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- [00:00]
Bethenny Frankel
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Podcast Host / Advertiser
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- [00:36]
Public Investing Representative
comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosure is available at public.com disclosures
- [01:36]
Bethenny Frankel
this is Bethenny Frankel from Just Be with Bethenny Frankel. Most dog food is marketing, not nutrition. That is why Biggie and Smalls eat just food for dogs. Real 100% human grade food with ingredients I actually recognize. And yes I do see the difference. Better digestion, healthier skin, more energy. Dogs that feel better. My babies. If you've been on the fence about switching, stop overthinking it. What's more important than your furry babies and their health? Go to justfoodfordogs.com right now and get 50% off your first box. No code needed. Just try it.
- [02:12]
Orderly Meds Representative
When people turn to telehealth for weight loss, they're looking for real support. That's why more people are choosing orderlymeds.com orderly meds connects you with Real doctors and access to proven GLP1 medications like semaglutide and Tirzeptatide. No guessing, just a more supportive experience. And all shipped directly to your door in discreet packaging. Do your research, ask questions, then visit orderlymeds.com podcast for an exclusive. That's orderlymeds.com podcast. Individual results may vary. Not medical advice eligibility required. C site for details
- [02:43]
Podcast Host 1
There was an
- [02:43]
Podcast Host 2
article about how reading is so important, but it was too long so I didn't read it. It's one more thing. I'm strong and getty. One more thing.
- [02:52]
Podcast Host 1
Speaking of books, I just saw this up on the screen Me screen capture so we can talk about it tomorrow. Oh, 13 of 8th graders are proficient in US history. They did that study coming up on the 250th birthday of the the country. My own 8th grader was complaining yesterday. He was looking forward to the chapter. It ended up being a page. He was looking forward to learning about the Civil War. They barely talked about it at all. Gettysburg got like a mention in the fact that Lincoln gave a speech called the Gettysburg Address. That was the sum total of that. And all the rest of it was about how the Native Americans were affected by the Civil War. And. And my son, who's super into history, so he's watched hours and hours of YouTube videos about the founding and the Civil War and all this sort of stuff. He said kids that don't do that, he said they would. They their view of the Civil War would be just what they got in school yesterday. I said, I know. That's what drives me nuts. And so that's how you end up with a 13% of 8th graders are proficient in US history. And as you've been pointing out later lately, and it should be pointed out all the time, but proficient means you got above an F. Yeah.
- [04:03]
Podcast Host 2
Yeah, it sounds. Wow. He's proficient. No, it's like barely acceptable.
- [04:07]
Podcast Host 1
So only 13% have barely acceptable knowledge of their own country's history. You cannot continue like that.
- [04:15]
Podcast Host 2
And you cannot read orwell enough how his explanation of when you deny people an understanding of their own history, they don't know who they are. So then you can tell them who they are.
- [04:27]
Podcast Host 1
You know, I've never talked about this much because I'm always uncomfortable on how it sounds and how to present it. But I used to watch a lot of book tv. Not as much anymore. I don't know why not anymore. I guess because I can listen to it. Didn't used to be able to listen to it like this, but book TV on C span 2. And it's a thing. It's all day long. I think it's 18 hours or something like that of, of interviews with authors or authors giving a spiel about their book at bookstores and stuff like that. And anytime it's US history of any kind or any really any history of any kind, it's a whole bunch of old white guys and a few old white women and there's nobody else at those things.
- [05:09]
Podcast Host 2
Wow.
- [05:10]
Podcast Host 1
And I always think that's the only person that's interested in this stuff, old white guys. And so I suppose the, you know, the progressive crowd would say, well, that's because this country was set up to help white men and nobody else. So nobody else has a.
- [05:27]
Podcast Host 2
You could shut the F up. On the other hand.
- [05:32]
Podcast Host 1
Anyway, that's enough of that. I didn't mean to get off.
- [05:35]
Podcast Host 2
Yeah, I don't have time for Book TV. I watch TikTok Video TV. It's, you know, it's all about 15 second videos. The interviews are seven seconds long.
