0:10 - Welcome to Philosophy Talk
2:16 - The Philosophy of Self-Defense
10:26 - Relationships and Parental Responsibility
13:17 - The Feminism Debate
15:09 - Literacy and Education Concerns
18:06 - Navigating Pride in Relationships
20:26 - Media and Public Perception
29:51 - The Role of Trauma in Identity
31:21 - Religion and Relationships
36:47 - Life Tips and Practical Advice
42:15 - The Impact of Science on Society
45:39 - Email Etiquette and Communication
49:23 - Society, Leadership, and Ideas
In this episode, I delve into the philosophy of self-defense and its implications in light of a recent stabbing incident involving a teenager, Anthony Carmelo. The discussion centers on the nuances of Texas self-defense laws and how they weave into a broader understanding of personal responsibility and legal ethics. I explore what constitutes "reasonable force" in self-defense situations and emphasize the importance of being in a legally tenable position when making such claims. This incident provokes thoughtful questions about the role of provocation and the complexities surrounding perceived threats in volatile social environments, especially among youth.
Throughout the conversation, I highlight the tragic nature of the event, not only in terms of the physical violence but also in the social and psychological ramifications for those involved. As we discuss the factors that might have led to this altercation, I encourage listeners to reflect on their personal safety strategies and the value of avoiding confrontation whenever possible. Racial elements also surface in this case, prompting a necessary examination of how societal prejudices and systemic issues influence reactions to violence in our communities.
Shifting gears, I address one of the most pressing issues that frequently arises in my call-in shows: the dynamics of parent-child relationships. I argue that, under normal circumstances, the responsibility for relationship breakdowns typically falls on the parent, who sets the standard for interactions and has a profound impact on the child's development. This leads to further inquiries regarding the interplay of pride and isolation in relationships—how self-centeredness can undermine connections—and the notion that healing from traumatic experiences should not define one's identity.
I also explore modern relationships and societal pressures, particularly concerning the influence of feminism on women's life choices. The claims that young women are led to believe they have ample time to start families and build relationships are critically examined. I draw parallels to the broader implications of educational shortcomings, citing statistics on adult literacy levels that raise concerns about society's future capabilities.
As I navigate through your thought-provoking questions, I share my insights into the importance of direct honesty and vulnerability in relationships. We discuss scenarios involving differing belief systems, particularly concerning faith and parenting. I reiterate that while love and compatibility are vital, shared values often play a crucial role in forming lasting relationships, especially when children are involved.
I wrap up the episode with reflections on societal challenges, leadership, and the need for thoughtful discourse amidst censorship and ideological clashes. Our collective responsibility, I argue, is to foster an environment where critical thinking and open dialogue can flourish. As always, I appreciate your thoughts and engagement, and I look forward to continuing these conversations in our future sessions.
[0:00] Well, good morning, everybody. Hope you're doing well. It is Stefan Molyneux from Freedomain, freedomain.com slash donate, freshly shaven like an irradiated peach.
[0:10] We are here to talk philosophy on this fine 13th of April 2025. That would be Sunday, chatty Sunday. And I hope you're doing well. Hope you're having a wonderful week. And remember, you can support the show at freedomain.com slash donate. And also, of course, you can sign up for call-in shows at freedomain.com slash call, freedomain.com slash call. You can do public call-in shows, which are free. You can do private call-in shows, which are paid, where you can get into details. And I can certainly be a little bit more blunt one-on-one. So if that's of interest and of value to you, freedomain.com slash call. Now, are you interested in the stabbing, the Anthony Carmelo stabbing? I think he said he's not alleged that he did it. This is the young man, I think he's 17, who stabbed this teen boy in the chest. And I find it quite interesting, more from a sort of philosophy of self-defense question.
[1:29] I find law, of course, is codified philosophy. It's UPB in action in its sort of ideal state. So I do find it quite interesting and helpful. But hit me with a why if you'd like to talk about that, or of course, whatever else is on your mind. I'm thrilled and happy to chat about.
