How superpowers survive: War, Money, Size | John Mearsheimer and Lex Fridman

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GUEST BIO:
John Mearsheimer is an international relations scholar at University of Chicago. He is one of the most influential and controversial thinkers in the world on the topics of war and power.

PODCAST INFO:

SOCIAL:

[LexClips]

Guest bio: John Mearsheimer is an international relations scholar at University of Chicago. He is one of the most influential and controversial thinkers in the world on the topics of war and power.

[leopoldmerrick]

This level of realism is very refreshing

[sniderstyle]

Respect for Lex because he platformed this Professor.

[bluefanta]

John Mearsheimer is a gem. I have learnt more listening to him in 20 minutes than in my whole school education. I did not know anarchy was the opposite on hierarchy. This professor is a beast.

[jackbradley]

Mearsheimer is great, I really feel sad that he and other realists are so often reviled. So many misunderstandings exist regarding realism (such as the equation of power with aggression which the Dr. alludes to)

[amania]

The boy is outclassed again and again! The professor is good 👍

[nalanala]

Thank you for this interview, he is a diamond and so are you.

[rasyidizulkifli]

Lex: "Democracies elect people who want peace." heck no, the US keeps electing warmongers 😂😂😂

[dennish]

The moral of the story is, there is no moral, just power and everything that goes along with it.😂😂😂

[Banana_Split_Cream_Buns]

"Power is the currency of international relations". Well, money is the currency of wealth and what is wealth? Control over material power.

He's stating the obvious but it's sad and amazing how many people swallow the propaganda that we act altruistically, albeit sometimes making "honest mistakes" like destroying Iraq for no good reason.

It's all about power. Politics. Diplomacy. Economics.

[Flylikea]

I appreciate the fact that an important concept was, even briefly, discussed here: in the realist sense, anarchy is just the opposite of hierarchy which then implies that there is nowhere to turn to if 💩 hits the fan. Something that clearly a lot of people don't get at all. I am not talking about: don't get to an extent. No, nothing. Zero. There have been times in history where states existed in pure anarchy. We are clearly not in this kind of global system currently, but there have been periods. In an oversimplified analogy, that meant if conflict broke out, if you got into trouble, you'd have to find your way out or literally die trying. Now, unless you are dumb or suffer from a personality disorder, you should be able to tell why this is an extremely dangerous way of existence, particularly as technology advances.

[raminsafizadeh]

This view of inter state dynamics is good for the first year students of international geopolitics! Otherwise, there are more exceptions to the rule than, than the rule itself! The smaller states partake in the security provided by the dynamics of contention between the more powerful states, whether or not these bigger states would prefer to provide such protection or not!

[nicholascushman]

So basically we have a bunch of different theories that are each trying to boil down an extremely complex set of concepts into more or less absolute terms. The problem I see is that when you arrive at a point where several different theories are all able to gain prominence, the truth is likely far more nuanced than any 1 of them is able to account for.

[maqboolmangrio]

Really wonderful discussions love to learn great efforts

[mty-vq]

I really enjoyed this discussion about the different types of ideas regarding Geo-political power.

[TheElMuffin]

I find that this ties in well into the Fermi Paradox. The concept of state is scalable, so if you imagine the state as a whole civilization, even in the absence of other civilizations, that civilization will behave as if others exist as well . There is a bone chilling idea presented in The Killing Star by Charles Pellegrino. Without ever meeting an alien civilization it is possible to boil down alien behaviour down to three concepts: 1 Their survival will be more than our survival. If forced to choose between them and us, they will always choose themselves. 2 They will be intelligent, alert, industrious, aggressive, and even ruthless when necessary. That's what it takes to survive. 3 They will apply the same three concepts to us.

[Alexamw]

Great conversation.Lex looks great unshaved.

[Lesminster]

Great clip. Very interesting point of view.

[goedelite]

Tragic is J.M.'s effort to make himself comfortable! Recently, in a clip with Fridman, he declared, "...but I am an American and therefore...." I am at an advantage to Mearsheimer in that nothing that contributes to my view of the world is based on my being an American. As an American, I do join proudly with voices such as Noam Chomsky's and, in the distant past, with Bertrand Russell's in repudiating American foreign policy as criminal in the eyes of any decent human being. To go so far as that, it seems, one cannot do and be an honored professor at the University of Chicago.

[Larkinchance]

A conflict between Ukraine and Russia presented a strategic opportunity for NATO/US. Crimea, with its 75% Russian population didn't mean much to Ukraine but to NATO/US, with the Russian naval base at Sevastopol would go control of the Black Sea and defense of all of Russia. This is why Putin invaded Ukraine.