Pursuing Wisdom over Intelligence | Jason Merchey #51 

Plato talked about how society will be in a better position when kings become philosophers or philosophers become kings. However, what exactly is it about philosophy that would make for great leadership? Our guest this week, Jason Merchy, believes the answer lies in wisdom. He has written an excellent book on the topic: Wisdom: A Very Valuable Virtue that Cannot be Bought. We talk quite a bit about this topic through Jason's book. We discuss the important role that wisdom plays in discerning right from wrong; we share our concerns about the metaverse; and we talk about what gives us hope through some Star Trek. This is a fascinating episode. You're going to want to check out Jason's book as well, which is full of wonderful quotations to make you think about life. 

// EPISODE LINKS //

Wisdom: A Very Valuable Virtue that Cannot be Bought (affiliate): https://amzn.to/3nULHOH

Values and Ethics (affiliate): https://amzn.to/3Pj7OKf

// EPISODE OUTLINE //

00:00 Teaser (A Moby-DIck reference. I swear I didn't prompt it.)

00:31 Introduction

02:12 Start of conversation

06:41 I'm layback, but I have my moments

10:07 How does wisdom help us discern right from wrong?

13:25 Should our leaders be pursuing more wisdom over power?

16:04 Wisdom vs intelligence

21:36 Were you always questing for wisdom, or did it come with age?

25:38 What are some of the connections between wisdom, intuition, and self actualization?

30:31 Are you excited about the possibility of living in the metaverse?

42:50 Let's talk about conspiracy theories

44:26 How do we differentiate healthy skepticism from unhealthy obsessive pattern searching?

46:52 What gives you hope?

48:26 Final thoughts

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#wisdom #philosophy #conspiracies #neutralgroundpodcast