0:00 - Sibling Responsibilities
16:04 - Moral Bonds and Family Dynamics
17:32 - Capitalism and Risk Analysis
19:01 - Social Media and Personal Growth
32:07 - Future of Society and Individualism
In this episode, I dive deep into the complexities of sibling dynamics within families, particularly when one child has autism. A listener shares their experience of raising two boys, ages 12 and 13, with the older child being autistic. This parent expresses concern about their younger son needing to defer to his brother during outings, leading to a realization that while there is a natural familial bond, the responsibility of caregiving is ultimately a parent's duty.
The conversation extends into the deeper genetic basis of family bonds, addressing how moral versus genetic connections impact sibling relationships. I explore the premise that siblings inherently share genetic ties, which can influence their future interactions, particularly concerning caretaking roles. It’s a delicate balance between nurturing a sense of responsibility in siblings while ensuring the younger child does not feel burdened by the challenges posed by the older child’s autism.
Moving forward, I dissect the implications of reproductive success in this unique dynamic. The focus shifts to whether the older child will have a typical life trajectory, as these decisions will significantly impact how the younger child views their own future, particularly concerning relationships and family. Should the younger son’s life choices be dictated by the responsibility of caring for his brother? I argue that while familial bonds and love are vital, the primary responsibility of caretaking should reside with the parents, and it’s important for the younger child to pursue their own life goals without undue pressure.
Throughout the episode, I emphasize that the younger child’s focus should be on their autonomy and the pursuit of personal happiness, which includes finding a partner, raising a family, and creating a fulfilling life. This encapsulation of sibling responsibility addresses the essential question: How involved should siblings be in each other’s lives when the parents are no longer present? I conclude with reflections on how societal expectations and family dynamics interact, underscoring the importance of fostering individual growth while honoring familial relationships.
The latter part of the show moves to more varied topics of interest. I address questions regarding the nature of my content and the philosophical underpinnings of my work. Listeners inquire about my absence from platforms like YouTube and the implications of past censorship. I tackle these concerns candidly, discussing the nature of audience engagement and the necessity for active participation in driving the direction of content creation.
In the closing segment, I touch on the philosophical inquiry surrounding personal histories, advocating for honesty in relationships while also acknowledging the complexities that come with such disclosures. This segment reiterates that while past actions can impact present relationships, it's essential to navigate these discussions with sensitivity and consideration for both partners involved, emphasizing the importance of open lines of communication.
This episode is rich with insights into family structure, the responsibility of care, and the philosophical engagement relevant to our lives, leaving listeners with profound questions on how to balance familial expectations with individual aspirations.
[0:00] Yo, yo, yo, Stefan Molyneux from Freedomain. Great questions from freedomain.locals.com and also Facebook. So here we go. Hi, Stef. Wondering if you could give me some insight on raising my sons. I have two sons, 12 and 13. The 13-year-old is autistic. When the boys were much younger and if I was out with them at the zoo or park or something, my 13-year-old would at times be overstimulated from the environment. And because it was the three of us and their mother was not around, we often would have to suspend the activity because my 13-year-old would be having meltdowns and so on.
[0:36] So his younger brother oftentimes would have to defer to his brother. I noticed this trend and made an effort to make sure that my youngest son would not always have to defer and make sacrifices. I have noticed lately that my youngest son does care for his brother but definitely wants to have his own space and be his own person and does not want to be responsible for his brother, which is understandable. My question is, I know that I am the parent, and it is my responsibility to take care and raise my sons, but is there any responsibility for siblings to take care of siblings? One day the parents will be gone, how much responsibility will they have for each other? And what kind of influence and emphasis should I place on that? If any, should I place on that, if any? Should there be now, as my sons are growing up? Sorry, let me just make one day the parents will be gone. How much responsibility will they have for each other? And what sort of influence and emphasis should I place on that, if any? Should there be now, as my sons are growing up, sorry, it kind of went off the rails at the end there. So the first thing that I do with regards to family matters, this is not, of course, the only thing, but the first thing that I do with regards to family matters is I look at the question of the genetics of the situation. So moral bonds are one thing, you know, my wife is virtuous, my friends are virtuous, I am fairly virtuous. So there's the bonds sort of based on virtue. Now, family bonds are not primarily based on virtue, right? Because.
