Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool

All Episodes

Previous Next

June 9, 2022 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux

01:30:18

STEFAN MOLYNEUX HIT BY COVID! Freedomain Livestream

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Time	Text
	Yeah, it is Wednesday Night Live.
	It is the 8th of June 2022.
	And yes, since we last talked, I've internalized communism.
	I've internalized it.
	It is now within my veins, within my blood and bone marrow.
	And it is the...
	Yeah, I got the koof.
	I got koofed. I got hoofed with the koof.
	And... I know there's some people out there very skeptical of the whole thing.
	I'll sort of go through the story.
	I think it's interesting, and I'm curious in comparing it to what you guys have experienced, what you guys have had, and I don't have...
	I don't have a history with the flu.
	Like, I checked with my wife, because, you know, if you're married, you can't remember these kinds of things, but your wife will remember them down to the last sniffle in detail.
	It's just an amazing bear trap mind that wives have.
	It's like that Babylon Bee headline, husband surprised by social event.
	His wife only spent the last 30 days reminding him about it.
	So, yeah, I have not had a flu.
	The only time that I've really been floored by the flu-ish kind of stuff was after I got a flu shot many years ago.
	I just spent three days on the couch and couldn't get up.
	So, I don't know what to compare it to, but it's the strangest freaking illness I've ever had in my life.
	The strangest illness I've ever had in my life.
	So I'll tell you just the general etiology of it.
	So my general philosophy has been that it's not a matter of if, it's kind of when you're going to get it.
	To me, it's like a cold.
	You can try and live your whole life without getting cold, but it's not much of a life, right?
	So my wife went out to a crowded place and...
	Anyway, so she got a little unwell before I did.
	I'll just talk about my sort of situation.
	And I tested, and that was negative.
	Just home tests, right? Nothing major.
	And then...
	So...
	Last, I guess a week ago, right?
	A week ago, I was fine.
	Tested negative. And Thursday, I felt a little tired, but, you know, I'm 55.
	It happens from time to time.
	So I did a half hour of cardio.
	Nothing hugely intense, but just enough to check that everything was chugging along and was okay.
	And then Friday afternoon, yes.
	The tiredness. It hit me like a short bus tearing out of a school parking lot.
	And I basically just crashed on the couch for two hours.
	And that night when I was heading to bed, I had body chills.
	And I don't remember having those I'm sure I've had them in the past, maybe as a kid.
	But you know where you're just like, there's no reason for you to feel cold, but you just feel cold right in your chest, right down in your body.
	And a slight lower back muscle tension.
	I don't have any back issues, but I just couldn't quite relax lower back.
	And that was about it.
	And then Saturday... I tested and the line was like, boom, right there, right?
	So I tested negative and then positive.
	This was true for, you know, family members as a whole.
	And crashed in the afternoon, like it was a long crash, like sort of 3 till 6.30 kind of thing.
	No particular appetite.
	And then I had this kind of headache, but it wasn't really a headache.
	You ever have this thing sometimes if you sleep weird where what happens is you don't really have a headache, but if you look hard to the left or hard to the right or up or down, you get this ache behind...
	The eyeballs, the pain behind the eyes, like that old song, Private Investigations by Dire Straits.
	And so, yeah, that was about it.
	And so, yeah, Saturday was kind of a write-off.
	And then Saturday night, so when I'm fighting a bug, this is true whether it's cold or whatever, right?
	When I'm fighting a bug, my sleep is very light.
	I get what I call donut sleep, which is, you know, you sleep for two hours, you're up for two hours, and you sleep for five hours, and And you're kind of in zombie land because you're awake enough that you can't get back to sleep, but you're not awake enough to get up and do anything.
	So you're just kind of floating.
	And then, I don't know, I wake up, I have a little snack just in case I'm hungry.
	Anyway, so that was kind of a big, wide donut sleep.
	And then on Sunday, my energy started to return.
	I did another 30 minutes of cardio just to see.
	So Thursday I did cardio and then...
	Sunday, I did cardio.
	Friday, Saturday, it was not going to happen.
	It was not going to happen. And of course, we were home the whole time.
	So, it's pretty strange.
	So, let me sort of run through the symptoms.
	And again, I know they're different for everyone.
	You know, mileage may vary. And of course, whatever it's going to be for you is probably going to be different.
	But here's the strange thing, right?
	There's some really freaky stuff about this.
	Jack Posobiec, I thought, gave a fantastic description.
	I think he had an earlier variant, maybe Delta or something.
	And he said... What it feels is synthetic, and that's absolutely true.
	He's bang on about that.
	It really feels synthetic.
	So, low energy, some muscle tightness, some eye ache with looking around peripheral vision, loss of appetite, and light sleep.
	So, you know, those are not totally dissimilar from cold.
	No sore throat whatsoever. No congestion.
	No nasal drip. No sneezing.
	No coughing. And no taste lost.
	But, but, here's the funny thing.
	So, I think it was, what is that?
	Monday. Monday or so, I tasted this sort of, I don't know if you, when you were a kid, did you ever get the 9-volt batteries and, you know, just give them a lick for funds and for the lulls?
	So, I had this kind of metallic taste in my mouth.
	And then yesterday, it moved to...
	I can smell smoke.
	I can smell smoke.
	It's not like I sniff...
	I just... It's like if you ever had a party...
	when I was younger I'd have a party and the smokers would be over and there'd be like cigarette ash and people would have missed the ashtrays and especially if it was winter there wouldn't be windows open or anything so it's that kind of smoky smell.
	Taste is fine but yes a metallic taste like metallic like I had some two copper pennies in my cheek for a while just a metallic taste in the saliva and as of yesterday and today I smell smoke.
	Now, normally when I smell smoke, it's the remnants of my career.
	But in this case, I think, of course, it's something like that.
	And Sunday, yes. So Sunday, the energy returned.
	I did a listener call and was okay.
	And yesterday, I resumed workouts.
	And no, it's not burning toast.
	It is more like cigarette smoke or something like that.
	And yesterday I wanted to check, you know, just full body function.
	So I did an hour 40 of exercise, not straight.
	That was sort of over the course of the day.
	I did weights, cardio, brisk walking and all of that.
	So I really wanted to make sure that, you know, functioning was returning to normal.
	And yeah, still a little bit of donut sleep, but not too bad.
	But here's the funny thing, right?
	So for those of you who are at all, you know, if you follow the show or whatever, right?
	So maybe two months ago, I had a stomach bug that took like 10 to 12 pounds off my frame because I basically didn't eat for a week.
	And of course, that was a drag.
	But here's the funny thing, right?
	So the less fat you have, the better off you are with COVID, right?
	Because COVID... Apparently, like, nestles and breeds in the fat cells and so on.
	Sorry, fat cells.
	That's plural. For me now, it's fat cell.
	It's one fat cell, and it's right on my left testicle.
	So that's why I'm just a little tilted at the moment.
	So that is...
	The thing, it was, you know, basically two days of being tired and now smoky bacon-flavored universe is the place that I live in.
	So it is a very, very strange situation.
	A very, very strange situation.
	Yeah, I didn't get a PCR test running.
	Just some home thing. It doesn't, you know.
	Did you feel dizziness? I didn't feel dizziness.
	Somebody says, my dad has had pain behind his eyes for two years now.
	Okay. Body chills is a typical symptom when the body is trying to get a warmer temperature.
	So let me just get back to your comments.
	Let's see here. Did I get a COVID shot?
	God, no. Uh, let's see here.
	Somebody says, uh, mine was a weird flu, cold chills, bursting headache, eyes painful, couldn't do anything for three days, took two weeks for full recovery.
	So, let's see here.
	You can't lie, Steph!
	I can't? Is that proven?
	Somebody says, just finished The Future.
	Great book, Steph, thank you.
	Oh, well, you know, this actually feels a little down.
	I mean, I'm a little down...
	Just because I just finished reading the audiobook of my new book, The Future.
	And I love all the characters in it, although I've written a particular truly evil character.
	And when I'm done, it's like bidding companions or family relations along farewell.
	Yeah, you can get the book.
	It's available for supporters at freedomain.locals.com.
	You'll get a tidy XML feed if you want to put it into a podcatcher, and you can also watch the videos if you want of me foaming at the mouth doing my massive acting.
	Let's see here. So yeah, I didn't feel dizziness.
	Somebody says when they got it, they felt chills and weakness while overseas last week, but just for a day.
	Negative for COVID, though. Somebody says, it is a very strange sickness.
	I had it fairly mild. My husband got hit harder.
	Neither of us faxed, but I'm glad we just got that over with.
	Yeah, you know, I've lived for the most part, I mean, very much for the most part, that...
	I tried to be sort of pandemic-free, if that makes sense, because sooner or later, I mean, it seems likely, right, that people are going to just get this thing unless you, you know, just completely give up on your life and, you know, stay home with your face in a pillow.
	And so I... Given that I'm not going to hide at home, blah, blah, blah, I mean, obviously when I'm ill, I will.
	But, yeah, I lived fairly pandemic-free and just did my thing and...