[2:16] All right. And I find this one is quite interesting. I mean, obviously, there's some racial elements and so on. So we can talk about that if you have any other questions. All right, so let's look at this. Now, of course, usual caveats, I'm not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. This is just my sort of opinions on the law. So in Texas, self-defense says you can use reasonable force to protect yourself or others or their property. So reasonable force is important. You can use force at a reasonable level, a proportional level. Deadly force is justified if a person reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent serious injury or death. Castle doctrine, no duty to retreat when defending oneself in one's home, vehicle, or workplace. Protection of others. You can use force to protect others if they believe it is a necessity. And protection of property. Reasonable force can be used to protect property, but deadly force is generally not justified for property protection alone.
[3:43] So that's the general idea. Now, you can't claim self-defense, in my understanding, again, obviously, non-lawyer, amateur understanding. You can't claim self-defense under a number of circumstances. One is if you are not lawfully in a place, right? So if you are trespassing and somebody tries to remove you, you can't claim self-defense. If you're engaged in a crime, of course, you can't claim self-defense, all that kind of stuff. So self-defense requires that you be in a legally tenable or stable situation, that you are not disobeying the law and then claiming self-defense. Now, there's another one that's interesting, and again, I'm no expert on this, but it's something to do with provocation. In other words, you can't easily, and this is a gray area, I'm sure, But you can't easily just go up to someone, you know, start verbally harassing them, instigate verbal conflict, dare them to hit you, punch me and see what happens. Punch me, man, hit me. If you are provoking, if you are engaged in provocation, and this, I guess, would be verbal, then it is tougher to argue for self-defense.
[5:05] So, apparently there's, I mean, rumors or not, there are videos floating over, apparently there are videos of some of this altercation, so it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. But...
[5:22] A mutual combat immunity? Yeah, so if you both get involved in a fistfight, and you both agree to the fistfight, then it's kind of like you can't claim assault in a boxing ring, right? So I think that's another issue that happens as well. Let me just see here.
[5:57] So, this is a response AI. She could be valuable or not. In Texas law, provocation refers to actions or conduct that incite or provoke another person to respond with aggression or violence. It is often discussed in the context of self-defense and the justification for using force. Specifically, provocation can affect the legal assessment of a person's actions in a self-defense claim. If a person provokes an attack, they may not be able to claim self-defense if they subsequently respond with force. However, if the provocation is not severe enough to justify the other person's violent response, the provoker may still have a valid self-defense claim if they reasonably believe they're in imminent danger.
[6:37] In legal terms, provocation can also relate to the heat of passion defense in homicide cases where a defendant may argue that they acted out of a sudden and intense emotional response to provocation, which can mitigate the severity of the charge. So again this is a lot of a gray area uh if if someone makes a yo mama joke right that's not i don't think that would be reasonably considered provocation um if you can't just go beat someone up for making a yo mama joke or something like that but it would be interesting to see i mean the whole thing of course is just ridiculously tragic the whole thing is just absolutely ridiculously tragic you know if somebody is because it was a track meet that was going on and, my sort of understanding of it.
[7:31] Is, yeah, Austin Metcalfe was the guy who was stabbed and killed. And what's that from a couple of days ago? Yeah, Anthony Carmelo allegedly told his arresting officers, I'm not alleged, I did it.
[7:56] Now, if you are in somebody else's tent, I think these tents are set up because the track meets are sort of all day. And if you are in somebody else's tent, it seems that's not a great place to be, sort of hanging out in someone else's tent. But don't take matters into your own hands. Call an official. Call someone else. Yeah, it's very sad.
