I first found Lex because he would interview really interesting technical people, like Jim Keller.

Like you, I found Lex off-putting in that he will platform anyone, and then will just say Love will prevail, I think its incredibly naive.

his demeanor looks naive to me. it might be a put-on thing, though.

> off-putting in that he will platform anyone

Why? You are not interested to hear different opinions?

1) I don't need to hear anything from Ivanka Trump ever, thank you.

2) Platforming dishonest hacks like Tucker Carlson does the nation a disservice, unless he is going to call out all the lies as they happen. While I have not listened to the Carlson interview, based on what I heard from Joe Rogan, I do not believe Friedman will significantly push back on right wing misinformation, for whatever reason.

> Rogan was allowed to spew unsubstantiated alt-right statements.

So just normal JRE content

The only one I've listened to was him interviewing Donald Knuth which was worth listening to, tho from time to time I got the impression of an interviewer that didn't quite know enough to do the interview.

If you like podcasts of a very intelligent person interviewing very accomplished guest thinkers, Sean Carroll's Mindcast is slightly higher level: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/ (tho I don't think Donald Knuth has been on that one, lots of other computer folks have).

that sounds interesting, will check it, thanks.

Why are we still using "alt-right" in 2024 to describe people who do not self-describe as such, just because they espouse beliefs outside the mainstream liberal orthodoxy? 2016 was a long time ago, and Richard Spencer has faded into irrelevant obscurity, so why do people still insist upon using this ill-defined and incendiary term?

How else do you want to define the modern GOP? Their policies and societal views are markedly different from Bush-era. It’s bewildering to think of Romney and Trump being in the same party.

Obviously there is no official count but the consensus is there are 6 factions within the GOP. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factions_in_the_Republican_P...