Episode description

From psychedelics to cyberculture, hippie communes to commercial startups, and the Whole Earth Catalog to the Long Now Foundation, Stewart Brand has not only been a part of many movements—he was there at the start. Now 83, he says he doesn’t understand why older people let their curiosity fade, when in many ways it’s the best time to set off on new intellectual pursuits.

Tyler and Stewart discuss what drives his curiosity, including the ways in which he’s a product of the Cold War, how he became a Darwinian decentralist, the effects of pre-industrial America on his thought, the subcultural convergences between hippies and younger American Indians, why he doesn’t think humans will be going to the stars, his two-minded approach to unexplained phenomena, how L.L. Bean inspired the Whole Earth Catalog, why Silicon Valley entrepreneurs don’t seem interested in the visual arts, why L.A. could not have been the home of hippie culture and digital innovation, what libertarians don’t understand about government, why we should bring back woolly mammoths, why he’s now focused on maintenance and institutions, and more.

Check out Ideas of India. Subscribe to Ideas of India on your favorite podcast app.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded January 3rd, 2022

Other ways to connect

• Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Tyler on Twitter 
• Follow Stewart on Twitter
• Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
• Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.