0:03 - Welcome to Your Friday Night Live
1:28 - A Deep Dive into England's Situation
2:54 - The Economics of War and Peace
5:27 - The Legacy of World War I
6:59 - Ethical Dilemmas in Family Responsibility
10:46 - Sentimentality vs. Personal Responsibility
14:36 - The Burden of Intelligence
17:08 - Health and Longevity Insights
22:37 - The Reality of Chronic Health Issues
25:36 - The Profit Motive in Healthcare
37:52 - The Threat of World War III
1:03:52 - Reflections on Society and Governance
1:06:39 - Closing Thoughts and Recommendations
In this episode, we dive deep into the ongoing socio-political issues swirling around England and the broader implications of historical conflicts on modern society. I reflect on my personal connections to England and convey the sadness I feel observing the country's current state. I unpack the notion that the narrative often presents England as a victor of historical wars, questioning whether people today even understand the wars fought or the implications of their outcomes. The state of affairs prompts a philosophical discussion about the realities faced by the nation.
We then transition into a broader discussion on the cyclical nature of peace and war, especially in Europe. I touch upon the significant decades of relative peace that preceded the tumult of the 20th century, contrasting it with the gains of society in terms of free-market principles and governance. I scrutinize how the interests of the few—often dubbed "warmongers"—have exploited sentiments and freedoms to foster a continuous cycle of conflict, ultimately harming the potential for a society where war is no longer a constant threat.
As the conversation progresses, I tackle various modern-day issues, such as the blurry line between ethical responsibility towards family, particularly when discussing the difficult topic of mental illness and family dynamics. I emphasize the distinction between responsibility toward those we create versus those we do not, promoting a perspective of self-care and clarity with regard to emotional obligations.
I also navigate through the misconceptions around government healthcare versus individual health, providing hard statistics on the health of older adults and the often hidden penalties inflicted by societal neglect of moral responsibilities in health. This segues into a discussion on societal health crises, ties between lifestyle choices and chronic health conditions, and the need for proactive measures instead of reactive systems designed to profit from illness.
Throughout the episode, I indulge in thought-provoking dialogues on societal expectations and emotional burdens, especially concerning the ethics of sentimentality and its influence on personal choices. I urge listeners to examine their motives in familial relationships and societal obligations, asserting that the integrity of one's choices should stem from reason rather than mere emotional pressure.
Towards the end, we explore themes of hope versus action, emphasizing the futility of relying on hope without accompanying proactive measures. I make a clarion call for listeners to recognize their unique capabilities and responsibilities, urging them to act, not hope, as this is the true path to effect change in their lives and the world around them.
This episode is a candid and introspective journey through critical discussions on history, responsibility, personal agency, and the pressing need for self-awareness and action in the face of adversity.
[0:00] Good evening, good evening. Welcome to your Friday Night Live.
[0:04] Here to take your thoughts, questions, issues, challenges, problems, criticisms, whatever is on your mind can be run through the big chatty forehead of Chatterbox. Teeth-chomping philosophy syllables, such as I bring to the fore. To the fore. So, if you've got any questions, issues, challenges, or problems, What is going on? I've been watching what's happening to England. It's very hard to witness. Any solutions to this? No. No, at least no solutions that we can really talk about in a philosophy show.
[0:46] See, this is all predicated on the belief that England won the war, right? And I think people are waking up to the fact that it does not appear to be that England won the war. In fact, I don't think people even know what the war is. So, uh, no, uh, it is, um, it's really, it is sad. It is sad. I mean, obviously it's sort of my home country, my homeland where I grew up. So it's very sad to see, but at the same time, it was the entire, it was the country that threw me to the wolves and left me, uh, half beaten and bleeding with child abusers and, uh, sent me to school where I got caned. So, um, the wages of sin, the wages of sin, what can I tell you?
[1:29] All right, while I'm waiting for the questions to come in, I'm sure I've got a few things saved to chat about.
[1:46] Ian Carroll on Joe Rogan, interesting. Interesting and well worth watching. Well worth watching. So, it looks like the tariffs between Canada and the U.S., I don't know, are they on, are they off? Up and down like the Assyrian Empire, but it's wild. It's a negotiating tactic, it's just a negotiating tactic, and all of that, so. What did you think of that crypto summit, Stef, if you watched it? I did not. Did England ever really recover from the cost of two world wars? Yeah, so Europe has really been in the target eye of the warmongers since the early part of the, 20th century. Because you see, Europe, at least Western Europe, Franco-Prussian War of 1871 excluded, but Western Europe was at peace for about 100 years, right from the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 to the start of World War I in 1914, Western Europe was largely at peace.
[2:55] Well, peace is not good business for the blood mongers.
[3:08] So, peace does not sell to the demonic blood mongers of mankind. And so, that couldn't be allowed. There was an era of peace in Western Europe now. There was the dark satanic mills. There was the enclosure movement. There was people getting kicked off their land and so on. I understand all of that. And that was not fun, certainly by modern standards, but there was relative peace. So Europeans, and in particular, of course, European males have been brutally targeted for well over a century now, because we kind of figured out that you could have a free market, you could help the poor, you could have, a small government, non-warmongering society, which was 19th century plus early part of the 20th century. And if you go look back at those videos, I mean, there's this meme, like, you know, the women are like, man, he didn't even cry during Titanic. Do men even have emotions? And it's a guy, you know, with a blackened heart face looking at pictures of early 20th century videos of European civilization.
[4:22] It was horrible. So, the whites, Western Europeans, in a sort of white combination of Roman law, Greek philosophy, and Christian morals, created the magic key that unlocks the potential for a genuine and lasting peace. Well, say the war mongers, fuck that.
[4:47] We can't have that. That's no good. and so the wars began and the wars have been continuing targeting to a large degree though of course not exclusively sort of white western europeans and in particular males and of course this is still going on because we unlocked the key small government free markets that led to the potential for a war free society a society free of war but that can't be allowed for the sociopaths whose only desire is to wake and disassemble human beings for fun, shits, giggles, and profit. Can't have that. Can't have that.
