Kind: captions
Language: en
if you want to be successful in life it
really will come down to the rules that
you play by for most people Society
hands us a set of rules and we just
accept them that works fine in periods
of stability and prosperity but it
becomes disastrous in moments like this
which are marked by rapid change and
uncertainty even if America is the
current collapsing Roman Empire a new
set of rules would allow us to navigate
both the dangers and the opportunities
to that end I bring you Constantin
kissen
the West has
become very uncomfortable with the idea
of power exercising power exercising
Force exercising
Authority and when you have a culture
that is
unwilling to use power and force to
assert its interests and protect them
the heroic masculinity on the borders
will it inevitably start to come to the
for and they will start to try things
just try uh and we have seen over the
last couple of
decades that process going on I think um
and I've been talking to a lot of people
in the last few days kind of liberal
people I think a lot of people are
starting to think in political terms and
I don't want to make this political but
I think it's a it's an important um
reference point that while Donald Trump
was obnoxious as a
person his approach to
geopolitics worked better than the
approach that we were taking before and
we're taking now and that is a
fundamental understanding that the world
operates on Power and strength uh people
fear the strong and despise the weak uh
there's a quote that the strong will do
as they will and the weak will suffer as
they must I've always hated that that's
always been a gut punch to what I want
to be true um but nonetheless as I as I
think about okay why would it be that in
the late stages of an Empire and and to
give people context so Ray alio who um I
look at as somebody who thinks about the
economy a fair amount I look at Rayo as
the um the economic equivalent of the
Doomsday Clock that tells us how close
to nuclear Annihilation we might be and
Dalo has been talking about the um the
percentage chance of Civil War in the US
he's been talking about the percentage
chance of a global war another world war
and he gave uh the odds that we would be
in a World War when he wrote his book
this about eight months ago at 35%
chance recently literally like in the
last week he upped that to a 50% chance
of a World War I am very eager to get
him back on the show because as of today
um I if I can believe what I have read
on X which is always a question mark But
if I can believe what I read read on X
recently uh literally this morning China
has now taken a stance on the Israel
Palestine situation that could very much
be read as a stance against the US uh
and so it really does become a question
of okay in a moment like this if we
really are moving in the wrong direction
and Ray Diop pegs us at Phase five and a
half of a six-phase cycle where phase
six is total collapse uh of an Empire if
we really are that far down and things
are trending in the wrong direction is
more forces sort of amass against this
the question becomes how much of this is
predictable according to Ray Delio a lot
of this is predictable and then what do
those movements look like what what is
it about like I'm going to I'm going to
uh bring together my question around
gender and why that we would see that
throughout history and then uh this
potential March towards World War for me
this is the picking apart of structure
and the reason I wanted to talk to you
about it you have said in the past past
uh we have pulled a lot of the threads
that hold the sweater together and so
when I look at gender I think that this
goes back to what you're talking about
with luxury beliefs when people are not
under threat they are able to begin to
to push back on a lot of the elements of
structure that repress them so structure
is by its nature a limiting force and so
I think as things get better we will
always as humans I certainly don't EX
myself from this we will always as
humans want to push against the things
that limit us certainly in my own life
as I have gotten more money the thing
that's been hard is to stay disciplined
and focused on what works in a business
because I can paper over any poor
decisions just personally and so it
really did the first couple years of
impact Theory I I was whing pretty hard
and so we had to go wait a second like
what actually works use profitability
even though we can build unprofitably
let's really look at that and so if in
success of a society you know it leads
to the um I'll quote Adams this is a
paraphrase I'm to get very close can you
tell me how success does not lead to
luxury and how luxury can avoid leading
to the effeminization of culture
basically and how at that point
everything begins to break down and
that's what I feel like he was looking
back at history obviously and seeing the
cycle repeat which is exactly what we're
living through right now we push against
the structures we begin to pick at those
things that limit us and the ultimate
thing to pick at that limits us is the
the the core biological construct of
male and female and I actually get why
people don't want to be limited you get
people then amassing at the edges that
are going to test the veracity of those
beliefs in the real world and that is
what's happening uh and I don't know if
you've been paying attention but
Vladimir Putin Xi Jinping the leader of
Iran and other leaders around the world
there is this phrase that's been doing
the rounds from all of these people
which is a multi-polar world they keep
talking about it what is a multi-polar
world the multi-polar world is the
opposite of the unipolar world which is
where we have been since World War II in
which America yes you had the standoff
with the Soviet Union that ended in 1989
or 1991 dep depending on whether you
count the ban wall or the collapse of
the Soviet Union at which point America
became completely hegemonic in the world
and what is happening now is Vladimir
Putin Xi Jinping and others with the
support of a lot of people in the west