- [05:45]
Podcast Host / Advertiser
Most Mother's day gifts end up in a drawer. But a song lives in the hard forever. This year tryjoybox.com is giving away 11 million free custom songs to celebrate 1 million incredible moms. Just share a few memories and Joybox produces an original track and greeting card just for her. Instantly, it's the most personal gift you'll ever give. And right now it's completely free. Make mom the star of her own song@tryjoybox.com 1,000,000 songs $0 only@tryjoybox.com thank you
- [06:16]
Advertiser / Sponsor Voice
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- [06:45]
Public Investing Representative
Support for the show comes from public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index, and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures this
- [07:46]
Bethenny Frankel
is Bethenny Frankel from Just Be with Bethenny Frankel. Most dog food is marketing, not nutrition. That is why Biggie and Smalls eat just food for dogs. Real 100% human grade food with ingredients I actually recognize. And yes, I do see the difference. Better digestion, healthier skin, more energy. Dogs that feel better. My babies. If you've been on the fence about switching, stop overthinking it. What's more important than your furry babies and their health? Go to justfoodfordogs.com right now and get 50% off your first box. No code needed. Just try it.
- [08:22]
Podcast Host 2
I found this just crazy, crazy interesting. I don't know this guy. Sam Chris. But you know, the interesting thing about Substack is and I I probably need to cancel some of my subscriptions because much like, you know, like YouTube and Instagram have shown everybody that there are way more amazing musicians in the world than we suspected. American Idol was actually kind of the start of this because you realized, oh wait a minute, there's like somebody with the best voice I've ever heard in my life in every in America and probably 3 to 50 of them depending on the size of the town, right? But Substack, there are so many people who have so many interesting ideas and have researched fascinating questions and write so well. I was just asked the other night, do you write much? And I'm like, yeah, I'm so mentally exhausted by the time the show's over, I'd rather, you know, work on my golf game or write music. And the other thing is I just, if I were to subscribe to every Substack column, column nist I come across that I think is not only really good but is brilliant, I would go broke anyway. I Came across this on Substack. And again, this gents name is Sam Christ. I don't know much about him.
- [09:44]
Podcast Host 1
What's it cost per sign on or whatever?
- [09:48]
Podcast Host 2
I don't know, it's up to the author.
- [09:50]
Podcast Host 1
Oh really?
- [09:51]
Podcast Host 2
And I wish I could remember. Like I subscribed to Matt Taibbi's Substack and the Reality Strikes Back thing, which is all about common sense in the face of gender bending madness, but I can't remember a couple more, but it's probably more than they should because it's impossible to get to all the good content. But. So this guy writes a lot about literacy and, and learning and that sort of thing. And he writes about. Well, the title is Reading is Magic, what Will Happen in Our Second Peasanthood. And we've talked a little about how the era of literacy, of people reading books, filled with ideas and stuff, it's actually not. It didn't start very long ago and it appears to be ending. I mean, so what's, what's it generally considered to have started with the enlightenment? Like 1600s or roughly. Yeah, okay. Anyway, so he writes in 1931, there's this Soviet neuropsychologist and the fact that he was a Soviet doesn't enter into it, but he was traveling into the foothills of these mountains in the barren borderlands between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzia, which I've never heard of in my life pretty
- [11:04]
Podcast Host 1
this time of year, to find out
- [11:05]
Podcast Host 2
how the locals thought. He had this theory that mental processes are social and historical in origin, not just at the content of our thoughts, but the way we think is determined by the kind of society we live in. And he was trying to investigate whether that was true.
- [11:23]
Podcast Host 1
That's amazingly deep and fascinating to think about.