	I mean, obviously, as pandemic-free as you can when travel was shut down and all that kind of stuff.
	Somebody says, yeah, it's funny, I never coughed either.
	Yeah, I had definitely a little bit of stomach upset over the course of it.
	But, yeah, nothing in the chest, no phlegm, really.
	So, yeah.
	My husband lost taste.
	He couldn't eat. He couldn't eat or couldn't taste.
	Regular flu can alter taste and smell too.
	So loss of smell because of the smoke.
	No, I don't think so.
	I don't think so. Your sinus has returned to the 1970s.
	You know what it reminded me of?
	So a friend of mine's father was...
	Well, kind of crazy. And a real chain smoker.
	In fact, like, we would go to his...
	He moved into some rank-controlled little apartment and we would occasionally visit.
	And every time we went, his walls were turning yellow, you know, turning Japanese, so to speak, right?
	And it was like watching somebody's teeth age and fast forward.
	And that, you know, you'd sit on the couch and there'd be this, like...
	Puff of cigarette smoke that would come out and a little ash.
	So it's just that kind of heavy.
	It's sort of halfway between cigarette smoke and, you know, if you've gone camping, right?
	And if you're the fire manager, if you're like the fire guy, then you've got to keep it going as you blow and then you inhale and, you know, you just get that ripe smoke air.
	And that's sort of what it's like.
	Are you sure it wasn't listeria?
	I have no idea what you're talking about.
	Are you talking about the one I just had or the one I had in the past?
	Can you smell other smells despite this?
	Yes, I can. Yes, I can.
	Oh, James, I smell that here all the time, but people are actually smoking.
	So I checked, I looked up in symptomology, right, other people.
	And yeah, other people, people would get mad at their neighbors saying, are you smoking?
	Because, you know, they could smell smoke and that's just a very, I've never had anything like that.
	That is a very strange thing.
	Very strange thing. Since there's no proof it exists and there's no legitimate way to test for it, I find it strange you'd believe it exists at all.
	Yeah. Well, I guess you'll just have to go on continuing to find it strange.
	During my last cold, I had a few days later, salty food items seem more salty than normal.
	I like salty food items, right?
	Did you have headaches? Again, just that ache behind the eyes, when I would sort of look and all that, right?
	My book, The Future. The future is now in the past, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
	Anyone else suffering from PSNDS, post-death novel depressive syndrome?
	Well, I guess you and me. Elric, Michael Moorcock, right?
	Yeah, some interesting books. Somebody says, it felt synthetic for me as well.
	I never got sick, not overweight, in shape, then bam, this weirdness hits.
	Somebody says, I had a headache, no smell, slash taste issues at all.
	Couldn't get up for about a day and a half, and was mostly over it, sore throat, almost two weeks.
	Ooh, that's rough. Now you're invincible with the COVID antibodies.
	Well, yeah, I don't know. I mean, it has kind of sunk into, and I don't mean to sort of claim any great genius this way, but I did talk about this A long, close to two years ago.
	Just saying, yeah, well, it's just going to sink into some milder endemic form, right?
	That's just the way. It's going to be a companion of the flu or a cousin of the flu.
	And look, I get that...
	A lot of these tests pick up coronaviruses as a whole and the flu disappeared and seems to have been displaced by COVID or maybe some of the flu got sucked up into COVID positivity and so on.
	So I get all of that.
	I mean, I'm with you on all of that.
	I'm not with you on it doesn't exist.
	And like, I'm just not with you on that.
	I've never had an illness like this.
	So I'm, you know, I just have to go with sort of empirical stuff, right?
	And then You know, if you don't have any symptoms and you test negative, then you have symptoms and you test positive, and this happens for everyone, it's like, okay, you know, it's not exactly Francis Baconian levels of ultimate scientific method, but, you know, it's pretty consistent.
	It's pretty consistent, but...
	Yeah, so the idea that, you know, part of me was thinking like, oh, they shut the whole world down because I had to spend five hours on a couch, you know, that kind of thing.
	But of course, you know, Alpha was a son of a bitch, Delta was son of a son of a bitch, and I don't know, whatever I got, Omicron or whatever it is, is...
	I would rather have this as a whole than a cold.
	I'd rather have this as a whole.
	I'm not a happy guy with a sore throat.
	I would not be grinning Val Kilmer, right?
	I'm not a happy guy with a sore throat, and so the fact that there wasn't this at all was nice.
	It was nice, so pretty mild.
	Pretty mild. Just, you know, energy drain for two afternoons, some sleep disturbance, Two days of no exercise.
	Well, not bad.
	Not bad at all. Again, I understand that there's a lot of dice rolls.
	Yes, I'm fit, but not super fit.
	Like, I couldn't run a marathon to save my life.
	So, I'm not super fit, but...
	I know that I was probably a little lucky.
	Some people definitely are symptom...
	Like, they didn't even know they had it.
	I get that. Some people...
	I know some guy whose wife was significantly overweight and she didn't get any symptoms and he was much less overweight and he got it hard.
	So, that's just a kind of dice roll with all this kind of stuff.
	But... So, I guess we're all pretty lucky here.
	Somebody says, my wife is on month three of messed up taste.
	Meat is especially bad, apparently.
	It tastes like it's rancid.
	Oof. Okay, I'm sorry about that.
	Somebody says, I lost taste for a few days when I got the Kung Flu.
	Yeah, somebody said, I did the 15 days to slow the spread.
	After that, it was business as usual.
	Well, yeah, I mean, wasn't that the Florida thing?
	Florida did actually just...
	It was just two weeks to slow the spread.
	They just shut down for two weeks, and then that was it, right?
	Somebody says, were you sensitive to 5G signals?
	I don't know about that.
	Maybe it's psychosomatic COVID.
	All right.
	So let's see here.
	I didn't recognize losing any taste.
	Either way, I was not concerned.
	Well, I've not had any particular...
	I've not had any particular fear of COVID. And...
	When I got it, I was curious.
	I wasn't happy, obviously, but I was curious.
	Okay, well, what's this going to be like?
	But I didn't have any particular concern.
	I mean, I'll tell you this, though, man.
	When you're really wiped by this stuff, when you're just like wiped out by this stuff, and you're like, okay, if this never changed, if this was a long COVID thing, that would be pretty brutal.
	That would be pretty rough.
	So, you know, my sympathies for people who are dealing with that, but...
	I know that there were, I think it was a lot of women who claimed to have long COVID and they tested for COVID antibodies.
	Turns out they'd never had COVID at all, so...
	I don't know.
	I don't know. Were the symptoms different from the people around you who caught it?
	Yeah, the symptoms were different.
	Nothing particularly serious to anyone here, but the symptoms were all a little different, so...
	Let's see here.
	Show the empirical data, please.
	LMAO. There is none.
	Yeah, just annoying. Sorry.
	Look, I'm open to radical arguments and explanations.
	I get some people think that mine are kind of unusual, so I'm open for that.
	But don't just be like a douchebag about it.
	Don't just be a laugh my ass of, oh, you don't know anything.
	You're just turning people off your position.
	Like, that's just about you feeling superior.
	That's not about you changing anyone's mind.
	So, yeah, just try to, you know, oh, congrats, you're the cult!
	Okay, well, yeah, bye-bye.
	Bye-bye. Yeah, that's...
	If you have something that's, you know, way out of the mainstream and so on, yeah, I understand, right?
	But that it can be frustrating and so on, but you can't just be that guy who just goes around insulting everyone who doesn't take your very, very unusual perspective and immediately come on board with it.
	Come on, right? Let's see here.
	Somebody says, I'd rather have the cold, to be honest.
	I don't know what COVID was, but it did freak me out because it's not natural.
	Right, right.
	It does roam around, the body, and, you know, where it trips up its landmines of symptoms seems to be somewhat random, so.
	Had the first wave, felt like a bad flu and congestion lingered for a long time.
	Second wave, I lost my smell and taste, but fine, okay.
	All right. Somebody says, I had a super sore throat and a little bit of nasal congestion a few months ago.
	Tested negative, so I couldn't get out of work.
	Let's see here.
	Steph, why do you keep calling yourself empirical if you're not willing to prove to yourself whether viruses and contagion exist?
	Just keep putting people down, you know.
	You obviously don't care about your position enough to be humble and curious and respectful of people.
	Hey, I'm not perfect that way either, so I'm not, you know, casting stones here, but if you come off really aggressive and, well, you can call yourself empirical if you don't do this, if you don't do what I want, you don't get to call yourself an empiricist, blah, blah, blah, right?
	Okay, well, it just means that you don't respect your position enough to approach people in a way that makes them want to listen to you.
	And if you don't respect your position enough, I'm sure not going to.
	Let's see here. Did COVID cure the flu?
	Or is the flu diagnosed as COVID? Or did flu numbers just drop because of masks and cleanliness?
	Dunno. Dunno.
	It's good to see you, Steph.
	Glad it's not too horrible for you.
	I appreciate that. Thank you.
	Thank you very much. So let's see here.