who are like oh America's evil American
imperialism blah blah blah um they are
now tearing down the world order that
we've been living under and uh this is
what it looks like conflict here War
here Civil War there Etc and uh I
believe that we we are living through
the very beginning of what will be
extraordinarily interesting times so to
speak unfortunately the Thomas Soul who
we both love I mean he talked about all
of this this is a fundamental the
conflict of vision that he described uh
is is the tension
between um the kind of you blank slatis
the belief that anything is flexible
anything can be changed the power of
feelings emotions Etc over the idea that
the best way to understand how we ought
to live our lives is to look at the past
and look how human beings have always
lived their lives and what has worked
and what hasn't and when it comes to war
and conflict there's a a phrase in Latin
that has been known for Millennia civis
patch and Parabellum if you want peace
prepare for war if you want peace you
have to be strong if you want peace you
have to be confident in your own values
this is why last time we spoke for 3
hours about woke culture and I've been
saying from day one from from the day
that I turned down a contract from a a
college not to perform a comedy gig I
said from day one what this is doing it
is undermining our confidence and our
civilization the fact that in Britain
for example we have an endless
conversation about slavery and it's a
negative conversation it's a self-
flatulating conversation which is of
course understandable given that slavery
was an awful thing the slave trade the
transatlantic slave trade was an awful
thing what people don't know and I kind
of know this a because I haven't been
guilted into not knowing it and B
because they actually teach history in
the place that I came from is that the
British Empire was the first Empire in
history to end slavery so we and I
talked about this in an immigrants love
letter to the West which I know you've
read it's like imagine that 10 years
from now we all become vegan because we
recognize that slaughtering animals is
immoral and then we say well America
ended the meat trade
first and that is why they're bad that
wouldn't make any sense whatsoever uh
that wouldn't make any sense whatsoever
and it's so what I see whenever these
conversations pop up and um you know you
see at the moment many protests around
Western countries around Israel and
Palestine most people who are protesting
on either side but particularly on the
side of on the pro Palestinian side they
have no idea what's going on they have
no idea where Palestine is they haven't
read the history they don't know
anything about it well what they do know
is which side America is on and so their
support for Palestine primarily is an
anti-American based idea or an
anti-western based idea so we have
educated generations of our own citizens
to hate their own country um to hate
their own civilization to hate the
values of their own civilization uh and
pulling apart at the threads of that
sweater is what's going on and you're
right one of the things that creates the
core of a society it's the interlocking
of men and women right in families and
the reproductive process there's no
getting away from that you need people
in order to be strong economically
militarily and in every other way the
fact that we increasingly live in
societies it's less the case here in
America but it's still the case here
where the birth rate is plummeting as
you know most Western countries are
below replacement rate in the UK you're
not quite there thankfully here in the
US but in the UK we have these EX um
Extinction Rebellion lunatics running
around uh Extinction Rebellion are an
environmental organization uh that is
linked with another organization called
just stop oil and what these people do
is they go around saying we should never
use any oil again uh and they glue
themselves to roads to stop traffic
using glue made of oil
uh that's how smart these people are and
one of the things that these people have
indoctrinated people to believe is that
having children is bad the greatest
environmental impact you can possibly
make on the world is to have a
child this is a death cult it's it's a
religion of self it's a religion of
suicide that what we are living through
in the west uh it's a religion that
seeks to undermine every single thing
that has made the West successful we
talked about this last time and that is
what we're seeing it we're seeing a
civilzation that has lost confidence in
itself uh and is therefore unable to
defend or assert its values internally
let alone project them elsewhere m
yeah the one I think that we should
probably Define power because as one of
the things I want to do today I am very
curious to hear your ideas on like
because what I care about is um personal
power quite frankly it's what my whole
impact theory is about that like how do
you Empower people to make um their
lives better and I've been able to sneak
in uh an obsession over Power by calling
it
empowerment uh which has wonderfully I
think open people up to the idea because
it doesn't have the baggage of power but
that's really all you're talking about
um I have a very clear definition of
what I think power is but I would love
to hear yours tell me yours show me
yours I'll show you mine oh Fair all
right here we go uh so power is uh close
your eyes imagine a world better than
this one open your eyes go acquire the
skills and deploy them to actually make
that better world come into existence
and once people understand that ideas
are ideas are only as useful as they can
be implemented to move you towards your
goals the problem is most people do not
have a clear sense of what their goal is
therefore they have no idea if the
things that they're believing are
actually moving them towards their goals
or not um and then what ends up
happening when you don't have those
clear definitions is people get caught
up in ideas that sound good we
definitely spent a lot of time last time
talking about it um but I I think it
