- 2 days ago
Philosopher Stefan Molyneux shows how philosophy helps you by tying fear straight to unexpressed anger from bad parents and pushing confrontation so you finally grow into an adult with real agency. He adds that universally preferable behavior gives a clear standard for ethics and politics instead of excuses or coercion.
Questions:
If one would start their own company and fail, what is the worst possible financial demise one would face? Bankruptcy? What does that really look like as far as putting the pieces back together and starting all over? How does one calculate their risk? Example: Automotive Detailing Business. ✌🏼
I feel as though I have been controlled be fear all my life …
What are your thoughts on fear?
No questions. Thanks for your efforts over the years.
What are your thoughts on reverse mass migration / remigration?
You believe the coming matriarchy is a bad thing but you will at last get to wear nice clothes and not die in an atomic war. Why does it frighten you so much?
what are the advantages of confronting your parents and the disadvantages of not doing it?
Stef, not a question, just an observation. The show with the guy who still felt guilty because he crashed his mom’s car was so eye-opening, I didn’t want it to end.
I just wished you had recognized that he did not want to end the call, he was just too polite for his own good.
Why do the majority of people seem to express more emotion for fictional characters in tv/media than their own society, loved ones, etc.?
Are you a Christian ?
Why are blacks physically superior to whites?
Do you believe in the human soul? If not, can u explain the conscience and inner monologue? Do u believe in NPCs?
will you concede upb does not serve as 'proof' of secular ethics? what would lead you to concede?
ME: Can theft ever be universally preferable behaviour?
HIM: No, it can't. I don't dispute t...
0:00:00 Startup Risk and Failure
0:09:30 Why Fear Controls Us
0:19:24 Migration and Welfare
0:23:38 Facing Your Parents
0:30:27 Fictional Heroes, Real Cowards
0:36:54 Soul, Conscience, and Morality
0:47:05 Actionable Ethics and Power
GET FREEDOMAIN MERCH! https://shop.freedomain.com/
SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON X! https://x.com/StefanMolyneux
Follow me on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@freedomain1
GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND THE FULL AUDIOBOOK!
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Subscribers get 12 HOURS on the "Truth About the French Revolution," multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material - as well as AIs for Real-Time Relationships, Bitcoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-In Shows!
You also receive private livestreams, HUNDREDS of exclusive premium shows, early release podcasts, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more!
See you soon!
https://freedomain.locals.com/support/promo/FREEDOMAIN202
Questions:
If one would start their own company and fail, what is the worst possible financial demise one would face? Bankruptcy? What does that really look like as far as putting the pieces back together and starting all over? How does one calculate their risk? Example: Automotive Detailing Business. ✌🏼
I feel as though I have been controlled be fear all my life …
What are your thoughts on fear?
No questions. Thanks for your efforts over the years.
What are your thoughts on reverse mass migration / remigration?
You believe the coming matriarchy is a bad thing but you will at last get to wear nice clothes and not die in an atomic war. Why does it frighten you so much?
what are the advantages of confronting your parents and the disadvantages of not doing it?
Stef, not a question, just an observation. The show with the guy who still felt guilty because he crashed his mom’s car was so eye-opening, I didn’t want it to end.
I just wished you had recognized that he did not want to end the call, he was just too polite for his own good.
Why do the majority of people seem to express more emotion for fictional characters in tv/media than their own society, loved ones, etc.?
Are you a Christian ?
Why are blacks physically superior to whites?
Do you believe in the human soul? If not, can u explain the conscience and inner monologue? Do u believe in NPCs?
will you concede upb does not serve as 'proof' of secular ethics? what would lead you to concede?
ME: Can theft ever be universally preferable behaviour?
HIM: No, it can't. I don't dispute t...
0:00:00 Startup Risk and Failure
0:09:30 Why Fear Controls Us
0:19:24 Migration and Welfare
0:23:38 Facing Your Parents
0:30:27 Fictional Heroes, Real Cowards
0:36:54 Soul, Conscience, and Morality
0:47:05 Actionable Ethics and Power
GET FREEDOMAIN MERCH! https://shop.freedomain.com/
SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON X! https://x.com/StefanMolyneux
Follow me on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@freedomain1
GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND THE FULL AUDIOBOOK!
https://peacefulparenting.com/
Join the PREMIUM philosophy community on the web for free!
Subscribers get 12 HOURS on the "Truth About the French Revolution," multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material - as well as AIs for Real-Time Relationships, Bitcoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-In Shows!
You also receive private livestreams, HUNDREDS of exclusive premium shows, early release podcasts, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more!
See you soon!
https://freedomain.locals.com/support/promo/FREEDOMAIN202
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LearningTranscript
00:00All right. Hope you're doing well, Stefan Molyneux from Freedom, Maine. And we are
00:07doing some great questions from the fine listeners on xx.com slash Stefan Molyneux
00:13or at Stefan Molyneux or one of the two. Anyway, question number one. If one could start their own
00:20company and fail, what is the worst possible financial demise one would face? Bankruptcy?
00:24What does that really look like as far as putting the pieces back together and starting all over?