	A co-worker of mine who got it in early 2020 said afterwards she started hating the taste of meat and has become a vegetarian since.
	Interesting. Interesting.
	Let's see here.
	One disease, different symptoms.
	Does that make sense to anyone who thinks logically?
	Well, I don't think it's a natural disease now, do I? Let's see here.
	This is mass hypnosis, Steph.
	Suggestible people. Okay, like, sorry, man.
	You gotta take this elsewhere.
	All right. I think it hits the area of your body that you generally have problems with.
	I have gastrointestinal issues, and that's where COVID hit me pretty hard.
	That could be right. Congestion isn't a symptom of COVID. It's a dry cough, no mucus, no sneezing, etc.
	Not for everyone, though. Not for everyone.
	I saw the new Jurassic Park.
	Instead of a virus made in a lab, they use lab-grown locusts to destroy the world of the movie.
	Is there a new Jurassic Park yet?
	Uh, right.
	The question now is, how long can the COVID theatre last, re-mandates?
	Well, it's collapsing in a lot of places.
	I think most of Europe has given up on it.
	Canada, the US, and North Korea, I think, still limit people in terms of travel.
	And I think in Canada, it's going to the Supreme Court in September.
	And I think the...
	AG was trying to exclude a bunch of government reports on things.
	I don't know. I won't get into the details, but it's just astonishing.
	And, yeah, SADS, Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.
	Yeah, it's a mystery.
	You see what they're pulling out, the blood clots they're pulling out of people?
	Holy crap. It's like the worst game of pick-up sticks ever.
	So, yeah, that's my...
	COVID thing. I guess I'm now on the other side.
	Monkey box. Do you worry about that at all or just more fear propaganda?
	I don't. I don't.
	It seems to be originating in bathhouses and festivals and so on, so I'm not much of a partaker of massive flesh sandwich bathhouse culture, so not so much, right?
	Not so much. So...
	Yeah, listen, that's it.
	You know, I'm not claiming to be some big fascinating guy.
	It's late in the game, but I thought you might be curious.
	For me, it was nothing particular to be alarmed about.
	It was uncomfortable.
	It was kind of inevitable.
	And, you know, two afternoons on the couch wasn't much to shut the world down from.
	But, yeah, I'm feeling better.
	Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
	much.
	You're not vaxed, Steph, so you should get a better recovery compared to vaxed people, up and up from here.
	So, if you have any questions or comments, obviously I'm happy to keep talking about this, but it's I will just remind you, I've got a couple of free books out there at the moment that you really should take on.
	Of course, there is...
	My novel Almost at almostnovel.com.
	Audiobooks fantastic on that.
	And Just Poor at justpoornovel.com.
	Also audiobooks fantastic on that.
	And freedomain.locals.com for my newest one.
	It's going to blow your mind.
	Everybody wanted my book on peaceful parenting.
	Boom! There it is, baby.
	There is my book on peaceful parenting and all that it means.
	Yeah, it's probably better to get it younger than older.
	Glad to hear you're doing fine. Well, this is the thing too, right?
	So if it is a sooner or later kind of thing, sooner is probably better than later.
	So not too bad.
	Not too bad. Not too bad at all.
	So yeah, if you have questions, issues, comments, problems, criticisms, whatever it is that you want, Steph, I'm seeing a lot of help-wanted signs in fast food.
	Why do you think people don't want to work anymore in such places?
	Because nobody ever wanted to work in such places.
	Nobody wants to work in those places.
	Well, first of all, I mean, money has been flowing to people through COVID relief, so people have lost the habit of working and have developed strange night-based habits and have gotten kind of flaccid as far as work ethic goes.
	Because, you know, they've got COVID relief funds and deferrals of student loans and so on, right?
	So, people don't want to work at these places.
	They kind of blow, you know?
	This is one of the problems that people have when it comes to understanding the free market.
	So, when you get your first job, the work environment blows, the customers blow, and the management blows, in general.
	Like, just horrendously, right?
	Why? Because...
	A really good manager isn't going to be put in charge of, you know, entry-level minimum wage people, right?
	So, your first bosses are going to be bad.
	Now, as you move on and up in the, wherever you're doing in your career, your bosses will get better and better.
	Because if you're a really good boss, you're going to be put in charge of, you know, high-performing people who are relatively mature and high IQ. You're just going to, right, because it's more challenging, right?
	So... If you kind of stall early on in your career, you're going to think, well, all bosses are jerks and, you know, all customers are jerks and the capitalism is terrible because you're stuck in this sort of low-rent area of the free market where things kind of blow.
	And that was my first whole bunch of jobs, really, until, oof, did I ever have a good boss?
	I had bosses who tried to intimidate me.
	I don't remember that. I had a boss who was really just, you know, very aggressive when it was my first coding job.
	You know, is it done yet?
	You know, I'd get the most insanely complicated programs to analyze and alter and update, you know, hundreds of thousands of lines, really complicated haircut programs for stock trading.
	I'd come in and I was like, is it ready?
	Is it done?
	Right?
	And I was in a room with like six or seven other programmers and he came in once and did that.
	And I just stood up and I walked over and I clapped my head to the shoulder.
	I said, Jim, I promise, I promise you when it's done, I will not pass go.
	I will not collect $200. I will come right to your desk, and I will tell you that it's done.
	And he just looked at me kind of goggle-eyed, and then he just laughed, and he said, all right.
	And then he pretended to call his secretary, call up fire.doc, I'll be right over to sign it, and something like that.
	So he was kind of a bully, but once you stood up to him, it was mostly okay, but...
	I don't think I ever had a really good boss.
	I did have a few people who taught me some things, but I've just always been my own best boss.
	And worse, in some ways, because I'm a bit of a workaholic at times.
	But, so...
	Yeah, so when people start out in these kinds of jobs, they're pretty bad.
	They're pretty bad jobs.
	And so, yeah, people don't want to work at these places.
	It's much better to stay home and get free money and play Xbox or whatever.
	I mean, it's a lot more fun than, you know, testy people yelling at you because your mask is two inches to one side or another.
	So, yeah. Yeah. People don't want to do that stuff as a whole.
	Hey Steph, one of my friends is going through a very hard situation with his abusive parents.
	He's very emotional. Is there a way I can help?
	I think, listen, and...
	So sympathize and empathize.
	Don't tell them what to do because you're trying to elbow aside somebody's sovereign consciousness and replace their free will with your preferences.
	Even if your preferences are right, telling people what to do is like trying to diet by eating food for them, right?
	I mean, it just doesn't work.
	So just be there and listen and sympathize and empathize.
	You know, there's this... It's a little bit of a cheesy story, but I'll tell it anyway, right?
	It's just an old story about a ring.
	It's a magic ring. It's a ring that makes you sad when you're happy and happy when you're sad.
	Ah, what is this magic ring?
	That's a magic ring. You put it on.
	It makes you happy when you're sad. It makes you sad when you're happy.
	And basically, it's a ring, and you take it out.
	You look on the inside, and the inscription is, This too shall pass.
	This too shall pass. So, yeah, it's a tough thing in life.
	It's a tough time in life. The tough times in life pass.
	The good times come back.
	And you've just got to work to try and maneuver yourself more towards the good times without becoming completely hedonistic and never accepting anything bad in your life, which means bad guys take over forever.
	So... Just listen and remind him that things are going to pass, and he will be a better person as a result of having gone through these things.
	He'll have a deeper and richer understanding of virtue, and if he listens to and really learns from the abusive people in his life, he will really know what not to do, what to avoid, and what to embrace in his own life going forward.
	I... Kneel before the alters of my own parents on a bi-weekly basis just to say, thank you complete jerks for making me such a great parent.
	Like, wow, I would never be 1% as good a parent if you guys hadn't been so terrible.
	So you can really use that judo move where you move with the person and you use the momentum of the person to turn yourself into a better place.
	Yeah, eviction moratoriums too, right?
	You can't evict people and all that, so yeah.
	What do you think is happening with crypto?
	So Coinbase is rescinding job offers.
	Well, you know, I mean, I said this when I was doing the crypto roundtables, and I'll probably get into one next week again.
	But what's happening with crypto is that I think that the, I don't know, obviously, but I think that the institutional investors are trying to keep it within a band of cost, particularly Bitcoin.
	They're trying to keep it into a band of cost so that it's perceived to be stable enough to sell to more and more people down the road, right?
	So, is the Twitter deal going through?
	Well, so...
	Very interesting question.
	It's a very interesting question.
	So, right now, Elon Musk is saying, oh, dudes, if you're not going to tell me how many bots there are on the platform, I'm not buying it.
	Because, you see, he's not buying Twitter.
	He's buying the users.
	He's buying the users.
	Because... The business model of Twitter is not to give you a platform.
	The business model of Twitter is not to give you information.
	The business model of Twitter is to take your eyeballs and put them on advertisements, right?
	Twitter is in the job of delivering you to advertisers, right?
	And the advertisers don't want bots.
	Now, they may want to buy bots to make themselves look more popular or whatever, but the advertisers...
	Bots don't buy, right?
