Jul 10, 2026 · 52 min · 12 segments
Damir is back from a sweltering Europe, where some commentators seemed to treat air conditioning as a moral failing. He opens the show with a provocation: the European aversion to AC isn’t about…
Shadi HamidHostTo feel guilty before this idea of a reified nature And therefore, the idea being that we must suffer for our sins is like it's secular theology.
But it's like it's the most secular people in the world, Europeans, have imported this kind of Christian suffering before a god called Gaia or whatever.
I just found it fascinating when you sort of like blink and look at that, right?
Well, it goes back to something that we've talked about a lot, which is – or at least I've talked about a lot, which is every human being is driven by some kind of religious impulse.
And if the Germans no longer have traditional religion, they have to find it somewhere else.
And this culture of self, you know, of sacrificing for one's sins or atoning for one's sins, it plays out in really interesting ways.
of
Holding on to this very odd thing, which is lack of AC, is one way to say we are morally superior.
To feel guilty before this idea of a reified nature And therefore, the idea being that we must suffer for our sins is like it's secular theology.
But it's like it's the most secular people in the world, Europeans, have imported this kind of Christian suffering before a god called Gaia or whatever.
I just found it fascinating when you sort of like blink and look at that, right?
Well, it goes back to something that we've talked about a lot, which is – or at least I've talked about a lot, which is every human being is driven by some kind of religious impulse.
And if the Germans no longer have traditional religion, they have to find it somewhere else.
And this culture of self, you know, of sacrificing for one's sins or atoning for one's sins, it plays out in really interesting ways.
of
Holding on to this very odd thing, which is lack of AC, is one way to say we are morally superior.
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