I came across Brent Cooper’s writing while looking for more cogent explanations of what’s happening in the global metacrisis. There were often pieces missing from the narrative in various spaces. When I came across Brent’s writing, something clicked. I began sending his article to other sensemakers, and they remarked that Brent’s perspectives expressed exactly what they were seeing.
My journey through epistemic spaces has been filled with many insights into the unconscious drivers that form people’s biases. Everyone’s different and we’re not here to have everyone think or act the same. However, the problem today is that people are hiding, in denial of larger realities because they’re afraid to transform and change into higher versions of themselves. That is our problem today.
If you’ve come across or even been hooked by various names in the online space of so-called public intellectuals (e.g., Jordan Peterson, Steven Pinker, Sam Harris, Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, Eric Weinstein) and if you’re looking to become more adept at being present to the complex challenges of our world today, this episode is for you. I don’t hate any of these people, but I have serious issues with their thinking. If they’re going to send out distorted frequencies and ideas to the not-self collective and make careers out of them, they should expect some pushback.
Key Topics
00:00 - Introduction
00:58 - Start of Conversation
02:19 - Being an “Anti-Professional”
03:17 - Sociology & Beyond Integral Theory
05:36 - Brent’s Content and Relationship to Integral
07:30 - Integral Theory’s Ceilings and Dead Ends
08:55 - New Paradigm Creation & Epistemic Tension
10:08 - We’re in the Darkest Timeline & Decolonization
12:16 - The Importance of Sociology in Epistemic Spaces
15:26 - The Lack of Sociological Consciousness in Society
19:02 - The Abs-Tract Organization + What Is Abstraction?
26:08 - The Intellectual Dark Web Is Leaving Things Out
28:44 - “Epistemic Humility” and Weaponized Incompetence
31:22 - Dealing With People’s Structures of Interpretation
31:58 - Optimizing Response Through Fierce Grace
35:00 - How the World Was Gaslit on Capitalism
37:00 - The Dearth of Aesthetics of Communism
39:26 - Whole Careers Are Built on Hatred
45:48 - Giving Everyday People Access to More Ideas
49:38 - The Race to the Bottom of the Brainstem
54:45 - Systems Thinking, Dogma, and Brent’s Books
57:26 - The Problem with Steven Pinker’s Work
1:02:40 - Brent’s Work, Patreon, and Links
1:06:36 - Good Abstraction Is Getting Real
Brent Cooper
Brent Cooper is Executive Director of The Abs-Tract Organization, a meta think tank and transmedia project committed to solving the world's systemic problems through a process of complexity reduction known as abstraction. In this episode, Brent and I talk about the critical role of political sociology in 21st-century issues, the limitations of Wilber’s integral theory, the dynamics of modern discourse, and the true meaning of independent thinking as it pertains to complex topics. Brent brings a political and sociological perspective that grounds epistemic thinkers and philosophers in the realities of people’s lived experiences.
Resources & Affiliate Links
Vicious Abstract and Systemic Racism by Brent Cooper
Woman Warrior: A Training for 21st Century Systems Change by Rayner Jae Liu
Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a Future Without Work by Srnicek and Williams
The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills
The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills
White Collar: The American Middle Classes by C. Wright Mills
The Meaning of Truth by William James
Guest Links & Contact
The Abs-Tract Organization and Contact: abs-tract.org
Abs-Tract Medium: medium.com/the-abs-tract-organization
Abs-Tract Twitter: twitter.com/tato_tweets
Abs-Tract Facebook: tinyurl.com/abs-tract-fb-page
Abs-Tract YouTube: youtube.com/Abs-tractOrg
Abs-Tract Patreon: patreon.com/abs_tract
Contact me about being a guest or invite me on your show: raynerjaeliu.com
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