Bears repeating for people that haven't
seen it Thomas o has a quote that really
steers my thinking in so many things
which is the last 30 years I usually say
50 because he said it 20 years ago the
last 50 years have been marked by
exchanging what worked for what sounds
good
and I power is about the ability to
predict the outcome of your actions and
so if you're trying to do something and
that something is Honorable then having
the power to see it through is
incredibly important and
so being able to acquire skills and
deploy those skills in service of
something honorable to me is is the
definition of power mhm uh fine uh no no
quibble with that on a personal level I
think when we talk about internationally
and geopolitically uh Power has a
different set of definitions which to me
when I talk about power what I mean is
the ability for the United States and
its allies to achieve their objectives
around the world and those objectives
typically are uh secure uh the alliance
or compliance of VAR States for the end
goal of securing maximum resources for
the citizens of our countries uh and
stability peace security Etc right so
maximum security uh for ourselves from
being attacked from being invaded from
having our interests challenged and
maximum resources I mean the the the
great unsayable is and and Vladimir
Putin who I'm a fierce critic of as you
know uh he actually said this you know
America collects a hedon's tax
what does that mean what that means is
the average American cons consumes five
times as many resources as the average
citizen of the
world and that is because you're the
dominant superpower in the world right
we don't like to say it like this
because it sounds selfish and greedy and
whatever but fundamentally every society
every country is seeking to maximize the
welfare of their citizens in an ideal
world and the Art of geopolitics is for
these big powerful countries to secure
the interests of their people as best
they can so from the purpose from the
point of view of the United
States having the richest and safest
citizens in the world is what this is
all about and it's been my view for a
long time that people have fundamentally
misunderstood the people who complain
about American imperialism and they
right to because you know the the war in
Iraq was a crime and it was a
disaster but on the other hand that does
not mean that America is involvement in
in the rest of the world is not precise
L why Americans are as comfortable and
as wealthy and as safe as they are and
have been for a long time so um but a
lot of people don't understand that they
don't understand that they they see
America as a source of evil uh and
operate on that
basis okay so I would posit that we
share that what you just demonstrated is
is the exact um is a concrete example of
the exact definition of power that I
gave and it draws us into what I think
will ultimately make people very
squeamish but what I want people to
begin to dissect because again my goal
is to get people to understand their
their individual power and that they
Hard Times bad times good times whatever
times there are opportunities and
dangers you can capitalize on the
opportunities and avoid the dangers if
you understand the playing field the
chessboard however you want to think
about it and so the thing that's going
to make people squeamish is that what
when you as America say close my eyes
and imagine a world better than this one
that's where people start to get
uncomfortable about what they imagine is
the better world and are Marching
towards that so the thing hiding in
plain sight with my definition is we're
not going to agree what's
honorable and
so but what I don't want people to do is
have a reactionary push back against
okay power is making a world come true
that I don't think is Honorable and
therefore power is bad no which is where
we are correct and this is why I think
that what ends up happening is you one
day the lion shows up on your door and
now you have a real problem because
you're weak and the lion is strong and
the lion will do as it will and you will
suffer as you must I would modify that
metaphor even more the lion is walking
through the neighborhood looking for the
weakest person and if you live in the
biggest house and you send out signals
of weakness
Time and Time and Time and Time Again
The Lion will be at your door and that
is what's happened every time the West
sends out a signal of weakness division
a lack of willingness to assert itself
every time you have a new story about
how you know in in the UK there's the
story about how the Royal Air Force
decided they were not going to hire any
more useless white
pilots and actually discriminated
against white men
for that job now does that make our
military Better or Worse right we have
we have substituted competence for other
things when you do that what happens is
competence goes down whatever you
optimize for is what you get other
things suffer and that's where we are so
we have sent out signals of weakness in
terms of our military we have sent
signals of weakness in terms of how
divided we are we have
allowed uh our Colleges and Schools to
indoctrinate our own children with
ideologies and World Views that are
fundamentally antithetical to what has
made the West successful and if I'm
Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping or whoever
else and I'm looking at that I'm
thinking America's lost its will America
has lost its and and and the last time
the United States uh had a leader who
for all his many personal flaws and lots
of things that I disagree with that he
did the last time that they had a leader
who was strong progress was made in the
Middle East the Abraham Accords uh Iran
wasn't getting the soft deals that it's
now getting um and what did they do they
were outraged by his Brash personality
they were outraged by his willingness to
be strong they were outraged by him
talking plainly about how the world
actually works because they live in this
imaginary reality in which it's all
about your feelings and your emotions
and all of that um so uh this is the