[2:05] Boy, I feel like that's almost like a controversial statement, but let me sort of see if I can tell you what I'm thinking and why. So family bonds are based on genetic proximity and reproduction, right? So the pair bonding, why you care about your own children more than a stranger's children is because of that sort of pair bonding and the genetic preference that you would have for your own offspring. Now, of course, this is not to say that family relations do not exist based upon virtue. They certainly can, but the primary, the primary relationship is based upon genetic preference and proximity. So, uh, ducklings follow, uh, their mother, uh, the, the, um, The mother bear cares for her own offspring and so on, right? So there is a sort of genetic preference and genetic proximity. And that's the essence and the basis of family bonds. And again, we obviously want to add as much virtue as humanly possible to that to make it a truly virtuous relationship. But it's based upon genetic proximity and genetic similarity preference, right? If that makes sense.
[3:19] Now, with regards to siblings. So why do siblings? Well, I mean, of course, I'm not saying this is true for your family, but half of sibling relationships are categorized as abusive, even by the fairly loosey-goosey standards of the present.
[3:31] So the reason why brothers have or siblings have a sort of unique bond is because there is a genetic proximity and genetic proximity preference for the siblings and their children, right? Because you have a relationship to your brother or sister's children that is not just moral or virtuous, but is genetic, and that genetic proximity preference is the foundation of that bond. Which is to say, the genes that favored the closest genes are the ones that survived the best, the most, and the longest. Genes that had no inbuilt preference for their own genetic similarity, did not reproduce like with like, did not choose their own. Like, if you have a parent who has, for whatever reason, no preference for his or her own children versus estranged children, then that would reduce the survivability of his or her own children, and therefore there is a survivability metric that is very positive with regards to genetic similarity preference, right? So siblings have a bond with each other in terms of evolution because your brother's children have more in common with you genetically than some stranger or some second cousin's children or whatever it is, right? So...
[5:00] That basis for sibling in-group preference is based upon reproduction. Now, I think the big question is going to be, is your older child, the autistic child, is that child going to reproduce? Is that child going to reproduce? Now, if your child does not reproduce, your oldest child, for reasons that I'm certainly no expert on autism of course or anything like that but if your oldest child is not going to reproduce then there will not be as strong a desire to take care of the older sibling from the younger sibling because it will not be aiding in reproduction now please understand i'm not saying that this is the only factor i'm talking about the sort of the elemental root of why these, family in-group family preferences exist at all right and they exist at an emotional biochemical chemical level, but, you know, dopamine, oxytocin, and so on, right? So they exist at a sort of in-group genetic level. And so that's not all there is, but that's where I sort of would start with this sort of stuff. The other question is, we want to favor built-in biologically, we want to favor genetic proximity.
[6:16] So you have to look at it, I think, again, it's not the only thing, but where you would start looking at it, it's far from the only thing, but where you'd start looking at it as you would say with regards to your youngest son will caring for his older brother increase his chances of reproduction because the genes are the genes it's not the only factor and sometimes of course we act against them but it is the foundation of why we have the preferences and emotions and passions that we have with regards to this kind of stuff, So if you look at your youngest son, the 12 year old, and you'd say, okay, so let's say that he works full time to take care of his older brother. The older brother that he did not choose to have, that he did not choose to grow up with, that's a choice that you and your wife made, not the choice that your youngest child make. Right so you would look at it and say does caring mean.
[7:25] For his older brother as he goes through the course of his life, increase or decrease his chances of marital success, of parenting success, of reproductive success? And it's a challenging question. I don't know the answer to that because, you know, I don't know you guys as an individual family. So on the one hand, if he were to say, I don't want to have anything to do with my brother, it's too much work, I'm not a specialist, I'm not an expert, I've got my own life to live, I can't go around burdened by this, and so on, right?
[7:57] Well, then, of course, it would be up to you and your wife to find some, as you aged, right, decades and decades from now, as you aged, you would have to find some place that would take care of the autistic child if, you know, when he grew up, he was not self-sufficient in some way or another, right? Now, if he was dating, your youngest, he was dating and some woman said, oh, do you have any siblings, right? And he said, yes, I have an autistic sibling. And she would say, oh, do you spend a lot of time taking care of him, right? right, because he gets older, right? So you guys are out of the picture for some reason. And if he says, no, I don't have anything to do with him. I don't take care of him at all. Some women might be a little, you know, nonplussed by that and have some questions. And they would be important questions, right? On the other hand, if he were to say, yes, you know, three quarters of my salary and 90% of my free time goes towards taking care of my autistic brother. I mean we might admire that at an abstract level but I.