[8:20] It's very sad. I'm surprised no videos came out with everyone having smartphones now. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And if people are like uh you know if according to some police reports uh it's like the the the stabber or the guy who says he stabbed allegedly i said you know touch me and see what happens hit me and see what happens and and all of that and uh he had uh i think i mean he had a knife on him i don't think he's supposed to have a knife at school i don't think he was supposed to be in the tent i don't think he was actually at the school where the track meet was so who knows Who knows? It'd be interesting to see what videos come out. But I would say, yeah, don't get involved in these kinds of altercations. Don't, just don't do it. It's a really bad idea. It's a really bad idea. You never know, and it's not necessarily a racist thing, right? But you don't know who's just really volatile, who's had the worst possible day, who's doing some sort of dare, who might be trying to get into some gang and has to pick a fight, or you just don't know. You just don't know.
[9:35] You just don't know. And yeah, just stay out of fights as a whole. Just stay out of fights as a whole. You, All right. Let's see here. Carmelo Anthony. Sorry, not Anthony. Carmelo. Carmelo Anthony. I think I got that backwards. Carmelo Anthony. My apologies. All right. Let's get to your questions.
[10:26] Somebody asks, is there ever a time when a relationship between a parent breaks down that it is the fault of the child, or is the child always right? Well, I mean, it could be nobody's fault. I mean, if there's some brain degenerative thing, some Alzheimer's or something like neurological, that could be a problem. And there's nobody's fault. The relationship's just going to break down because of biological causal factors. So it doesn't, I mean, I know that may sound a little bit sophisticated, but I would say.
[11:13] I think the default position is that the parent is responsible i think that's that that's sort of the default position that makes sense because the parent has defined the relationship the parent has taught the child the parent has modeled interactions hopefully with the mother or father so in general I would put the onus at all times on the parent, although I can certainly imagine, some circumstances where it may not be the parent's fault, but it's hard to really come up with those because the preponderance of evidence would be that it's the parent who's defined the relationship and all of that.
[12:03] Ah, let's see here, what else do I have for y'all, a lot, I'm sure, a lot.
[12:24] Somebody wrote, the biggest betrayal feminism has committed against women is convincing them that they have time. Yes, the devil leads you step by step in the fog and leaves you abandoned with no road back. That's the great temptation is that each little compromise adds up to a complete disaster. It's usually not your first cigarette that gives you lung cancer, but at one point, that one will. So I do think that this idea that, oh, you can freeze your eggs, you've got time, it's down the road, and so on, just deferring youth and fertility and the commitment to having children, just getting you to defer all of that, defer all of that, defer all of that, is really, is really tough. And that's, those little compromises, just people don't, you know, it's funny because people don't tell you a lot of times, it's forbidden, right?
[13:17] It's forbidden, But what they'll say is, just discouraged, you've got to be careful, maybe it's not the right idea, maybe it's not the wise thing to do, maybe it's not this, and it just gives you those little excuses of procrastination and deferral, and that, I think, is what really gets you.
[13:34] Ray Dalio, a Bridgewater founder, wrote, 60% of the U.S. Population has below a 6th grade reading level. It's tough to be productive. Yeah and i think tim cook from apple was saying one of the reasons they go to china is they have all of these you know amazing excellent machinists and engineers and so on it's just a huge a talent pool to draw from and that's uh that's really tough i mean how do you, 60 of the u.s population has a below sixth grade reading level that seems okay is that that seems high that seems high let's see where is that coming from if you haven't used this feature on x where you can grok the tweet it should usually give you some some sources.
[14:21] It's really amazing. It's like a live fact checker in a way. I mean, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good, right? And the literacy claim, yeah, this literacy claim aligns with the 2022 APM Research Lab Report, which found that 54% of Americans aged 18 to 74, about 130 million adults, have literacy skills below a sixth grade level. Ouch. Well, I guess it's true. I mean, but imagine how bad things would be if the government didn't run the educational system, right? Crazy. Oh, yes, thank you for the tips. I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
[15:10] All right. The right to stand your ground versus the ability to just walk away. There is morally correct and then there is staying safe. Yeah, I mean, you know, there is the old statement, it's better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6, but it's better to stay out of those situations. This is something that has been known for a long time. Like, you can beat the rap, right? Maybe you can beat the murder rap with self-defense. You can beat the rap, but you can't beat the riot. There's still going to be years out of your life and massive amounts of money, and I assume considerable amounts of stress, all that kind of stuff. What's your opinion on some saying that the young man proved self-defense because he asked is he okay to the police afterwards, doesn't this just show he was worried about himself and being arrested for murder I don't I don't I mean I can't read the guy's mind I don't know what he meant by that.