	Bots don't buy. So...
	The value is the eyeballs connected to the wallet, right?
	That's the value. The value on Twitter is the number of eyeballs that they have that are human.
	That's what Elon Musk is buying.
	So they say, oh, it's just a couple of percentage points of bots and...
	Elon Musk is saying, how do I know that?
	Of course, right? Trust, but verify, right?
	Of course you'd have to know that. Of course you'd have to know that.
	I mean, you wouldn't buy a car from someone who just said, oh yeah, no, it's only got a couple of thousand miles on it or whatever, right?
	And they ship you the car, right, and take your money in Bitcoin and vanish into Indonesia or whatever, right?
	You need to see verification, right?
	You need to verify these things. You always need to verify these things, right?
	I mean, they wouldn't even give you a blue check without verification, right?
	So Twitter's all about the verification.
	You got to verify. You got to get a blue check.
	You got to verify. You got to verify.
	So Elon Musk is saying, okay, well, what I'm actually paying for are the users.
	That's what I'm paying for. You're just a mechanism by which users get delivered to advertisers, right?
	That's the whole business model. So Elon Musk is saying...
	Tell me how many. And they say, well, no, it's just a couple of percent, right?
	A couple of, is it three to five percent or something?
	I can't remember. So he's saying, okay, that's interesting.
	So I need to know how you've come about that conclusion.
	Perfectly reasonable, perfectly fair.
	I need to know how you've come about that conclusion.
	And as far as I know, they're not really lifting that part of the kimono at all, right?
	They're just saying, oh, no, no, no, you need to trust us.
	But of course, the whole reason that The whole reason I believe that Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter is he doesn't trust their raggedy asses at all.
	At all! Because he doesn't believe that they're being fair or impartial in their deplatforming and suppression or whatever it is, right?
	So, yeah, he doesn't trust them at all, and they're saying, oh, no, no, no, trust us.
	Now, as far as I remember, the AG in Texas is now opening up an investigation saying, well, wait a minute.
	If you guys aren't willing to release...
	It doesn't have to go to the general public, but it at least has to go to the satisfaction of Elon Musk and his investors, right?
	So they're saying, well, if you've been inflating the number of people by pretending that the number of actual bots is lower, then that's fraud.
	And again, I'm no lawyer, but just looking at it morally, yeah, for sure.
	So if you think of People as dollars, right?
	If you're selling a company and you artificially inflate your profit margin, that's straight up fraud.
	And if you are Twitter, and I'm not saying they have, I don't know, right?
	But if you have artificially inflated the number of people there by suppressing the number of bots, that to me would be morally, that would be straight up fraud legally.
	I have no idea. I have no idea.
	Did you see the Rogan show with Michio Kaku?
	I do not watch the Joe Rogan show.
	I heard Twitter is going to release the bot stats to Elon.
	Well, I don't know.
	It's going to be interesting. Elon's a bit of a chatterbox, right?
	It doesn't seem to be wholly wrapped up in NDA complications.
	So, yeah, it would be interesting to release the bot stats.
	Now, if they're going to release the bot stats, then they're going to have to release the methodology behind it, and that methodology is going to have to be replicatable, right?
	I mean, didn't they do an audit of Joe Biden's followers and like half of them were bots?
	I mean, this is ridiculous, right? Was that voters?
	No, no, no. It was followers. That's right, followers.
	So here's the interesting thing.
	So if they don't release it and they get investigated, then they're going to have to obviously talk to the AG in various places and try and figure that out.
	But if Twitter is not up front with its bot stats or if the bot stat calculation is not satisfying, Because, you know, you can't just say, oh yeah, we did this, this, and this, right?
	No, you'd have to, here's the source data, here's what was combed out, here's the methodology that was used, why, here's what was left, here's how confident we are on what was left being fully human, blah, blah, blah, blah.
	I mean, the whole, you need like a thousand pages or more to actually explain this kind of stuff.
	So, if it turns out that the bots are undercounted, which I think they are, I think they're vastly undercounted, then the price of Twitter is going to go down enormously, the value of Twitter is going to go down enormously, and they could face some issues, right, if this has been occurring.
	They claim knowing how many bots are on Twitter is as unknowable as the human soul.
	Well, of course, knowing exactly how many bots is unknowable, but...
	So the people who sell, who are selling Twitter, have a huge incentive to minimize the bot count.
	The people who are buying Twitter have a huge incentive to maximize the bot count, because that's one of the major needles that the price is going to swing on.
	So I would say that...
	You need to get somebody who's not, you know, the idea that management would be an objective source of the bot count is ridiculous, right?
	So most companies have an independent auditor, an independent audit, right, of the financials, right?
	And so you have an independent audit of the financials and that's how things work.
	So you would need an independent audit of this, right?
	Elon Musk and his group would have an incentive to maximize bot count and the management has an incentive to minimize it.
	So you'd need somebody independent who would sign an NDA and so on.
	But that's going to take a while. Somebody who's independent and Twitter would have to allow for it.
	And the less they want to allow for it, the more suspicious things become, right?
	Love in the stream. No homo.
	D-Live thumb up. Not even a little bit of homo?
	2%? Anything? Okay.
	Can advertisers sue if the bot count is wrong?
	How accurate does it have to be legally?
	Well, I assume it's best practices.
	In other words, if you've made an honest and objective effort to determine the number of bots...
	If your number is off, you are a little bit trying to count needles in a haystack from an airplane, right?
	So if you've made...
	If there are best practices, you've made a good, honest stab at trying to get the number of bots and you're revising it and so on, then if the count is off, I mean, the best practices and a reasonable standard to determine the number of bots, I don't think you can sue if it's wrong because...
	First of all, how would you know that it's wrong?
	How would you even know? If somebody's made their sort of best effort, independent people have verified it, then what other number are you going to get?
	So if Twitter has historically said, oh, it's 5% or less bots, right?
	And let's say some independent auditor finds 20% bots, then you would have to have a gap analysis as to why Twitter came up with such a low number of bots relative to an independent auditor or Elon Musk or whoever it's going to be, right?
	So you'd have to have some reason why.
	Now, if there were suggestions made to the Twitter management that said, oh, we should count bots this way, and they said no, and that way would have had a higher number of bots and the way they went with had a lower number of bots – I mean, you can start to have a sense of whether or not this was honestly erroneous or manipulated for fraudulent reasons or potentially fraudulent reasons.
	Let's see here. I think CNN has bot followers on Twitter.
	They don't get a lot of engagement. Oh yeah, there's a big news outlet site.
	I really don't think that there is any of that stuff, right?
	Did you have a blue check when you were on Twitter?
	Yes, I did. How did they verify you?
	I can't remember. I think I had to send them something.
	I just can't see the world allowing actual free speech on Twitter.
	They can't let it happen. Then what?
	Where do we go then? Other than here.
	Don't know.
	Don't know.
	Truth social.
	Fail. You don't like truth social?
	Is that right? Intentionally overstating users could be an issue re-profitability.
	Rights. Well, was it James O'Keefe?
	I think it was Twitter where they basically said, you know, we're a commie as fuck in there.
	Everybody's thinking it was a commie or whatever it is, right?
	So this is sort of a basic question, is that there are certain ideologies that don't have a universal standard of truth.
	Certain ideologies, belief systems, worldviews, or whatever don't have a universal standard of truth.
	And I just assume everybody who subscribes to those is just not telling me the truth.
	They're just... So, you know, if there are a bunch of communists, as may be the case inside of Twitter, then I just assume because communists say everything is disposable for the cause of the revolution.
	Everything is for the revolution and truth is disposable relative to achieving the revolution.
	Like a lot of environmental groups say, oh yeah, we have to exaggerate just to make our point and get people interested and so on.
	So it's like, okay, well if you've said that...
	You don't have a universal and abstract standard of truth, then I just tune everything out.
	Like there was somebody on one of the Twitter, sorry, on one of the free domain forums the other day who was talking about, well, you know, there's no such thing as universal virtue, universal morality, there's no such thing as blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
	It's like, okay, so I'm not going to debate with you because you've openly said you have no intention of telling the truth.
	You have no abstract standard.
	Anytime anybody says morality is cultural and it's relative and it's local and it's localized and it's subjective, it's like, okay, well then I'm not going to debate with you because you've I mean, would you do business with someone who says cheating is a perfectly valid way to get resources?
	Of course not. So if somebody says, oh yeah, no, there's no such thing as absolute truth and there's no morality that's universal that requires you to tell the truth, it's like, oh, they're telling you they're going to lie if they want to.
	Why on earth would you engage in a debate with someone?
	Like, the price of engaging in a debate has to be you believe in the truth and believe it's a moral value to achieve and proselytize it.
	So... Yeah.
	Yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep.
	How do I know if I'm a bot?
	That's interesting. That's interesting.
	Because, was it vegetable oil was originally developed as an engine oil, so it's tough for all of us these days.
	Maybe the real bots were the friends we made along the way.
	Let's see here. How do you find out if a business is woke or not before accepting a job offer?
	Be an entrepreneur. All right.
