Oddbean

I tend spend most of my time with these 4 topics: What is Banned/censored The greatest defeat of your enemy is to make them your friend. The complexities and tension behind such a mission. Progress happens only by the might of good men. Aka: goodness must be dangerous. A spiritual pursuit of living life “as yourself.” If you get one headline to describe geopolitics, what is it? For me it is: THIS GENERATIONS AXIS VS ALLIES IS THE GLOBAL RULING CLASS VS WE THE PEOPLE.

Interesting. Your geopolitical headline probably covers the utopian idea that many in the political class have, global dominion. Although I think that idea is impossible, due to the chaotic dynamics involved, they will still try, and the rest of us must defend ourselves against it. I don't have an idea about a headline right now.

It is impossible. The highest foolishness of those who seek to dominate is that these types of efforts have never and will never work. Yet here we are striving against their efforts. Is that not the testimony of evil, trying the same thing over and over while expecting a different result… endlessly charging into a frozen Russia… Tale as old as time.

The so-called "intellectuals" loved the ideas of Yuval Harari's, the WEF adviser, professor in philosophy and historian from Israel. And many of them probably like his ideas about "human gods" - homo deus, and hoped that they could become part of this elite group of people. They swallowed his presentation of the human race as narrative builders (that we love the concept of shared myths and that it's this that separates us from other species), and of the history of our civilization (where he don't make any attempt at explaining the enormous dfference between monetary freedom and monetary monopoly) and his ideas about economics (including that it's not enough resources for everyone, and that a two-class system therefore is both natural and necessary). This messed up many people's belief systems, and I think it hampered their ability to think critically and logically. Even many bitcoiners still admire Harari's writings. So I thought, this is so wrong, and why hasn't Harari been seriously challenged? His stuff if IMO just some New Age deconstructionist shit on steroids, and even smart people seem to fall for it. In the end this led me to write a little book that we called UNBAR. I did it, because it's necessary that we rebel up and try to win the battle of the ideas. I think my headline would have to include something with the battle of ideas, and possible the key concept of rediscovering the cost of freedom. https://undoqo.com/pages/project-u

Book arrives Friday. Looking forward to reading it. I grew up in an affluent community, and it never ceases to amaze me how smart & wealthy people often lack moral and intellectual courage. They often treat their weird exclusionary ideas as some sort of merit badge that separates them from the plebeians. The more anti human the higher the status.

Here is an article I wrote on the topic. Though it’s a topic you are highly educated on, hopefully it causes the reader to look at the issue of sound money from a slightly different angle. https://www.samuelsadams.com/ssa/fixthemoney

An inability to see past their paycheck. Meaning that anything that interrupts the flow of status or income is explained away with faux wisdom and reason. Saying the vaccine is 100% effective is a great example. Not agreeing with this statement meant interruptions to contracts and brought scorn from the corporate collective.

Is it a lack of courage, or simply a lack of critical thinking ability altogether? When fear (warranted or not) is involved, critical thinking is often pushed aside by survival instinct. I think that critical thinking ability has declined in general though. And I blame social media algorithms for it. It has caused us to be bombarded with content designed to elicit engagement in the shortest time possible, obfuscating the need for critical thinking when it's needed most.

Great thought. The human experience can not so easily be put into separate buckets. It is all so intertwined. An abundance of one can often compensate for a degree of lack in the other. But yes, fear is certainly the highest axiom. The Fear of loss is why the affluent compliment the garments of the naked emperor. To those who the system prefers, saying the obvious truth gains nothing but costs everything. Fiat gonna Fiat.