Speaker
Robert Greene
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Robert Greene notes that one in six Americans is on some form of drug to deal with depression, suggesting a deep societal disconnection from meaningful experience.
Robert Greene spent 7 years writing his book on the Sublime, having originally conceived the idea around the year 2000 but being repeatedly sidetracked by other projects including 50 Cent and Mastery.
Cave paintings discovered in the Chauvet Cave in southern France date back 37,000 years to the early Paleolithic period, showing that humans sought transcendence beyond survival even then.
The Cambrian Explosion 600 million years ago produced 10 different body types competing to become dominant, with our head-body-limbs form winning almost by accident.
Dinosaurs went extinct 68 million years ago due to an asteroid impact; had this not happened, humans would not exist today.
Neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor, after suffering a stroke that temporarily dissolved her brain's filtering mechanisms, spent 8 years recovering cognitive abilities while longing to return to the blissful 'unfiltered' state.
Robert Greene's book The Laws of Human Nature, a 560-page dense book about humanity's dark qualities, has sold 1.5 million copies, suggesting people hunger for uncomfortable self-knowledge.
Robert Greene wrote The 48 Laws of Power at age 39, having considered himself a failure until then, unable to hold a job for more than a few months.
The universe is 13.8 billion years old; a human life of 80 years is almost incomprehensibly small in comparison, a fact Greene uses to cultivate humility and awe.
Friedrich Nietzsche collapsed into madness after collapsing in Italy upon seeing a horse being beaten, spending the final 10 years of his life as an insane man — Greene's example of the daemon taken too far.
Robert Greene advised a G League basketball coach in his 30s to accept an NBA head coaching job despite his fears; the coach eventually won the NBA championship approximately 5 years later.
The Eleusinian Mysteries were ancient Greek rituals lasting thousands of years that initiated participants — including the greatest thinkers of antiquity — into an experience of death and rebirth that Greene says makes Burning Man look trivial.
Social media hasn't just distracted us — it's compressed the amplitude of lived experience until everything feels the same shade of gray. Greene traces this to a biological fact: the adult brain is built to inhibit and filter, while the infant brain receives everything raw and vivid.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Society & Culture 46%
- Science 18%
- Health & Fitness 9%
- History 9%
- Religion & Spirituality 9%
- Technology 9%
Connections
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