00:28How does one calculate their risk? Example, automotive detailing business. Well, I'm a big
00:35one for manage your risks. Take risks. Risks fall, of course, in the Aristotelian mean don't jump out
00:42of the plane without a parachute, but that doesn't mean don't go parachuting at all. I went parachuting
00:47as a teenager, a very vivid memory, something I'm glad I did. Never really wanted to do it again,
00:52but it was fun to do once. So when you're young, you think that there are disasters in life
01:01that are really bad. And as you get older, they are unimportant. And this is just sort of an aging
01:10perspective, right? So I'll give you a couple of silly examples from my life. My mom used to send me
01:19to school in flip-flops. That was pretty embarrassing. And I remember I was a very fast runner and I
01:24remember
01:25there were qualifications for the running team and I couldn't run because I was in flip-flops. So I didn't
01:30make the team. That was very bad. When we would have the school yearbook, people would pose for their
01:37school photos. And whether you got a good or bad photo seemed really important. Now these are all
01:43gathering dust. They don't matter at all. When I was going to therapy from work, I was late and I
01:52still
01:52remember the technical problem I was working on that made me late. And I was in a big hurry and
01:57I
01:57had a 1998 Volvo S70. It was the first car I ever bought. And I turned too quickly in the
02:04parking lot
02:05and scraped the side of the car. And I thought this was a bad thing because it was going to
02:11cost
02:11$2,500 to fix. It turned out to save me. It saved me probably $20,000 because I realized I
02:19was stuck
02:20in some limbo for advertising based upon my driver's license. And it was only because I called the
02:26insurance company that I found this out. And so I ended up upgrading my license, got way better
02:30insurance and saved almost 10 times the amount. And I never did get it fixed. This thing, which
02:35seemed really bad. You know, I love that car. And when I scraped the side of it, I felt like
02:40I had
02:40gouged my own flesh. I love that car. And now, of course, that car is a cube in landfill somewhere.
02:48It's been recycled or something. I traded it in many, many years ago. So these are, you know, when I
02:54was
02:55working up north, I was the passenger in a car that flipped over and went along the highway on its
03:04roof
03:04going at about 120, a gravel mess. And a lot of scary, scary at the time. Now it doesn't really
03:12matter. I have a computer that I use. I dropped it once, a notebook, and it bent the side up
03:20and all
03:20of that kind of stuff. And it bothered me at the time. Now, of course, it's completely irrelevant.
03:24And, you know, you got to look at life from your deathbed back a little bit. It's the first video
03:29that I ever did was live as though you're dying, which means at the end of your life, when you
03:34look
03:34back, how important will these things be to you? That time horrified me at the time. Crazy stuff
03:43looking back. But, you know, I have sympathy for my younger self and I have sympathy for you and all
03:48of
03:48that. But I remember when I went to go, I would go to summer camp a lot. I went to
03:53summer camp and
03:56I remember once there was a dance and I had a sprinkle of pimples on the top left of my
04:03forehead.
04:04And this was horrifying to me, of course, right? And I didn't notice it because there really weren't any
04:11mirrors. And I saw it in a mirror. I can't remember exactly how or where. And this was horrifying to
04:18me.
04:18You know, the girl that I wanted to go out with me, who didn't go out with me, this all
04:22seemed like
04:22a disaster at the time, a mess at the time, problem at the time. Later on, later on, every girl
04:29who
04:30didn't go out with me or every girl I didn't go out with or who broke up with me or
04:35I broke up with
04:36them, led me directly into the arms of my lovely wife. Well, directly or indirectly in some manner.
04:41All the relationships I wanted to work out, I'm glad did not work out now. And I do remember in
04:47the business world, sweating my guts out because I signed debts that were pretty enormous, personal
04:56debts to meet payroll. I couldn't have discharged it in bankruptcy. These were personal guarantees.
05:01And if it had all gone, as my old business part used to say, if we'd augured in, you know,
05:07drilled in
05:08and cratered, then I would have been in debt for many years and with no particular chance of
05:18starting another business. Looking back upon all of these things, some risks I had worked out,
05:23some risks I had didn't work out. And that's just part of life. We think, of course, that life is
05:29defined by our successes. Life is not defined by our successes. Life is defined by our consistent
05:38efforts, win or lose. You understand? Life is not defined by winning. The thrill of victory
05:45lasts 15 minutes. And think about some great news you got. Oh, fantastic. You know, maybe you think
05:52you're sick and the biopsy turns out to be benign and you can just get it dealt with. It's not
05:56a
05:56problem. Or you win something or something great. The girl goes out with you. And maybe that leads
06:02to a wonderful marriage and all of that. But think of all the thrills and excitements and good
06:08things that happened. And how long did that last? How long did that last? I had a friend many years
06:15ago inherited. He was a bit of a dour fellow. And he inherited kind of out of nowhere, some distant
06:23relative. He was the only remaining relative. He inherited like a million dollars. And it didn't
06:30make him particularly happy. I mean, obviously, of course, he was happy to get the news and he went
06:35out to celebrate and all of that sort of stuff. But it doesn't last, right? The hedonic treadmill.
06:44So this too shall pass, right? There's a famous ring that makes you happy when you're sad and sad when
06:49you're happy. This too shall pass. If you're really happy, great. You know, enjoy being happy. It's
06:54wonderful. I've had great news in my life. I've had terrible news in my life. And being happy is
07:01great. Being excessively happy is great. And you will return to baseline. And being down and unhappy and
07:07stressed and negative is bad. And you realize that you will return to baseline. I mean, with the exception
07:14that eventually you'll just decay and die, right? So that sometimes there's just a downward
07:20bottoming out. The bottoming out is the grave. So I've had videos that did very well. I've had videos
07:28that didn't do very well. I came onto X with a big splash. My numbers are declining and I can't
07:34get more
07:34people to follow me because I'm regularly annoying my audience, which I sort of understand. My job is not
07:41to make friends with anyone but the truth. But I've had ups and downs in my career. I've been top
07:47of
07:47the world. I've been, you know, out in the wilderness and so on. I've live streamed to tens of thousands
07:54of people. I've live streamed to 20 people. You know, it depends on the venue, on the whatever it is
08:01that I'm doing. And some of the ups are great. Some of the downs obviously are bad. But you revert
08:09to
08:10normal as a whole. The highs, the ups, the happiness, the peaks do not define your life.
08:17Otherwise, the happiest marriage day would be the day you got married, the day you met your first
08:23child and so on. Everything after that would be what? A disappointment. I think that would be pretty,
08:28that would be pretty bad. So, life and its steady joys are defined by your consistent effort, not your
08:39victory or your loss. If you run as hard as you can in the race, that's what you can be
08:47proud of.
