Bret Devereaux

"what's interesting too...and it hasn't been studied that much; I wish it had is how the warrior archetype works for women..." Gonna suggest it hasn't been studied in women as much because it is just as much BS mumbo-jumbo there as in men, but w/o the toxic-masculinity baggage?

"women in all female groups...I wish there was some real science on this" It is moments like these I wish I was a different kind of specialist, but I am going to guess there probably actually is a lot of real science on that, it just doesn't flatter Pressfield's preconceptions.

That said, one thing I find honestly infuriating about these videos is how Pressfield is presenting himself as an expert on things he doesn't have expertise in. We've already seen before what an absolute trainwreck his ancient history scholarship is...

...but, you know he's an old white guy sitting in a comfortable looking leather chair with a bookshelf behind him, so a lot of viewers will take him for an expertise - they will assume that there is some substance to back up his claims. So far I haven't seen any.

This is a big part of why, for the bigger blog series I run, I am careful to include bibliography and reading lists - I want my readers to know that I have done my homework for real. And it is also why I am careful to say "I don't know" when I don't know.

And "I don't know" is *not* the same as "we don't know" The latter implies a question not yet settled by the field and ought to only be made by an expert in that field who can survey from some height to determine that the question has not been answered.

Anyway, what Pressfield is very good at here is presenting an image of expertise (probably easier as a white male with thinning hair, speaking from experience), but he has not actually done the legwork to earn that perception by actually building expertise. Very frustrating.

Long personal anecdote about his marine training and the emotional impact of being accepted at the end of boot camp as a marine. He attributes this to his 'warrior archetype' but the more obvious element is the scientifically well documented human need for social-group-belonging