	Any other... See, I'm not...
	Let's see. Any other questions?
	Because I'm tailed under COVID, you guys are going to have to stimulate my brain.
	Did you hear about the communist gunman that was caught near the Kavanaugh house?
	Is that right? Yeah. Was he communist?
	Yeah, I was. I'm reading a biography of John F. Kennedy Jr., and everyone forgets just that the shooter was like a straight-up commie, like literally defected to Lee Harvey Oswald, like literally defected to Russia, came back after two years with a Russian wife, was like a straight-up communist, and totally down the memory hole, right?
	Why do you think God allowed Lucifer in the Garden of Eden?
	Why do you think?
	Well, I think that...
	I think God made pets but wanted people.
	If we sort of go into the story mind, right?
	So, he wanted to be praised.
	He wanted to be worshipped.
	But to worship God, who is all good, you have to have a knowledge of evil.
	You know, otherwise, you're basically like one of my daughter's ducklings.
	Like, they'll just bond. There's no love there.
	There's no appreciation of your moral qualities.
	It's just, oh, you're a source of food and you'll protect me from hawks.
	Okay, I'll follow you, right?
	So I think that God made pets but ended up wanting people.
	And so I think he let the snake in the garden so that morality would be possible in the universe outside of God.
	Have you warmed up to flat earth theory yet?
	Any brain fog? No, no, not really.
	Not really. No more than usual.
	I have a very specialized brain.
	It's like a complete laser when it's stuff that is in my wheelhouse and other stuff is just like, huh, what, what?
	All right. Russia versus Ukraine.
	Trigger to World War III, a small weapons testing skirmish.
	Well, they just want to keep the money laundering lands intact, right?
	You sound so good for having COVID right now.
	Well, I think I'm past it.
	I've got a couple of after effects or whatever.
	There's a biblical snake in my trousers.
	Nice. Nice.
	That's hot. No homo.
	And that's what they call a performative contradiction.
	All right. Any last questions?
	Questions or comments?
	We'll do a short show tonight. Seriously, the future is a great book.
	Is there a way to know for sure if someone is moral?
	Well, so there's the theory and the practice.
	If they don't have the theory, they can't have the practice.
	Just because they have the theory doesn't mean that they will have the practice.
	It's necessary but not sufficient.
	You must know morality in order to be moral, but in knowledge of morality...
	Doesn't mean that you will be moral.
	It just means you could be moral. So, the first thing that you would do, if I were you, is everybody has known an evil person.
	Everybody has known an evil person.
	And if you haven't, check the mirror, because it could be you.
	So, everybody's known an evil person, so...
	The way to check if someone is moral.
	Let's say you had an aunt who was immoral, right?
	Immoral. You would simply tell that person the story of your aunt and listen to what they say.
	And if they say, wow, yeah, that sounds a little mildly dysfunctional, but, you know, or you're very judgmental, right?
	Then, okay, then they don't even have a theory of morality.
	If they say, oh, yeah, that sounds pretty evil or that's really immoral or that's really bad or whatever, right?
	Okay. Then at least they have a moral standard and then they have the potential to be moral.
	Now, You'll eliminate a huge number of people simply by relating the stories of an evildoer in your life that you've known and at that point you'll eliminate probably 90% of people and then with the remainder you can then get to know them better and you may then see them in an immoral situation, right? You may be roaming around and someone yells at or hits a kid or whatever and see what they do.
	They have the theory then they have the practice and you can eliminate most people just on the theoretical question.
	I've been on two dates that I thought went really well.
	The next time we talked, they decided to end it.
	What am I missing here? I assume that they went through your social media and decided that the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.
	Is there a Roe v. Wade-like court decision in Canada?
	I don't think so. I don't think so.
	It's funny, right? There's no abortion in the Constitution, but it's a total human right.
	There is, in fact...
	A First and Second Amendment in the Constitution.
	But, you know, it's totally flexible.
	What does it matter? Is it okay to accept money from evil people if they're trying to make reparations to you?
	So that's a contradictory statement because if an evil person has...
	Someone who's done evil to you, they have recognized they're wrong, they have genuinely apologized, they've gone to therapy, they have worked on their issues, they're making reparations, then you can't just put them in a category called evil anymore, because they really are working to try and make amends and be better off, right? Does the increasing quality of weapons being sent to Ukraine eventually trigger a bigger retaliation from Russia?
	Yeah, I... I don't know, but I think that for most of the people outside the more extreme areas or concerns in the West, they don't really need to lift a finger.
	They just need to let things continue the way they are, right?
	Never interrupt your enemy when he is in the process of making a mistake.
	So, they don't think that Russia needs to do much.
	So, if you're not atheist anymore, what do you call yourself now?
	A philosopher, asshole.
	Ask them if they support government.
	That kind of says it all. Now, I think that's a cheap question.
	That's a cheap question because...
	There are people who are simply unenlightened as to the consistent application of property rights and the non-aggression principle.
	And just as you were once propagandized and didn't know your ass from a hole in the ground, yea, verily, there are many around you in the multitudes who are also propagandized and don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.
	Be patient with them just as people were patient with you and help lead them to the light.
	Why is it that people despise me for being confident that I'm a good person?
	Oh, because if you're confident that you're a good person, then you are not susceptible to guilt.
	If you're not susceptible to guilt, then people don't have a spiritual hot-button murder weapon to torture you with in order to gain your compliance, right?
	So the elimination of unjust guilt is foundational to the development of a moral world because if you accept...
	Unearned collectivist guilt.
	You know, guilt for being white or guilt for being whatever, right?
	A sinner and so on, right?
	So if you accept guilt that you did not earn, then you're very easy to control.
	So people who have developed control mechanisms through verbal abuse, if you say, well, I'm a good person, I know I'm a good person, then you're really not that susceptible at all to manipulation and guilt, the infliction of Judgments of immorality for things you haven't personally done.
	So people get mad at you because you're taking away a control mechanism that they have, right?
	How about a quick motivational rant to end the show?
	I could use a moral booster.
	I'm not moving quickly enough.
	You've got to give me something a bit more specific.
	The rants need some traction.
	Okay. Why do people hate the certainty in knowledge of good and evil?
	Oh, well, that's pretty clear.
	So people, when you try to give them clarity with regards to knowledge of good and evil, then they can't spin their wheels anymore, right?
	They then actually have to, once you've accurately identified evil and what it is and how it operates and what you can do about it, then people have to stop talking about shit and actually do stuff, right?
	Actually have to confront evildoers in their life and so on.
	And they don't want to do that because confronting evildoers...
	It can be a little hazardous.
	It can be very hazardous, in fact.
	So people just want to talk about stuff and not actually do anything.
	And I understand that.
	I understand that. I really do.
	So... If you give people certainty, then...
	Well, if you give people objective universal certainty about good and evil, which is what universally preferable behavior does...
	Then they can't will good to serve their vanity or to serve their lust for power or to whatever, right?
	If you actually have a standard of universal proof and reason and evidence requirement for virtue, then you can't just use it as a manipulative tool to gain resources and subjugate others.
	What about inheriting evil people's money?
	Yeah, that's an interesting question.
	Well, the money's not evil, right?
	The money's not evil. So, I mean, if the money was stolen, then you should return it to its original owners and so on if you can, but the money, don't blame the money for what the evildoers have done, right?
	How do you think the Russia-Ukraine thing will end?
	Well, I mean, tragically, we know, right, that Russia is being driven further away from the European Western tradition and more into the arms of China, which was a big concern when I was younger because they were both communists back in the day, in the 70s and so on, right?
	So, yeah, I mean...
	Russia is going to be pushed further away from the woke stuff.
	It's going to be pushed further away because the view outside the woke empire is extraordinarily different from the view inside the woke empire and this dichotomy is where the real conflict is coming from.
	All right, let's see here.
	So El Salvador president arrested about 35,000 active gang members in two months.
	Seems he wants to make it great for crypto people to move in.
	Yeah, that guy's pretty cool.
	And they're trying to build a whole Bitcoin city out there and so on.
	And remember, I said years and years ago that they're going to find that some haven is going to be generated and created for people to land, for sure.
	People hate that. I want to confidently pronounce that I can logically prove objective morality at a dinner party.
	Very quiet reactions.
	Oh yeah, people don't want that.
	They don't want that at all.
	They prefer living in a fog.
	See, if you live in a fog of subjectivism and relativism when it comes to morality, then you can always talk yourself into believing that you're a moral person.
	You can always talk yourself into believing that you're a moral person.
	So if you can bully someone, then you'll bully them because you're stronger and more powerful and then you'll say, well, I'm standing up for what's right and blah, blah, blah.
	But if somebody else is bigger, more powerful, can inflict negative consequences on you, then you will appease them and someone will say, well, you know, it's important to be gentle and polite and careful and considerate.
	You can just talk yourself into whatever, right?
	But the moment the objective standard comes up...
	So think of the witch doctors versus scientists, right?
	The witch doctors can just, the mystics, they can just make up whatever they want and they get resources and everyone thinks they're wise and wonderful and so on, right?