[9:01] A woman would say there's not enough resources left over for you to provide for your family, right? So if there's no help, no caring, I mean, I guess you could hide his brother's existence completely, but that might be a little odd. But if there's no caring, no investment, then she might be like, he's kind of cold, right? If something goes wrong and I'm going to be tossed out like last week's newsletter, right?
[9:24] So there's going to probably be some happy medium. Medium but primarily and fundamentally it is not your youngest child's responsibility to take care of the child that you and your wife chose to have that is your responsibility and if for whatever reason and of course and i hope this is not the case and with great sympathy to everyone in the family if it is the case that your eldest child cannot live independently uh hoping you know Crossing your fingers that the youngest child would give up his own family to a large degree, his own reproductive success, the kind of quality of woman that he might be able to get if he wasn't spending a lot of time, energy, money, and resources taking care of his elder sibling, then that is a blood lineage dead end. And blood lineage dead ends, again, you can make all of these choices. I'm just talking about how we work really, really deep down in our DNA and in our gut.
[10:23] So if your youngest son can't get married and have kids because he's taking care of his older brother who can't get married and have kids because he's autistic, and again, I don't know how autistic he is, but it sounds fairly bad if he's having these kinds of, or fairly strong, if he's having these meltdowns at the zoo. Do so that's that's the end of your line right that's the end of your blood lineage like four billion years of evolution ends with you because your younger brother gives up having a family to take care of his older brother who can't have a family and that's it that's it so it's hard to say i mean if i were in your shoes i say this with all you know humility and and obviously this is very much outside of my area of expertise but i would be like uh no no you have to the youngest Right. You did not choose to.
[11:16] Uh to have a child uh that's that's your mother and i's choice it's our responsibility now of course whatever you want to do obviously they're going to stop you and it is our hope that that there will be something of value in that for you but you cannot give up your own life to take care of the child that you did not choose to have that your focus in life is to find a great woman to marry to be a great father yourself and maybe that involves having some involvement with your brother maybe it doesn't i don't know we'll have to see how this plays out but your fundamental responsibility is to yourself your wife and your future children it is not to the child that you never chose to have in your life which your mother and i chose to have and keep so i would focus on that all right oh where can i find and access all your truth about videos and why don't you make more the world needs you in that capacity no the world does i'm sorry the world does not at all need me in that capacity you may prefer me in that capacity but the world does not need me in that capacity. I refer you back to a time a little over four years ago when I was deplatformed and approximately 95 to 97% of my audience did not follow me to the new platforms, right? Immensely liberating. I don't mind it at all. I'm actually thankful that they didn't because that was kind of an edgy game that I was playing there, poking all of the taboo hornet's nests on on the planet. So no, the world does not need me in that capacity. If the world needed me in that capacity, it would have gone one website over.
[12:45] Oh no, he's gone from YouTube. Because I see this all the time. Yesterday, for the first time ever, I did a search for my name on Twitter and saw what people are saying. And that's nice to see. I'm still relevant and so on. But a significant amount of the comments were.
[13:06] Hey, what ever happened to that guy? Is he gone? Did he go roosh? They don't bother to search. They don't bother. So the world did not at all need me in that capacity. I was entertaining and I guess informative and instructive while I was right there in front of people. But then when i moved one one website over and it was approximately five to ten seconds to type in a new website um maybe 30 seconds to create an account and be notified of every time i posted a new video and i say this because you know i mean if i did a video with less than 100 000 views on youtube that was considered a significant failure and i get a couple of thou on the new platforms and so yeah 95 97 of my audience uh did not want to go one website over so i i'm absolutely not needed in that category right does that make sense does that make sense like if there's a restaurant and you love the restaurant right and then the restaurant moves one building over and then like 95 97 of the audience won't go one building over and everyone's like man i love your food i'd do anything get your food was the greatest was the best like you know i'd.
[14:20] Instead of 997 Main Street, I'm now 999 Main Street. I'm literally one building over, and people are like, Oh.