[5:27] And so, yeah, the blood, flour, and future of Europe was destroyed in the, and I've got the truth about the origins of World War I. The truth about World War I is a presentation you really should watch at fdrpodcast.com, just do a search for World War I. Or is it the truth about the First World War? One of the two. Anyway, it was a family war. Well, I mean, just about everybody who fought was related to each other in some way or another. So...
[5:59] War was murdered with small government and the free market war was murdered and you know like it's like that horror movie where you you kill the bad guy and then like the hand comes out of the ground as you're getting away and comes right right so small government free markets, murdered war and then war, staged an amazing comeback and has been ruling the last 111 years?
[6:34] We were this close to be... to being free of... Have you seen what's been going on with destiny? Eeeh. I don't watch many nature documentaries on bacilli. I mean, why on earth? Okay, I'll bite.
[6:59] What has been going on with destiny i have no idea what's been going on with destiny the last i heard there was some sex tape uh allegations or stuff flying back and forth but, you know hyper rapid speaking blue-haired, tubby intellectual non-entities are not stuff i particularly focus on so is the peaceful parenting audiobook of the full version or the condensed version it's the full version what ethical responsibility does a sibling have to a mentally ill brother who has treatment resistant schizophrenia.
[7:47] Well, parents have foundational ethical responsibilities for children because parents choose to create children and choose to have children in their life. As a child, you do not have the same ethical responsibilities for your parents. I know you're not talking about parents here, but just to sort of build the case. As a child, you do not have the same ethical responsibilities for your parents because you did not create them or choose to have them in your life. That which we create, we are responsible for, right? Which is if some guy is an arsonist and he sets a fire, he's responsible for all the resulting damage. If I push a rock off the top of a hill and it rolls down and bounces and destroys your car, I'm responsible for that because I created the rock going down the hill, right? It didn't happen on its own. It didn't happen by accident. I created that. So that which we create, we are responsible for. Did you create your parents? You did not. Did you create your brother? You did not. The ethical responsibility lies with your parents.
[8:58] They created your brother. Now, I'm obviously no expert. Far from it, obviously. So none of this is any kind of medical or psychological advice. But my understanding is that there are genetic predispositions to schizophrenia, but schizophrenia is activated at least to some degree by childhood trauma. So, if your brother has treatment-resistant schizophrenia, which I'm very sorry for, it's a very, very difficult situation to deal with, then the question is, did he, your brother, experience significant trauma as a child? Now, as his brother, you have very little control over the trauma that, I mean, if you're an older brother or, you know, significantly older or somewhat older, maybe you tormented Ortiz or abused him or whatever it is. But.
[10:12] You have very little control over the potential trauma that your brother had inflicted upon him by your parents. So if your brother's schizophrenia has something to do with, and again, I know the science is sort of up and down with this kind of stuff. So this is all very tentative and, you know, usual caveat. But if your brother's schizophrenia has something to do with the trauma that your parents inflicted upon him, then they are very much responsible for that. So, that makes a lot of sense. Both parents are dead though.
[10:47] Lots of childhood trauma from the parents. Physical, emotional, sexual, 9 out of 10 ACE score.
[10:59] Well, I'll just be frank with you guys. I'm fairly cut and dried. Maybe it's sort of base Anglo-Saxon practicality, but I'm fairly cut and dried with this stuff. And the way that I would look at it if I were in your shoes, it's not a perfect moral answer. I'm just telling you the way that I would look at it, is I would look at my brother and say, well, I did not create him. I am not responsible for him. I am not my brother's keeper, and I cannot fix him, and I did not inflict the trauma upon him that may have triggered some aspects of his schizophrenia. I am not responsible for this. Now, if you won the lottery, or if you came into some massive chunk of resources, would it be nice for you to help your brother out a little to find some home for him to pay for some home for him yeah i would say that i personally have rejected money from inheritance in order to help a relatively close a family member who has cognitive deficiencies i think it's nice.
[12:15] And there's nothing wrong with that however however i put everything at least i would recommend putting everything through this cold hard dominion lens i'm doing me straight up with you guys cold hard dominion lens which is does this help me get a quality woman or not.
[12:36] Because your goal, your job, in a way, in a very real way, especially you guys, right? Especially you guys. Because you're in the top 1% of intelligence, which means you kind of have a responsibility to have kids. Sorry, you just kind of do. Right? Because you inherited all of this amazing intelligence because smart people ahead of you, behind you, in a sense, smart people behind you had children. So you got all of these smart genes i'm not saying it's all genetic right 80 85 percent whatever by late teens right so you got all these smart genes because intelligent people ahead of you had children, right.
[13:30] So you're gonna pay it forward you've got to pass the intelligence forward you've got to you enjoy being intelligent right life is way better for me at least obviously i don't have a comparison but life is way better being smart for me right i i couldn't really picture what it would be like to look at the world and not really have much of a clue what's going on and be sort of emotionally reactive and not really grok the consequences of even remote, like reasonably complex decisions and just be easily lied to and propaganda. Like I just, to me, that's not, I couldn't, I can't imagine not functioning at that level at all. I mean, this is no hate, no contempt, no negative or anything. I just, I am so grateful for the gift of intelligence. And it is a gift. I did not earn it. I'm so grateful and humbled for the gift of intelligence that I feel a very deep and sincere obligation to pay it forward in the same way that if I inherited, I don't know, a hundred million dollars, it wouldn't be mine to blow, right?
[14:37] On blow. It wouldn't be mine to blow.
[14:48] So you, you have an incredible inheritance of intelligence. You who listen to what we talk about here, this is a very high IQ show. So you have an inheritance. You were given the most staggering gift, which is intelligence, human intelligence, but it's the only intelligence we really have the highest gift possible because your ancestors had kids. You kind of got to pay it forward. It. I mean, it's just a decent thing and an honorable thing and a positive thing to do.
[15:23] So if your brother, let's say you have him move into your house and he stresses you out and he's kind of crazy and he needs to have a rage room and he breaks things and you're tired and you're stressed and you can't date and you don't do well at work, well, who's that helping? Doesn't make him better. It just makes you worse. So let me tell you something. Here's a very, very significant and important thing to think about when you're trying to engage in any relationship whatsoever. Is there a net positive in the interaction? Right? Is there a net positive in the interaction? It's really, really important. Of course, by definition, two people trading in the free market, it's win-win. Otherwise, it wouldn't happen, right? So by definition, in the free market, trades in the free market are both people are better off because they're voluntarily trading, right? You want the dollar more than the pen you have. The other guy wants your pen more than the dollar he has, so you're both better off, right? So with regards to your brother, even if you accept the responsibility, which you don't have to with regards to what your parents created and then wrecked, I think, possibly. You have to say, okay, if I pour heart, mind, and soul.
