Jim Meigs on Nietzsche, populism, and monkeys.
Jim Meigs is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a columnist for The Wall Street Journal’s Free Expression newsletter. He spent ten years as editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, then the country’s largest-circulation science and technology magazine. His work has appeared in publications like the New York Post, Commentary, City Journal, and Slate.
This lecture occurred on April 7, 2026 at the University of Austin (UATX).
00:00 — Preview
00:35 — University Dean Ben Crocker’s intro
02:09 — Road rage on I-35
03:23 — When someone else benefits from your hard work
04:55 — Monkeys hate being taken advantage of, too
07:14 — The money pot experiment
09:40 — Will you make sacrifices for the satisfaction of punishing someone else?
11:38 — Resentment and punishment
12:09 — What annoys people the most
13:40 — Why evolution sharpened the enforcement of norms
15:04 — One of the most dangerous forces
16:10 — Nietzsche on the psychology of resentment
17:24 — Two strategies to take over the world
19:18 — What Nixon, Sanders, and Trump have in common
21:30 — Resentment doesn’t work on everyone
22:20 — Populism
25:14 — Which will win: centuries of research or calling for blood?
27:09 — Resentment on the left vs. resentment on the right
29:00 — Why social justice seeks to punish the rich
30:40 — If you do the right thing, you get screwed
33:02 — It’s more fun to pick up a pitchfork
35:19 — Resentment is foundational to far-left politics
36:09 — How to set your society up for endless class war
37:50 — Did Marx only care about punishment?
39:40 — If you get rid of the elite, will our problems go away?
40:09 — “Let’s blame the Jews”
43:14 — When populist anger is good
45:19 — Beware of simple solutions
47:03 — Q&A: Beware of your allies
48:42 — Q&A: Why Governor Newsom’s dinner sparked rage
51:37 — Q&A: Vicious advocates and vindictive allyship
54:48 — Q&A: In defense of the experts
1:00:13 — Q&A: How to create resentment
1:03:20 — Q&A: How does resentment fragment relationships?
Last Day to Apply for UATX x Palantir
Palantir built the software the intelligence community used to hunt terrorists. Today they’re one of the most important defense and AI companies on the planet. On April 25, they’re on UATX’s campus for a day — and admitted students get to work with them (while spots last).
If you’ve been thinking about applying, now’s the time. We’ll even reimburse you up to $500 for visiting us.
UATX is on the road, bringing high schoolers a glimpse of life at UATX
Next up:
Boston (May 2–3)
San Francisco Bay (May 29–30)
Austin (June 20–21)
All programs are free.
This Wednesday at UATX
The Honorable Roy K. Altman (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida) speaks on his upcoming book, Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law. Wednesday, April 15. 5–7 PM. RSVP here.
Read the Great Books. Build real things. Graduate debt-free.
