"Two incompatible sacred values in American universities" Jon Haidt, Hayek Lecture Series
"Two incompatible sacred values in American universities" Jon Haidt, Hayek Lecture Series on HackerTube: recommended by 6 Hacker News commenters across 5 separate months, 2017–2026.
Duke University Department of Political Sciencelecture · dated
Open on YouTubeJonathan Haidt's Hayek Lecture at Duke argues American universities pursue two potentially incompatible sacred values, truth and social justice. He discusses campus conflict, honor, dignity and victimhood cultures, and viewpoint diversity.
What HN commenters said
11 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
RapzidMay 2018Strongly recommends
I'm glad you posted this.. I had heard about anti CoC a while back(perhaps from you?) but never really dug into it.. Video game journalism was ruined for me back in 2011 and 2012 for reasons we all know and I was hyper aware of at the time. It went through a very dark time and is hopefully coming out the other side now.. I had not really paid much attention to the infiltration of the tech community. While I had noticed a few things such bikeshedding of issues on Github, as well as the whole node.js trigger word ordeal, my distaste for the whole thing at that point led me to largely ignore it.. I've been on a huge information gathering binge since your post though. Randi Harper, electronconf, USC Legends of Gaming, entryism targeted toward GitHub, shaming and threatening tactics used to seed OSS with CoCs.... Wow. I hadn't realized how out of hand and toxic things had gotten. Luckily, it seems that the industry is somewhat successfully pushing back? I'm getting the sense that the larger community has found its voice and is pushing back against the intellectually bankrupt thinking and tactics.. This is the best intellectual analysis of the situation I've come across so far(I'm still digging though): ▶ this video
in “Updating the Go Code of Conduct” · View on HN
plainOldTextAug 2017Strongly recommends
Somewhat related to the issue at hand and representative of the current, very charged landscape on social issues, is this video: ▶ this video The speaker makes the case that current social conflicts at many American universities – though probably representative of the general population as well – arise because people are pursuing two, potentially incompatible goals: truth and social justice. I think it's a highly informative video. Of course, I'd love to watch other videos contradicting or challenging this one, if anyone can provide some links.
in “Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo” · View on HN
mparr4Aug 2017Strongly recommends
Jonathan Haidt does a great job explaining Honor, Dignity, and Victimhood cultures: ▶ this video (whole talk is excellent) His take is a little different (that Victimhood culture is a result of a march through time from Honor to Dignity to Victimhood). He's referencing the same paper [1] mentioned in the reason.com article. [1] - Microaggression and Moral Cultures [link]
in “How I, a woman in tech, benefited from sexism in Silicon Valley” · View on HN
RayhemDec 2022Recommends
>I've found that lots of people out there seemingly can't handle disagreement at all... This is the second time this week I'll have linked this here on HN but I'm exceptionally happy to do so. Jonathan Haidt has a topical discussion[1] about that and hypothesizes it stems from an utter lack of viewpoint diversity as kids grow up. He states that universities have sought to remove all emotional distress, when they're supposed to be the place where you go to have your ideas challenged and feel a little distressed about it. [1]: ▶ this video
in “Young adults are struggling with their mental health” · View on HN
ternausJul 2020Recommends
Jon Haidt talks about it for a while. ▶ this video I would recommend the book: The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure [link]
in “The Ideological Corruption of Science” · View on HN
BadassFractalMay 2017Recommends
Can we already kill the meme that CS or STEM are hostile to women? Correlation does not imply causation. Disparate outcomes do not imply disparate treatment. Nobody in the right mind looks at the 94% of child care services jobs being filled by women and exclaims "Aha! Systemic sexism against men, matriarchal oppression afoot, we must address this social injustice!", yet all common sense falls apart when it comes to STEM. Good talk on the subject here: ▶ this video
in “Why do so few people major in computer science?” · View on HN
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nonethewiserMay 2026Cites it
>What did they expect to happen? A mixture. 1) They were delusional and thought SAT/ACT scores werent useful signals for selecting qualified candidates. 2) They didn't care and prioritized the ability to admit people based off race and other demographics. And now they are resolving the dissonance between their mission and admission policy. Johnathan Haidt detailed this dynamic a long time ago in a lecture at Duke entitled "Two incompatible sacred values in American universities." The incompatible values being "truth" and "social justice." ▶ this video
in “Citing 'severe' math deficits, UC faculty demand a return to SAT tests for STEM” · View on HN
RayhemDec 2022Cites it
Jonathan Haidt's "Two incompatible sacred values in American universities"[1] seems particularly relevant here. He argues (among other things) that modern universities are undergoing a truth/social justice schism, and that attempting to advance both inevitably perverts both. [1]: ▶ this video
in “Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative” · View on HN
asabjornNov 2018Cites it
I think the problem with tptacek's explanation is that it does not address the larger context of how certain topics have become sacred in academia [5], and how breaking or criticising these sacred ideas leads to an outsized reaction. Do you think the reaction was focusing on merits and that it was not an outsized reaction due to someone violating something sacred? Lets dig more into evidence of suppression of biological research: How would you then explain the reactions to anyone stating the biological fact that human gender is overwhelmingly bimodal with almost everyone being male/female [1], suppression of research into intelligence [2], or the diversity pledges some candidates now have to write before becoming professors [3]. The grievance studies hoax proved how grievance studies is acting like ideological whitewashing of extreme political ideas that would be unacceptable otherwise [4]. These ideas are used to justify political actions in universities and in culture to suppress sacrilegious ideas [5], and it is a concept of sacred only a small very loud minority of progressives believe in and these comprise 8% of the population [6]. Personally I find the radical leftist explanation of these two incidences unconvincing: - it seems like the opposition to McKinnon’s paper was argued primarily from a moral angle due to his violation of some progressive sacred principles, and other explanation does not seem to explain the size of the response - The reaction to the grievance st
in “China Expands Research Funding, Luring U.S. Scientists and Students” · View on HN
BadassFractalAug 2017Cites it
> I'm sick of tired of the hiring strawman. The reason there's a scarcity of women and other minorities is that many companies have a culture that's full of toxic sewage. Correlation does not imply causation. Is rampant systemic sexism the reason why most oil rig workers are male? Is rampant systemic sexism the reason why 95% of child care teachers are women? ▶ this video Disparate outcomes do not imply disparate treatment.
in “I’m an Ex-Google Woman Tech Leader and I’m Sick of Our Approach to Diversity” · View on HN
z5hJun 2017Cites it
Social justice is not justice. Social justice is not compatible with truth (science, math, physics, software engineering, etc). ▶ this video
in “ElectronConf postponed until a “more diverse slate of speakers” can be delivered” · View on HN