point I've made from day one we don't
operate in a vacuum and if you're
uncomfortable with the dishonorable
American imperialism the only thing that
I invite you to do is to think about how
the world would look if it wasn't
America that was doing the imperializing
if it was Russia or if it was China or
if it was Iran is that a better world
because you don't get to choose the
perfect honorable World Of Your Design
I'm afraid you don't you get to choose
as I've said in in previous podcast
which [ __ ] you are being ruled by
that's what you get to choose and
frankly Americans are my favorite
[ __ ] in that
respect yeah so I really hate the messy
reality of life but um being in the
marketplace as an entrepreneur you are
constantly confronted with some things
work and some things don't and work is
defined by what are you trying to
achieve and so it really does force a
level of clarity you in the last episode
I was rewatching it you kept saying
you're emotionally detached in a way
that most people aren't you're
emotionally detached in a way that most
people aren't uh and I never said it
didn't occur to me to say it's not like
I was keeping it to myself but as I was
rewatching it I I didn't understand why
I didn't say but shouldn't people be
like to me the thing that I want to get
people to do is focus obsessively on
what works yeah what works you need to
know where you're trying to go and you
need to know what works um so we get to
choose the [ __ ] that are going to
rule us but I my take on things would be
a little bit different I would say
that's probably the
the like just unadorned truth of it all
and maybe I'm dealing in the the realm
of uh the the you wanted to make it you
want to make it sound nicer and I don't
it's not that I want to make it sound
nicer I may just be stuck in a layer of
abstraction so I will say what I think
um is we do get to choose which is maybe
slightly more than that so I think a
society gets to decide where it wants to
go and every generation is going to
decide where they are going to steer
things and so I've thought a lot about
this as the Young Generation comes up
and they're taking what I will call
self-destructive beliefs you called
suicidal beliefs um I I'm like they get
to do that we can't there's basically
nothing that we can do to stop them like
even if we right now we're really
dragging and or or my parents generation
is really dragging it out staying in
political power for as long as they have
but they will die and so then ultimately
the next generation is going to get to
control where we go so everybody gets to
take the world where they want to take
it the problem is I don't think people
have clear foresight into where exactly
what the second and third order
consequences of those decisions are and
so the thing that I always use is the
some people need to be chased by a
lion what I worry about is if we don't
get a comfortable relationship with
power with personal power with holding
myself accountable because I I say this
to the people in the comments remember I
come at everything from what can I do
what's my responsibility what do I need
to own um I'm not the guy to talk to for
like what should the the on mass
collection of people be doing I'll let
other smarter people deal with that I
just think about what should the
individual be doing because I know I can
control what I do I can control the
rules and rules of thumb that I abide by
which is ultimately the thing I want to
pull people's attention to it's where I
spend all of my time thinking about what
would be the rules and rules of thumb in
my own life that are going to lead me to
where I want to go which I Define as
human flourishing okay so if every
generation gets to decide where they
want to go if we do that partly uh by
electing the [ __ ] that we want to
rule us what I want people to understand
is there's a second layer to that which
is we get to decide what cultural values
we champion and so to do that I I would
encourage people to take a historical
view if you want to get rich take a
historical view man understand the
macroeconomics and how they just repeat
it is a terrifying cycle again I talk
about re alio all the time I will just
point people to Ray he covers this so so
brilliantly uh you want to be um you
want a good uh governmental structure
look at history like there's so much to
learn oh my God just by looking at the
the movements of History culturally if
you want to look at um the individual
human thriving look at history like
there are so many lessons to get by
looking at history but you also have to
know where you want to end up so you're
looking at history as a way to map a
better path to the thing the better
world that you can imagine in the future
and so if the way that we convey these
ideas such that they become the
emotional drivers because I don't think
there's any way at the populace level to
get people to do anything other than to
make it feel right and the way that your
feelings are shaped never said this out
loud but this is so important the way
your feelings are shaped or through your
beliefs and your values most of the time
Society just hands us those as a set of
rules effectively and nobody ever
challenges them so you have to
consciously construct your beliefs and
your values that will give you an
emotional reaction
to uh the set of rules that you're going
to abide by the structure that you force
upon Society the things that you tell
people to do and not to do okay so if we
take all of that then people really have
to get honest about the second and third
order consequences of if I do this thing
because right now remember individuals
I'm talking to you right now people are
steering by a I don't want any
constraints I don't want any confines um
the miracle is redistribution not the
creation of prosperity
itself if you do that the value that you
are propagating is that the group should
take care of the individual by the way
they do that by taking from the
individuals to give to the group I would
say that the only effective way forward
is for the individual to take take