[16:14] Somebody said a guy who tried to fight me in a bar years ago happened to live in my building complex we ran into each other and made peace while speaking he told me he loves a good fight and that him and his people have ways of getting around the law i told him he still has to live with that on his conscience and he just said i sleep like a baby crazy yeah yeah i mean the when you get involved in some sort of violent conflict or potentially escalating violent the conflict, because a big problem is the disparity in skill sets. You know, if somebody's been through 20 bar fights, and you're just getting riled up for the first time, that's not good. You know, that's not good. That's not, I mean, just the skill disparity is pretty important. So, yeah, don't get involved in fights. Just avoid as much as possible. It's not that hard to avoid fights. All right.
[17:20] Somebody says, good morning, Stefan and community. Good morning. Why do individuals who have many examples of pride getting in the way of relationships and daily encounters, how can one not see it? Why do individuals who have many examples of pride getting in the way of relationships and daily encounters? Yeah. Yeah, pride tends to isolate, right? I mean, if you're just very proud and won't admit fault and won't compromise and won't work with people. Pride and vanity, it tends to really isolate people as a whole. So I assume that people would often rather be right in splendid isolation than be self-critical and thereby gain community.
[18:01] All right.
[18:07] I used Grok for a pizza recipe. it told me to bake at 850 degrees for 30 minutes. Really?
[18:25] Daniel Penny beat the rap, but went through such a terrible time in the media. Such a brave dude. I mean, Kyle Rittenhouse as well, for sure. It's not a fun ride, to put it mildly. Oops, I hit the end instead of page down, and now I'm at the very bottom. Below the bottom. There we go. All right.
[19:05] Yeah those before and after pictures of makeup are really something yeah really really something somebody wrote to put a 10 000 tariff on makeup, up. And in England, an elderly man who's hard of hearing said he couldn't understand someone and asked him to speak English or speak clearly, and he got warned that there's a potential hate crime. Wow. Now, is this true? In America, you're six times more likely to be killed by a doctor than a gun. Let's see here. The statistic stems from comparing medical error deaths estimated in 250,000 annually by a 2016 Johns Hopkins study to gun deaths, which were around 46,728 in 2023, yielding a ratio of about 5.35, close to the claimed 6%. However, medical error estimates vary widely, but some studies suggesting as low as 22,000 death, making the claim contentious due to inconsistent data.
[20:27] All right, let's get back to your questions and comments. I think of the old saying on a gravestone, here lies John Doe, he had the right of way. I remember this one, I used to bike, I used to bike all the time in my 20s to get around. And, I mean, you can be in the right of way, but you're a lot more vulnerable than somebody in a 6,000 pound can with wheels on it. No makeup on women is sexy. I think it shows a certain amount of confidence for sure. It's appealing and pleasant to see for sure. And don't forget to help support the show if you can at freedomain.com slash donate. Freedomain.com slash donate. All right. Now I do of course have questions that I asked for for yesterday. And.
[21:40] But let me just see if you've got any other questions or comments, if 60% of america can't read with comprehension what else can they not do with comprehension well i mean is that by design is that by nature is that by coincidence, I know my thoughts, but I'm sure you have yours.
