Mar 04 2025 79 mins 64
Jim talks with BJ Campbell about the ideas in his Substack essay "On Cops, Belief, and Chainsaw Faced Robot Dogs." They discuss forms of social control, absolute police states vs. belief states, the role of belief vs. actual enforcement in maintaining order, the noble lie concept & Plato's original formulation, the 2020 crime spike & "defund the police" movement, the history of police forces & alternative methods of maintaining order, the "God-shaped hole" concept, membranes & group coherence, anthropological research on fairness, non-supernatural belief systems, marketing challenges for new social systems, money as a noble lie & coordination signal, Saudi Arabian social control methods, and much more.
Episode Transcript
Handwaving Freakoutery (Substack)
JRS Currents 090: BJ Campbell and Patrick Ryan on Egregores
JRS Currents 024: BJ Campbell on the Woke Religion
"On Cops, Belief, and Chainsaw Faced Robot Dogs," by BJ Campbell
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel Dennett
BJ Campbell is a licensed professional civil engineer and practicing hydrologist who consults in the land development and environmental industries. In addition to his Substack Handwaving Freakoutery, he writes for Open Source Defense, Quillette, and Recoil Magazine.
Episode Transcript
Handwaving Freakoutery (Substack)
JRS Currents 090: BJ Campbell and Patrick Ryan on Egregores
JRS Currents 024: BJ Campbell on the Woke Religion
"On Cops, Belief, and Chainsaw Faced Robot Dogs," by BJ Campbell
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel Dennett
BJ Campbell is a licensed professional civil engineer and practicing hydrologist who consults in the land development and environmental industries. In addition to his Substack Handwaving Freakoutery, he writes for Open Source Defense, Quillette, and Recoil Magazine.
