Secrets of the Ninja Priesthood! Eric Weinstein & Avi Loeb (Video)

In this 12 March 2025 video, host Dr. Brian Keating talks with Eric Weinstein and Brian Keating.

Are tech billionaires, politicians, and even scientists themselves waging a war on science? Why is there a growing distrust in science? And has theoretical physics been intentionally sidelined to limit major breakthroughs? Here today to discuss the rise of anti-science are Avi Loeb and Eric Weinstein! 

Eric Weinstein is an investor, financial executive and host of The Portal. Though not an academic physicist, he proposed a unified theory of physics in 2013. He and his brother Bret Weinstein coined the term Intellectual Dark Web to refer to an informal group of pundits. Eric is a vocal critic of modern academic hierarchies and advocates for advances in scientific theory over an emphasis on experimental results.

Avi Loeb is a leading astrophysicist, professor at Harvard University, director of the Galileo Project, and founding director of Harvard’s Black Hole Initiative. Known as the alien hunter, he became famous for his bold and sometimes controversial theories about UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence. 

Key Quotes: 

• “LYING about string theory, cures for cancer & peer review has caused this rift.”
• “The anti science stuff didn’t really come out until, Fauci”
• “What you’re getting hit with is what I would call a universal discount factor.”
• “We haven’t minted any great spokespeople for science, particularly people, I would say 60 and younger, so that there’s no one to defend it.”
• “Tech sounds like science. But one of the problems that we’re having, I think, is that, you’re seeing the return of an old trope. The old trope is that scientists are welfare queens in white lab coats.”
• “We made you safe. We made you strong. We made you rich. What is your effing problem?”
• “Every scientist should learn that they produce a public good, which is both inexhaustible and inexcludable if done correctly.”
• “We are this incredibly dangerous ninja priesthood.”
• “In part, lying about things like string theory and lying about things like cures for cancer and lying about peer review and pretending that public health is science when it absolutely, in no uncertain terms, is not, has caused this rift. Nobody’s got time for that anymore.”
• “Scientists are acting like Welfare Queens in Lab Coats”
• “Is Science On The Brink Of A Revolution?”
• “Scientists Have Become a Dangerous Ninja Priesthood.”
• “We Made You Safe, Strong, and Rich. What Is Your Problem?”

https://youtu.be/2B_O0fnJyZs

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:29 The rise of anti-science in the US government 
00:24:38 Is AI training us? 
00:28:13 Is Oumuamua an object from another civilization? 
00:32:20 Fighting against the big 10 in physics 
00:42:32 The future of academia 
00:48:13 Immigrants in academia 
00:59:12 Lack of curiosity 
01:09:14 Geometric unity and grand unification 
01:14:44 Shelter Island III 
01:24:00 Outro