[16:38] Into my brother, what is the net calculated positive outcome? Well, let's say he is 20% happier. I know this sounds like utilitarianism and pragmatic like happiness calculations, just bear with me and we'll address that in a sec, right? Just look at this. So let's say your brother is 20% happier and you're 50% unhappier. That's a net negative of the happiness in the world.
[17:09] And I know we can eyeball these things or we can sort of whatever, right?
[17:16] So look at this calculation. Now, let's say that, and there's also a genetic calculation, your brother is very unlikely to ever have children. If you devote yourself to taking care of your brother, then you also become very unlikely to have children. You're miserable, you're bitter, you're angry, you're frustrated, you're resentful for an obligation you never chose. You did not create, you did not make, you did not have him as your child, and you did not break him as your child. So, listen Sentimentality, Destroys More men Than bullets Sentimentality destroys more men and women And cultures and civilization Sentimentality is one of the Greatest and most toxic environmental, Virulent pathogens in the world You must fiercely, fiercely Fiercely guard yourself Against First, sentimentality. Sentimentality generally arises when.
[18:21] You have a moral absolute that is based upon appearance rather than results. Well, but he's my brother. I have to take care of him. How will it look if I don't? What will people say if I don't? Can I justify it to myself?
[18:48] Right sentimentality is when you provide resources, based upon the desire to look good rather than do good you know like i'm passing by this guy he's homeless i'm gonna give him 20 bucks because I just feel so bad that he's homeless. I feel so sad that he's homeless. That's all about you. It's not about what's better for him, right? If he's just going to go and take that 20 bucks and buy drugs or pay that 20 bucks and go gamble or pay that 20 bucks and go buy liquor, you're not doing him any good. It's just about you want to feel good. And the sentimentality is the moral self-praise you give yourself for performing an action regardless of the actual good it's adding to the world.
[19:41] Do you see what I'm saying? I'm not saying do you agree, but you sort of, I don't want to over-explain or under-explain. Do you sort of get where I'm coming from? And sentimentality is, oh, how could you? But she's your mother. Your mother is a saint. Your father, this is your father. You have to take care of your father, right? It is emotional bullying. It is shock and horror and so on, right? This is the old thing. It's like, well, but if you want to get rid of socialized medicine, people are going to die in the streets. And look at people's general health. Jesus, Lord, God Almighty, sorry for the name in vain stuff, but holy crap, let me tell you guys something. I was just looking this up. Just the other day, my wife and I were just kind of curious because, you know, we were in pretty robust health and so on, right? And I was kind of like, hey, I wonder how many people, over like in sort of our age group, sort of late 50s, 60s, what kind of health outcomes are going on, right? I thought I had saved it, but I didn't. So let me just have a look. It's insane.
[20:58] I wanted to make sure I get the actual math. Oh, it's wild, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I care about your cookies.
[21:14] So, let me see. Sorry, I have to throw in percent here. It's a crazy percent. It's a crazy percent. Oh yeah, here we go. Here we go. I found it. I found it. 94.9% of adults age 60 and over have at least one chronic condition. Right? So, 19 out of 20 adults age 60 and older have at least one chronic health condition, and 78.7% have two or more. Isn't that wild?
[21:52] 42% of adults 60 and older are obese, not overweight, obese. Isn't that wild? So what do we got? 10 common chronic conditions for adults 65 plus. Hypertension, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, arthritis, ischemic coronary heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, depression, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia. Oh my god. And this is up considerably from the past. No, it's absolutely, it's crazy how sickly people are.
[22:37] Now, you know, 70, 75% of health issues are lifestyle related, which means you chose, you made bad choices and you got sick.
[22:53] So, people are like crazy unwell. People are crazy unwell. I mean, there's bone health issues. There is, of course, the diabetes management of diabetes is going to take 15 years off your life, as far as I've read. It's mad. Now, I'm 58, so I'm getting there. I'm getting there. And, you know, maybe I'll have some issues, but nothing yet. Nothing yet. And of course, on average, a 65-year-old can expect to live another 18.9 million years. Crazy. 27% of the U.S. Adult population has multiple chronic conditions, which cost the American healthcare system over a trillion dollars each year. It's the usual 90 to 95% of healthcare costs are 5 to 10% of the population and two thirds of your entire lifetime's healthcare costs are in the last couple of months of your life.
[24:19] I did eight and a half hours of exercise last week, because it's really, really important. In 2022, 36.3% of older adults had not seen a dentist in the last year. Now, I go every, I used to go every three months, now I go every four months. You just have to take care of your teeth.
[24:45] One in five adults age 65 plus have untreated dental caries or cavities i don't know why they're, put that way one in four older adults have a behavioral health problem such as depression anxiety or substance abuse people aged 85 plus have the highest rates of suicide compared to any other age group. In 2020, over 11,000 adults age 65 plus died from alcohol-induced causes. Oof. Oof, let me tell you. People are sick. They're just sick. And what is it about, it's only one or two percent of the U.S. healthcare budget is spent on prevention. Of course. Of course, because chronic diseases make money.
[25:36] And so waiting until people get sick and then medicating them forever is by far the most profitable model for the healthcare system as it exists, by 2060 almost a quarter of the population is going to be 65 or older, flu is it flu or pneumonia that's called the old man's benefit a benefactor, it's really something yeah people are like crazy unwell people are just crazy crazy unwell.
[26:22] Oh, you know, you don't see, I mean, and of course, when you see really old people, they tend to be very skinny, right? You don't see old fat people. Percent of non-institutionalized persons with hypertension measured high blood pressure or taking high blood pressure medication. This is from 2017 to March, 2020. Men aged 65 to 74, almost 72%. Men age 75 and older, 83.2%. Women age 65 to 74, 73.7%. Women age 75 and older, 84.1%.
