Lex Fridman
Stephen Kotkin is a professor of history at Princeton university and one of the great historians of our time, specializing in Russian and Soviet history. He has written many books on Stalin and the Soviet Union including the first 2 of a 3 volume work on Stalin, and he is currently working on volume 3. This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.
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Clips playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41
EPISODE LINKS:
Stalin (book, vol 1): https://amzn.to/2FjdLF2
Stalin (book, vol 2): https://amzn.to/2tqyjc3
OUTLINE:
0:00 – Introduction
3:10 – Do all human beings crave power?
11:29 – Russian people and authoritarian power
15:06 – Putin and the Russian people
23:23 – Corruption in Russia
31:30 – Russia’s future
41:07 – Individuals and institutions
44:42 – Stalin’s rise to power
1:05:20 – What is the ideal political system?
1:21:10 – Questions for Putin
1:29:41 – Questions for Stalin
1:33:25 – Will there always be evil in the world?
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I really enjoyed this conversation with Stephen. Here's the outline:
0:00 – Introduction
3:10 – Do all human beings crave power?
11:29 – Russian people and authoritarian power
15:06 – Putin and the Russian people
23:23 – Corruption in Russia
31:30 – Russia's future
41:07 – Individuals and institutions
44:42 – Stalin's rise to power
1:05:20 – What is the ideal political system?
1:21:10 – Questions for Putin
1:29:41 – Questions for Stalin
1:33:25 – Will there always be evil in the world?
You're exactly what I've been looking for Lex. Keep fighting the good fight, I'm sure I speak for many when I say most of us want to be more like you.
When he mentioned the oil price jump not being the main drive of Putin's economy, i was hoping you would mention Kasparov at some point.
Great interview! Very important topic!!!!
Really enjoy listening to Stephen. His logical flow of speaking makes me feel less dumb.
But institutionalism will always be taken over by oligarchs. When the rules are set down impersonally, the oligarchs will have all the time in the world to tame them, to employ scyscrapers full of lawyers and lobbyists to tame the system to make it place specialized to enrich themselves with. Monarchy is superior to democracy, because the monarch is by the very nature of his position already at the apex, democracy just turns into an oligarch plunderfest.
Love this guy!
Lex, you might not read this but let me say that you are a very genuine and humble person and people like that about you. But if you insist on bringing economists, historians & the like, you have to first be well versed yourself and two you have to understand they are not the sciences. There are always narratives at play here and if you are not careful you will inadvertently perpetuate those narratives. I think you here are not being careful or you just don't know how & where to push back.
May be you have already read these books but if not please read/re-read Howard Zinn's people history and Domenico Lusardo's liberalism , a counter history. The latter also has a book on Stalin which you should read too as you are after all from Russia. There are many beautiful books about 20th century Russian history told from a non-US centric world view. They are well worth your time, Russian or otherwise.
We must separate fact from fiction more effectively when it comes to history/economic history. You have a power with your podcast to shape other people's minds .Don't be callous by stepping outside the bounds of AI without requisite preparation or by not questioning everything that you think you know, especially more so when it comes to history/economics as fiction in these disciplines comes disproportionately from the high places and that includes places like princeton.
I hope this finds you.
Thanks for the podcast in general.
Stalin would have been nothing without the people who killed their countrymen to allow him into power. Stalin's evil is not the evil of one extraordinary man. It is the evil of a mob of ordinary men.
HOW CAN ANYONE OVERLOOK STALIN'S PSYCHOPATHY??? Do you really believe this man wanted to make the world better?! Just TAKE A LOOK AT HOW HE TREATED HIS OWN FAMILY!!! How he was willing to let his own son die, how he would humiliate his wife in public. Why his own son and wife attempted suicide. THIS IS WHY WE GET THESE MONSTERS IN HISTORY!!! Stop giving these tyrants the benefit of the doubt!!! It's not that POWER CORRUPTS, it's that people who SEEK POWER ARE ALREADY CORRUPT TO BEGIN WITH!!! And those who acquire absolute power are the most corrupt ones of them all. No one is simply handed absolute power, they usually KILL FOR IT!!!
Sincere thanks!
Putin has given Russia back to the Russians and that is why he is hated and demonized by Western Neoliberal Elites.
I have never seen a person that speaks about this topics with this calm and measure, and also gives the devil credit where credit is due.
Favorite Stalin ימ"ש quote: "in the Red Army it takes more courage to retreat then to advance." Word.
Eliminate the state. Scale is the problem. None of these civilization models and forms of governance work at scale. No social model works at scale. All of them will eventually fail.
Our senile leaders certainly cannot push away from the table
Pelosi Mitchell Biden maybe Trump near brain dead
Magnificent interview. Great speaker who was allowed to talk. Bravo.
I am always thrilled listening to Lex Fridman. Can't wait for his next interview. Thanks Lex.
These interviews are great. Can you do one with an expert on Napolean?
Thank you for this episode! Love Kotkin and his fantastic books!
Every episode is better and better. Just love watching you have these interactions. Thank you for asking what I didn't know I wanted to know.
Great job, Lex! Could you please continue with historians and make interview with Tim Snyder?
Fascinating. I could listen to him for hours.
This episode felt like I was listening to a story, legit just listened to it in one fell swoop.
Thank you, Professor kotkin, to telling the truth about Soviets and Russia!!
Fantastic thank you for posting this content
Def. the best I have seen from you!
putin is just a fucking criminal, not an intelligent dictator, it is just a rude criminal responsible for the death of thousands of people… to annexe Crimea or to make a war in Donbass is not a subtle political strategy, it is just a criminal act: please do not overestimate putin as people often overstimate mafia or narcos bosses: they are just CRIMINALS… Putin did not rescue Russia from the chaos, he prolonged the agonia !! he did not contribute to build a democracy !! How can you analize the act of a criminal as that of a political genius ?? How can you be so blind ??
I’m only 8 minutes in and this is already my favorite episode!
Impressive knowledge of the topic. Nuanced, fair and useful picture of the current Russian political landscape! Thank you.
10:10 For some reason I thought of Elon Musk
It’d be great if more people knew Stalin was a real SJW.
1:18:50 – Stephen says he is only concerned about those that wish to tear down the institutions that keep the checks and balanced (left and right), but not concerned the swings left and right within those institutional parameters
Interesting