	Whereas when the scientists come along and the witch doctors have to prove their theories or shut the hell up, then the witch doctors get pretty mad, right?
	So people don't like it when you objectively define a soupy drug they can cover themselves in to feel better whenever they want.
	Let's see here. Who is the closest philosopher to your level still living today?
	I don't know, and that because I don't generally read other modern philosophers, I just find them wretched and terrible as a whole.
	Or they're good in one area in particular and then just terrible in other areas, and the consistency is always a challenge, right?
	I like Peter Boghossian still, but he did some good stuff when it came to street epistemology and agnosticism and atheism and so on.
	And then he penned this piece of trash about Trump that was just wrong and propagandized and total lack of skepticism and so on.
	So, you know, there's people I like in particular areas and then you, you know, used to like Matthew McConaughey until his incredibly brave stance against murdered children.
	He's very much against murdered children.
	Wow, what a hero.
	So, yeah, I don't really read other philosophers.
	I just find it's...
	They'll lure me in with something rational and then it'll just be brutal when you see them step outside their wheelhouse.
	Let's see here. Thanks, Steph, and especially for UPB, which gave me that certainty.
	You are very welcome, man. Thank you.
	Do you see international travel getting more difficult in the future?
	Have you been to Mexico? Yeah, I have been to Mexico.
	And, yes.
	International travel getting more difficult?
	Well, I mean, they want to shut it down as a whole, right?
	I was just thinking the other day just how it's really, it's nutty.
	And you would expect it to be nutty and expect a little else than it be nutty.
	But, you know, this leftism has this rabid...
	Anti-consumerism in some ways, like don't consume things, you've got to have carbon credits and don't waste things, don't fly, don't do this, don't do that, right?
	And so it's like keep your carbon consumption down and eat bugs and live in a pod and all that stuff, right?
	But at the same time there's this fat acceptance movement.
	Now, the footprint, I mean, the footprints of fat people as a whole kind of heavy, the footprints, the carbon footprint is much larger than a slender person, right?
	Much larger than a slender person because they're eating twice as much or whatever, right?
	It's a big footprint on the planet.
	So there's no like, well, you have to lose weight because excess food consumption is bad for the environment.
	There's nothing like that, right?
	So none of this all hangs together at all, so...
	Let's see here. To be more specific, I have a hard time finding good people I can open my heart and mind to.
	I know they exist. Or I can inspire people.
	That's almost like the end of a sentence, but I don't know where to begin.
	Having been into philosophy for years, I can't help but feel like an alien.
	Oh, right, okay.
	Well, that's probably because you think that getting good companions is like an exercise in...
	Social growth. You know, I've got to get some more friends and so on.
	It's like, dude, we're late enough in the game.
	It's not even an option. It's not even an option.
	You know, when the Titanic is going down, you get to a lifeboat and you claw your way into a lifeboat if you have to and you don't in particular worry about everyone else who's in the lifeboat as long as there's enough room for you, right?
	So right now in society, I think it's a good idea to get companions because...
	You know, things are not going too well for Western economies as a whole and you look at this disruption that is occurring in the food supply from Ukraine and onwards and so on.
	Yeah, things are pretty bad.
	So I would say that...
	You're thinking, well, how can I inspire people and blah, blah, blah.
	And it's like this a little bit fiddling while Rome burns, a little bit like fiddling on the deck of the Titanic.
	Go and find some people you can get along with.
	They don't have to be perfectly you.
	You don't have to be perfectly them, but you have to share some basic values.
	But, you know, go join a group to get along with because...
	You know, things are getting exciting.
	And you're going to need people.
	You're going to need people.
	It's not even an option. It's not like a nice-to-have.
	It's becoming a have-to-have. You're going to need people.
	I've been talking about this for years, but you really got to get out of this.
	How am I going to find people to inspire?
	How can I go around telling people that maybe we should start thinking about lifeboats?
	You know, Titanic's at 45 degrees, man.
	Get thee to a lifeboat. Best country for a second or third passport?
	I don't know. I mean, you can look into that.
	I mean, various easier, hard ways to get them, and I don't really know.
	Yeah, and, you know, gun violence and so on.
	one i mean canada and the u.s are very low in the world in terms of gun violence for sure hi steph from australia Hello. Hello back.
	Hope you're feeling okay.
	I had coronavirus, only felt slightly tired for a couple of days.
	Yeah, I was more than slightly tired.
	I mean, I don't normally crash during the day, but I had that for sure.
	I'm trying to rebuild my friend group and find a girlfriend.
	Wish me luck. Good luck. Good luck.
	Good luck. Steph, how did you actually break ties with your mother?
	Did you just stop returning her calls?
	No, you drive people away with radical honesty.
	I just sort of put it this way.
	It's not a funny process, but, you know, it's been so long ago now I can see somewhat of the humor inside of it.
	So just every time somebody calls you up, they say, oh, yeah, we were still talking about this thing.
	I never got a resolution on this thing about my childhood or what happened here or what happened there, right?
	And... You just keep talking and they say, well, I don't want to talk about that, so I want to know that's what I want to talk about, so if you want to talk about that, if you want to call me, you want to talk to me, we've got to talk about that.
	And then they'll get mad and want to change the subject and say, no, no, no, okay, I tell you, I'm going to hang up now, but when you want to talk about what I want to talk about, then, you know, feel free to call back.
	So they'll just keep calling and you'll just be like, it's just your patient repetition, patient repetition.
	You don't have to get angry, you don't have to yell, just patient repetition.
	Just, no. Oh, can you come over on Saturday?
	It's like, well, hang on. No, we still get this thing unresolved.
	Like, I wanted to talk to you about this thing to do with my childhood.
	You told me I was crazy. You told me it never happened.
	I've really checked my memory. I know it did happen.
	So, let's revisit that conversation.
	Once we've cleared all that stuff up, then we can talk about Saturday, right?
	And they'll just get mad. Because, you know what people do?
	It's very common, right? It's what crazy people do.
	Is they'll simply pretend that...
	Nothing happened. They just completely gaslight you.
	They just march on like nothing happened.
	And there'll be this irritation and annoyance if you bring them back to, well, no, something did happen.
	I had a request. You kind of denied it.
	And I want to revisit that and get that sorted out.
	And then just move on.
	Just move on. Just move on.
	And so, no, I didn't just stop returning her calls.
	I was always happy to chat with her.
	Always happy to chat with her.
	But I wasn't going to pretend that my needs didn't exist anymore, right?
	Because this, what, soul murderers will, you're only there to serve them and your needs that inconvenience them are just things to be screamed away until you get the fuck back in line and stop bothering them with your separate identity, right?
	So no, just, just, I just like, hey, have a habit of chat, habit of chat.
	Let's get back to that thing we were talking about last week.
	It really wasn't resolved for me.
	And it's like, then she just get mad about it.
	Just, and then she just stopped calling.
	Yeah. It's just, you know, I didn't just sever contact.
	It's like just, no, I'm not, I'm no longer going to give up on what I want out of this relationship, right?
	So, yeah.
	Just, I didn't, you just drive people away by just being radically honest about what you prefer, what you like.
	And I'm smiling now. It was tough at the time, right?
	So I get all of that.
	But it's like, no, no, no.
	You may remember we were talking about this thing last time and I still need a resolution to that, right?
	So it's kind of like if you have a friend who you lend money to and that friend just keeps wanting to do something or maybe borrow more money or go someplace or whatever and they never bring up anything about the fact that they owe you money and they haven't paid you back yet when they were supposed to by now.
	You just pick up the phone.
	Hey Bob, how you doing? Yeah.
	Yeah, so listen, you still owe me that money.
	What's the story? Oh.
	Okay. A week?
	You'll have it for me in a week? Okay.
	Fantastic. Okay, tell you what.
	Let's hold off on socializing, right?
	Just get the money thing sorted out because it's kind of on my mind.
	It's kind of bothering me. It's been a while.
	So when you got the money, just give me a shout back.
	We'll get that sorted out and then, you know, we can go and do stuff, right?
	Just get that out of the way because the money is kind of hanging in my head, right?
	It's unpleasant for me.
	So he's going to call you back next week and he's going to say, hey, you know, man, I've got a great business opportunity.
	If you can lend me your car.
	It's like, okay, hang on.
	Sorry, Bob. You still owe me the money and you're not talking about it and so sort out the money.
	He'll either give you the money or he'll stop calling you.
	Just have to go back and just don't give up your needs.
	Don't give up your preferences. Don't give up your identity.
	People People who view your identity as inconvenient will destroy you.
	They're in an active process of detonating your entire existence every time they interact with you.
	Right? Because they're narcissistic.
	Narcissistic is when only their needs exist in the universe for them.
	Now, they recognize that you have needs.
	And they'll use those needs or manipulate those needs or appease those needs or whatever, but just to get what they want, not because they actually care about your needs or your preferences, right?
	Now, once you actually have someone in your life, glory be, right?