[27:04] It's brutal. And of course, I'm at the age where people's health decisions, are really catching up with them. People's bad health decisions are really, really catching up with them. Social isolation and loneliness is a big problem. People who have hearing loss tend to get a little bit more dementia. People who are isolated and lonely have higher risks of dementia, serious health problems, and so on. About 8 in 10 older adults struggle to use medical documents like forms or charts. Harder for them to make well-informed health decisions. It's wild. So, you know, if I could get on my knees and beg you to do your best to maintain your health, I would get on my knees and beg you to do your best to maintain your health. It is a difficult, ugly world out there when you have chronic health conditions.
[28:22] So, yeah, when you say, well, but without government healthcare, people are going to die in the streets. It's like, people are just dying in their homes. They're sick because the government healthcare system makes money when you're chronically ill. I mean, look at the mad incentives that happened over COVID. Thank you, James. Oh, yeah, freedomain.com slash donate to help out the show. Yeah, the mad decisions made under COVID where hospitals got massive amounts of money when people died. They got massive amounts of money for treatments that It seems somewhat questionable, like massive ventilator and remdesivir and all kinds of stuff. Very few people can staunchly resist incentives. I can say with regards to my career, I could be thought of as someone who's pretty good at resisting rational incentives, right? But my incentives are long-term reason, not short-term material gain, right?
[29:18] So they just, They want to be sentimental. They see a sick person and they want that person to be better. Oh, thank you for the tips. Boy, that's really nice. I'm sorry I didn't see those. Let me just get to the people as a whole. I will say thank you to the great Khan. Thank you to Mobius Mirage and a big, big thank you to Rai Vila. That's very, very kind. He says, people donations are down. Let's fix that. You know, Stef has given you way more value than dang near anyone. Help the show out. Thank you uh somebody said oh the guy donated says we've established previously that you will take your shirt off for us how much for you to take off your shirt put on a red lobster sweet suit sorry suit and read quotes from jordan peterson on stream unfortunately jordan peterson's new haiku fortune cookie quads are just terrible for me just terrible i just can't do it all right let's see here.
[30:22] Fly me to the moon. All right. Somebody says, how do you feel about Derek Chauvin being pardoned? It seems wrong not to pardon him. But if he is, it will cause all sorts of weird stuff. It's sad we can't as a whole be for proper justice. And it's all based on race. Well, I talked, of course, about this a lot at the time. And there are definitely reasons to question the narrative that Derek Chauvin's knee on George Floyd's shoulder is what caused him to die. I mean, didn't the guy have hypertension? He had COVID, he had heart disease, I think he had a heart tumor, he had drugs in his system, lethal doses of drugs in his system, and he complained that he couldn't breathe, long before he was on the ground, and Derek Chauvin used a knee restraint that was approved and trained by the department. It looked terrible. Of course, it looked terrible. I mean, it broke my heart to see this guy dying on the street. Oh, it was horrible. And of course, when you see something like that, people want a scapegoat. And of course, unfortunately, as is often the case, it was an election year, and thus racial animosities are ginned up to the breaking point.
[31:47] So, all right. Any plans to do shows with other public intellectuals? We'd love to hear you talk with Sam Harris. Oh, no. I think I'd rather be locked in a rolling barrel with porcupines and destiny. Sam Harris? No, no. I can tell you with great confidence. I have no plans to do a show with Sam Harris. I can tell you that with complete and utter confidence. Sam Harris, this is the guy who said, isn't this the guy who said, uh, uh, with regards to Hunter Biden, that he wouldn't care if Hunter Biden had dead children in his basement, like that would be completely immaterial to him. So if, if Hunter Biden was a serial child murderer, that wouldn't matter to Mr. Moralist Sam Harris. So I can absolutely guarantee you that I shouldn't laugh because it's so tragic, the idea that i would have no sorry.
[32:55] Do not hold your breath uh please i'm begging you do not hold your breath all right sorry i i no uh it's not that's not a thing it's not a thing, uh Stef is that show that got you banned with the two cops uh still available yeah i think you can do a search for it yeah it was a really it was a really enjoyable show as well uh with a white cop and a black cop uh talking about their experience arresting people and how some people just completely freak out have massive medical crises when they get arrested it's like a panic attack or something like that so train kept rolling all night long all right.
[33:46] Let's get to your comments freedomane.com slash donate of course to help the show sorry i lost my uh all right oh so this is the guy uh that's okay Stef challenge accepted i'm going on a date tomorrow with a lovely lady we had quite the chat today and have been taking talking over text for a while now. Changing my life's focus to being an amazing husband and father makes day-to-day decision-making so much easier. Good, good. Yeah, like I was talking to a guy today, let's keep it, keep it, keep it abstract. I was talking to a guy today, he wants to reconnect with someone in his life that he's kind of estranged from. And I said, well, what is the benefit for the person you're estranged from having you back in his or her life.
[34:36] What's the benefit? They have to look at things from the outside in. You have to look at things from the outside in. So you have like with the guys, so the guy's got the schizophrenic brother. And again, with great sympathy, I say, you have all of this history with your brother. You have all of this connection. You have all of this sense of obligation and guilt. And most times sentimentality is not what is the right thing to do. The biggest problem with sentimentality is how do I explain this to other people? How can I explain this to other people? With regards to my own mother, my mother is old. She's unwell. She's had mental health issues. She's been institutionalized. She's sad. All of these things are true. All of these things are true.
[35:24] If your primary moral concern, and I say this having fallen down this pit many times myself, so I say this with all humility, if your primary moral issue is, oh my God, how am I going to explain this let's say i meet some woman jeez okay i meet some woman and i really like her she's very thoughtful moral and sensitive and then i say oh god yeah i don't have anything to do with my brother he's schizophrenic oh my god she's gonna think i'm so cold she's gonna think i'm so mean she's gonna think i'm thoughtless and callous and and and hedonistic and and i don't care about like and then it's even worse we internalize so much of sentimentality is how the fuck do I explain this to myself?
[36:06] How do I explain this? How do I explain this moral decision to myself? I can't explain it to myself means I have no free will to say no.