08:48That's what you can be satisfied with. That's what you can be happy about. Not whether you win or lose.
08:54Whether you win or lose is, to a very large degree, utterly beyond your control. What matters
09:01is the consistent effort you put in the right directions, in the directions of virtue and
09:08competence and responsibility and taking accountability and self-ownership and integrity and maturity.
09:16Sticking to ethics since my mid-teens has given me a great many highs and it's given me,
09:24I wouldn't say quite the similar level, but it's given me a number of lows as well.
09:31So, when you have to make a big decision about, okay, I'm going to start my own company.
09:37If you're going to start your own company, I think it's a great thing to do.
09:40I haven't had a boss in almost a quarter century. I mean, other than you, the lovely audience and so
09:47on. And if you want to start your own company, I think it's a great thing. If you're a white
09:52male,
09:52it is kind of a necessity because the hiring is very much against you these days. It's very tragic,
09:58very immoral, but that's the way that it is. So, if you want to start your own company,
10:03the key thing to do is to prepare, to prepare, unless it's just a pure mad passion project like
10:10what I do here, but you prepare. So, if you want to start an automotive detailing business,
10:16then look into a couple of options. One, you can take over an existing business
10:20with an existing customer base. That can be a value. When I was in my 20s, I was trying to
10:26decide
10:26whether to go into the business world or go back to university for a graduate degree.
10:30university. And I ended up meeting up with a fellow who wanted me to take over his courier
10:36business. And it was all very primitive and didn't have much technology and all of that.
10:42And I was looking to do that. Unfortunately, well, unfortunately, I ended up deciding to go back
10:48to university after a number of meetings with a fellow to take over his courier business.
10:53And one of my big concerns, of course, was that, sorry, of course, like you would know,
10:58one of the big concerns was that he had two sons who I was concerned would get pretty testy if
11:07I took
11:08over the business and made it very successful, they would get kind of testy with me. And so I had
11:13some concerns about that and cash flow because cash flow was king, right? So anyway, you need to do
11:21your research. Automotive detailing business, okay, especially with AI now, right? How many are
11:26there around? How many people have insurance? I guess insurance is detailing is for cleaning,
11:34right? So sorry, yeah, how many people are around? Another thing that's important is how many people
11:38use their cars around for business purposes. When you use your car for business purposes, in other
11:43words, you pick appliance or whatever, you deliver things, then your car needs to be clean. And it's sort
11:48of like a haircut. If there's a recession on, people get the haircut much less, and so on. And
11:55you want to come up with spreadsheets, you want to come up with market analysis, you want to come up
12:01with the right location, and so on, right? And also, you know, what do you plan to improve? What
12:06interesting ideas do you have? What interesting promotion ideas do you have for the business and so
12:13on? All of these things are very important. There's a lot you can do to minimize your risk.
12:18And all you have to do, really, to succeed in life, assuming a baseline level of intelligence,
12:24which everyone who listens to this show already has, all you have to do in life is just work
12:32harder. It's all you have to do. All you've got to do is just work harder than others.
12:41Other people will cut and run. Other people will get lazy. Other people will get complacent.
12:47You know, there's a general cycle in business. You know, people start out young and hungry and
12:53willing to work, you know, the 70, 80 hours a week. And then what happens? Well, they get older,
12:57and they get kids. And, you know, quite rightly, they want to spend their time focusing on other
13:02things and doing other things. So there's a natural cycle where the elderly work less, which opens up
13:11massive opportunities for young people to work harder. So in my software career, I started off
13:19with this environmental management information system, health and safety system, ISO 14,000 system,
13:24and so on. And I was kind of carving out the entire business opportunity on my own. I mean,
13:32obviously not on my own, but it was a new business opportunity. There really wasn't anything out there
13:37competing with us. And then competition showed up. And then what happened was that both IBM and
13:43Microsoft got into the business. And I remember, you know, feeling a bit nervous about that. And then
13:51thinking, okay, so they'll advertise, which means they'll raise awareness of this as a business
13:56solution. And then I'll close and sell because I was really good at closing and selling.
14:02So I was just willing to work harder. I knew that the IBM and Microsoft guys, I worked with Microsoft
14:09and I
14:10worked for IBM at one point. And I knew a little bit about the culture. And it was not a
14:17lean and hungry
14:18look, kind of working 60, 70 hours. It wasn't entrepreneurial, because you just couldn't make that much money
14:25as an entrepreneur with entrepreneurial energy in a big corporation like IBM or Microsoft. So
14:30I was like, okay, then they'll raise awareness. People will look for products, they'll find us.
14:35We've been in business longer, we have a better product. And I am madly passionate, passionately
14:40committed to making our product the best. And I'm not afraid to say so. So we ended up doing well
14:47from that. So do your research, figure out your market, figure out your budgets, figure out who you're
14:55going to hire, find some talented people, and then just have a mad passion. Don't get into a business,
15:01I mean, unless you have to, right? Don't get into a business unless you have a mad passion for it.
15:06Now, of course, I didn't have a mad passion for environmental management information systems.
15:10But I absolutely loved coding. I really enjoyed business travel. Because you know, when you're a
15:14young guy, you get to go and stay in a great hotel and rent cars and convertibles, and that gives
15:21us a
15:22huge amount of fun. And I remember just waking up one morning, it was Sunday, and it was just bitterly
15:30cold in Toronto. And anyway, I had to have a sudden business trip down to Phoenix, Arizona. And I just
15:42remember like, freezing my butt off in the morning. And then in the evening, I was in a hotel pool,
15:48swimming, looking at the stars and chatting with girls. And it's just like, that's pretty, pretty
15:52wildlife. It's a pretty wildlife. So yeah, you do your research. And then once you've done your
16:00research, and you're committed, and you're excited about it, then all you have to do is work harder.
