I agree that idealism has its downside, as Popper said, too (the closed societies of wannabe utopias). Alas, realism also has a downside, as the lack of much commitment to ideals enables us to rationalize the tendency for things to get worse (as parasites and predators exploit the loopholes, and so on).

Right, as a naturalistic cognitive scientist, Vervaeke may be like the Grand Inquisitor. It's interesting how the more puritanical Jordan Peterson has become a more monstrous figure.