Big Think Interview With Niall Ferguson | Big Think

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  • Опубликовано: 29 окт 2024

Комментарии • 125

  • @bigthink
    @bigthink  4 года назад

    Want to get Smarter, Faster?
    Subscribe for DAILY videos: bigth.ink/GetSmarter

    • @standalby6949
      @standalby6949 4 года назад

      Big Think I would like to get smart for the future(s) “ plural “ ehhh 😂

  • @Bellephrontos
    @Bellephrontos 10 лет назад +21

    Historians are the best:-D they have a general knowledge about everything, military, politics, economy, culture, geography, sociology.. and they know the development of these areas over the time, not just the most recent state.

    • @soapbxprod
      @soapbxprod 10 лет назад +3

      He's off the charts terrific- as a DuPont winning and Prime Time Emmy nommed documentary filmmaker since 1985, I feel qualified to say that every one of his series is a work of art... pure joy to watch.

    • @denverbritto5606
      @denverbritto5606 6 лет назад

      Have you guys seen Civilisation by Kenneth Clark? Damn fine stuff too.

  • @soapbxprod
    @soapbxprod 10 лет назад +8

    Niall Ferguson is off the charts terrific.
    As a DuPont winning and Prime Time Emmy nommed documentary filmmaker since 1985, I feel qualified to say that every one of his series is a work of art...
    a pure joy to watch.
    The War of the World
    The Ascent of Money
    Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World
    China: Triumph and Turmoil
    Civilization: Is the West History

    • @soapbxprod
      @soapbxprod 8 лет назад

      +Timothy Flood You've been blocked and reported to RUclips for conduct policy violation. I would suggest that you look at my home page.

  • @normanjtongmd
    @normanjtongmd 11 лет назад +8

    GO Niall! Good to have you on our side!

    • @yonisgure7348
      @yonisgure7348 10 лет назад

      what's "our side"?????

    • @stephenbarry14w
      @stephenbarry14w 10 лет назад +3

      He's right wing, anti EU.

    • @c0p13dn4m3
      @c0p13dn4m3 8 лет назад +1

      Hahaha, he supported Remain.

    • @lss922
      @lss922 8 лет назад +1

      Only because Britain had built a strong and influential position for herself in the EU

    • @c0p13dn4m3
      @c0p13dn4m3 8 лет назад

      Lrz Sct Which it willfully abandoned. What's your point?

  • @iongeorgiou304
    @iongeorgiou304 10 лет назад +8

    I may not agree with Niall Ferguson on some points, and I may find other historians to be more accurate, shall we say, or more thorough, and less politically ideological (which is always best in a historian), but there are some things he comes up with which have me reaching deep into my library.
    For instance, Ferguson gives the following six reasons as to why the West emerged ahead of what he calls "the rest" from the mid-sixteenth century onwards:
    1. Competition
    2. Science
    3. Citizenship based on property ownership and representation
    4. Medicine
    5. Consumer society (or, as he says as much, industry)
    6. Work ethic
    Now, if you look up Edwin Seligman's 1902 joint address to the American Historical and American Economic Associations, you will find that Seligman listed five of the above six items as reasons for maintaining a positive outlook on the future of the United States. The only difference is that instead of "work ethic", Seligman writes about the happy consequences of the practical exhaustion of freely available land - and even that is mentioned only to emphasize the rise of labor as a positive force, or "work ethic".
    So, coincidence? Or is Ferguson - who, as a historian, must be familiar with Seligman's address - borrowing lavishly from a renowned thinker of the Gilded Age without referencing him (the ultimate sin in scholarship!)? Furthermore, since Seligman outlined the six items as reasons to be cheerful for the future of the United States, what, in borrowing them, might be Ferguson's deeper intention, and to whom might he be addressing it?

  • @Chuschannel
    @Chuschannel 9 лет назад +8

    This dude is right on many points.

    • @soapbxprod
      @soapbxprod 8 лет назад +1

      +Chu Kim He is the smartest tool in the shed. :)
      The War of the World
      The Ascent of Money
      Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World
      China: Triumph and Turmoil
      Civilization: Is the West History

  • @EkEMaN91
    @EkEMaN91 12 лет назад

    It's nice to see intelligent discussions in a comments section on youtube.

  • @TheGerogero
    @TheGerogero 8 лет назад +13

    Terrifyingly smart.

  • @j4ck2234
    @j4ck2234 12 лет назад +3

    My experience is that you need an understanding of economics to understand history. Whenever an ignorant historian stumbles into economic concepts he screws up and gets everything wrong. Human history is largely a history of exchange.

  • @merdekaagussaputra1504
    @merdekaagussaputra1504 4 года назад

    He reminds me the actor of the beautiful mind. He looks the same, so charismatic.

  • @tom6612
    @tom6612 11 лет назад

    Cool "Trout" avatar. I bought that album back in 1971 and a thief with good taste ripped it off in 1973

  • @cooldinTs
    @cooldinTs 12 лет назад

    Interesting 6 apps! I fully agree on the competition factor and I personally believe culture inheritance is another very important app that drives political reform. A newly established dynamic countries like US, Canada or Australia are much more feasible for political reformation vs. ancient civilizations like China, India, Egypt and Mesopotamia.

  • @teevanator
    @teevanator 12 лет назад

    "This is not triumphalism, it is an exercise in comparative history" - Did you watch this video? He does not "legitimize" it is merely attempt to understand how. How. Not should this be right, but how this came to be.

  • @swagatopablo
    @swagatopablo 10 лет назад +5

    7% of all human beings ever born are alive at the moment. To me that sounds like an amazing statement. Is there any reference for it?

  • @Reido2828
    @Reido2828 12 лет назад

    This guy will destroy Chomsky at any debate on Western Power.

  • @luizaugustocarvalho3612
    @luizaugustocarvalho3612 9 лет назад

    Really interesting perspective

  • @bostonseeker
    @bostonseeker 12 лет назад

    But not being Niall Ferguson, we cannot experience the sheer pleasure of being Niall Ferguson.

  • @mrskauvaka
    @mrskauvaka 6 лет назад

    fascinating storytelling

    • @mrskauvaka
      @mrskauvaka 6 лет назад

      feature of western "ascendancy" ("killer Aps"): 1. competition in western cultures 2. scientific revolution in mathematics 3. citizenship based on property and representation form of governance (law made by these modes) 4. modern medicine (germ)pseudo science of race (shadow side) 5. consumer society - spreading 6. spiritual paradigm of materialism (protestant ethic/etc.)

  • @swunt10
    @swunt10 11 лет назад

    you didn't understood what he meant by agreeing with the iraq war. he explained even before the iraq war that empires used to have a long breath and especially the US democracy is politically to short sighted in comparison, always wanting quick results and stoping big projects after only 3 to 4 years. he also explained what the US did wrong and why the US failed to get the iraq back on tracks. something the british managed quite well only 80 years earlier.

  • @BramClaes
    @BramClaes 11 лет назад +1

    As a historian, I can assure you that Niall Ferguson really isn't that well liked in the academic community at all :p

  • @florencemay6570
    @florencemay6570 12 лет назад

    Very interesting.

  • @acmna
    @acmna 12 лет назад

    I'm a big fan a Ferguson.

  • @helenmalinowski4482
    @helenmalinowski4482 6 лет назад

    Brilliant - and sad this needs to be said now that History is often deleted from contemporary education!

  • @TheHiddenPrincess88
    @TheHiddenPrincess88 12 лет назад

    God I love this stuff we really need this kind of talk in mainstream or is the general population generally too stupid to understand it.

  • @MrMcfly102
    @MrMcfly102 12 лет назад +1

    scholars and writers like St. Augustine, St. Jerome and St. Gregory the Great, who came up with the calendar. By discussing the about the Dark Ages as a time of total dismay is wrong as proven above. 1492 was a good year indeed. The Anglo-Saxon Model of economics is an interesting model because that starts with the father of economics Adam Smith. Was Smith wrong in his assertions, aulusmagnus?