16:06Now, sometimes that means more hours. Sometimes that just means working smarter, and so on. But
16:11do all of that. And you have a very big chance of succeeding. And if you don't succeed, then
16:20you actually help yourself in many ways. Because even if you don't succeed, if you fail and crash
16:25out or something like that, well, it's a corporation. So the corporation augurs in, the corporation goes
16:33bust, and your assets are largely excluded, depending on where you are. It's not legal advice. This is just
16:38my understanding of it. So you have a corporation. And if the corporation goes out of business, your
16:44personal assets, they can't pass, they can't pierce the corporate shield to get your personal assets in
16:49general. So you really, you don't lose much other than your time, effort and energy. And what you gain
16:57is experience, right? So I always really enjoyed interviewing people and usually hired people who had
17:01some entrepreneurial experience, especially if they failed. Because they, I mean, if they succeeded, they
17:06weren't working for me. But if they failed, they learned great lessons. All right. So yeah, go for it,
17:12man. When you get to the end of your life, and you look back, you don't want to see these
17:17gray drip drop
17:18copy paste groundhog days of sameness. You want some variety, you want some spice, you want to have had
17:23some highs, have some lows, and so on, right? So next question, I feel as though I have been controlled
17:31by fear all my life. What are your thoughts on fear? Well, fear is the flip side of rage when
17:37it
17:37becomes pathological. And so most people who are afraid have anger that they do not express,
17:47experience, process, or act on. Acting on anger could be very healthy. I'm not talking about any
17:53kind of violence, of course, of course, of course, or anything like that. But if you've been controlled
17:58by fear all my life, it's probably because you experienced great, terrible, and demonic threats
18:05as a child. And so you lived in chronic fear because you were being bullied and aggressed against
18:14as a child. And until you get in touch with your anger about that, which means to confront and remove
18:21the aggression from the people around you, that's really, really important. Remove the aggression from
18:27the people around you, which means their insults, their put-downs, maybe their physical threats, or
18:32whatever it is that they do. Whatever it is that they do to make you feel bad, you just remove
18:37those
18:38threats from your life. Hopefully, by talking people into becoming nicer, maybe going to get some
18:43anger management or some therapy. I mean, that's rare. I've heard it happens, but it's pretty rare.
18:47But most often, it comes from the simple process of identifying the bullies in your life
18:54and not having them in your life. Bullies rarely change. I mean, you can get them to comply for a
19:00while if you have something over them, but bullies don't change. It's a mindset. It's a whole
19:07coldness and empathy deficiency that doesn't change. Asking a bully to change in adulthood is like
19:15asking someone to grow taller after the age of 20. It doesn't really work. So, all right. No questions.
19:22Thanks for your efforts over the years. I appreciate that. Next question. What are your
19:25thoughts on reverse mass migration or re-migration? I mean, they tried that. In Germany recently,
19:32they tried sending some Syrians home. The Syrian government said, we don't want to take them.
19:36I don't know what you do when a country won't take its own citizens back. I mean, I know what
19:43I would do
19:44in, if I was in charge, but I'm not, so there's not much point talking about it. So, reverse mass
19:52migration or re-migration is not going to happen as long as somebody from, say, the Middle East can get
20:0110 times the amount of money on welfare in the West than they can get by working a job in
20:07the hot
20:08desert sun. And the people who are sent to go into the West often, not always often, often are not
20:19the
20:19most successful people. Because if you have, you know, a smart, competent son and then a competent
20:25who's a kid, let's say the eldest son is very competent, the youngest son is not competent, maybe
20:31not smart, not hardworking, whatever, right? Well, you put your eldest son to work so that you help
20:37support the family. And if you can get your youngest son into the welfare state somewhere in
20:41the West, then your youngest son can send a whole bunch of money back, way more than he could ever
20:45give you by working in your local country. So, none of this really matters as long as there's fiat
20:51currency in terms of, like, what we can change. None of this really matters until we have fiat.
20:58As long as we have fiat currency and the welfare state and people are forced to transfer resources to
21:03others, then it doesn't really matter what my thoughts are and so on. All right. You believe
21:11the coming matriarchy is a bad thing, but you will at last get to wear nice clothes and not die
21:16in an
21:16atomic war. Why does it frighten you so much? Ah, yes, the manipulative tactics of some female
21:24debaters, right? You have a small peener. You can't get laid. No woman will touch you. You're just
21:31frightened. You are fragile. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. This is all not an argument. I assume
21:37this is somewhat funny. There's no such thing as a matriarchy because men control the use of force.
21:45Men control the use of force. You know, there's an argument which is that democracy among fighting
21:52aged men is a reasonable proxy for war, right? Because throughout most of history, men would fight
22:02and the majority would usually win. If you had a two-to-one odds, you would usually win. So,
22:08democracy is just a way for fighting aged men to impose their will on each other without having to,
22:13you know, murder each other by the thousands, hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands or
22:19millions. So, the problem is when you have the boomers, like you have really old people and you
22:26have a lot of women who are hijacking democracy and using it against these sort of healthy young
22:32strong men, then democracy is no longer a valid proxy or a better alternative to some sort of civil
22:42war or some sort of insurrection or some sort of violence because, well, we can figure that one
22:51out. I don't think we need to. So, yeah, there's no such thing as a matriarchy. A matriarchy is
22:57something that, you know, men, we have our strengths and our weaknesses, obviously, and it is both a
23:02strength and a weakness that men are very good at violence. We are very, very good at violence.
