I’ve come to be particularly wary of podcasts.
For the longest time, I rebelled against them. Who needed audio books when you could read books? And who needed podcasts when you could read what the speakers had written? I reasoned that this would let me interact with pure ideas, instead of being swayed by their appearance, how quickly they spoke (a rough heuristic of perceived intelligence), or how their voice sounded.
Then, I realized that I could listen to an entire podcast at 1.5x speed while working out, and everything changed. Suddenly, I could jam in an extra two hours of thoughts and ideas and arguments, in ways that I never could have if I was trying to read between reps. My previous arguments (though still valid) fell away before the potential of novel intellectual stimulation.
Then I noticed something strange start to happen. I was trying to explain to my sister what I had learned in a recent podcast, formulating my sentences and syntax according to the vocabulary I had just learned during a particularly tiring exercise routine. The speaker had said such and such, but of course you must then consider this lightly-jargoned argument, but it’s fascinating that no one thinks about this and that. I repeated the conclusions of the podcast with such conviction - the arguments were so convincing - that I could only express puzzlement when my sister began asking the age old question, “why?”.
I had fallen for the oldest trick in the book - charismatic persuasion. By listening in on a conversation, I had been exposed to new ideas, thoughts, and ways of thought. However, I had also been exposed to opinion. Since I was merely a consumer of the conversation, though, there was little way for me to engage. If a particular premise or argument in the building seemed weak, I couldn’t challenge it, leaving me with no choice but to blindly follow along. By the time the podcast reached some of its conclusions, I could feel the coherence of their arguments - their unity, to borrow Mortimer Adler’s phrase - and that coherence was incredibly convincing.
What’s more, since the speakers of the podcasts clearly believed what they were saying, I had subjected myself to two hours of persuasive, convincing speech cloaked in confidence and conviction. It’s incredibly difficult to listen to two confident people talk for two hours and not subconsciously begin to agree with some of their ideas, no matter how wrong they are.
Books, on the other hand, present much more nuanced arguments, and also carry the responsibility of outlining and delineating ideas, so that one can challenge an idea here or there, and see how it works into the fuller picture. Upon reaching the conclusion, one can flip back to earlier pages and find the core assumptions they disagree with. I could go on and on, but it seems clear to me that books still reign supreme in this arena, and I’ll let better authors (and speakers) than me make their case.
Going back to podcasts, my conclusions left me a bit perturbed. I resolved to be much more suspicious of what persuasions I allowed into my mind. If I could not filter out charisma itself, I could at least set earlier barriers. Of course, that meant that I would use superficial filters to choose podcasts, which would then mold my thinking in ways I couldn’t measure. My latest conclusion is to only listen to podcasts by thinkers whose books I have read and respect, knowing full well that, by listening to the podcast, I am allowing the author a greater authority over my thoughts and seemingly independent opinions than he or she would have had otherwise.
But there was also a joy in my discovery. Namely, if podcasts are as powerful as they seem, then that power can still be used for good. For one, admittedly risking hypocrisy, I can protect myself from podcasts but encourage those I consider good thinkers to use them as amplifiers. A new tool of power can be used for good just as it can for bad. Secondly, podcasts have allowed a great number of thinkers (whether I consider them to be good thinkers or bad) to exert influence on everyday people. By introducing more complex thoughts and conversations to the masses, podcasts may help educate (if also inculcate) more people than ever before. Finally, by using books as a deep filter, I can consume more from good thinkers with podcasts than I can without, which will hopefully help educate me as well.