[22:08] Ooh, long questions. Hmm. Somebody writes, Stef, when you have your call in shows, what's your method for making notes? Do you make handwritten notes, use digital text files, draw mental maps, or something else? Sometimes the stories are so complicated, but you always keep such a good track of them, even the small facts. Also, when you come up with the title for a show, do you approve it with a caller? I don't approve it with a caller now. But I try to be, you know, obviously honest and accurate to the core of what is being talked about. Yeah, so I have, when there's complicated family situations, I'll draw a family tree. Sure, I mean, if there's like marriages and remarriages and step-parents and so on, step-siblings, especially if there's big age gaps, which can be quite important, then I will definitely, I'll draw a little family tree. And that usually doesn't come out beforehand. That comes out during the course of the conversation. No, normally I'm not. But normally I'm not making notes. I'm just really, really focusing on trying to listen as well and as deeply as humanly possible. That's really my goal when it comes to the call-in shows.
[23:36] And I have sort of have an I have a bit of an instinct for asking questions so I'll ask a question even to me it seems a little bit out of left field but usually it's a marker, for something that I can circle back to later and deal with in a more detailed way so you'll hear me saying call-in shares. So this is why I asked this earlier. Now, I don't always, sometimes I do, but I don't always know why I asked the questions earlier, and then it pays off later. I mean, I've been doing it for so long now. It's kind of an instinct. I guess maybe I had it to some degree from the beginning. Out of all your call-ins, what do you think is the biggest culprit as to why relationships go awry? Well, the biggest culprit is people who want relationships without being direct and honest, right? This is the real-time relationships thing. You talk about your thoughts and feelings in the moment as you're moving forward. And I think the biggest problem that people have in relationships is that they hide themselves from the other person in order to gain some sort of approval, to not be yourself. In order to gain approval is to dig the grave of the relationship, really from the very beginning.
[24:55] That's why, you know, you can't have a relationship without direct honesty. All you're doing is having a compliance self-erasure vest.
[25:11] Uh, somebody says, I went on two dates with a girl and we had great chemistry, comparable on virtues and what we are looking for and had a lot of fun together. She surprised me a few days after our last date and indicated because I'm not a Christian, she did not want to move forward. I was taken aback given we discussed scripture, objective morality, and even my openness to going to church. I've given her space these past few weeks, but I'm curious if you think her objection is insurmountable.
[25:41] I'm not sure what you mean, I mean what would it matter what I think if she thinks her objection is insurmountable, then that's what counts right, tell me how old you guys are how old just in case, how old are you it's one thing if the girl is like 20 That's one thing. If she's like late 20s, early 30s, she probably is not going to want to invest a lot into, yeah, 24. Yeah. So she's probably thinking of settling down relatively quickly, and she probably doesn't want to invest a lot of time in somebody who might not end up being a Christian. Yeah, you're late 20s. She's mid-20s. Yeah. Yeah. So if she wants to settle down and raise her kids, as Christians, then she probably isn't going to want to get together with a guy that may or may not end up being a Christian, which I'm sure we can understand, right? We can understand all of that.
[26:54] All right, let's see here. Oh, yeah, my IQ topics. I mean, I did the IQ topics. I interviewed all the experts. I really don't think there's anything left to say about all of that stuff. I generally will, I mean, it's not like I'm doing a lot of presentations on the Roman Empire or the Crusades or, you know, the stuff that I, George Floyd, and so I do the topics and, or crime stats or whatever. I'll do the topics, I'll dig in, and then, you know, I'll generally move on, right?
[27:36] So, somebody says, there are people consciously and unconsciously using diagnosis and trauma as a shield, and permanent excuse for the way they behave, and therefore feel that they must always be forgiven while continuing to behave erratically and generally unpleasant. They blame and guilt the other person for not accepting the treatment by saying their love was insufficient. Oh, there's more. Otherwise, they would understand, accept, and appease the bad behavior. It is trauma they unfortunately have inherited, therefore can only be blameless for their behavior. But the partner can and will be held fully accountable and responsible to figure out and administer the correct treatment. But otherwise, the logical answer is always they did not love enough, as otherwise they would have understood and healed the condition. This, of course, is not always true, but quite problematic. Is it possible to reason with people like that, or is it something you could say to checkmate their behavior?
