endorsing political candidates and the liking fallacy. When to listen to others opinions. Steps to the Revolt. How people think they are entitled to be listened to. Syndicalism and Fascism. “Under the species of Syndicalism and Fascism there appears for the first time in Europe a type of man who does not want to give reasons or to be right, but simply shows himself resolved to impose his opinions. This is the new thing: the right not to be reasonable, the “reason of unreason”.”
1:04:14 – How the majority does not eliminate the minority. When to respect others’ beliefs. The cake neglected to the gay couple example. Problems that may better be solved by the market.
1:09:15 – Essay. The age of the self-satisfied Dandy. On having rewards that we haven’t necessarily gained. Anxiety from feeling entitled to move upward.
1:12:50 – Essay. The Barbarism of Specialization. Problems of overspecialization. Link with Antifragile.
1:14:06 – Essay. The Greatest Danger: The State. How the state could be used to make people conform. Support of regulation and support of police.
1:15:47 – Essay. Who Actually Commands. How governments rule with the compliance of the masses. Why elections should reflect the opinion of the masses, and why the gerrymandering is fragile. The problem with Democracy. About the quality of the legislative chambers.
1:20:29 – Closing thoughts. Be a vital person, be involved with the world, try to do projects, don’t get sucked into the masses.
1:20:46 – People that makes this show happen: Kettle and Fire (their bone broth is good for dogs too!), Perfect Keto (reach ketosis effortless), Four Sygmatic Coffee (delicious mushroom coffee, pre-workout hot cocoa mixes). You can support us too, as most have done prepping for the NY snow storm through the Amazon affiliate link.