[14:29] Well, that's like, what is that? That's like an extra 20 steps. Oh, man. I mean, let's be reasonable here. I mean, your food was good. I loved your food. It was the greatest food around, but... But 20 more steps? And you understand, that's why deplatforming works. Deplatforming works because people won't go one website over, right? And the people who did the deplatforming understood that a lot better, right? So I was like, we're in a battle against evil, and we're promoting virtue, and we're a team, and hey, where'd everyone go? What? Right? So the people who deplatform very much understand out of sight, out of mind, right? This is the greatest toy ever. This is the greatest thing.
[15:14] And then it's gone and people are like oh yeah i used to love that toy right so this is out of sight out of mind deplatforming works because people don't pair bond, right people they don't pair bond this is the daycare generation this is the social media generation they don't eye contact and pair bond with people and so out of sight out of mind is is what is that so all right a while ago you had this fantastic video on youtube that was called Death by Heroism. It's no longer available. I've not been able to find it since. Is there any way I can access to see and share this video? I will look into that. What are your thoughts on meditation? Do you, or have you ever practiced it? Any thoughts on Buddhism in general? Well, for my thoughts on Buddhism, donate at freedomain.com slash donate, or join the community at freedomain.locals.com, or subscribesur.com slash freedomain. You get a whole show, whole lengthy show on Buddha and Buddhism.
[16:05] Yeah, I like meditation. I did it for a while, and then I didn't need to do it anymore more because meditation in terms of the deep connection with the self happens in my call-in shows happens in conversations with my wife happens through parenting and happens through these kinds of conversations answering these kinds of questions so i don't do it anymore, do you think that iran's lack of knowledge about evolution had any bearing on her rejection of niches allusions to psychological determinism.
[16:35] If you can tell me how answering that question is going to benefit the world I would be very happy to answer it but I don't really see what the purpose of that question is or what that would matter plus you're asking me to mind read the single-lunged smoky Russian goddess's thoughts from decades ago and she's been dead for 40 years or whatever right so I don't I can't mind read or imagine what her thoughts were regarding all of this so, Somebody says, I am a car dealership in Anchorage, Alaska. I think that means I work at, right? Most people don't qualify for prime lending and end up paying over 22% to 25%. Customers do not have a vehicle for work and family otherwise. Is this immoral for banks to charge and dealerships to sell at this APR? I have my opinion. I just wanted to hear from the Stefan Molyneux. Well, this is all nonsense, right? So, yeah.
[17:33] Risk analysis was the foundation of capitalism, right? So once math and statistical analysis was invented, then people could figure out risks. So one of the reasons why there were these transatlantic voyages and all of this exploration was because people wanted insurance and people figured out how much they needed to charge based upon the risk of failure or wreckage of these ships. So civilization works on being able to have rational discrimination, right? So life insurance is cheaper for women in many cases. It's cheaper for non-smokers, of course. It's cheaper for people who don't have extreme sports because they want to make rational determinations of who's higher or lower risk. And so one of the reasons why this is so high is that banks aren't allowed to look at general patterns of borrowing money and paying it back and make their decisions based upon that for reasons that we all know about and I talked about years ago with regards to the 07-08 financial crash and what's going on right now. So banks have to charge what makes them money and because they're not allowed to say low to many high-risk customers, they then have to spread that risk to everyone and it's just another subsidy. Are you ever coming to Eastern Europe, Stef? I want to buy you a beer. Grateful for all the great content, especially before the censorship started.
[19:01] I guess he's saying that I was better years ago. Well, I mean, I personally like the work that I'm doing right now, but I'm not you. So it's funny. I don't know if people know how it lands. I mean, I'm not insulted or even offended. I'm, I'm, I'm just doing the work that, that works for me. And I have, I'm sort of, I have a dance with my unconscious. I have a dance with the sort of deep brain and the instincts and all of that. I can't force my philosophy brain to do anything. I really can't. And so I have to sort of follow the inspiration that's going on. If you prefer the work that i did before i was deplatformed i understand that i have to do a dance i have to do a dance with my unconscious to make sure that the creativity and fertility of my mind still works and it doesn't work when i will it i have to kind of do a dance i can guide it a little but it guides me as well it's like riding a crazy unruly horse only sometimes does it go roughly the direction you want it to go but sometimes you just have to hang on as a whole so But yeah, I'd love to come to Eastern Europe.