23:08We have the size, the strength, the impulse, the aggression, the adrenaline, the steadiness,
23:14the coldness and all of that. So, you know, love women. Women are fantastic at many things,
23:23but, you know, raw naked violence is not one of them. So, yeah, there won't be any matriarchy
23:31that is ever going to be sustained. I don't want a patriarchy either. I just want freedom,
23:35but it ain't going to be a matriarchy. All right. What are the advantages of confronting your
23:41parents and the disadvantages of not doing it? Well, you get to, let's say you have bad parents,
23:47right? Parents who did some really seriously bad stuff when you were a kid. They beat you,
23:54they screamed at you, they humiliated you, they failed to protect you, they ignored you,
23:58neglected you, whatever, abused you in various ways. What are the advantages of confronting your
24:02parents? Well, you, you get to be an adult. If you remain afraid of your parents, you remain in
24:10the mindset of a child. There's really no other way to express it. There's no other way that this
24:17exists or occurs. If you remain in the mindset of a child, you do not grow up. If you remain
24:24afraid
24:24of your parents, then you are looking up at them as if they are gods who can wipe you
24:30from existence at a whim and you don't get to grow up. I'm like, I'm sorry. And I say this
24:36with
24:36all due humility because I didn't confront my parents until I was in my late twenties, early
24:41thirties, you know, with the caveat that there was no one talking about it at all. I had to sort
24:45of
24:45invent that whole thing, at least for me, from scratch. So the advantage of confronting your parents
24:51is you, you face your fears and you overcome them and you treat them as people, not as gods.
24:57Right? If you gave a beloved dog to some older couple who promised to take care of the dog and
25:04then the dog was beaten and scared and sarved when you came back, you'd be very angry at those people
25:09and you, you probably would press charges or sue them or something like that. Right? And so you would
25:15be treating them as people who had a responsibility that they completely failed on. And in fact,
25:21counter-signal it. So why would the dog matter more than you? And why would you be angry at this
25:27older couple who mistreated your dog and not at your parents who mistreated you? Another big issue
25:36with not confronting your parents is that if you don't confront your parents, you inevitably end up
25:44making excuses for them. Right? I mean, that's inevitable, right? You have to make excuses. Well,
25:50they did the best they could with the knowledge they had. That's just mom being mom. Mom's just
25:55like that. And they themselves had a bad childhood. And the problem is, if you make excuses for your
26:02parents, two things happen. One, you make excuses for yourself. Your own ambition diminishes, fades
26:08away and falters. Falters, diminishes and fades away. It's probably a better way of putting it.
26:13So that's number one. You cripple your own potential when you make excuses for your parents
26:18because as certainly as you age into their age bracket, and if you're making excuses for them
26:25and saying, well, it's okay, or I understand, or I forgive my parents for doing terrible things,
26:30even if they haven't repented, because you make all kinds of excuses for them, then you take away
26:34their agency and their willpower and their responsibility. And that means that you take away
26:41your own agency, willpower and responsibility. I don't make excuses for people in my life because
26:46I don't want to make excuses for myself, right? I don't want to strengthen the muscle, strengthen
26:53the muscle of making excuses. I want to strengthen the muscle of taking accountability. When I got
27:02deplatformed and my life, work got erased for the most part. I said, that's on me. I knew the risks.
27:10I danced in the landmines. And when stuff like this happens, I blame myself. I don't blame myself,
27:16but I hold myself accountable. I'm not going to. And the reason I do that is so I continue to
27:21be
27:21responsible in my life. And hopefully I model some accountability for others. I mean, you know,
27:27was I treated unjustly? Absolutely. But I mean, that's like a doctor being shocked that there's
27:34illness in the world. I mean, I am a moral philosopher because of the amount of injustice in the world.
27:38So then I cannot claim to be shocked and appalled at being treated unjustly. That would be
27:45crazy in a way, right? So two things happen if you don't confront your parents, if they were bad
27:51parents, immoral parents. One, as I said, you cripple your own sense of efficacy, control,
27:58and responsibility in life because you make excuses for them. And that same muscle will then
28:03inevitably make excuses for you. That's number one. Number two, you will be exploited.
28:08You will be exploited. One of the reasons why I broke with my family of origin was I was really
28:16fucking tired of being exploited. I got a whole novel about this, The God of Atheists. You should
28:22read it or listen to it at freedomain.com slash books. It's a great book. I was really tired
28:27of being exploited because if you make excuses for your elders, then you come to negotiations and you
28:38come to the exchange of value with a tremulousness and a self-subjugation and a beggingness and all of
28:48that. I was really fucking tired of being exploited. And I, of course, had to look hard through the
29:01process of therapy and other things. I had to look and say, okay, so why am I being exploited? Why
29:08am
29:08I somewhat helpless in the face of exploitation? And it's because I made excuses and I was not living
29:14my virtues and my values. And I will say that since I stopped seeing my family of origin,
29:22mother and father in particular, I have not been exploited. So it really works. All right.
29:29All right. Steph, not a question, just an observation. The show with the guy who still
29:33felt guilty because he crashed his mom's car was so eye-opening, I didn't want it to end. I just
29:38wish you had recognized that he did not want to end the call. He was just too polite for his
29:42own good.
