The Joe Rogan Experience Podcasts

Yeah he did not look well at all. The way he broke down crying while talking about being at a gig too seemed worrying.

On top of that the one thing he said over and over about his illnesses of late is he did not know what caused them or what made them go away. His family worry that this new tour could bring it back. He said he is not sure.

The amount of emotion going through him - coupled with unexplained illness - coupled with him simply just looking (and sounding) relatively weaker - is just worrying like this upcoming tour could literally kill him or at least set him back a long way.

Have only the most passing vague interest in the man. But genuinely wish him well and would hate to see this tour harm him. It seems even people who have had the most robust arguments with him (like Sam Harris) end up really liking him as a person. One of those rare people (Christopher Hitchens was apparently one too in his time) that can argue vehemently in debate one moment but be your best and most caring friend the next. Anecdote at least suggests he is a really lovely man and I hope he doesn't suffer.

Speaking of breaking down crying I see Joe Rogan is still breaking into instant tears at the mere mention of anthony bourdain in his latest podcast. His death has affected him really deeply I think. I hope he is processing his grief well and his suffering here is eventually alleviated. Especially if he is processing any ideas of unwarranted guilt in that death - as suicide can often do.

Yes he went much deeper into that in the podcast than I have heard him go into it before. Whatever faults he might have Joe Rogan is very good at getting his guests to elaborate in great length and detail on things that were previously vague.

So he spoke a lot about his illness - the drugs used - which ones he had trouble getting off - and more.

A lot of that podcast would be unlistenable to many people I think. It was over 4 hours after all. But those particular sections where he went into his illnesses and his recoveries were quite informative. Not that anyone (there are many) who has decided he is an awful hateful man will be interested in any of it :) They likely have already decided why he had issues and what those issues are indicative of.

Rogan was probably right when he brought up how much of an effect being propelled into "fame" at a relatively late age had on it too. Some people are built for fame. Rogan clearly is such a person for example. I have seen little of Peterson in my time - but nothing I have seen suggests he was built for it very well at all.

One of the funniest moments in the Peterson/Rogan podcast was when Rogan talked about the "Nut jobs" who think people - who were out of their heads on ayahuasca - discovered in a vision the existence of the Double Helix nature of DNA long before science did.

What he (probably) did not know was that Peterson is exactly one of those "Nut Jobs" and Peterson's response was - quite controlled and muted where instead of admitting he had made exactly that claim in a lecture - but instead moaned about how Richard Dawkins responded to hearing one of his lectures.

Never managed to see that description of Dawkins as valid myself. He has his faults but I do not see him as all that much more (or less, to be fair) arrogant than other high level tenured (or previously tenured) professors. I think as a class the intellectual elite can come across as more arrogant than the common Joe. But other than that - Dawkins has never been a stand out example from the rest for me.

But I only mentioned him to highlight how Peterson jumped to citing/faulting Dawkins in the moment - rather than take a more honest approach of saying something like "Actually I believe that too Joe and here is why" or "I once believed that too Joe - and actually made that very claim in a lecture of mine - but here is why I do not any more".

Instead when Rogan brought up these "nut jobs" Peterson knee jerk reacted and dropped an attack on Dawkins - probably because he knew many of the listeners (unlike joe?) know he was in fact one of those very "nut jobs" Rogan was talking about.

So he probably felt he had to respond in some way to that - and the best he could come up with was to lash out at Dawkins with a completely non sequitur and out of nowhere attack.

I know little about Peterson. When I see things from him some things sent my respect up. Some down. That moment was definitely a hard but amusing down :)

Except not paying Joe a fortune to be on their platform doesn't amount to censorship. He's free to make podcasts regardless. They've just taken a stance that his discourse has been downright irresponsible and uninformed during a pandemic that has killed millions. And it's irresponsible on Spotifys part to fund it. I'm off to Tidal anyway.