Book · 1948
WALDEN TWO
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Twin Oaks was started in 1967. by a group of people studying psychologist B.S Skinner's book Walden II.
The best things said about it
At the library one day he found a book his professor had written but not assigned to the class. A book called Walden 2. And I'm going to quote from a write up in Boston magazine.
Why people recommend it
Walden Two by B.F. Skinner is a well-known dystopian or utopian novel depicting an experimental community organized around behavioral psychology and positive reinforcement. The book was discussed across different podcasts in relation to real-world utopian experiments and psychological influence. On Freakonomics Radio in September 2023, during the episode 558. The Facts Are In: Two Parents Are Better Than One, Dylan Thuris brought up the book while explaining the origins of Twin Oaks, an intentional community founded in 1967 by individuals who had been studying Skinner's psychological theories and writings. Later, on Behind the Bastards in January 2022, Robert Evans explored the book in Part One: The Judge Rotenberg Center. Evans used the novel to explain how Matthew Israel found the text in a university library—where a professor had written it but not assigned it—and how it fueled his ambitions. Evans read from a Boston magazine write-up to illustrate how the utopian society described in Skinner's work served as a profound, real-world inspiration for Israel's controversial institution. Across these discussions, the book emerges as a powerful ideological catalyst that directly inspired people to attempt the practical implementation of radical behavioral engineering and communal living models.
Every mention
Dylan Thuris Twin Oaks was started in 1967. by a group of people studying psychologist B.S Skinner's book Walden II 1
“Twin Oaks was started in 1967. by a group of people studying psychologist B.S Skinner's book Walden II”
Robert Evans At the library one day he found a book his professor had written but not assigned to the class. A book call… 1
“At the library one day he found a book his professor had written but not assigned to the class. A book called Walden 2. And I'm going to quote from a write up in Boston magazine.”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (2: passing, ad reads, own books)
“That year though, he attended a Walden 2 conference where other weird BF Skinner nerds talked about how to start their own utopian societies. 83 people attended and he met a couple of folks who were willing to get involved in such a project with him”
“He's a historian of like specifically the people who like rallied around Walden 2. And Kman writes that Israel's goal was to take BF Skinner's utopian experiments a step further. Privately, Israel started to call his work Walden 3.”