29:44Well, see, there's a dangerous habit called mind reading. How do you know? How do you know what I
29:50thought and why I ended the call? Right? You can ask me, hey, Steph, why do you think, why did
29:56you
29:56end the call? But you're assuming that I had no idea he wanted to continue the call. And I've been
30:01having tough philosophical conversations for 45 years, 45 years, 21 of them publicly, thousands and
30:10thousands of public conversations, and so on. So assuming that I don't know when somebody wants to
30:15continue a conversation is foolish. And you shouldn't do that, because you should be curious
30:22about what makes other people tick, not jump to conclusions, because then you can't get to know
30:26them. All right. Why do the majority of people seem to express more emotion for fictional characters
30:31in TV or media than their own society, loved ones, etc? Oh, that's sadly quite simple. So people are
30:38sentimental about fictional characters. People are sentimental about fantasy, because there is no
30:48personal responsibility for them to match that heroism, that courage, that virtue. So you can go
30:58and you can, you know, Aragorn, shoulders open the doors to King Theoden's Hall and comes in for Frodo,
31:05for the shiry storms, right? So you can watch that and you feel intense admiration, because you don't
31:12have to get off the couch for anything other than to get some more cheddar popcorn. It's the same thing
31:18with dogs, cats and so on. They only care if you feed them and make them feel good. You pet
31:26them,
31:26you play with them and so on, right? And so it is non-reciprocal. You will never be judged
31:32by a fictional character. I knew a girl many years ago who had intense admiration for fictional
31:41characters and she was, she loved the Goldman story, The Princess Bride, like the book. And she
31:48loved Lord of the Rings and she loved Les Miserables and she just absolutely loved. And I remember I saw
31:54in New York a play, Les Miserables, it's a beautiful musical, and she just could not stop weeping
32:01at the end of it. But she herself never did anything particularly courageous over the course
32:08of her life that I knew of. And of course, I lost touch with her many decades ago, but last
32:12I heard,
32:13she was doing something, you know, kind of goofy with her life and she did not take on any particular
32:20form of heroism, courage or anything like that. So we, people will pour admiration into fictional
32:31characters because we have an emotional experience that if courageous people are around us, that we
32:40also must be courageous. Like if Japanese people are around us and chattering away with us, then we must
32:47be able to speak Japanese. And so we have this feeling that if we surround ourselves with fictionally
32:53heroic characters, that we ourselves must be heroic. Because why would heroic brave people be around us
33:01and spend time with us and be involved with us and our lives if we were cowards? Because heroic people
33:07would have kind of contempt for a cowardice, right? And so by getting into fictional
33:17stories of heroism and so on, this happens with Marvel movies and DC comics and all that sort of
33:23stuff. So getting involved and being really excited like that nerdy weepy guy who was very excited about
33:29some Star Wars trailer or something like that, by getting involved in these kinds of heroic stories, we feel
33:39that we are part of a heroic gang and that we have heroism. But what it actually does is it
33:43leeches
33:44heroism from you because you admire heroic characters, but the heroic characters cannot
33:51jump off the page or off the screen and say to you, well, you should be heroic too. And if
33:56you want to
33:57hang with us, you have to be courageous too. So it is a way of siphoning off imaginary courage by
34:06surrounding yourself with fictional courageous people without actually having to be courageous
34:10yourself because they make no demands on you. In the same way that your dog can hear you lying on
34:18the phone and won't care as long as you give him a treat and ruffle his ears and take him
34:24for a walk.
34:24He's totally thrilled with you. Whereas an actual human being who hears you lie your ass off on the
34:30phone, right, will lose some respect for you. So, you know, pets will have great affection for you
34:38without any moral judgment whatsoever. Any moral judgment whatsoever. And people like that affection
34:46because normally moral people will have affection for you on the condition that you're moral. An
34:53honest man will have affection for you if you're honest. He will have contempt for you if you are a
34:58dishonest person. A courageous man will have admiration for you if you are courageous and he will
35:03have contempt for you if you are a coward. Somebody who knows how to keep her counsel will have scorn
35:11for a relentless gossip. And so people love to surround themselves with those who give them the
35:19impression of being good people without actually having to be good people. And if you surround
35:23yourself with really courageous fictional characters or dogs and cats and pets who love you and blah,
35:29blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, I mean, I remember this when my daughter, of course,
35:33was very into ducks for many years and we had this sort of endless cavalcade of ducks and it's super
35:39cute. You know, you're walking and the ducklings are all following you and scampering all over the
35:43grass and so on. And it makes you feel kind of special, right? I mean, I know it's fictional.
35:47They're just programmed to do that, but it's nice. And so, yeah, people love the fictional
35:54characters. Women would love Eowyn, you know, and so on. And the Broomhilda character played by that
36:01gone girl, I am no woman, does all this brave stuff, courageous stuff, but they can't even stand
36:07up against woke scolds and Karens and all this sort of stuff. So the more that you pour energy into
36:17imaginary reflected qualities, right? So you admire Aragorn. Aragorn is brave and steadfast and
36:23will never betray his friends and has wise counsel and so on and stands up against evil,
36:29all that kind of cool stuff. Well, Aragorn will never judge you, right? You can pour all your
36:36energy into Aragorn and Aragorn will never judge you. You can admire John Galt, but John Galt never
36:41has to admire you. So it is a way of drugging yourself into believing that you're surrounded by
36:49quality, moral, courageous people without actually having to manifest those
36:53characteristics yourself. Are you a Christian? I am not. Why are blacks physically superior
36:58to whites? I interviewed a guy way back in the day about this sort of stuff. And it's true. I
37:05mean,
37:05blacks have very rapid fast fire muscles and so on, heavier bones and so on, which is why you don't
37:11see a lot of blacks in championships swimming and so on. It's just human biodiversity. It's actual
37:17diversity, right? Do you believe in the human soul? If not, can you explain the conscience and
37:23inner monologue? Do you believe in NPCs? I believe that there are a lot of people, most people prefer
37:28the appearance of virtue rather than the reality of virtue. We have programmed into us a very strong
37:36positive response to virtue. When we do good, it gives us a real high. And the reason for that
37:42is that doing good is very dangerous. Doing good is very dangerous. And therefore, because it's
37:49dangerous, we need to have a very positive response to doing good. Otherwise, we would never do good
37:57because it wouldn't be worth it emotionally. So I know I do not believe in the human soul. I do
38:03not
38:03believe that consciousness is immaterial, that there is an immaterial essence of humanity that lives within
38:12us that can't be detected in any way, shape, or form. It is effect without cause, energy without
38:18manifestation, matter without existence. It's all kinds of self-contradictory. So, no, I do not believe
38:24in ghosts. I do not believe in immaterial consciousness. I do not believe in square circles or that two and
38:30two
38:30make a blue unicorn. Can I explain the conscience and inner monologues? Sure, sure, sure. So, the more
38:38complex a situation that you need to navigate, the more you need to debate the right course of action.