[19:58] Will there be any more Truth About Videos? Yeah, probably. Are you back on Twitter? No. Well, I am back on Twitter. And just so you understand, if, let's say that you love your wife, you put years and years and years into making your wife happy, and you give your heart to her, and you pour everything you have into her and then you wake up one morning and she has um uh set fire to your car uh punched out all the windows in your house and uh left you a a threat of some kind and then spends years dragging you through a court uh because she claims that you did something terrible that you never did right she claims that you did something illegal or terrible or bad that you You never did, right? And, you know, you find a way to live with all of that. You get through it and so on. You get your life sorted out. And then afterwards...
[20:57] You hear through the grapevine that she'll take you back. Right? Would you go back? Would you be like, that sounds great. Let me get involved in this again. It's like, no, no, no. She found Jesus and she just, you know, she doesn't actually phone you and apologize or anything. She doesn't say, you know, boy, I'd love to pay you back some of that money. I've got to do what I can to clean up your reputation because the things I accused you of were just terrible and they were false. Right? She's just like, yeah, you know, you can tell him, I'll take him back. Would you be like, I can't wait? No, well, that's me with social media platforms, right? I mean, I was banned. I was things that were said about me that were not true. I'm not talking about any social media platform in particular, but just my general experience of it. And so, yeah, I would require some apologies and restitution before even thinking about it. I'd like to find your video, The Truth About the Native American Genocide. Yes, thank you. I just reposted that. But FDR Podcasts is where you want to go. Go to FDR Podcasts. Do your search down below. If there's videos, it will be there. All right. And I just released, I remastered it, then put a transcript to it, and it's out there for donors. Hi, Stef. I have a question about something you discussed on a recent podcast that very much relates to a problem I'm currently going through. You recently said that it's perfectly fine to hide your past sexual history from your partner.
[22:26] Oh my gosh, what people here? No, if it's relevant, if it matters, if it has an impact on your pair bonding, obviously you have an STD or some indications of infertility, or if you have some massive trauma, then you absolutely need to talk about it. But what I'm saying is you don't have to go into every detail about everything in your past with your new partner.
[22:50] Right? It's okay to have some privacy. It's okay to have some things that you keep to yourself, right? You wouldn't want to go through all of your previous girlfriends and with some woman you were dating, right? Let's just go first date. And you have a list of all your previous girlfriends and you say, well, this girlfriend was into this wild kink and this girlfriend really loved this and this girlfriend would not let me do this. And this like on your first date, it's like, hey man, I'm just being honest. It's like, but nobody will date you, right? Somebody says, I'm 26, single, no kids, and have slept with at least 50 men that I can remember, possibly a lot more as many were drunk hookups that I don't remember, and also have done only fans type material. I wonder if it's really morally right to not disclose this to a man who might be my future husband. Although I've put this life behind me, I feel that many good men would be repulsed by this behavior and would never date me and would not want me to raise his kids, if not for this lie of omission. Is it really okay to hide this from a man if he asks about my past? Recently, I've had dates with guys who've asked me about how many people I've been with. Intellectually, I understand the argument you make about not revealing this, but is it really right?
[23:58] I mean, I'm sure that the average quality guy out there wouldn't expect my kind of past, and by not talking about it, it feels like I'm lying. Right, I mean, I'm really, really sorry for the childhood trauma that you went through that had you take on this kind of life. I really do apologize for humanity as a whole, for all of that and you know seriously call in at freedomain.com maybe we'd probably have a good conversation about this so i never said it was perfectly fine to hide your past sexual history from your partner i never said that i never said that that any of that but so if a man asks how many um men you've been with.
[24:34] Well, that's different. If you're asked directly, right? I'm talking about volunteering things of detail where it doesn't have any particular relevance on the present, right? It's the old thing about, you know, the sort of meme if you go on a date with a girlfriend and she complains about her ex-boyfriend for an hour. It's like, well, all of that's true, but it's a turnoff because she's clearly still wrapped into this, right? Right. So with regards to you being 26, you've slept with, you know, 50 plus men, right? Drunk hookups you don't remember. OK, so that's going to give you some emotional damage, which obviously results from emotional damage that you had as a child. And you also have a pornographic or semi-pornographic material through OnlyFans out on the Internet. That right you say i put this life behind me but you can't because it's part of what's happened to you with regards to pair bonding it is going to have an effect statistically it's going to have an effect on your current uh or future partner uh you're you're the man needs to know this because you're going to have a reputation there are going to be many men who know about this history and your sexual sexually explicit material is going to be out there forever and so he needs to make That decision, right? He needs to make that decision before he chooses to marry and have kids with you because he's choosing for his future kids, right?
