Generation X, Eric Weinstein, and Skepticism
Eric Weinstein is simultaneously the most interesting and the most enigmatic figure within the loose collective known as the “Intellectual Dark Web”. The tongue-in-cheek term, coined by Weinstein himself, refers to a group of intellectuals and podcast hosts who find themselves at odds with the status quo and those who maintain it, be it politically, socially or scientifically. Names such as Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris, Ben Shapiro, Dave Rubin, Douglas Murray, and Weinstein’s brother Bret are often associated with this term.
The IDW are to whom I owe my debt of gratitude and influence. Without their efforts at asking questions and exercising their skepticism, this podcast as well as this Substack profile would not exist. Not surprisingly, Eric Weinstein also hosts a podcast, titled The Portal, although it has been inactive since 2020. Episodes of the show are a mix of thought provoking interviews with interesting guests, and monologues detailing his views on politics, science, mathematics, and the state of the IDW itself. Among the episodes is a conversation Eric has with the author Bret Easton Ellis, whom he calls the “Dark Laureate of Generation X”.
It is impossible to underestimate Ellis’s influence on our perception of America in the 1980s. His two most famous works - Less Than Zero and American Psycho - present two contrasting perspectives on those who came of age during this time, known as Generation X. The first novel, published in 1985, depicts the drug-ridden youth culture of Los Angeles seen through the eyes of a rich young college student. The second, released in 1991, is a brutal satire of “yuppie” (young urban professional) culture as represented by the successful Manhattan investment banker Patrick Bateman, who may or may not also be a serial killer. Both novels present the cultural milieu that Gen Xers found themselves in as nihilistic, hedonistic, and self-centred. As such, the adolescents of Generation X carries into their adulthood a profound disillusionment of authority figures, accepted narratives, and false promises given to them by the preceding generation, the Baby Boomers. Whereas Boomers often speak in high ideals, Gen Xers reflect on them with deep-seated skepticism.
Eric Weinstein is undoubtedly a product of his generation. Born in 1965 in Los Angeles, Weinstein could have easily fit the profile of Clay, Less Than Zero’s twenty-something, college-educated protagonist. But Weinstein was not a party-goer - he chose mathematics instead. In 1992, with a dissertation titled "Extension of Self-Dual Yang-Mills Equations Across the Eighth Dimension", he earned a PhD in mathematical physics from Harvard University. Two decades later, in 2013, he gave a lecture in Oxford University where he debuted his working theory of “Geometric Unity” - his attempt to formulate a unified field theory of physics. Also known as the “theory of everything”, the quest to unite the general theory of relativity with quantum mechanics - thus uniting all of physics within one singular framework - has been a major head-scratcher in the theoretical physics discipline. In his attempt to solve the unsolvable, Weinstein also hopes to rebuke the most prominent candidate for a unified field theory thus far - string theory. For Weinstein, the proponents of string theory have captured the institutions of higher learning so as to shut out dissenting voices, as he explains in an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored:
Effectively, you have one group of very brilliant, very smart people who refuse to follow scientific ethics. They won’t consider other people’s work, they name everything after themselves, they absorb everything into their worldview, and they’ve made science impossible, much in the way that biology was made impossible under Covid.”
Without going into the specifics of Weinstein’s theory or what he hopes to debunk, one can see the spirit of vigorous intellectual dissent in every facet of his works. In his conversation with fellow Gen-Xer Bret Easton Ellis, Weinstein believes that roughly after 1972, the major institutions of public life - Washington, Harvard, Hollywood, Silicon Valley - have become “Ponzi schemes” of orthodoxy which freeze out, expel, and delegitimize those who dissent. By doing this, these institutions maintain the facade of public respectability, while erasing the very engine of creative and intellectual freedom that made them respectable to begin with.
It is no coincidence that the “Intellectual Dark Web” became prominent in a golden era of podcasts. The medium, which allows for unfiltered, unedited, and unrestricted dialogue, reflects Weinstein’s ideal of challenging the status quo with reasoned debate and civility. Additionally, it is not a coincidence that many of those associated with the IDW are part of, or were born around, Generation X. Jordan Peterson’s birth year is 1962, Sam Harris’s is 1967, Bret Weinstein - 1969, Douglas Murray - 1979, Dave Rubin - 1976. In the West, Generation X grew up with punk rock and indie cinema. In the East, Gen Xers came of age during the fall of Soviet Communism. As such, Generation X experienced firsthand the erosion of a common culture and the birth of a diverse set of subcultures with which they can define their ethos.
In the popular Gen X anthem Video Killed The Radio Star, The Buggles reflect with eerie precision the profound skepticism which their generation of listeners had adopted:
They took the credit for your second symphony
Rewritten by machine on new technology
And now I understand the problems you could see.
As a society, we are currently facing the same set of problems that Gen Xers like Eric Weinstein faced during their transition to adulthood. As such, it would not hurt to have figures like him as your guide through the contemporary madness.