- [11:27]
Podcast Host 2
Yeah, it's uncomfortably close to some of the critical theory stuff that is so ugly and dangerous and toxic. And so he went to this place that was of a different world than what he knew as an intellectual in the Soviet Union. Dry hills, illiterate cattle herders, isolated green valleys. There were illiterate peasants growing cotton. For centuries, essentially no one there had been able to read or write. No one. But that was changing somewhat because when the scientists arrived, the Soviet government was forcing herders and peasants into new regimented collective farms where large numbers of rural people were being taught to read as part of their great Soviet program for bringing the Marxist utopia. And so he spent the next year among these people, as this guy writes, bothering them with a series of annoying texts. And what he found was that just a few years of basic literacy education in an agricultural school had massive cognitive effects. And here's where it gets crazy. In one of his early experiments, he showed people a group of geometrical figures, complete and incomplete. Circles and triangles, squares and rectangles drawn with straight or dotted lines. He asked them to group the shapes together, even if they didn't have any training in geometry. Nearly half of the peasants who'd learned to read sorted the shapes geometrically. Squares of squares, circles of circles. Meanwhile, none of the illiterate subjects considered the shapes geometrically at all. They related to them as objects. One subject, a 24 year old woman from an ice laden village, insisted that nothing could be grouped with an incomplete complete circle that should go by itself. That's the moon. When Lauria tried, the scientist tried to suggest that she group a square and a rectangle. She refused. That's a glass and that's a drinking bowl. They can't be put together. Other objects describe the shapes as tents, bracelets, mountains, irrigation ditches and stars. When sorting objects, collective farm workers put a saw with a hammer because they're both tools, while peasants put a saw with a log. The log has to be here too. They'll be left without feeding firewood. They won't be able to do anything. So. So they couldn't relate to things in an abstract way. Everything had to be an object they were familiar with. And then he gets into the most upsetting of Lauria's puzzles was a mathematical problem. He told his subjects that it took three hours to walk from their village to a town, and six along the same road to a different town. How long would it take to walk from the second town to the third town? Again, every single one of the collective farm workers solved the problem. But the illiterate villagers knew very well that the town one was actually closer than town two and refused to answer. Lauria kept saying that it was just a scenario, but the villagers kept insisting that they couldn't entertain a scenario that contradicted actual reality. No one exploded, how can I solve a problem if it wasn't so? And he took pains to point out that these people weren't remotely stupid. They were perfectly capable of thinking rationally and deductively, and they could make excellent judgments about facts of direct concern to them. But they lived in an incredibly conservative world, with its walls closed tight around direct sensory experience. Meanwhile, even a cursory exposure to writing produces an entirely different kind of thought. It lives in a spooky realm of ideal objects and useless categories, where you can talk confidently about invisible Bears and measured distances, even when they're going the wrong way. But if we think. But what we think of as politics seems to depend on this stuff, and revolutionary politics in particular. What he's saying is abstract thinking. Seriously, looking at ideas seems almost impossible without the ability to read, for reasons that scientists are just scratching the surface of understanding.
- [15:34]
Podcast Host 1
Well, a little too late, since reading is going away. So, yeah, most people reading didn't really come around till 1700s when there was enough literacy and books printed and everything like that. So all of the conversations we have about populations prior to that Middle Ages go back to the Roman Empire, whatever. It was almost all illiterate people. So, I mean, so based on this thing, we're talking about, like a different spirit species are animal than what we think of as human beings because of the way they think. So none of the things that we extrapolate about all of those times make any sense then.
- [16:15]
Podcast Host 2
Yeah, human nature doesn't change, but that's close to it. I'm reminded of reading Tim Sandifer's brand new book, Declaring Liberty. Is that right here?
- [16:29]
Podcast Host 1
Proclaiming Liberty.
- [16:30]
Podcast Host 2
Proclaiming Liberty.
- [16:31]
Podcast Host 1
I have a copy here right next to me.
- [16:33]
Podcast Host 2
Oh, you're important. And they point out that one of the political philosophers that the founding fathers really, really liked, one of the first things he did was taking down the idea of persecuting people for being witches, explaining how unjust that was and how it's prone to hysteria and stupid and we gotta stop doing it. And it was an example. I think it butts up against this, the idea that you can't reason with people in a productive way until they've learned to read and take on abstract ideas outside themselves. I don't know.