[36:20] Can you explain it to yourself? If you can explain it to yourself and you're comfortable with your decision or as comfortable as you can be with, you know, difficult decisions, Can you explain it to yourself?
[36:36] If you say, I can't possibly explain not seeing my schizophrenic brother to myself, you have no free will. You can't choose. Because sentimentality has turned you into an NPC. It's turned you into a programmed robot. I don't have an excuse. I can't think of a reason. I can't explain why I don't want to see my brother. I can't come up with a convincing story that makes it okay. Therefore, I have no choice. But to pour resources into this bottomless hole. And oh man so much of what i do and i thank you again so much for your support but so much of what i do is around trying to restore free will to you by giving you objective moral principles, and counter narratives to other people's arguments other people's arguments, you know i mean the entire purpose in my view of the welfare state for instance was not to help the poor since it doesn't the entire purpose of the welfare state was to buy votes and get enough people dependent upon state redistribution of wealth that you can't undo mass immigration for people not looking for a quote better life, but looking for free money from the government, right?
[37:53] That's really the ultimate bait and switch.
[38:03] Several of the jurors in follow-up interviews said they only voted to convict him because they feared the race riots if he got off yeah wasn't there a blm protester who ended up getting in by saying he could be neutral could be thank you chris i appreciate that i appreciate today it.
[38:26] Oh, regarding the schizophrenic brother, he definitely won't have kids. First two suicide attempts, he chopped off his penis with a steak knife. Second time, he cut off his testicles. This is his third attempt via wrist slitting. Oh, God. Oh, man. I feel that. I feel that in my man parts. Oh, God. Oh, God. I, I'd have hit the eject button long ago. I, I, I cannot, I cannot be in relationships with people who are self-destructive. I can't do it. I just did a call in. This is my fourth show today. I've done three call-ins already today. And now tonight, but I, I, I can't be in relationships with people who are doing self-destructive stuff. I just, I can't, I can't, because if I care about them and I'm helpless at their self-destruction, it's just like, you know, it's watching a loved one play Russian roulette, uh, via webcam. I just, I can't, I can't do it. I can't do it. Yes absolutely i've made decisions along those lines just a few hours ago.
[39:36] Working out isn't even that hard to do it takes a small percentage of your day to add years to your life honestly especially now i mean one of the things my wife and i enjoy playing some game a board game called katan which you can you can get it online and uh yeah i'll i'll prop the katan up and i'll i'll do my weights and you know do my moves in katan and like it's i can do cardio and and read it's really not that big a deal you just have to get used to it, i start to feel terrible if i skip the gym people who never work out don't know how much better they could feel yeah true true, Hey, I'm here for the stream tonight. Oh, good. I was going to make a snarky comment, then I realized it's James. Husband's grandma was overweight and made it to 90, but her overweight daughter only made it to 61. Making it to 90, you know, it's not longevity, it's life quality that matters. So if you're overweight and you're just kind of tottering along and you're staggering along and your joints are killing you and you've got arthritis, it's like, oh, well, I made it to 90, but you might have been preferred to not to, right?
[40:57] Interesting how they changed the blood pressure numbers in 2018 to get more people on meds. Yeah. When the government pays for medication, it pays to keep people sick. It's almost like a kawana or a haiku. Yeah. When the government pays for medication, it pays to keep people sick thank you sepanta for the chip for the tip, how hopeful are you for the near future five to fifty years uh i don't do hope yeah i don't i don't do hope hope is a substitute for action i hope i hope that girls likes me it's like find a way to make her like you i hope i get the job find a way to make them want to hire you i i hope hope to me is it's a paralytic it's like you just lose your limbs and you just like leaf in the stream hope is uh emasculating hope is helpless hope is hyper feminine hope is gay so i don't do i don't do hope like i didn't sit there and say oh i really hope the world becomes more rational no i started a giant philosophy show i don't hope things i hope my wife likes me no i just make sure she's having a great time in the relationship oh I hope my daughter wants to spend time with you no I just make, spending time with me a lot of fun for her and a very positive experience for her so, I don't do hope I do action.
[42:24] I don't hope that I'm in good health, right? I eat well, I exercise, and, you know, I did like, what, 18,000 steps yesterday, right? So I eat well, I exercise, I get my blood work done, I get my checkups, and I sleep well, and so on, right? So, I mean, again, I hope that works, but hope is so often a substitute for action. Because when you say you hope for something, you're saying you can't achieve it. Hope is an insult to your capacity to achieve what you want i hope i have enough money for retirement just save your money do the math.
[43:13] I hope that people like me no find a way tell some jokes or whatever it is find a way to be warm and friendly and listen to people. Don't hope. Do. And when you do, you don't need hope because you've done the best you can. Researchers found that people who ran for 30 or 40 minutes, five days a week, slowed their cellular aging by nine years compared to others who lived a sedentary lifestyle. Hey, Stef, I'm taking no excuses seriously. It's the opposite it of excuse is taking responsibility. Also, what have you done in the past to catch yourself in an excuse? Well, just get married and have a teenager. Have a teenager. Yeah, they'll catch you in every conceivable hypocrisy.
[44:06] So, it's the opposite of excuses taking responsibility. Well, it's not just the taking of responsibility, it's the giving of responsibility that counts. If there's no excuses for you, then there's no excuses for anyone else, right? So, when I was sort of confronting my, let's say, mother, right? I was confronting my mother. I didn't take any excuses. I said, well, I didn't take any excuses for the low quality of our relationship. And I also didn't give her any excuses either. So when i say i don't take i don't make excuses for myself i also don't give excuses to other people obviously my daughter when she's younger and so on although her excuses are mostly gone because she's mostly grown so does Stef have a good kermit impression though good kermit impression i haven't heard kermit in a long time i don't know actually it's probably gonna hurt.
