Interesting read, showing a possible dark side to "blind reason". This line was most interesting to me: "Communism and fascism both begin by exercising complet

Interesting read, showing a possible dark side to "blind reason". This line was most interesting to me: "Communism and fascism both begin by exercising complete control over the memetic environment, in order to create a new man stripped of cultural immunity, who will do whatever they tell him to." You often hear that communism "makes sense on paper", or that it is a "perfect philosophy" implemented imperfectly by humans. You can hear perfectly reasonable arguments why communism is the best way for people to live. It will provide for everyone, no one will want. Everyone will be on a level playing field in terms of access to resources and have freedom from suffering. Lenin and Trotsky ended up using these well-reasoned arguments to convert tsarists into bolsheviks and, by stripping their followers of their previous cultural immunity, utterly destroyed the existing power structure and replaced it with themselves at the top. I think this connects to the author's mentioning of radical Islamists and how a great many of them have gone to western universities before becoming radicalized. I doubt for many of them, just reading the Koran after losing their cultural immunity will cause them to be radicalized. It's coming under the influence of charismatic but radical leaders that causes them to become radicalized, to serve their leaders' ambitions of power. Also interesting are the author's proposed antidotes against following bad cultural memes to their logical conclusions: either watch out for deviating from those around you, or follow your feelings. Even with the power of reason, the author suggests you have to listen to your feelings to avoid stripping yourself of cognitive immunity to a dangerous idea. The brain is a tricky instrument indeed.