[28:38] Usually the big question is right at the beginning. I mean, for me, the purpose of identifying childhood trauma and so on is to overcome it and not have it be part of your core identity. I mean, I don't in general think of myself in sort of any current context. I mean, I'm 59 this year, right? So I don't in any current context think of myself as the eternal victim of a neglected and abused childhood. I mean, I have a wonderful marriage and good friends and a lovely relationship with my daughter. And so for me, it's kind of hard to get into that mindset that, you know, the stuff that happened like 40, 50 or more years ago is sort of essential to my identity. So it's not really a, not really. So I think, I think that the purpose is not, I mean, I think you have to have sympathy for what happened to you as a kid, if you had a bad childhood, for sure. but I think you want to try and avoid as much as possible making it part of your core identity or essential to sort of who you are, if that makes sense.
[29:52] All right. And people can, I mean, it is sort of, I think, a well-known phenomenon in self-knowledge circles that people can definitely end up in love with their own diagnoses, so to speak. You know, I am a hat, and that just becomes their thing, right?
[30:20] And I don't think that's great. For me, at least, the purpose of... Thank you, Joseph. The purpose of healing is to return to a state of wholeness, right? You break your arm, you want to get back to the state where your arm is, if it was never broken, if that makes sense. If it was never broken. And I think the purpose of sort of mental health, psychological healing, closure, progress, is to get to a place where you are as close. Well, not only were you not damaged, but you became stronger because of the damage, right? So if you break your arm, maybe you end up falling in love with doing weights as part of rehab, and you end up with a stronger arm than if you'd never broken it. And I think that's pretty important. If you can judo or jujitsu this stuff from a weakness into a strength, I think that's the best you can do with these kinds of things as a whole.
[31:21] Somebody says, would you say it's reasonable to make it work with a Christian girl as a non-religious man? What are your thoughts on it? As in, if the two are a great match on everything aside from belief in God, would it still be better for two Christians to be together? I think so, yeah. I mean, the challenge, of course, is the kids, right?
[31:40] Yeah. I think the challenge is the kids. Right, because you're going to have a different set of metaphysics and epistemology. Right? So your non-Christian metaphysics and epistemology, I mean, even if you end up with the same ethics, which I'm sure you would be very similar, but if you have a different methodology, then it's going to be quite confusing for the kids.
[32:11] All right, somebody says, hello, back in 2018 or so, you had a great presentation on Christianity in the Middle East pre-Islam on YouTube. Is there an archive of your old work? Yes. So you go to fdrpodcasts.com, fdrpodcasts.com, and you can do the search for there, and then when you click on the shows that you find below, there should be video archives. Why do people throw shite back in your face that happened years ago? Hmm. Hmm. Right. Right. I mean, I think for two reasons. You know, there's a lot of people who don't seem to exist in a state of time. They get stuck in a certain time. A sort of good fictional example of this is the young man in Glass Menagerie.
[33:18] Uh, gosh, what's his name again? Jim O'Connor. Yeah. Uh, Jim O'Connor who, or, or I guess a more coarse example would be Al Bundy from Married with Children who kind of got stuck in his high school football glory days and didn't quite move on. And of course, Jim O'Connor in Glass menagerie is somebody who's stuck in the successes and all the bad that he had in high school. So some people kind of get stuck in time and they don't really progress or move forward. And that's, so for them, it's all very vivid. It's all very real. And it doesn't progress. You know, things are supposed to be in your mind and, you know, you kind of, they recede into the past they become less important they minimize they go over the horizon but some people they just stay in this loop and they don't really move forward in time.
[34:26] Thank you for the tip I appreciate that somebody says funny you brought up women wasting time earlier saw this tweet last night I get the sense that this tweet invites people to think the feeling of time slipping away is just a phase, basically detaching you from your instincts. Yeah, this woman, Madison, wrote, nobody is more stressed than a 25 to 32-year-old thinking they're running out of time. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's a real thing.