	Once you actually have someone in your life who cares about you, cares about your thoughts, cares about your needs, wants you to be happy, and doesn't self-erase, they themselves have their own needs and their own preferences and so on, right?
	I mean, you can't go back.
	Once you get real food, you don't eat that plastic shit anymore.
	Did you ever listen to the radio show Loveline, hosted by Adam Carolla and Dr.
	Drew? No, I did not.
	I know of them, but I've never.
	How do you think the economic collapse will be?
	Will it be slowly, or think it will just be one day and economy collapsed?
	I think it will be more slow.
	It will be more slow. Why are you avoiding the biggest story of the day, the sale of the Denver Broncos?
	Oh, I'm sure it's because I believe in viruses.
	U.S. gun violence rates are similar to Western Europe if you saw it by race.
	Yeah, white people kill pretty much the same rate all around the world and Asians and so on, right?
	So it's the same thing. But Steph, Obi-Wan Kenobi's woke show sucks.
	That's more important. Oh, yeah.
	Star Wars is...
	I don't know. I liked the first two, or maybe three.
	No interest since then.
	All right. Would you like a tiny rant about Top Gun Maverick?
	Alright. It's not much of a spoiler.
	It's not much of a spoiler because it's the first few minutes of the movie.
	So, the first Top Gun was a very charming movie with a very sloppy kiss that traumatized me as a teenager and still does to this day.
	And that's because Kelly McGillis was, I guess, working up enough saliva to finish off the buffets that put her in her 60s in the shape that she's in.
	But... So, the first Top Gun was very charming, and the relationship between Goose and Maverick was beautifully acted, and Anthony Edwards is an incredibly fine actor.
	So, in the second one, the movie opens, and maybe there's some big reasoning I've missed here, so I apologize if I have, and you can correct me, of course, as you go forward.
	But the second one, it opens with...
	Tom Cruise, Maverick, the guy, I can't remember his name, Maverick, is testing a fighter jet, a speedy fighter jet.
	Now, he's got to take this thing to Mach 9.
	He's got to take this thing to Mach 9.
	But you see, they're shutting down the fighter jet program because they haven't achieved their objectives or something like that.
	So he's like, I'm going up anyway.
	So he goes up anyway. Illegally, I think.
	And long story short, and he says, well, I have to basically, I have to go up because if I don't get this thing to Mach 9, everyone's out of a job.
	Like everyone, they're going to cut the funding, they won't be able to fly the plane, everyone's going to be out of a job.
	I know, I've got to go and get this thing to Mach 9, right?
	So... He takes the plane up and of course he gets to the Mach 9 and then he goes further and he goes further and he goes further and he pushes it past Mach 10 and then the whole thing explodes, right?
	Now, I don't know what the state of the army is these days.
	I've never been in the army.
	I could be totally wrong about this.
	But I think if you disobey direct orders and destroy a hundred million dollar worth of machinery, I think you get court-martialed and thrown in prison, in the brig, wherever, for the rest of your natural born life.
	Because you've acted illegally and you've destroyed a hundred million dollars worth of government property.
	So that seems important to me.
	You've got to be a maverick. It's like, okay, so being a maverick means you disobey direct orders, you steal government property, paid for by the taxpayer, and you just blow it up.
	Now, how do you blow it up?
	By pushing it way past its even theoretical limits.
	Now, he's supposed to be a great guy doing all of this because he wants to protect the jobs of everyone who works on the airplane.
	I know what's going to happen if I don't.
	Everybody's going to be out of a job.
	They're going to scatter. They won't be able to...
	So he flies this plane in order to show that the plane works and therefore keep everyone's job, keep the whole team together hunky-dory, right?
	So if your whole point is to show that the plane works and keep everyone's job, Going way over what the plane can do and blowing up the entire plane.
	That does not show that the plane works.
	That shows that the plane explodes.
	And also, now that the plane has exploded, nobody has a job.
	So the whole point was to go up and keep everyone's job.
	He completely destroys the plane, destroys everyone's job, destroys $100 million or more worth of government property.
	And then everyone's like, oh...
	Yeah, that's fine. Let's give him a new assignment.
	I don't know. That's just too wild for me.
	It's too wild for me.
	Because later he gets in serious trouble for flying a plane and stressing it slightly.
	He takes a plane, goes through the canyon, stresses it slightly, and he gets in real trouble for that.
	You realize he pushed this plane past its even theoretical limits, destroyed the whole thing, ended the program, and no negative repercussions whatsoever.
	Did I miss something?
	It's just annoying.
	Give a tiny glance towards basic reality.
	I don't know. It's pretty funny.
	It's pretty funny.
	I'm going to buzz the Tower of Philosophy.
	When the plane explodes at Mach 10.
	Yeah, he's basically up around the upper atmosphere, right?
	So what he ejects, halfway to space, he's like, it's okay, because I took a deep breath before I ejected.
	Oh, I thought that was very interesting.
	Why was the Concorde a failure financially?
	Oh, because the mechanics got less and less intelligent as time went by.
	And, you know, I mean, first you went to the Moon, and then you just orbited the Moon, and then you went to the upper atmosphere, and then you went to the lower atmosphere, and then you couldn't even do that.
	So, yeah, just a general dumbing down of the population, so...
	And here's the other thing that I found slightly annoying about Top Gun Maverick, which again, it was fine, it was entertaining and all of that.
	I sort of smile in an amused fashion at these kinds of things.
	Okay, so...
	Again, minor spoiler, it doesn't really matter for the movie as a whole, but they basically have to...
	First of all, it's the Death Star run.
	They're just practicing for the Death Star run.
	It's like, well, we have to break the shield and then we have to put the torpedo right down the hole.
	It's like, okay, I think I saw this, but with more of an egg and less of a mountain.
	These pilots are trying to fly their winding course through a canyon, right?
	They have to fly through a canyon that's S-shaped and all that and stay below the anti-aircraft missiles and so on, right?
	So, of course, if you're trying to get a defendable area...
	It's just kind of funny, right?
	So if something has to be defendable and you know that your enemy has a huge amount of air power, then having anti-aircraft missiles that can't fire down into a trench that could be flown by a plane is the exact opposite of what you want to do.
	It's like, aha!
	Okay, so we know that there's this Top Gun program.
	We know that they have these amazing jets.
	So in order to protect this base that we need to protect, we're going to put anti-aircraft, Missiles right at the top of a winding canyon that can be flown where they can't shoot.
	Anyway, so that wasn't...
	I mean, that's just part of this, you know, got to make the dramatic story.
	But here's the funny thing. So he's there to teach all these pilots, right?
	He's there to teach all these pilots.
	And they can't fly this thing in time.
	They just can't fly it in time.
	They just can't do it.
	They can't fly this trench.
	They can't fly this canyon in time.
	Okay. So then Tom Cruise, maverick, gets in a plane and flies it.
	Flies within the time frame they need.
	He flies through this trench.
	And then everyone can do it.
	It's completely mad.
	It's like saying, well, I've only really been taking piano for a year, so I can play some pretty simplistic pieces, but that's really about it, right?
	And then some Rubenstein concert pianist of the gods sits down and plays something incredibly complicated and difficult, and then you can just do it.
	Why? Because you saw him do it.
	You can't do it, but when you see someone else do it, the knowledge magically transfers from them to you.
	See, here's the thing. You're now a movie star.
	Do you know why? Because you watched Tom Cruise being a movie star.
	See, you watched Tom Cruise being a movie star.
	Now you can be a movie star. You watched Tom Cruise fly a plane, now you can fly a plane.
	Because all the people he's teaching, they couldn't fly anywhere close to what they needed to fly.
	They saw him do it and suddenly they could do it.
	Why? Because they saw someone else do it.
	And that's the only thing you need to do to transfer knowledge is just watch someone else do it.
	That's it. I'm going to watch Magic Mike and change this show completely.
	Because once I watch Magic Mike, that's it, man.
	Pole dancing Steph will make his debut.
	Ah.
	Yeah.
	I worked at Pax River where they test fly aircraft.
	It's a very strict regimen. Oh yeah, the idea that you would just take an aircraft and push it.
	He pushes it 15% beyond where it's supposed to be.
	Thus guaranteeing that it would be destroyed.
	He pushed that plane until it exploded.
	No question. No doubt.
	And this is supposed to be something heroic?
	Now, if he had been a complete selfish jerk who was only into his own glory, but now he's like, well, I've got to save everyone's job, so I'm going to destroy the machine that everyone's job depends on by pushing it way past its limits.
	My God. Just wild.
	I thought that mission was so impractical.
	Why couldn't they just launch cruise missiles like they did for the planes?
	Yeah, well, why didn't the...
	Well, so why didn't the eagles carry the hobbits to Mount Doom?
	Well, because of the Nazgul, right?
	You had to get rid of the Nazgul. Yeah, build a wall in the canyon.
	Or what you do, of course, is you just put one surface-to-air missile at the bottom of the canyon.
	There's one surface-to-air missile at the bottom.
	They've got 500 surface-to-air missiles at the top of the canyon.
	You put one at the bottom. Boom, you're done.
	Just done. Dogs learn that way.
