Stalin, Hitler, Genghis Khan: Absolute power corrupts absolutely | Richard Wrangham and Lex Fridman
80,246
Published 2021-10-12
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GUEST BIO:
Richard Wrangham is a biological anthropologist at Harvard, specializing in the study of primates and the evolution of violence, sex, cooking, culture, and other aspects of ape and human behavior.
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All Comments (21)
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Casual Lex gem #19: “You construct the worldview in which the violence is justified.”
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How come the Japanese and Hirohito always get a pass in these discussions? A conservative estimate is that Japan's Asia- Pacific War resulted in 25 million dead.
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There is the alternative explanation that these tyrants rose to power in an environment that favored psychopathic behavior in ascending the hierarchy. They then had the proclivity from the beginning, and they were the best at adapting to their environment. There are such individuals in all societies and all cultures, but they do not climb to the top of a power structure by default.
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He is wrong about Stalin having himself convinced he was doing good. When his wife died he literally said: "She died and with her died my last warm feelings for humanity".
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This guest gave rise to the best conversation ever. Really!
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"Those who can make you believe absurdities can convince you to commit atrocities."
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Lenin apparently said: "Get on the right end of a gun & stay there."
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Nothing I ever learned about Stalin said to me that he believed in Communism, simply that he saw it as a good vehicle to gain power for himself.
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Lex has a weird tendency to make Stalin less of a monster than he was.
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I think breaking bad has some very good insights into these kinds of questions, cause what usually happens when people attain vast amounts of power is their ego tends to over inflate. And what happens when a person views themselves and their interests as superior to everybody around them? Is they become less empathetic. So the more overinflated a person's ego becomes the empathy they have.
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Lex this talk with Richard is my favorite. Thank you
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Lex needs to watch the history bro on Stalin
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Absolute power can have the potential to corrupt absolutely
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Curious how close to direct violence a proclaimed psycho has to be in order to be classified as a deadly dictator. Someone mentioned motive in response to leaders ideological obsession turned insane. But If the ancient Papacy directed or inspired but never personally killed anyone is that the same person, or do all true dictators have personal blood on there hamds. Does that change any assumptions here?
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You need to do an episode on this.
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As far as Stalin's 'belief' in communism, all you have to do is study the policies he favored and implemented during his reign. There's no communist thread of thinking you can find, it is just PRAGMATISM, from one extreme policy to the next, from supporting capitalists to disowning social democrats. Pragmatism was serving his and his fellow bureaucrats' privileges and interests.
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The vacuum from dismantling power structures is fertile ground for the cruellest individuals. This is the miracle of the United States, that Washington and others grasping at the newly cast chalice of power were humbled and wary of temptation, devoting their efforts to parry it.
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How is Hitler and Stalin not on the same level at minimum? I'm perplexed there lex apologies.
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I can't agree on Lex's opinion of Stalin. Stalin was brutal and ruthless in his pursuit of power as well.
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Option A: Stalin was a true believer. Option B: Stalin was power-hungry. These are not mutually exclusive options.