[45:04] I'm hopeful i'm just curious on your views on how soon things will go uphill i don't know what that means exactly uh for the most part i'm quite healthy he says i work out regularly i don't have bad habits like smoking alcohol or drug use i don't order takeout often i think the worst health habits i have a diet related i occasionally eat pre-made frozen meals and some of those canned foods pre-made bars amongst other things are questionable yeah i have a little bit of a weakness which i've pretty much curbed for um artificial sugars because i have a sweet tooth and i've basically mostly given up sugar for the last oh gosh all right is it two years it's a january i think it was not last january the year before so i have very little sugar now and i will occasionally dip into the land of alcohol-based sugar substitutes which is not good for, Dr. Berg says that the junk food industry and Big Pharma work together. Big Pharma treats the diseases caused by seed oils and junk food. And junk food industry lobby for nutritional guidelines like the food pyramid. Please watch the fall of Minneapolis. Is that a documentary? It's amazing when you look at the old nicknames for American cities and then think about everything that's changed. all right.
[46:32] Yeah Sam Harris's mom was she a showrunner for Golden Girls or something like that, all right, have I ever read Bastiat the Law I think I have read that I'm old enough now that I can't remember everything I've read I used to remember everything I've read but, I often take a bunch of phone calls related to my volunteer work. I'll do a farmer's walk while talking with my kettlebell. It's great. Yeah, I mean, why you would take phone calls sitting down is beyond me. My nephew was Catan World Championship 2016. Ooh, remind me never to play him for money.
[47:22] I have an early morning race tomorrow for St. Paddy's holiday, But I want to go to the bar tonight to remain social in between things. Do you think it's okay idea to order non-alcoholic beer? Yeah, I think the only beer that I've had in the last couple of years is Michelob Ultra. What's the old joke? What's the, uh... Well, what's the same between sex in a canoe and American beer? Well, they're both fucking close to water. Thank you for the show, Stef. Thank you, Josh. I really, really appreciate that. That's very kind. Just added sugar, so do you still eat fruit and stuff? Yes. I eat my sort of go-to thing, which I'll have once every day or two. My daughter makes me this very nice no-sugar yogurt, Greek yogurt, with some cut-up fruit and a little couple of threads of honey. It's really nice. So, yeah, I still do fruit. Yeah, the added sugar and everything is gross. It's gross. Hope seems to be the gap between concept idea and action implementation which is never bridged when hope is in the way.
[48:36] Do you ever think of leaving Canada because of the repressive regime currently in place? Where would you go? Well, people keep asking me this and I'm a little confused because you, I'm just going to say this to everyone, just up front and overall, right? You need to look at what is legally required to change countries. Just look it up. Honestly, it's three minutes reading. What is legally required to change countries? And just take it from there. Rather than asking people questions, look it up. That's the thing to do. I don't know. If Trump got rid of the income tax, it'd be pretty damn tempting. Uh let's see here hello Stef hope you're doing well no question please accept my humble donation thank you very much that is very kind I very deeply greatly and humbly appreciate your support thank you thank you so much have you read the Elon Musk Walter Isaacson biography um no I have not don't worry you'll be in the 51st state soon yeah.
[50:01] Yes yes indeed that's pretty funny i think greenland's got a much higher likelihood of getting into the states uh first so let's see here yeah dr sherry tenpenny, halfy halfy she says so if a child gets all the vaccines in the entire schedule they get almost 13 000 micrograms of aluminum and they get almost 600 micrograms of mercury plus over 200 different chemicals, that's why they've never been proven to be safe. I have no way of evaluating that, so I can't tell you whether that's true or false.
[50:43] Okay, help me understand this. And I, of course, could look this up too, but, you know, you all are younger people, so you can help me out with this. Is Theo Vaughn a comedian? Like, he seems he's like, I didn't know who he was, and suddenly he's not a Renaissance painter. He's like a mullet-haired guy with a strange but effective sense of humor who seems to though rent his way into sitting across from J.D. Vaughn and joking about cocaine.
[51:10] What is the story of Theo Vaughn? All right. Somebody says, hey, hey, Apple, I was thinking of booking a one-on-one private call with you in regards to my career and future. When I hear you speak about how you've tackled career challenges and the steps you're always taking to improve your life, I'm very inspired. Is this something you would consider? Yeah. Listen, man, if you want to call me about anything, I'm a wide open book. If you want to set up a private call, there is no particular topic that would be off limits to moi, you know, because it's funny, you know, like I'll do private calls with people and they'll be like, oh, I'm sorry. I'm off on a tangent. I'm like, hey man, it's not a public call. In a public call, I kind of have to manage it for the general audience. I have to sort of make sure I keep things moving along in the right way to the general audience. And in a private call, there's absolutely none of that. It's a, it's a completely different experience. Steven says highly recommended yeah thank you i appreciate that theo hides his power level he's smarter than he portrays himself to be yeah no i get that i get that but it's very interesting right.
[52:23] Theo von first became famous from an ntv reality tv show called road rules and then became a comedian oh cool okay i can second that stefan's private calls are worth every dollar good uh I'm very glad to hear that. And there's a bunch of testimonials as well. So, and it's funny because sometimes the private calls are so wild. I'm like, man, this would be a great show, but no, it must never see the light of day. All right. Theo interviewed Trump too. Yeah, he did, right? It's pretty wild. I mean, good for him. Good for him. Yeah. And it's funny how people think that J.D. Vance is like some sort of hillbilly. It's like, no, no, he, it's very clearly his mom was a nursemaid, well over a hundred thou a year. He lived in a pretty nice neighborhood, lived in the suburbs. So he's not a, not a hillbilly that way. So. A Baron apparently is a fan of Theo and was the one to recommend his podcast for his father to be a guest. Well, I mean, that's the value, of course, of having a young son when you're old, right? Is that he can get you up on the latest, the latest events and things.
[53:36] Pardon me. Oh, so sneezy. I should have a sneeze shield here, but I've got, I've got a Rode amp and I'm like afraid to touch any buttons. I really am. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. uh that's for system updates but um yeah i just i'm like oh i should i should lower the volume for for when i sneeze and it's like i really shouldn't because there's no mute button here i'm just gonna have to play with dials lord knows what's going to happen then right, lord knows what's going to happen then somebody else uh same for the call-in shows yeah the private call-in show is very different experience you can talk about whatever details you want to names, places, people, dollar figures, and so on. And I actually did have, I had a call-in show with somebody. I can talk about it because he said he can publish it. He said I can publish it, but it was a rather complicated business discussion. And of course, you guys know me from sort of the podcasting philosophy world, but I have, and it's not unrelated to what I've done here but i've had have a lot of experience in the business world and negotiations and contracts and things like that so i conferred that private calls okay sorry uh steve says got tipping get tipping and or subscribing everyone if you can Stef won't be around forever despite how healthy he is let's do what we can to support his work while we can thank you i appreciate that.
