This pretence is often an obstruction to progress, however, because it encourages us to cling to concepts that we must abandon if we’re to adapt to new circumstances. Thus, in all domains of human activity, we go through cycles of discovery followed by periods of stagnation which require a shaking off of old habits - culture sows the seeds and anarchy clears the weeds.

As much as we would all like to master this dynamic - to know exactly when to profit from our current worldview and when to rebel against it - rebellion is typically an inter-generational phenomenon. Hence Max Planck’s famous remark:

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."

Unfortunately, it seems to be in the nature of human psychological development that becoming an adult is partly a process of intellectual ossification.

We needn’t be fatalistic about this, however. Some people are more adaptable than others, but it’s not as easy as simply choosing to be open-minded. Method is crucial. For that reason, I’m experimenting with a new style of philosophical conversation, presented here as a podcast - whereas the newsletter is a careful, cultivating practice of essay-writing, the podcast is an attempt at anarchic free association.

For the time being, you’ll probably want to treat this more as an unorthodox art project than as a typical philosophy podcast - its whole purpose is to avoid the standard mould of conceptual warfare in an effort to find new modes of engaging with each other, but this requires exploration and openness to failure.