  • @EzraCrangle
    @EzraCrangle 12 лет назад

    Hey Big Think please add some subtitles in spanish. Remember that spanish is the second most spoken language

  • @BramClaes
    @BramClaes 11 лет назад

    For your information, Antwerp is located in Belgium, not in the Netherlands, so apparantly, it was even too much effort to look that up on wikipedia, so why would you have any knowledge about the quality of universities in the Netherlands or anywhere else
    Also, 22 is the normal age to obtain a master degree in Belgium, since it's a 4 year degree, starting at eighteen

  • @gil658
    @gil658 7 лет назад

    Also, another killer app I think is the language and accepted code of interaction, at least in asian region where people have to curtail themselves much more hevaily than people in western culture, and much less direct exchange of ideas in asian cultures. (all contextual instead of spoken outloud)

  • @Cristinact
    @Cristinact 12 лет назад +1

    Bright + Handsome = Niall Ferguson

  • @TheGreatResist
    @TheGreatResist 12 лет назад

    I admire Chomsky but I agree with you.

  • @swunt10
    @swunt10 11 лет назад

    I think you judge him to harshly. you might not agree with him but that doesn't mean he is wrong. his books are celebrated by many professionals for giving new insights and showing real sources and making logical arguments beyond the usual and sometimes wrong prejudices and simple explanations) that nobody can argue against since logic can't be disproved. you may add something that he missed or point out wrong premisses but I challenge you to try it and see how much cleverer you are than he is.

  • @MrMcfly102
    @MrMcfly102 12 лет назад +1

    Actually you are wrong and I will prove that in this rebuttal. European history speaks of the time between the end of the Roman times to the Renaissance as being known as the Dark Ages. Although, these ages were called that there was a lot of change and also a lot of different events that did indeed occur. For instance, many of the educated were monks and or clergy who wrote histories of the Roman Catholic Church. One particular writer and scholar was Eusebius. Also there was many other Catholic

    • @denverbritto5606
      @denverbritto5606 6 лет назад

      Ryno Steffy the development of rational philosophy during medieval times was essential for the scientific revolution

  • @bjscaggles
    @bjscaggles 12 лет назад

    There definitely is a wrong answer, oppression (communism, socialism, crony capitalism, fascism, dictatorships, monarchies, over regulated markets, corporate subsidies, etc.)

  • @v.6942
    @v.6942 3 года назад

    So it’s not Niall Horan?

  • @tenseman08
    @tenseman08 12 лет назад

    oh..how so very original

  • @hampster282
    @hampster282 12 лет назад

    I'm pretty sure more books have been written on Hamlet than on the 30 years war Niall...

  • @instereovideos
    @instereovideos 11 лет назад

    I'd say that goes for people who say the word "bellends," too.

  • @geoffarsenal
    @geoffarsenal 11 лет назад +1

    Brilliant historian :)

  • @Reido2828
    @Reido2828 12 лет назад

    Chomsky is good but I disagree with him on many issues

  • @tenseman08
    @tenseman08 12 лет назад +1

    Superman can go back in time right? trivial I know

  • @AmericanGuy7654
    @AmericanGuy7654 12 лет назад

    So in the end vote for mitt romney.

  • @jp101990
    @jp101990 12 лет назад

    Next James Bond?

  • @fabiofabio6803
    @fabiofabio6803 11 лет назад

    source..?

  • @farore123
    @farore123 11 лет назад

    The Population Reference Bureau estimates that over 100 billion people have been born within the last 52,000 years. That means roughly 7% of the world's total population is alive today. Of course, if you were only talking about humans born within the period of "written history," thereby excluding figures which might fall under the realm of "archaeology," the number would be slightly different, but nowhere near >90%.

  • @Reido2828
    @Reido2828 12 лет назад

    We'll nothing and everything depending on how you look at it. Chomsky used to have real principal when he was younger but lately within the last couple decades he has been doing some very bizarre things like defending Latin American socialism like Venezuela even though the currency is projected to collapse in months and defends fascist regimes that once toppled other fascist regimes because it was American backed. Hypocritical? yup and Hitchens even said the same thing about how hes gone off

    • @cliffgaither
      @cliffgaither 3 года назад

      Christopher Hitchens is the last person to talk about Chomsky having "gone off" !

  • @Kobe29261
    @Kobe29261 8 лет назад

    And by entitlement am sure you mean that of the rich and powerful who as you admitted in the beginning of representative governance carried all the influence and thereby direction of political decision making?