38:44You know, should I hunt or should I plant more crops? Should I expend more energy storing up things
38:51for the winter or should I rely on winter hunting or something like that? And so, the more complicated
38:57your environment in general, the more debate you need to go through. And so, you know, some people who
39:05maybe their ancestors faced more complexity, they tend to have inner debates. Free speech is circular this way,
39:12right? So, once you accept that inner debate is valuable, you also accept the debate within society
39:18is valuable. Once you accept the debate within society is valuable, then you have free speech. Once you have
39:25free speech, then you encounter arguments, beliefs, and perspectives entirely alien or opposite to your own,
39:31and you have to engage with them and debate with them, which furthers the inner monologue.
39:37So, the conscience, I mentioned this in the show today, as I'll touch on it briefly here,
39:43the conscience is the universalizing aspect of the mind doing its automatic thing, right? So,
39:50if you have kids and you tell them what a tree is, then they get all the trees, right? They
39:55get all the
39:56trees. Oh, that's a really tall tree. Oh, that's a short tree. Oh, that's a wide tree. Oh,
40:00that's a tree without leaves, right? It's a winter tree. So, we have this automatic reality
40:09of universalization. You point to the book and you say, oh, that's the color red, right? And then,
40:14oh, that's red. Oh, that's red. Oh, that's a red. That's a red nose. That's a red car. That's a
40:18red
40:18pen, right? So, kids get universalizing all the way. And so, when we come up with moral rules,
40:25our brain automatically universalizes them. And that is the conscience. All right.
40:32Will you concede that UPB does not serve as, quote, proof of secular ethics? What would lead you to
40:38concede? I'm doomed. Oh, my God, I'm doomed. Do you know why? You can't see it. Because this guy
40:47put the word proof in quotes, and that's really all you have to do. He put the word proof in
40:52quotes.
40:52So, I'm toast, man. My life's work has been for nothing. It's all over.
40:59All right. Will you concede? UPB does not serve as, quote, proof of secular ethics. What would lead
41:04you to concede? So, this is highly manipulative, of course, right? This is somebody whose conscience
41:08is bothered by UPB. People get very angry at UPB, or they ignore it. And the relationship that people
41:17have with UPB, universally preferable behavior, the rational proof of secular ethics, the relationship
41:22that people have with UPB is the same as the relationship they have with their conscience.
41:28And most people either get angry at their conscience, or they ignore their conscience.
41:33They pretend it doesn't exist. It's exactly the same with UPB. UPB is just conscience proven,
41:37manifested, proven and manifested in external form.
41:41So, this person had said earlier, I said, yeah, I'd love to help you. Can theft ever be
41:48universally preferable behavior? He said, no, it can't. I don't dispute that. But you provide a
41:53definition of morality that equates to universalizable behavior, and then state that
41:57things that can't be universalizable, theft, are immoral. But why? They are inconsistent, sure.
42:02But how are you proving they are immoral? Oh, he put the word proving there as well.
42:08Well, well, if somebody were to say to me that murder has nothing to do with morality,
42:16I would view that person as mentally unwell. Or what does they say, grape? Grape is the word,
42:22the new word that you have to use, or something like that, like essay, grape, and so on, right?
42:27If somebody were to say that these horribly vile acts have nothing to do with good or evil,
42:35right or wrong, morality or immorality, ethics or unethical behavior, I would say that there would
42:42be something wrong with their brains. Now, I can sort of go through the big lengthy proof of all of
42:47these things, which is in the book. You can get it for free at freedomend.com slash books. But
42:54theft can never be universally preferable behavior. Therefore, respect for property rights
43:00is the only universally preferable behavior. Universally preferable behavior is that which
43:05we're allowed to enforce, if necessary, through violence, right? So, if somebody is assaulting
43:10you, you can use violence to prevent them from assaulting you. And so, UPB regulates and justifies
43:17the use of up to lethal violence in the protection of life and liberty.
43:24So, if somebody says that, he says here, theft has nothing to do with immorality. Well, he's saying
43:32to me, Steph, there's a universal standard that you have failed to achieve, that you have failed
43:38to prove, because your proof is inconsistent or incomplete or something like that. So, he's
43:43already accepted UPB, that UPB would be, if my theory was universally consistent and so on,
43:49right? And so, theft can never be universally preferable behavior. Grape, theft, assault,
43:57murder, can never be universally preferable behavior, for reasons I've gone into a million
44:02times. And so, that's all I need to prove. That's all I need to prove. So, I don't know what
44:10he's
44:11asking for here. These, the four major categories of evil that all human societies and all human
44:17people who were saying recognize, I've proven that they can never be universally preferable
44:22behavior. That's pretty good. Now, I choose to say, and therefore, an attempt to make them
44:27universally preferable behavior would be murderous and immoral, right? If somebody says, thou shalt
44:34murder, that would be immoral, because he would be encouraging people to murder, not in self-defense,
44:40but to murder. All right. So, somebody else said, this is quite interesting. UPB is actually a limited
44:46case of morality in the context where the agents can be considered equivalent, but it's hard to
44:51break down in cases where differences exist, such as interspecies, subspecies, population,
44:57or kin behavior. Morality is more generally logic, right or wrong, which reduces to UPB in the special
45:03case of assumed agent equivalence. A more general application is that of the golden rule, or doing
45:09not to another that which one would not expect done to oneself in the same circumstances. This takes into
45:15account differences in expectations of treatment based on similarity, e.g. genetic distance,
45:20and is logically consistent, and is logically consequent of the shared UPB assumption that
45:25there is no reason to treat object A different than object B, e.g. self, if they are known to
45:30be
45:30equivalent. I'm sorry, it's just funny to me. I mean, listen, you pompous windbag moralists, you know
45:39you have to be able to explain ethics, morality, good and evil, right and wrong. You know you have
45:44to explain UPB to three-year-olds, right? Because we expect three-year-olds to not bite, thump, grab,
45:49steal, push, poke eyes, and stuff like that, right? So, this, can you imagine saying this to,
45:58you've got a three-year-old and a four-year-old, kids that are whacking each other, and you say,
46:01well, you are, you are, you are, you are not equivalent agents. You know, your assumed agent
46:12equivalence is, it's not being fulfilled. I mean, it's just crazy. We have to be able to explain
46:19morals to kids, to little kids. So, this convoluted, pompous nonsense, I think what he's saying is that
46:27morals are different when there's a wide disparity in consciousness. It's like, well, yeah, of course
46:32they are. Of course they are. Of course they are. I mean, there is an insanity defense. There is a
46:39defense if somebody has too low an IQ to process the consequences of their actions. There is babies
46:46and toddlers and little kids and kids who have different moral agencies and equivalencies. So,
46:53I mean, saying that if people are of extremely different levels of consciousness, that moral
46:59rules might not apply equally is a really bland and boring thing to say. So, I mean, everybody knows
47:05that. All right. How much of the welfare magnet for mass migration comes from central planning,
47:10sorry, central banking, fiat currency, pulling migrants upstream to new money versus explicit border
47:15policies? Well, forced association is a violation of freedom of association. And so,
47:22you cannot have a long-term culture which combines hyper-generous welfare state with open borders.