[55:04] Have you seen that joke? You go up to someone and you say, someone in this office has been possessed by an owl. Who? Could you talk about rent-seeking? What are some of the most striking examples of it that come to mind?
[55:22] So rent-seeking, my memory, I'm just going to check the technical definition before I do. Rent-seeking is when you seek a value above and beyond market wealth, right? market conditions or standards.
[55:41] So, Investopedia. Let's just double check, right? What is rent-seeking? Rent-seeking is defined as any practice in which an entity aims to increase its wealth without making any contribution to the wealth or benefit of society. It's typically done by manipulating the political environment and can result in social harm. A common example of rent-seeking is the act of lobbying for government-funded subsidies. subsidies, right? Well, I don't know, without making any contribution to the wealth or benefit of society, I wouldn't quite agree with that, much though I don't want to disagree with the fine folks at Investopedia, because if you get a bunch of government-funded subsidies and then you create a bunch of jobs or you create a bunch of R&D, you open up a new factory, you come up with some new wonderful tool, I mean, you are adding to the wealth or benefit of society. So to me, it's when it's very specifically win-lose. Rent-seeking is when it's just a straight-up pillage. So government-funded subsidies, you're still using it to create jobs. Now, is it a net? To me, it would be if it's not a net benefit or adding to the wealth of society. So let's say the government gives you $5 million and you create 50 jobs, right?
[56:55] I mean, society's not down exactly five million dollars because it gets redistributed to the people who are making um making work right now if you take those five million dollars and you say to people just dig holes and fill them in again dig holes and fill them in again then that's a different matter right then you are taking away from the net benefit of society because you're not adding any benefit at all right it's just a net negative right so i would say when you rent seeking is when, you use force or fraud to gain unjust benefits that would not be achievable in a free market to the net negative of society. Now, the net negative of society is a given if you use force or fraud to transfer resources because it's not win-win free market trading. But idea that, say, without making any contribution to the wealth or benefit of society, that to me is not quite the same thing, right?
[58:02] So, let's see here. The concept of rent-seeking, 1967, blah, blah, blah. Adam Smith. Smith studies suggested that entities earning income from wages, profit, and rent. To create profit usually requires the risk of capital and the goal of gaining a return. Earning wages comes from employment. However, rent is the easiest to obtain of the three income sources and can require little risk.
[58:28] Yeah, rent-seeking is the byproduct of political legislation and government funding. Yeah, for sure. For sure. So yeah, businesses say, give me this money, and I will create jobs. And then the government gets to say, look at all the additional jobs that have been created. And of course, if the money is borrowed, particularly from the future, then it's like some uncle who gives you a car, but it turns out he stole it, and it just gets taken back later. So that would be an example of something like that. So yeah, rent-seeking is terribly common. And unfortunately, rent-seeking is required for businesses now. I'm sure you know this, but business leaders, particularly at the CXO level, have what's called a fiduciary responsibility, which means if it's possible for them to get government subsidies, they kind of have to. Otherwise, they could lose their job and even in more extreme cases get sued because they are not. If the government offers them a bunch of subsidies and they don't take it, they can lose their job. So it becomes sort of absolute these days, right?
[59:29] Staff could be around forever if we can achieve the singularity I'm donating to the brain in a tank, but interesting, assuming that hasn't already happened. James is, this is from DLive. Love is alive. In your opinion, is the threat of World War III real? The French president said that he would make all his nuclear weapons available to Europe.
[59:59] Well, they certainly are poking the bear, right? Like literally they're, they're, they're just pushing up against Russia and they are just Russia has, you know, when you, you turn on the show and I won't watch anything just by the by anymore, uh, anything where, where, you know, there's some geopolitical thing, which can be fun to watch if it's well-written. And if Russia is the, the bad guy, I just turn it off. I just, I can't do this propaganda. It's been around for a long time. They loved Russia. The left loved Russia when it was communist. They hate it now. It's Christian and nationalist. So, um...
[1:00:37] They are just absolutely cornering and pushing against Russia, right? Because Russia, as I said a couple of weeks ago, Russia accepted in 1991 the reunification of Germany on the condition, and this was promised at the time.
[1:00:52] Set in stone, that NATO does not move one inch to the east. And since then, it is just relentlessly pushed, relentlessly pushed, relentlessly pushed. And then there are, you know, bioweapons labs in Ukraine, and Ukraine is going to try and get into nato and there's you know a bunch of russian speakers in the donbass region in the east of ukraine being shelled uh by the government there was the color revolution funded by the u.s in uh 2014 i i've got all of this stuff on on my shows uh if you want to check them out back in the day sort of the deep background of what's going on so yeah they are just um they are just really trying to war with Russia and my gut, my gut says, which is not anything true, right? You understand this is just nonsense gut. My gut says that, so America is going to withdraw some of its funding from Europe, which is an absolutely, absolutely necessary thing to do. In fact, Europe would not have been able to experiment with mass migration if it had actually had to pay for its own defense. So America funding Europe has been an absolute catastrophe for the West. And so America withdraws some of its funding, maybe even America withdraws from NATO.
[1:02:19] Then the Europeans have to divert money from social programs to the military, which is going to cause uprisings domestically, which they will then use as an excuse to clamp down on the domestic population. They will probably try a test case provocation with Russia, but I think they're going to find quite quickly that the domestic population is not going to fight for them. Because the governments in Europe have been so absolutely unresponsive. Like Europeans have wanted low immigration for decades. And so the governments have been so absolutely unresponsive to the demands and requirements of their citizens that a lot of citizens in Europe do not view their governments any longer as representative, which means that they won't fight to preserve them. And then what? And then what?
[1:03:26] Well, that's as far as I'm going to go right now. That's as far as I'm, because the next part is, is a whole different thing. The next part is a whole different thing. So I don't think that there's not going to be nukes flying back and forth. The elites don't want to be vaporized. I mean, there's a certain amount of complete sociopathic people in power who will ride the bomb straight into the ground.