[26:03] So, no, if a man asks, you tell the truth. Now, I'm not sure if you go, I mean, I don't know what the etiquette is these days, but yeah, if he says, how many people have you been with, then you can tell him 50 plus, or you can say, it's been a lot, I had a promiscuous past, but here's what I've done to deal with it. I've gone to therapy, I do meditation, I've confronted my family, I've got the bad people out of my life, I don't drink anymore, like all of these things, right? Now, with regards to the OnlyFans material, yeah, I mean, that's going to be a deal breaker for most men. Again, I'm sorry to be so blunt, but that is because the idea that there's sexually explicit material of the mother of his children out there floating in the digital realm, you know, especially we men, we tend to think a lot down the future. You say, oh, well, but I've closed the account and it's like, it's somewhere. It's somewhere and it could be uploaded at any time you say oh but it's a long time ago and it's like yes but who knows what technology is going to be down the road like it could be that there's a photo even if you gained weight and aged that it's going to find some way to figure out your bone structure and then go and look everywhere on the internet and there's going to be reverse image lookups and so on and this stuff is going to be found so um that is material to a man.
[27:21] Committing to you so so that is not something that you can withhold and and be moral so um, i mean to take an extreme example right if you were convicted of some terrible crime then you'd need to talk about that right because there would be an impact on uh present and future life right so So...
[27:44] Yeah, and again, I'm very sorry about the past that led you to that, and I'm sorry about the drinking and the addiction and so on, but if you've been with a lot of men, it's not just like this sort of miles of penis that men think about, but it's also just that you would have a particular kind of reputation that is going to lower his status with regards to what he's going to be doing in the future, right? So let's say he's at a law firm and he goes for a partner and the partners find out that you had this wild, promiscuous past, then he may not get the promotion because that's also leverage. If there's a very salacious past or a very promiscuous past, and in particular with videos and photos and so on, then the man is also going to be concerned that if he becomes very successful, which is probably the kind of person that you want to date, if he's going to become very successful then the problem of blackmail exists right that somebody's going to find this and his whole life is going to be thrown into chaos and he's going to lose a lot of money and stress and all of that so yeah it is relevant to the man's decision.
[28:57] And yeah I mean you have to I think you have to say that alright the truth about Donald Trump it was actually called the untruths about Donald Trump is what got me into watching your stuff and I really enjoyed that kind of video you. I never really thought about things philosophically until watching your show. I really enjoyed the political aspect of your show and kind of wish you'd go back to doing more of that, but that's your call. Obviously, have you tried going back onto YouTube or did they burn that bridge with you? No, I don't think I'm going back on YouTube. Well, I mean, this is a funny thing, you know, and this is just part of leadership. This is sort of what I'm trying to teach people, right?
[29:30] So if you want me to go back into doing that kind of stuff, writing to me and And telling me you'd like me to is not taking any kind of leadership role. And I really want you guys to take leadership roles in your world, like in your society, in your life. Right. So if you wanted to get me back into doing that kind of work, truth about or whatever it is, then what you would do, of course, is you get a donation drive going. You would or or you would get some kind of petition going and you would get a whole bunch of commitments from people to say, I will start watching you if you do like all of this kind of stuff. As opposed to just it's sorry whining is not planning right and i get all of these messages all the time of like man i really i really miss that you used to do this kind of stuff and you don't do it anymore and why don't you do it's like then make it happen right make whining to me and complaining to me that i don't do the kind of work that you want me to do is not uh taking any kind of and it's not about me it's about your life as a whole just take the leadership position, in your life as a whole that if you want something find a way to make it happen and And just appealing to me or complaining to me or whining to me or wanting me to do something, it's like, um...
[30:42] The de-platforming, I mean, I dropped politics partly because it was just boring and all that. And also, I mean, there was certain risk involved and the cost-benefit became different, right? So it's one thing to come up with edgy, risky stuff for like, I don't know, 10 million downloads a month. It's quite another thing for a couple of thousand views. So it changes the cost-benefit calculation, obviously, right?
