Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Robert Wright has written a fantastic article on Tribalism (Patreon)

Published:
2021-11-17 04:30:40
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

I know the full article is pay walled.I know I'm a little biased.But this article by Bob is soooo good that I wanted to recommend everyone to check it out. I'm trying to convince Bob to release it from behind the paywall and he is considering to do so in a few weeks. So at least one to bookmark.

He's doing a whole series on Tribalism and if this is anything to go by it will be great.

This is what I meant when I used the term.

Cathartic.

-Chris

Files

What is Tribalism?

A few weeks ago, at the beginning of a long debate between anthropologist Chris Kavanagh and secular guru Sam Harris over how tribalistic Harris is or isn't, Harris posed this challenge to Kavanagh (who was taking the "is" side of the debate): "I'd just ask you... what is my tribe?"

Comments

Sean Carmody

A good article. I’ve long been (and continue to be) a listener to Sam’s podcast and one of the things that has always riled me is how quick he is to describe his critics or those he disagrees with a lying or acting in bad faith. This is a point you tried to make and Robert articulates well in this article. In your podcast there did seem to be a definitional challenge and Robert’s writing goes a long way to getting to a useful definition but I’d suggest a tweak to his distillation at the end “You are being tribal when your identification with a group, or the cause it embodies, creates distortions of thought and perception that lead to behaviors that heighten antagonisms with other groups.” I’m sure Sam would say he doesn’t “identify” with IDW for example. So maybe “associate with” is closer. Needs work. Lastly, after being trained by the Stuart Ritchie pod I was cautious to swallow this idea without evidence: “After all, from the standpoint of evolutionary psychology, the function of cognitive biases is to warp your perception and thought without your being aware of the warping. Your mind was engineered by natural selection to convince you that you’re in the right even when you’re not.”

Paul Bowman

Tribalism is a kinship/lineage based social structure, not a "psychology". Although I will wait for access to the full article before passing overall judgement, the cowboy & indian graphic and the reference to US Lone Ranger TV shows is an extremely dire opening.

Paul Bowman

Tribalism as a social structure can be proxy mapped by reference to first-cousin marriage (which is foundation to the majority of tribal structures, although there are a minority of structures that practice the opposite of extreme exogamy - marriage between relations closer than cousins 8 times removed is prohibited amongst the Karapapaks of the Caucausus, for e.g.). See e.g. map of cousin marriage prevalence here https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/2w9w2y/cousin_marriage_across_the_world_15001159/

Paul Bowman

Also, for the record, I really don't see what's wrong with the word "faction" that's been around since before Cicero

Andrew Bowe

Who posts a Patreon update at 4.15am GMT? Don’t get me wrong, I love to receive DTG updates as much as the next man, and if that update concerns Bob Wright then so much the better, but there are limits. My Ipad was not on silent, but was on the bedside table, and my wife is still blaming me for it. Try decoding this one ‘turn that effing thing off now before I f**king break it’. Harsh words, of course, from wife to husband, particularly when screamed at 4am in the morning, but you get the point.

Andrew Bowe

I think that might explain it rather well. Still dashed inconsiderate of these other countries to be using different time zones to ours- it's tribalism gone mad. I thought Brexit had solved all of this.

Kevin Nyberg

Chris did you see Sam Harris’ recent tweet criticizing something from Chelsea Handler? He self consciously included something like “it’s hard to criticize someone you’ve been friendly with, but this…”. I read that and wondered if some of your tribalism critiques might have soaked in a bit with the time since the interview was posted. It often works like that, don’t you think? Some lessons can’t be absorbed immediately, they need to marinate.