[1:03:52] But most of them enjoy having power and therefore they don't want nukes to be flying back and forth so i don't think that's a real thing all right Stef when you bought your new volvo back in the day 98 volvo s70 red beautiful car but a bit of a lemon what were some of the benefits did it help you with business deals was it worth it buying the expensive car well no the migrants are not going to fight for Europe, but the non-migrant population is unlikely to fight for Europe.
[1:04:26] I mean, the best way to take over a country is to demoralize those who might defend it, right? What were some of the benefits? Well, it wasn't like it helped me to close business deals, but the board was very clear with me that if they were going to give me a car allowance, which they did, that I had to buy a decent car because they said, look, when you go and pick up, the head of manufacturing from a fortune 500 company you can't show up in a a beater right i mean you can't be sitting there trying to open the window with a.
[1:05:01] With a coat hook or something with a, uh, you know, a coat hanger, right? Seven cars and seven different colors. And you got to thump the radio twice to make it work and it only gets AM. And so, uh, yeah, you, uh, it's got different mirrors on either side. So no, I had to have a nice car to, to pick things up. Right. Yeah. Can you imagine the parents of the Rotherham victims going for war for the UK government? Yeah. That is the most horrifying and appalling situation. I mean, I've talked about the evils of, of statism for, for decades that, and Jimmy Seville was, is almost beyond comprehension, almost beyond comprehension.
[1:05:49] It is, uh, that you would arrest people trying to rescue their own children is, uh, I, I, I mean, honestly, I can't say. I can't say what I think. I really, I can't. It would scald the fabric of reality, honestly. I'm not wishing anything on anyone, but it's hard for me to think of bad things, accidental bad things that could happen to the architects of those policies where I'd say, oh, that's a shame.
[1:06:39] All right. Any other last questions, comments, issues, challenges, problems? Please don't forget the books, peacefulparenting.com, justpornovel.com, freedomain.com slash books. You got to listen to Almost is a great book, really, really great book. And Just Poor is a great book if you're skeptical of socialism and want to see it treated artistically in a semi, objectivist fashion and of course um if you want some comedy my novel the god of atheists is very funny a bit really funny and you can of course the out of the argument.com great book there too uh you've got everyday anarchy you've got peaceful anarchy you've got real-time relationships you've got untruth the tyranny of illusion universally preferable behavior rational proof of secular ethics, um, manual for new tax farmers. And last but not least, there are novels I wrote more recently called the present, which is a novel about contemporary, the contemporary world, which is a lead into my novel called the future, which is a science fiction depiction of utopia, utopia, Y O U. You can get it in your life. You can't get it in the world. You can get it in your life these days. You cannot get it in the world as yet. I live in paradise. The world is hell. It's an island of paradise in a sea of hell as a whole.
[1:08:05] All right. I don't want to miss any last questions or comments or donations, of course. Would be humbly and gratefully and deeply and sincerely and happily accepted at freedomain.com slash donate if you're listening to this later. And, you know, I'll be honest with you about the business challenges, right? This is not a donation pitch. It's just sort of the business challenges. is that because I got beat back from social media and because X has not seen fit to provide an apology and a withdrawal of the things they said against me, which were not true for me at all, and kind of negative, that's not an avenue I'm going to take. So it's hard to get new listeners, which means that for the show to flourish, existing listeners have to go from non-subscribers to subscribers, from non-donators to donators. And of course, 90% to 95% of you don't donate. And... I think it's just kind of an integrity thing. So if you could go to freedomain.com slash donate, I would really, really appreciate it. It's not much to make a difference. And the other thing too, and I'll have to look at this soon. I've not raised donation rates in like 20 years. And it's not like the currency is the same now as it was 20 years ago. Let's see. Let's see what's happened to over 20 years.
[1:09:25] What has happened over 20 years? All right, so $100 in two... Yes, my eyes are doing beautifully. Maybe more reading will help. 2005, calculate.
[1:09:45] All right. So $200 in 2005 now takes $163. In uh 2015 so yeah the value of donations has more than halved since i start i'm going to have to up donations um i'm going to have to up donation uh base rates uh and again no price rise in 20 years i think i think it's acceptable it's not like the the ping you get from netflix every eight minutes so uh yeah so if you want to get in now but i'll have to i just you know i have to increase it just because as you know costs are going up and up and up and you know i can't i can't do um if if i'm still looking at you know a ten dollar donation bought me ten dollars worth of stuff back then but now it costs sixteen dollars but i'm still going to get the ten dollar donation i just have to be sort of responsible for the fiscal health of all of that so, uh steve says sign up for a subscription at free domain guys it makes you feel better and also grows hair on your chest. That's right.
[1:10:58] That's right. All right. Have you read Will Durant, historian? Yeah, I've read his history of philosophy, or at least good chunks of it. The HVAC company I work for is growing very quickly and is running into heavy resistance from the local suppliers and competition. My boss thinks it might be a situation where they're in collusion to keep prices up artificially like he had seen happen in the 90s. Yeah, this is an old quote from Adam Smith, where there's like no gathering or group of tradespeople all engaged in the same business that doesn't result in some conspiracy against the public so it would not shock me but these things can never be sustained without the state so we don't want collusion between companies and the only way to um to have that not happen is to keep the state out of things someone asked in a recent flash stream what does it mean when one thinks in their dreams i've had this experience this week i'm curious about your thoughts Stef.
[1:11:54] What does it mean when one thinks in their dreams you mean you just sit there thinking in your dream i'd need more context for that sorry i hadn't gone on a vacation for a long time says james i had a bit of a sticker shock when buying plane tickets and such i just had to remind myself double my expectations yeah for sure all right well thank you everyone so much for a lovely delightful delicate and wonderful show we got some great call-in shows uh coming down the pipe and i hope that you will enjoy those freedomain.com slash goal if you would like to sign up for a call-in show or a private show a private conversation you are certainly welcome to do that and we'll set that up as well i really do appreciate your time and support and tips tonight i really do appreciate it it puts an absolute spring in my step and i love you guys for all of this all right have yourself a beautiful day my friends lots of love I will talk to you soon.
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