47:30It just can't work. If somebody is going to be part of your community, that's fine. But it needs
47:37to be voluntary. It needs to be approved of by the community. And nobody should be forced
47:40to subsidize or support them, right? All right. I've been following, says, I've been following your work
47:46for a while and generally find your analysis insightful. However, notice you rarely offer actionable
47:51solutions. For instance, if we followed your criteria for dating, the pool would be zero.
47:56Same applies to your views on government and taxation. I'd love to hear your ideas on what
47:59we should actually do. So, this is somebody who's looking for excuses for inaction. So,
48:06of all that the philosophers in history, I am the one who has given you the most to do,
48:10the most explicit and clear and actionable solutions to problems, to confront, corrupt,
48:17amoral or immoral people in your life, to tell the truth and to live with courage, to exercise,
48:28to take care of yourself, to promote a virtue where reasonably and feasibly safe to do so.
48:36I have had thousands and thousands of public conversations with people, telling them how they
48:42can manifest virtue, honesty, and consistency within their own lives. And that's something
48:49you'll never be done. You'll never be finished. In your lifetime and in my lifetime, we will not
48:54get the world to even a reasonably honest place. So, this idea that what can you do about taxation?
49:03Well, you can point out the moral problems of taxation. What can you do about government? You can
49:07point out the virtues and moral consistency of a stateless society. There's tons of things you can do.
49:12I mean, you can sit down and talk to people who've done you wrong in your life and not lie
49:18by omission
49:18and pretend everything's fine. You just have the basic virtue called honesty, integrity, and moral
49:22courage. So, of all of the philosophers throughout all of human history, I've absolutely given people
49:29the most practical solutions on what to do. And you have to work really hard to miss that. So, this
49:33is why
49:34I say this is someone who's just looking for an excuse for inaction. So, followed your criteria for
49:39dating, the pool would be zero. Well, I got married, so anyway. I agree with you, says someone. I agree
49:46with you that Christianity has no protective power for the Western world, as history shows. What then
49:50is to be done? The pagan culture before the Christians failed as well. What kind of culture and beliefs can
49:54stand up against such hate and destruction? UPP. Honesty, virtue, courage, UPP. There's no guarantee,
50:01but it's the best shot. Somebody, last question, why do positions of power always end up occupied by
50:07the malevolent among us? Because, among us, sorry, it was saying, but that's because to control
50:18people through force requires that you dehumanize them. And in order to dehumanize them, they have to
50:25dehumanize both themselves and others. Let me sort of explain what I mean briefly. So, one of the most
50:31popular political positions is rent control. Rent control is initiating the use of force against
50:38property owners so that they can't increase rents, and it is a way of covering up the appalling crimes
50:45of the fiat currency creators who inflate the currency, thus driving up prices, and they don't
50:50want people to get mad at prices going up. So, with inflation of fiat currency comes price controls,
50:57right? I mean, price controls is initiating the use of force against people who wish to peacefully
51:02trade, and it's covering up the immoral, the extreme immorality of central banking and fiat currency.
51:11So, in order to be dehumanized by those in power, we have to ask those in power to use coercion
51:20to
51:21grant us the unearned. And until people are willing to give up their thirst for the unearned,
51:27evil will forever reign and rule humanity. And giving up your thirst for the unearned is just
51:34growing the hell up. While I order Hushida's unfair, just growing up and saying, nobody owes me
51:41anything. I have to create value. I have to request value. Freedomain.com slash donate. And people are
51:48always eternally bothered by some people, some idiots, are eternally bothered by me saying, yes,
51:53it's true. I provide great value to the world, and I ask you to reciprocate by supporting what it is
51:59that I do. Freedomain.com slash donate doesn't have to be money. You can just share my shows and all
52:05of
52:06that, which is totally fine. But I ask for a reciprocal exchange of value. But when somebody wants
52:13something for free, right, let's say some woman, you know, has kids with the wrong guy, and he leaves
52:18and moves to Turkey or whatever, and then, well, what does she do? She runs to the government, and she
52:24dehumanizes the taxpayer by saying, well, who's going to feed my kids, and who's going to take care of my
52:29kids, and people have to take care of my kids, and they've got to do this, and they've got to
52:32do that.
52:32And so she dehumanizes the taxpayer by demanding something for nothing, which is that the government
52:37take money from Paul and Peter and Abdul and give it to her. It's dehumanizing. So she dehumanizes
52:45the taxpayer. She dehumanizes the violence by pretending it doesn't happen, and then she gets
52:51her something for nothing. And so because people want something for nothing, they have to dehumanize
52:56those they're taking from. And because the population dehumanizes each other in order to exploit each
53:04other, then politicians view the population as a whole as dehumanized, and therefore,
53:11instead of exhorting them to do better, it simply uses that dehumanization to consolidate control
53:16over each other. So I hope that helps. Again, freedomain.com. Thank you for these great,
53:21great questions, my friends. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.
53:23Bye.
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