- [17:14]
Podcast Host 1
Well if this is true, and I'm not sure I believe it can be, but for the sake of the argument, we'll go with it's true. If this is true, I wonder what the next iteration of humans is going to be like, who just take in short videos for all their information.
- [17:30]
Podcast Host 2
Yeah, he gets into that and it ain't great. Let me throw in one more thing, though, that I found unbelievably compelling. This author points out that like a lot of his contemporaries, he had a basic, basically progressive model of psychological development. Thinking based on abstractions is more advanced than thinking based on direct experience. As time moves on, the advanced way of doing things will obviously overtake the more backwards. Which is why he had to go to the farthest barren fringes of the old Russian empire to find people who had never been exposed to writing. But the villages he visited hadn't always been a backwater. A thousand years ago, this land in the foothills of the Alay Mountains, I'm not sure, had been one of the great centers of world civilization. In his notes, he mentioned that he was walking in the homeland of scientists, astronomers, mathematicians and poets like guys I've never heard of. The illiterate herders and peasants were living in the ruins of a sophisticated literary culture that had, for the most part, vanished from the world. And these people were utterly illiterate and incapable of abstract thought in the very streets where great philosophers had strode. And he's afraid that this could happen to Western civilization too.
- [18:44]
Podcast Host 1
Sure could.
- [18:46]
Podcast Host 2
Could do part two of this for the One More Thing podcast tomorrow.
- [18:50]
Podcast Host 1
I wonder how happy they were. Oh, is being happy is one of my main goals in life and should be for most people.
- [18:58]
Advertiser / Sponsor Voice
Yeah.
- [19:01]
Podcast Host 2
Yeah.
- [19:02]
Podcast Host 1
Now, if you can't form a civilization that can continue or protect yourself, it doesn't make any difference because it won't last long. But I do wonder how happy they were.
- [19:13]
Podcast Host 2
That is. That is a question that you know you'd need 27 philosophers to argue each other to death to answer. Or if you know you're better off being happy and refusing to answer a theoretical question because you've never done it. I don't know. Ignorant is a damn dog, but dogs seem happy.
- [19:35]
Podcast Host 1
It is beyond fascinating to me that the period of reading for human beings might end up having a lifespan of 300 years. Roughly start around 1700. And it has ended roughly now. Our friend Tim Sandifer, we referenced his book, I've been talking to him about that. People don't buy books anymore. People don't read anymore. And it's exponentially going away because old people still kind of read. They're dying off. Young people ain't got no interest in
- [20:01]
Podcast Host 2
reading books, so the future will be unambiguously hellish and miserable. Part two of that discussion on tomorrow's One More Thing podcast.
- [20:10]
Podcast Host 1
Why would you want to miss that?
- [20:12]
Podcast Host 2
Oh, it'll be an odd kid I kid. So join us tomorrow.
- [20:17]
Podcast Host 1
Well, I guess that's it.
- [20:19]
Podcast Host / Advertiser
Most Mother's Day gifts end up in a drawer, but a song lives in the heart forever. This year, tryjoybox.com is giving away 1 million free custom songs to celebrate 1 million incredible moms. Just share a few memories and joy. Box produces an original track and greeting card just for her instantly. It's the most personal gift you'll ever give. And right now it's completely free. Make mom the star of her own song@tryjoybox.com 1,000,000 songs $0 only@tryjoybox.com Most dog
- [20:50]
Bethenny Frankel
food brands don't really want you seeing how their food is made. Just food for dogs is the opposite. They actually invite you in. You can walk into any of their kitchens and see real human grade ingredients like chicken, beef, carrots and peas being prepared right in front of you. It's real food made in real kitchens. Nothing is hidden behind labels, and that kind of transparency says a lot. Nothing to hide, everything to love. Go to justfoodfordogs.com and get 50% off your first order.
- [21:20]
Advertiser / Sponsor Voice
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- [21:51]
Reynolds Kitchens Advertiser
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