  • @BramClaes
    @BramClaes 11 лет назад

    Yes, I have an interest in music and guitars, firearms, videogames etc. (I do not know on what ground you claim that I follow young girls on youtube...) Since I use youtube mainly for entertainment, this is reflected on my account. Does that provide enough basis for concluding that I am a 17 year old teenager. Absolutely not. In fact, I am 22 years old, and recently obtained my masters degree in history (University of Antwerp)

  • @NichtsIstVerboten
    @NichtsIstVerboten 11 лет назад

    one major point: WWI germany was going to defeat britain save for the US, if china and the US go to war, who would save the US? maybe india? eu conglomeration? serious question that he has ignored

  • @ДанилаПахомов-р5я
    @ДанилаПахомов-р5я 6 лет назад

    who said philosophers aren`t needed?

  • @petervandenengel1208
    @petervandenengel1208 5 лет назад

    Evolution theory; for instance based on demographics; sure provides in a scientific model for understanding human history.

  • @swunt10
    @swunt10 11 лет назад

    you might want to use a different approach to this. Mishra accused ferguson of racism and is an advocate of a guild culture that is more radical than ferguson himself. accusing westerners of being evil and racists and at the same time denying that empires and colonialism were an important part of the path towards our modern world is not historically funded, nor are there any sources for it apart from angry "victims" who in reality just blaming their 'nations' failings on others, like always.

  • @debyte
    @debyte 11 лет назад

    When one finds the flaws in Adam Smith - 'The Wealth Of Nations' you find the flaws in Niall Ferguson's argument.

  • @EzraCrangle
    @EzraCrangle 12 лет назад

    Me too :)

  • @htyl082
    @htyl082 11 лет назад

    Dr Who?

  • @j4ck2234
    @j4ck2234 12 лет назад

    lol I don't think so.

  • @swunt10
    @swunt10 11 лет назад

    just wait some years and you will find in you pocket a dutch passport. you already live in holland it's only a matter of time for politics to catch up.

  • @mattbox87
    @mattbox87 12 лет назад

    :P for now. let history take its course and see how america fares.

  • @MANGOS487
    @MANGOS487 11 лет назад

    Nice "ad hominem attack"

  • @kellybrian21
    @kellybrian21 12 лет назад

    "when Hume invented Capitalism" lolololololololo

  • @ouruhuru
    @ouruhuru 12 лет назад +1

    Pompous.

  • @WikiHadra
    @WikiHadra 10 лет назад

    Swagato Barman Roy At least have the intelligence to not deactivate replies to your posts since you asked a question.
    Watch this video: Distilled Demographics: How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?
    BTW your post is:"7% of all human beings ever born are alive at the moment. To me that sounds like an amazing statement. Is there any reference for it?"
    PS: I hate laziness specially gray matter one.

  • @redwhitedude
    @redwhitedude 12 лет назад

    Trying to be capitalist while trying to maintain a semblance of command communist economy leads to governance issues.

  • @bozzeed
    @bozzeed 12 лет назад

    loool

  • @ДанилаПахомов-р5я
    @ДанилаПахомов-р5я 6 лет назад

    in putin`s Russia they would jail him

  • @boardgamer447
    @boardgamer447 11 лет назад

    @Crouchy232323, I bet you put cones on statues.

  • @williambaker7181
    @williambaker7181 8 лет назад

    Soooooooo slooooowwwwww. Ohh god!

    • @Kobe29261
      @Kobe29261 8 лет назад

      +William Baker I practically watch everything at 2X now, even Slavoj Zizek. It's shocking how slow human speech is.

    • @MasterMalrubius
      @MasterMalrubius 8 лет назад

      LOL, never thought about that!

  • @yuptydoo
    @yuptydoo 12 лет назад

    What does his alleged support of South American socialism have to do with his knowledge of Western Powers? Try to walk around the ad hominem puddle, please.

  • @kellybrian21
    @kellybrian21 12 лет назад

    Are you not going to respond and try and back up your silly statement that Hume invented capitalism? Or are you going to spew another torrent of pointless words without addressing relevant facts?

  • @swunt10
    @swunt10 11 лет назад

    you are not a historian. you follow young girls on youtube and you watch crash course videos. you have no idea what 'academic' means you spend your time watching gun videos as well as assassin creed and guitar videos. there is no historian with your name and I bet everything, just by looking at your channel, that you are not older than 17yr old.

  • @DavidByrne85
    @DavidByrne85 11 лет назад +1

    Again, Ferguson = shill.