Interviewing John Carter and Russell Gmirkin
A MindMatters Interlude of Epic Proportions
Just in case any of my readers aren’t already subscribed to John Carter (Postcards from Barsoom), you may not know I interviewed him recently on MindMatters (along with my co-hosts, including Luc over at LucTalks)—and you should really head over there and subscribe post-haste.
We had as much fun talking to him as you would expect, which is to say, loads of fun were had by all. So please, especially considering the reverse-time-dilation-stabilization costs alone to establish a decent connection with Barsoom, you really should take advantage of this opportunity to avail yourselves of your portion of that fun, join in, and have a listen. And share it with a friend, because sharing is caring:
John wrote a post inspired by part of that conversation, which you can read here:
And the piece of my own which I referenced has now been published here:
Prior to that, as promised, we also interviewed Russell Gmirkin about his new book, Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts.
Russell is always a blast and we reached previously unheard levels of eudaimonia discussing Plato, cosmic monotheism, terrestrial polytheism, Judaism as the first real belief system (and Marxism-Leninism as its latest great success), and why Plato and Kim Jong-Un might’ve been besties if not for the age gap.
Who was it that said that Christianity was the grandmother of Bolshevism?
They should have said that Judaism is the grandmother of all political ideologies.
Regarding the influence of Plato on Marx there is a direct line from the role of the authorities described, particularly in the last three books of the Laws, to Marx. Specifically the authorities are tasked not just with upholding order in the community but also with policing order within each individual, i.e. thought control.