This series is sponsored by our friends, Daniel and Mira Stokar.

In this episode of 18Forty, tech entrepreneur Antonio Garcia Martinez discusses his powerful “Why Judaism?” essay series, chronicling his conversion to Judaism and his views on the deficiencies of secular liberalism. A formerly Orthodox man who was moved to change his life after reading Martinez’s essays chimes in.

—What is the toll of a culture of optionality?
—What is the value of unchosen commitments?
—How does Martinez reconcile his deeply scientific worldview with Judaism?

Interview begins at 10:21.

Antonio García Martínez is a New York Times best-selling author and tech entrepreneur. He is a former product manager for Facebook, the CEO-founder of AdGrok, and a former quantitative analyst for Goldman Sachs. His book Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley, an insider look into Silicon Valley, was a New York Times bestseller. Antonio reflected on his choice to engage with Judaism in a deeply thoughtful piece, “Why Judaism? On abandoning secular modernity.”

References:

Why Judaism? On abandoning secular modernity by Antonio García Martínez
Why Judaism?, part שני: On the question of God in modernity by Antonio García Martínez
Nineteen Letters by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher
Rethinking Sex by Christine Emba
Seven Types of Atheism by John Gray
The Sabbath by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel