I do like Peterson. A lot. But I bought and read more of your books. He is doing another sport, though (or is he?). I liked Scott Alexander's take:
"The non-point-missing description of Jordan Peterson is that he’s a prophet. ... prophets say three things: First, good and evil are definitely real. ... Second, you are kind of crap. You know what good is, but you don’t do it. You know what evil is, but you do it anyway. You avoid the straight and narrow path in favor of the easy and comfortable one. You make excuses for yourself and you blame your problems on other people. You can say otherwise, and maybe other people will believe you, but you and I both know you’re lying. Third, it’s not too late to change. ..."
When I was a (younger) young man, I was a huge fan of Jordan Peterson. 12 Rules for Life changed my life for the better. I found one of his psych 101 lectures on Youtube and was very compelled.
However, when I see JP today I am horrified. After years of professing being against ideology, he now seems pretty ideological to me.
I would just caution that the popularity of JP destroyed the funny voiced professor I saw on Youtube in 2017 and he was replaced by a hateful ideologue. I can't necessarily blame him, he's been attacked many times and it's normal to fight back. I don't disagree with his takes. Popularity changed him into a person I'm no longer interested in listening to.
While there is a fair bit of overlap between Bryan and Jordan's views (first link, was featured on Rob Henderson's recommendations), I think Jordan is frankly a lot better at giving advice to the typical young person. If you attend his live lectures, he truly has a world class talent for it (partial transcript, second link).
Giving advice full time has the opportunity cost of not doing all the things you used to do before it was full time, that informed your advice. Your advice won't be updated nearly as well or as often; it will become stale.
There is a pipeline that goes something like this:
1) Men believe what they are told about sexual relations from the mainstream (at least somewhat feminist/woke) perspective.
2) Men find out this isn't true. Perhaps intensely not true.
3) Men try advice based on red pill and their lives improve/they get laid. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be better then what they were getting.
4) Men ask what the hell else might not be true, especially in the realm of biology.
5) All sorts of other things come up with genetics, evolutionary psychology, HBD, etc. Even economics and basically everything.
Yes, please. Do it. Tailored advice would be even better. Like the constant advice of going to college. Well, if one is on the lower end of the IQ range and going to college means getting a stupid degree in ethnic studies, its probably not the best advice. What should a low IQ hard worker do? The answer would probably be different. My point is not just to give advice, but be specific of who the advice is targeted to. I think there is a huge hunger for that and its missing in the marketplace, would be a huge benefit to many of your listeners.
Your advice would be worth reading; I found your takes pretty good. I think there are a couple of target markets, top of mind, that your advice would be very valuable to: 1) young men working to make sense of career, business and family life (competing with Dr. Peterson) or 2) new parents looking to raise their children with exceptional preparation for the world coming up (valuable, but less competition). I read your books and much of your other writings, but videos are much more compelling.
I encourage the idea because I already have taken some of your advice. I have wished for more, indeed, in the following ways: as the mother of boys, looking to guide them as future good men (there isn't very much out there about this); as a homeschooling family; and as a parent trying to avoid the contemporary common family life wherein children and parents are often detached or else helicoptering (I.e. how I and many of my peers were raised, which is to say that I don't want to just repeat my history).
Just a general comment, Bryan. It is my observation that two critical skills for young adults are: 1. Knowing how to learn; and 2. Knowing how to behave in a relationship.
Except that no one teaches either, at least not until after something is broken: a kid struggles in school, or a relationship is in trouble. We seem to hope that kids will learn by magic, or perhaps based on the dismal example that many parents, often with no fault of their own (they were never taught themselves), provide.
It would be fantastic if you Bryan were to tackle either, or both, of these matters. Young adults, and their parents, will be so very grateful you did.
You have some comparative advantage with Jordan Peterson - he tends to ramble, is sometimes too weepy and comes off patrician. You come off as a happy warrior, you have your beautiful bubble and the stakes don't seem too high with advice from you. If you were to give advice consider giving it in conversation with your sons, or someone who can lightheartedly push back against you or in the form of informal bets. There is enough talking heads out there giving advice.
Anyone who supports the idea of taking personal responsibility has something to say. How one might criticise the McDonald’s example is beyond me. Wanting to make something of your life and then doing something about it is probably one of the best ways to be happy. Giving people this type of advice is wonderful.
I think you could easily fill an ebook much like the recent ones you 've been selling just with life advice essays along multiple dimensions. I've shared your essay on homeschooling with a bunch of people who were interested in that for example. I'm sure you have others already written or some you could write roughly in the same vein that would be super helpful, especially given how closely you look at all the angles of what the data on a particular topic actually says.
I do like Peterson. A lot. But I bought and read more of your books. He is doing another sport, though (or is he?). I liked Scott Alexander's take:
"The non-point-missing description of Jordan Peterson is that he’s a prophet. ... prophets say three things: First, good and evil are definitely real. ... Second, you are kind of crap. You know what good is, but you don’t do it. You know what evil is, but you do it anyway. You avoid the straight and narrow path in favor of the easy and comfortable one. You make excuses for yourself and you blame your problems on other people. You can say otherwise, and maybe other people will believe you, but you and I both know you’re lying. Third, it’s not too late to change. ..."