[35:01] All right.
[35:10] Sorry, I don't quite get that text. Somebody writes, I can blame what I went through, making my challenges worse slash harder to deal with. I can also go down what ifs, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. If only were I different, then I would not be me. Maybe things would be better or maybe worse. I can't change what happened. What I can do is decide what to do about it now, namely work on helping others and not concentrating on myself. Feels great. That charity and kindness is empathy I gained. This I do. Thank God for. It's nice to hear. Floridian says, people running out of, people running out your time is extremely important. I started a family late in a career light. I started a family late in a career light and feel as though some of my tractors and society in general managed to convince me that my 20s weren't important. Oh, detractors. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Time's ticking away. Time moves on, whether you like it or not. And there is no return to yesterday.
[36:32] And make hay while the sun shines, right? I'm going to go ahead.
[36:45] All right.
[36:48] I'll wait for those questions and stick with yours. Thank you for the tip. I appreciate that. Oh, it's voice transcription. And you can't blame voice transcription because you've got to proofread, right? Don't blame technology for your failure to proofread, in my humble opinion.
[37:22] All right. Hello, Douglas. Nice to see you. Thanks for dropping by. Yeah, the NGO stuff is pretty wild. That doe just digging up. There's a lack of oversight and all that. It's just wild. I thought this was interesting. Because tungsten and gold have almost identical weights, fake gold bars and coins made from tungsten cannot be identified by the usual method of density testing and ultrasound has to be used instead. Isn't that wild? I did not know. All right.
[38:30] Yeah, World of Engineering is a good follow-up, for sure. The speed of sound on Mars is about 250 meters per second. That's slower than on Earth, where sound travels with the air at about 340 meters per second. I remember that as a kid, when I first saw people playing soccer in a big distance, that they'd click the ball, and only then would I later get the sound. I still remember that.
[39:13] Workers in rural Japan built a new train station in just six hours between the last train of the night to the first one the next morning. The new structure replaced a 75-year-old wooden station building in Hatsushima, a quiet coastal area in Erida City. All components of the new station were 3D printed in advance and assembled on site on March 25th, 2025, in what West Japan Railway Company says is a world first. You know, it's funny. We don't remember, and I suppose this is the podcast world to some degree, right? But it's hard for people to remember just how easy it used to be to get things done.
[40:12] Somebody says uh listening to you as i do my sunday shopping in a local canadian walmart definitely can see how different beliefs and attitudes in terms of upbringing and culture affect what we would call a polite society and our ability to have one yeah for sure, isn't the doge savings just going to the military industrial complex yeah yeah what is trump now it's like a trillion dollar pentagon budget crazy, Is there a point to getting things done if the train station is too unsafe to use? But I don't think it is. People just used to be able to do stuff. Now it's like paperwork, bureaucratic, red tape, environmental studies, you name it, right? It just goes on and on. And people just kind of give up, right? Do you ever have this sort of feeling? You have some sort of business idea or something, and then it's like you start looking up all the things that you're going to have to go through to try and make it work. and it's like, oh, maybe, maybe not.
[41:18] They wrote to World of Engineering, can we all finally agree that using hand dryers in public restrooms was a bad idea? That's my closest thing to faith, is just rubbing my hands on those dryers. Never feels like it's going to work. I usually just give up and wipe it on my back. Did you know that stars were among the first objects to form in the early universe? Interesting.
[41:59] It's a good life tip. when you get a new job, save down the job description and use the points listed under responsibilities to add that experience to your resume when the time comes. That's good.
[42:15] If science is influenced by politics or business, it's not science, it's politics and business. Very true. The human body produces about 25 million new cells every second. Isn't that wild?
