Jonathan Haidt on Religion, Psychedelics and the Anxious Generation
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist, author and professor at New York University Stern School of Business. He is the author of a number of highly influential books including The Happiness Hypothesis (2006), The Righteous Mind (2012), The Coddling of the American Mind (2018), and The Anxious Generation (2024).
Jonathan spoke about the importance of truth, his atheism, experiences of using psychedelics, and why he thinks we are over protecting children in the physical world and under protecting them and in digital and online spaces.
Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comm...
Learn more about The Anxious Generation here: https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/
Buy The Anxious Generation here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/9780...
Subscribe (for free) to his Substack After Babel here: https://www.afterbabel.com/
Follow Jonathan on Twitter here: / jonhaidt
CHAPTERS
0:00 - Intro
1:44 - What is sacred to you? Jonathan Haidt’s response
8:37 - Childhood - Curiosity, existentialism and studying psychology
14:30 - Why did you become an atheist?
20:21 - What holds you back from being religious?
27:21 - Breaking constructs and awe - can psychedelics open us up to the idea of God?
32:38 - Shifting political identities
39:45 - Losing acquaintances, polarity and cancel culture
47:31 - Social media - ‘Overprotecting in the real world, under-protecting online’
54:04 - Restoring a play-based childhood and Haidt's hopes for children and technology
56:00 - Phones are experience blockers
56:40 - Four ways to protect children from technology
1:01:07 - How can we join the ‘Anxious Generation’ movement?
1:02:07 - How has your work changed your parenting?
1:03:27 - Elizabeth's reflections
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