- "As always, read the whole thing": https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/03/26/book-review-twelve-rules-for-life/ Then again, "... voice of one crying in the wilderness ..." may apply to Bryan Caplan, too. Esp. after his recent take on the gospel of wokeism.
When I was a (younger) young man, I was a huge fan of Jordan Peterson. 12 Rules for Life changed my life for the better. I found one of his psych 101 lectures on Youtube and was very compelled.
However, when I see JP today I am horrified. After years of professing being against ideology, he now seems pretty ideological to me.
I would just caution that the popularity of JP destroyed the funny voiced professor I saw on Youtube in 2017 and he was replaced by a hateful ideologue. I can't necessarily blame him, he's been attacked many times and it's normal to fight back. I don't disagree with his takes. Popularity changed him into a person I'm no longer interested in listening to.
While there is a fair bit of overlap between Bryan and Jordan's views (first link, was featured on Rob Henderson's recommendations), I think Jordan is frankly a lot better at giving advice to the typical young person. If you attend his live lectures, he truly has a world class talent for it (partial transcript, second link).
https://infovores.substack.com/i/85373261/a-great-man-theory-of-caplan-and-aaronson
https://infovores.substack.com/p/partial-q-and-a-transcript-from-jordan
On the flip side of this, I think if you were to go on his show, that would be the most entertaining podcast he has ever done.
Giving advice full time has the opportunity cost of not doing all the things you used to do before it was full time, that informed your advice. Your advice won't be updated nearly as well or as often; it will become stale.
There is a pipeline that goes something like this:
1) Men believe what they are told about sexual relations from the mainstream (at least somewhat feminist/woke) perspective.
2) Men find out this isn't true. Perhaps intensely not true.
3) Men try advice based on red pill and their lives improve/they get laid. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be better then what they were getting.
4) Men ask what the hell else might not be true, especially in the realm of biology.
5) All sorts of other things come up with genetics, evolutionary psychology, HBD, etc. Even economics and basically everything.
Yes, please. Do it. Tailored advice would be even better. Like the constant advice of going to college. Well, if one is on the lower end of the IQ range and going to college means getting a stupid degree in ethnic studies, its probably not the best advice. What should a low IQ hard worker do? The answer would probably be different. My point is not just to give advice, but be specific of who the advice is targeted to. I think there is a huge hunger for that and its missing in the marketplace, would be a huge benefit to many of your listeners.
Bryan, it would be interesting to see you do an episode with Jordan Peterson.
Your advice would be worth reading; I found your takes pretty good. I think there are a couple of target markets, top of mind, that your advice would be very valuable to: 1) young men working to make sense of career, business and family life (competing with Dr. Peterson) or 2) new parents looking to raise their children with exceptional preparation for the world coming up (valuable, but less competition). I read your books and much of your other writings, but videos are much more compelling.
I encourage the idea because I already have taken some of your advice. I have wished for more, indeed, in the following ways: as the mother of boys, looking to guide them as future good men (there isn't very much out there about this); as a homeschooling family; and as a parent trying to avoid the contemporary common family life wherein children and parents are often detached or else helicoptering (I.e. how I and many of my peers were raised, which is to say that I don't want to just repeat my history).
Sounds like a message needed even more by young women.
Just a general comment, Bryan. It is my observation that two critical skills for young adults are: 1. Knowing how to learn; and 2. Knowing how to behave in a relationship.
Except that no one teaches either, at least not until after something is broken: a kid struggles in school, or a relationship is in trouble. We seem to hope that kids will learn by magic, or perhaps based on the dismal example that many parents, often with no fault of their own (they were never taught themselves), provide.
It would be fantastic if you Bryan were to tackle either, or both, of these matters. Young adults, and their parents, will be so very grateful you did.
You have some comparative advantage with Jordan Peterson - he tends to ramble, is sometimes too weepy and comes off patrician. You come off as a happy warrior, you have your beautiful bubble and the stakes don't seem too high with advice from you. If you were to give advice consider giving it in conversation with your sons, or someone who can lightheartedly push back against you or in the form of informal bets. There is enough talking heads out there giving advice.
You could call the advice service “After you have made your bed “
Anyone who supports the idea of taking personal responsibility has something to say. How one might criticise the McDonald’s example is beyond me. Wanting to make something of your life and then doing something about it is probably one of the best ways to be happy. Giving people this type of advice is wonderful.
I think you could easily fill an ebook much like the recent ones you 've been selling just with life advice essays along multiple dimensions. I've shared your essay on homeschooling with a bunch of people who were interested in that for example. I'm sure you have others already written or some you could write roughly in the same vein that would be super helpful, especially given how closely you look at all the angles of what the data on a particular topic actually says.