Why Truth No Longer Matters – Prof. Jiang Xueqin

Video Description

How does power rewrite reality itself? In this lecture, Professor Jiang explains how empires sustain control not through armies or wealth, but through worldviews. From the rise of materialism and the Reformation’s moral anxiety to the modern fusion of ideology and technology, this talk explores how power reshapes belief, consciousness, and civilization itself — turning ideas into instruments of rule. 00:00 – Who Really Holds Power The speaker opens by arguing that true power lies in ideas, not governments—specifically the modern belief that only matter is real. 02:40 – From Spirit to Matter How ancient traditions saw consciousness as creative, and how elites reshaped that worldview to justify hierarchy and private property. 05:10 – The Age of Material Gods Science, technology, and fear of death combine to make materialism the new religion of control. 07:30 – Inventing Reality Explains how institutions and media teach people that they’re powerless atoms—how perception becomes the mechanism of rule. 10:00 – The Reformation and Anxiety of Faith A historical turn: Martin Luther and Calvinism introduce religious fear and wealth as proof of devotion, seeding modern capitalism. 13:00 – Faith Turns to Power Shows how the Protestant “work ethic” spreads through Europe and America, turning anxiety into empire-building. 15:30 – Anxiety and Transgression How later sects invert morality—faith through sin—and how this logic of transgression shapes secret societies and modern elites. 18:00 – The World They Built Connects religious evolution to today’s global power structures and the continuing fusion of belief, wealth, and control. 🎓 Speaker: Professor Jiang Xueqin 🏛 Event: The Stoa – Interview Discussion 📅 Date: September 2025 📖 Full Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSLRLVCTWRA&t=1889s ⚖️ Educational & Copyright Disclaimer This video is for educational and informational purposes only. It contains a continuous excerpt from a publicly available interview, edited and transformed to highlight key ideas. All rights to the original material remain with Professor Jiang and The Stoa. Lecture Hall curates and contextualizes scholarly work to make academic insight more accessible to a wider audience. #ProfessorJiang #Power #Worldview #Civilization #Philosophy #LectureHall