Thank you for the whole transcript. I find the whole transcript very problematic. Especially the “shared gods” and “shared blood” part, does Professor Haidt really think this country was held together by “shared blood”? Is he that ignorant of America’s history?
I wager that you are having some issues reading the quote that was presented to you, so let me elaborate:
Traditionally, a shared cultural mythos- that is, the set of 'stories' that the society believes in and uses to bind themselves together- is one element of what holds societies together. Yes, even completely secular societies have their shared mythos and arguably even their own shared gods depending on how you look at it.
Also, all human beings are naturally inclined to heavily favor anyone who is similar to themselves, especially regarding physical traits (shared blood).
We now have neither of these convenient pillars, so Professor Haidt suggests that we have to be highly cautious in the way that we structure our society, such that we can reap the creative benefits of diversity without leaning too far into the natural tendency of diversity to push people apart from each other.
Maybe it is “Hope”, America is like the promised land for many people around the world.
This is Hacker News right; so I can think from the perspective of a Software Engineer, which Software Engineer in some part of the world wouldn’t like to spend some time in Silicon Valley? I would argue if you are a Software Engineer you like to be in the valley at-least once.
Maybe it is not one thing, America offers different things to different people.
