Robert F. Kennedy Jr: CIA, Power, Corruption, War, Freedom, and Meaning | Lex Fridman Podcast #388

It's not our business to change the Russian government. And anybody who thinks it's a good idea to do regime change in Russia, which has more nuclear weapons than we do, um, is, I think irresponsible. And, you know, Vladimir Putin himself has said, w- you know, "We will not live in a world without Russia." And it was clear when he said that, that he was talking about himself. And I... And he has his hand on a button that could bring, you know, Armageddon to the entire planet. So, why are we messing with this? It's not our job to change that regime. And, and we should be making f- friends with the Russians. We shouldn't be treating them as an enemy. Now we've pushed them into the camp with China. That's not a good thing for our country and by the way, you know, what we're doing now does not appear to be weakening Putin at all.

The following is a conversation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., candidate for the President of the United States, running as a Democrat. Robert is an activist, lawyer and author, who has challenged some of the world's most powerful corporations, seeking to hold them accountable for the harm they may cause. I love science and engineering. These two pursuits are, to me, the most beautiful and powerful in the history of human civilization. Science is our journey, our fight for uncovering the laws of nature and leveraging them to understand the universe and to lessen the amount of suffering in the world. Some of the greatest human beings I've ever met, including most of my good friends, are scientists and engineers. Again, I love science. But science cannot flourish without epistemic humility, without debate, both in the pages of academic journals and in the public square, in good faith, long-form conversations. Agree or disagree, I believe Robert's voice should be part of the debate. To call him a conspiracy theorist and arrogantly dismiss everything he says, without addressing it, diminishes the public's trust in the scientific process. At the same time, dogmatic skepticism of all scientific output on controversial topics, like the pandemic, is equally, if not more dishonest and destructive. I recommend that people read and listen to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his arguments and his ideas. But I also recommend, as I say in this conversation, that people read and listen to Vincent Racaniello from This Week in Virology, Dan Wilson from Debunk The Funk, and the Twitter and books of Paul Offit, Eric Topol and others, who are outspoken in their disagreement with Robert. It is disagreement, not conformity, that bends the long arc of humanity towards truth and wisdom. In this process of disagreement, everybody has a lesson to teach you, but we must have the humility to hear it and to learn from it. This is the Lex Fridman podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description, and now, dear friends, here's Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It's the 4th of July, Independence Day, so simple question, simple big question. What do you love about this country, the United States of America?