[31:06] So, I mean, great risk, great reward is fine. But if the reward goes down generally the risk is going to go down right this is risky versus conservative investments you know ibm versus penny stocks you know i don't need to explain this stuff to you i'm sure so if you want me to change my approach you need to change the calibration of risks and benefits so just i don't know it's just weird to me just right like you understand the leadership thing would be to say you know okay Stef if i can get a hundred thousand people to sign a petition saying that watch your videos will you consider doing truth about videos again it's like okay that would be interesting or say rather than saying you know i want you to and then just being kind of kind of passive and napoleon dynamite and it's like i just really want you to do this you don't do that i want you to go back on twitter i want you to it's like make it happen convince me convince me don't just complain anyway thank you for introducing me to dr gabber mate years ago changed my life 100 yes i am half and half about that guy but he's He's done some great work.
[32:07] Do you believe a truly free society is even possible at this point? The vast majority so far leaning towards collectivist ideology feels like individualism is all but dead. I don't know what you mean by at this point. Certainly not in my lifetime. I doubt in my daughter's lifetime. But in a couple of generations, if we focus on peaceful parenting, it is certainly possible. How many children do you have? You mean directly that I know of?
[32:30] I have one child. And I guess like goodbye, Mr. Chips. I have countless children. Because of the people I've encouraged to have children, explicitly or implicitly. Are you banned on Twitter? I am not banned on Twitter. Is real estate or our mutual funds a better investment for the future? Don't answer financial questions. Why aren't you Catholics, Stefan Molyneux? Listen to my recent show. On my relationship to atheism. I've lived in nine different countries. Why do different cultures treat dogs so differently, more than any other animal? Dogs are either reviled and eaten or treated like progeny.
[33:05] Well, dogs were domesticated from wolves, which is actually pretty simple to do. You just get a bunch of wolves in an enclosure, and you don't allow those wolves to reproduce who are aggressive, and you only allow those wolves to reproduce who are peaceful. And then within a couple of generations, you get dogs.
[33:22] So if dogs are necessary for your survival, which tends to be a sort of herding northern European kind of thing, then you will revere dogs. If dogs are not essential to your survival, then you will despise dogs, because the problem with dogs and cats is that if they're not necessary to your survival, they lower your birth rate. Because, well, for cats, sometimes the toxoplasmosis lowers, in particular, women's ability to sense danger, but also because pets can be such a substitute for children that women who are unable to pair bond with humans end up pair bonding with animals the birth rate collapses a future of ai and government jobs i mean clerical jobs are going to um they're going to go by the wayside right i mean i get these emails from people who were like hey i was listening to your show x y and z where you talked about this that and the other and based upon this uh you should you should do do an interview with this author or this thinker or this guy or whatever right and um i mean i know they're just ai they're just ai ai is listening to my podcast and ai is generating these queries and it seems very nice and personal but you you can get this generic npc ai talk uh and so.
[34:35] Yeah the the clerical stuff is definitely going to be replaced by ai but not not so much in government right because the government's very hard to fire people and so uh the government I mean, does this not have the same incentive to.
[34:50] Get rid of people who are very expensive, right? In fact, in government, it's to your advantage to keep and expand your payroll. Because governments, I mean, I worked in government once or twice, and with governments, if you come in under budget, your budget is cut for next year. If you go over budget, your budget is increased. There's the exact opposite metric of the free market, which is why it's always a slide of resources from free market to government. In the government, you are paid more for doing things worse. And in the private sector, of course, it's quite the opposite, it, which is why whenever the private sector becomes more productive, resources just slide towards the government, right? Like it's a minority of people in Canada who are supporting everyone on government paychecks and welfare. So that is, the AI is not going to do that much. And what it will, there will be companies that say, oh, you know, if you want to apply for a visa, we've got this AI interface that will do a lot of the paperwork. But on the back end, there's no particular incentive for efficiency in the government. In fact, it's quite the opposite. it. So, which is why it tends to be metastasized and eats up the private sector. Uh, although I guess Trump and Elon Musk would like to change that in America in a couple of months. All right. Thank you so much for listening. Freedom.com slash donate to help out the show massively, deeply, and humbly appreciated this, my birthday month of September, 2024. And all those who donate at freedom.com slash donate, we'll get a copy of the history of philosopher series this month. Thank you so much, everyone. Have a wonderful day. Bye.
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