	They do. Yeah, that's right.
	You just type in front of someone, and now they know how to type, even if they're a dog.
	It's just wild. Who was the enemy country?
	It looked like Chassa, a mix of China and Russia.
	Oh, I did sort of enjoy that...
	This is how bad the army was portrayed, right?
	So the army's like, we've got to do this run, right?
	And so we've got Maverick!
	As the instructor. But he's not allowed to fly this run.
	So the only guy who can do it is the guy you're not allowing to do it.
	And the people who can't do it are the only people who are allowed to do it.
	Oh, that's funny.
	It's just funny. Tom Cruise, you're the best fighter pilot we've got.
	You can't fly this mission.
	Why? Because you're obsolete.
	Maybe not today.
	Not today. Anyway, I like Tom Cruise, even though he's a rage-against-the-breast insane in many ways, but he is very charismatic, for sure.
	And, you know, it's fun watching him talk about the history of psychiatry.
	I mean, literally is. Quite pretty wild, right?
	Although it was frustrating to watch years ago when he did that Matt Lauer interview.
	Because now I was like, well, you know, some people do seem to benefit from these drugs.
	And it's like, well, yes, because depression resolves itself in...
	Depression resolves itself in pretty much the same amount of time as the antidepressants work.
	It's a miracle. It's like, you know, I'm going to take a pill to wake up in the morning.
	It's going to kick in eight hours after I go to sleep.
	It's like, you know, the pill worked.
	I woke up about eight hours after I went to sleep.
	It's an amazing pill.
	Incredible. Incredible. Ah, let's see here.
	Is the actor that played Jim Morrison in the new Top Gun?
	Yes. The guy who started smoking at the age of eight?
	Yeah. Yeah, pretty rough, man.
	You know, I sort of get annoyed when people are given these extraordinary gifts and then just blow it.
	Like, you know, Freddie Mercury just...
	I guess he literally blew his gift out of the water.
	But... Val Kilmer, a staggeringly talented guy.
	If you see him in, what was it, Top Secret?
	His comedy was great.
	He was a great musician, and he did a fine job in a pretty bad movie about Jim Morrison, victim of sexual abuse, of course.
	Just an incredible looking guy, super handsome guy, and very talented, a great, you know, good mover, good dancer, good singer, good actor, and yeah, just, you know, trashed a lot of his talent in smoking and just, ugh, anyway. Tom Cruise has been pretty consistent and prolific.
	Makes me wonder how. Okay, so here's the basic reason why the movie is so successful.
	And again, props to the movie.
	It's a fun movie, and I don't have any particular issues with it other than, you know, I try to work pretty hard.
	Like, I just created a whole science fiction universe of the future and optimistic.
	You want some optimism? I'm telling you.
	Freedomain.locals.com.
	A couple of bucks a month, you get...
	This book. This book will give you hope because it's exactly what we're aiming to achieve.
	Exactly. Down to the last detail.
	What we're aiming to achieve and what it looks like.
	This doesn't give you something to salute in the morning.
	I don't know what will. I'm a big one for trying to keep things consistently logical in stories and so on.
	I look at this kind of stuff and my eyes roll a little bit, but that's fine.
	It's not their job.
	It's their job to be entertaining. So...
	I can tell you why this movie is so successful.
	The less you have to act, the more you resonate with the audience.
	So, if you look at Maverick, the character, he's a complete workaholic.
	Huh! Tom Cruise...
	Playing a complete workaholic.
	Huh! Isn't that interesting?
	Okay. Tom Cruise playing a guy with no family left.
	Huh! Because, what, Katie Holmes and Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman and he's got that kid, Siri or Sarah, or something like that, and he hasn't seen her in years.
	So, huh!
	Interesting! Interesting!
	Because in the first Top Gun, he was quite the player, quite the playboy, right?
	When he was younger, which I think Tom Cruise was as well.
	So Tom Cruise is playing a rabid workaholic with no family ties or structure, who throws himself into his work because he can't handle a single human relationship.
	Ha! He's not acting.
	The guy's not acting at all. This is one of the reasons why his role is resonating so well.
	And people are looking at him skeptically because he's technically very skilled and proficient, but is a complete loser when it comes to what makes life worthwhile rather than profitable, which is love, relationships, wife, kids, and so on, right? So yeah, he's not...
	He's... Tom Cruise, you know, somebody said to him, what do you do on your days off?
	He's like, my what? I don't have any days off.
	And it's funny, it's not about money.
	Jimmy Buffet is worth more than Tom Cruise, and Jimmy Buffet turned a three-minute song into an entire business empire.
	And Tom Cruise, you know, shatters his ankle in a million places and then keeps running because he doesn't want to do the stunt again.
	So, yeah, it's pretty wild.
	He does have some biological children, I think, but...
	Yeah, I mean, I found the movie quite distracting because it's like, this is just his tragic ass life.
	And he's famous, he's handsome, he does a lot of sit-ups, obviously, and all of that, but it's a pretty tragic life.
	You know, the guy's pushing 60 and he's completely alone.
	And he's showing abs off with men half his age on a beach.
	It's pretty funny actually.
	So the beach scene is kind of famous, right?
	These guys worked out forever.
	You know, you eat your six eggs for breakfast and then it's endless broccoli and chicken, broccoli and chicken and sit-ups, right?
	And then you drink a Coke right before you film so that your whole body tightens up and it's really lean.
	And they originally were going to have shirts and skins on that football scene on the beach.
	But the guys who had worked so hard for abs were like crying because they couldn't get, they weren't going to get skins, they were going to get shirts, right?
	Trying to get these guys into...
	The shirts side of a shirts and skins game is like trying to get John F. Kennedy Jr.
	into a shirt. It's not going to happen.
	Vertical half-head Chewbacca needs his shirt off.
	So... These guys, they did the shoot, but something was wrong with the film and they were going to have to wait two weeks to get the location again.
	So they basically, half of them burst into tears because they were so sick and tired of this diet and this exercise just for that one scene that...
	I can't do another two weeks, but of course they ended up doing another two weeks and all of that.
	But yeah, they did the scene, and then they went and had pizza and beer that night, and then the director was like, ooh, sorry, we're going to have to do that scene again, so you're going to have to go back on that diet for another couple of weeks.
	It's like, oh man, that's rough.
	That's rough.
	Ah, let's see here.
	They gave him the same nickname as John McCain, and the first thing he does in the movie is blow up a plane.
	No.
	Will you be playing the new Call of Duty in October?
	No, I don't.
	I'm tired of shooting Europeans.
	I haven't done those games in forever.
	Is the whole world dumbed down, or is it just the West?
	Oh, it's everywhere. It's everywhere.
	Let's see here.
	Your book, The Future, is your best work, hands down.
	Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that.
	I was thinking of doing a sequel, which is The Sun's Trial.
	But anyway, all right. Steph, do you have any advice on where to start developing a side hustle?
	Similar skills to my current line of employment.
	Yeah, I mean, find a need that you've always had and fill it, right?
	I always wanted practical philosophy.
	I filled it. I always wanted novels that meant more and filled it, so...
	Steph, if invited, would you go on Viva Frey and Robert Barnes' sidebar show?
	I can ask them if they will have you on.
	I appreciate that, and that's very kind, and I like those guys enormously, but I'm not really doing other people's shows at the moment.
	I don't have any particular desire to.
	No, nothing negative or anything.
	It's just I'm really enjoying the things that are going on right now.
	All right. Who made worse personal decisions, Val Kilmer or Johnny Depp?
	I think Johnny Depp.
	Let's see here. Have you read any L. Ron Hubbard?
	No. Do you think Tom Cruise could do well in an MMA, even at his age?
	I have no idea. I have no idea.
	All right. Agreed.
	The future is the best. Can't wait for the sequel.
	So... No, can you imagine if there was just a show where you just endlessly shot black people?
	Like, that'd be horrible. Same thing with endlessly shoot Asian people and endlessly shoot white people.
	It's just, no, it's just... I don't know.
	I don't... I just... I don't want to shoot anyone.
	It happened for a long time, so...
	All right. Look at that.
	We made it to 90 minutes.
	So, um... Yes, thank you everyone so much for dropping by tonight.
	freedomain.locals.com if you'd like to get the new book and really recommend it.
	I mean, I'm listening back to my audiobook reading and it's like, wow, really, really good.
	Really good. Very pleased with it.
	And freedomain.com forward slash donate if you'd like to donate in any other fashion.
	I would really appreciate that very much.
	Appreciate that. I've been working like, well, like three Tom Cruises over the last six months to write and edit and review and record this new book as well as doing shows on a regular basis and being oddly ill in secret of like two colds and stomach bug and COVID and all that.
	Anyway, so maybe that is time to cool it a tiny little bit and enjoy that.
	But yeah, thank everyone so much for dropping by.
	Have yourself a wonderful, wonderful evening.
	Lots of love. From up here.
	And have yourself a great time.
	We'll talk Friday night.
	And it was just great to see everyone dropping by tonight.
	Lots of love. Stay safe.

▲