[42:38] Oops. Now, this was not true. Humans' first contact with electricity was electric fish. I think it means electric eels. No, I mean, I would assume lightning predated that by quite a bit. Life tip, this is good. If you can't see the lorries, what was it? Was it tongue twisted when I was a kid? Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry. That means a truck in England. And if you can't see the truck's mirrors, they can't see you. Very true. Very true. One million Earths could fit inside the sun. Isn't that wild? If you folded a piece of paper in half 42 times, it would reach the moon. If you folded it 103 times, it would be thicker than the observable universe. That was kind of a little minor con that people used to do when I was in boarding school, is they'd say, you know, they'd bet you, I'd bet you, you know, 10 pence that you can't fold a piece of paper more than seven times in half. And of course, you couldn't, right?
[44:00] All right.
[44:09] Uh, oh, sorry, somebody said, I meant, oh, you meant a lot of the economy seems to be virtual or remote now because the public spaces are physically unsafe in America. Yeah, that's true. Interesting fact. The 30 pieces of silver Judas received in the New Testament is not the same as 30 ounces today. It was the equivalent of a year's salary at the time. Huh, interesting. What are your thoughts on bonnie blue having sex with 1057 men in one day she said that she started watching porn at age 11 i mean i i i have no words i have no words for that.
[44:56] All right those air dryers spread germs around so trees are more important than people's lives Interesting. Somebody writes, hi, Stef. When you do call-ins, are you able to get a general sense of whether or not a caller will implement your advice or not? And if you have a sense they won't, how do you push through to keep doing what you do? Well, of course, you know, 99% of the shows I've done have been public call-ins over the last 20 years. So obviously, I do want the person to, if I've got good advice and they agree with it, I do want them to follow it. But it's not essential because the good advice goes out to everyone as a whole, right?
[45:40] So it's not—the value of the advice exists whether or not someone is following it individually.
[46:05] All right. I thought this was interesting as a life tip. Set a two-minute delay for every email you send. In Outlook, you can set your outgoing email to be automatically delayed a couple of minutes using the automation rules. So if you hit send early accidentally or forget to include an attachment, you can go to your outbox and edit the email before it actually sends. Clever. Clever. Did you know originally Celsius degrees were meant to be reversed with water boiling at zero degrees and freezing at 100? That's an engineer, I suppose. Anyone know any jokes about sodium? Nah. Funny, funny, funny. Um...
[47:29] All right, let's see here. What do we have for your questions and comments?
[47:46] Thank you for your support at freedom.com slash donate all right more questions, more questions comments i can do i can only do an hour today i have a bunch of other stuff which I need to get done. I'm afraid, not that I don't want you guys to think anything takes priority over you, but...
[48:22] Going once, going twice. Yes. Okay. I'll wait for that. What's coming my way? How's your ear doing? Oh, it's better. The tinnitus is down. I still get a little bit of a buzz when I talk. But it's getting better. Thank you.
[49:23] Does society fix itself, or does it need leaders? However, the suppression of ideas, how? I wouldn't say that society fixes itself. I would say that people need to be led to better reason, better arguments, better ideas. And I think where censorship is at these days, which is still quite strong, I think you have to put out first principles, teach people how to reason, and let them take it from there. Censorship usually only focuses on conclusions rather than methodology. Let's see here. Is it true that you'll know when you find the right woman? It certainly was the case for me. Yeah, it certainly was the case for me. And it's when you look at the person and you say, well, I can't do better than this. There's no upgrade from here.
[50:26] Yeah, if you have a dream analysis, freedomain.com slash call, freedomain.com slash call. A dream analysis is better in a conversation because there's usually a whole heap of background and other things that are needed for that. All right. Okay, well, I will stop here. I really do appreciate everyone's time today. Thank you so much for dropping by tonight. Sorry for these slightly shorter shows, but we will get back into the lengthy ones soon. And I do have some really good shows coming up, coming out this week. Appreciate everyone dropping by. Freedemand.com slash donate to help out the show. Really, really would appreciate it. Lots of love from up here, my friends. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.
Support the show, using a variety of donation methods
Support the show