responsibility not just of the [ __ ]
that they elect but to take
responsibility of the value systems that
they propagate because it will
completely influence the emotional
reaction of themselves and
others and you want to feel really good
when you propagate things that lead to
human flourishing which I will say is
when you celebrate the individual H
celebrates the wrong word when you hold
the individual accountable you can
reboot your life your health even your
career anything you want all you need is
discipline I can teach you the tactics
that I learned while growing a billion
dollar business that will allow you to
see your goals through whether you want
better health stronger relationships a
more successful career any of that is
possible with the mindset and business
programs in Impact Theory University
join the thousands of students who have
already accomplished amazing things tap
now for a free trial and get started
today I want to start breaking down what
exactly are the beliefs that trip people
up so we know that uh focusing on gender
is is a side effect because I don't even
have beef with that but it's a side
effect of wanting to get rid of all
[Music]
structure but there's a set of ideas
that I think are probably more complex
than just that that end
up taking a person down a Road of this
all sounds good but it doesn't work M
have you thought much about what that
stack of beliefs is yeah people like to
describe it in different ways some
people call it postmodernism some people
call it all sorts of other things but
the very basic thing at the core of that
is that uh there is no such thing as
reality there is only Power and language
is how power is exercised and how
reality is constructed um you know
people always talk about Michelle Fuko
and and the idea that this is where this
comes from uh so if that if those
assumptions are true then nothing is
true and everything is constructed so if
I say I am a woman I am a woman if I say
I am a different race I Am A different
race uh and this magical world in which
we've been encouraged to live in which
you can identify as whatever you want it
works very well as long as there aren't
anybody any as long as there are not
other countries and other forces outside
of our world who don't believe these
Airy fairy uh
falsehoods but at the core of that
system is essentially the belief that
reality doesn't exist and it is defined
by the way we speak and that is
essentially all there is to power and to
structure and to society I'm sure I'm
just at the tip of the iceberg that is
absolutely one of the things that I put
which is everything is a social
construct Nature has no rules there's no
ground truth um why does that become so
deranging you said it works as long as
there are no other powerful forces what
is it
that acting as if you believe that or
actually believing it why does that
become problematic because it clashes
with reality if for example you ad you
you say there's no difference between
men and women uh and therefore I'm a
woman well that has an impact on
masculinity femininity it has an impact
on how we structure our society what
kind of energy our society has in terms
of its posture around the world Etc so
if you take some recent examples um
during the football World Cup uh the
soccer World Cup which happened in I'm
married to a Brett I was with you which
happened in Qatar all the Western
Nations spend the entire time talking
about LG btq plus Etc the reality is no
one in Qatar gives a [ __ ] about
lgbtqi plus and Western language talking
is not going to in any way change how
they treat that issue because the way
they treat that issue is a product of
the beliefs they have about the world
and about reality and so on
chastising Nations around the world
about their values does not change their
values but we believe it does because in
our countries chastising people over
what they say or what they think we
think works we think that if we chastise
people for their attitudes to various
issues they're going to change their
mind but it isn't true likewise it isn't
true that everybody in the world uh
responds to language uh George Kenan who
was a student um of the Soviet Union and
he was an ambassador there for a long
time he said that Russia is uh
is I'm going to butcher the quote
here I can't remember the exact words
but it's something like Russia is
insensitive to the language of words and
highly sensitive to the language of
power or language of force right uh most
people out there in the world do not
care about being perceived to be moral
or being perceived to be virtuous or
being perceived to be anything they care
about some very simple things like money
or oil precious metals rare earth metals
land Force Power military capacity right
this is what they care about and to the
extent that they are able to achieve
that they will pursue that by any means
necessary you see this with what Russia
is doing you see this with what other
countries are doing um they are pursuing
their interests as they understand them
by any means necessary and if we cut off
our ability to do the same because we go
oh this is Dishon able it's dishonorable
to use Force it's dishonorable to have
regions of the world under our power
under our influence why should we be
involved in this country far far away
well the reason is that's how you make
America prosperous and safe right but
nobody wants to say that because in the
world that we live in it's dishonorable
it doesn't sound good right the truth is
you know I
remember in I said this on Twitter
recently in 1990 in the '90s and the 0s
you had all these American movies and
which which some CIA guy would be like
and they hate us cuz we have freedom and
I was like no idiot they hate you cuz
you have
power that's why they hate you people
don't want to hear this but on 9/11 most
of the world
cheered it wasn't because they hate your
freedom it's not cuz most of the world
is Jihadi terrorists people don't like
the people at the top of the pyramid
everybody wants to take your place and
that is the simple truth of the world
and unless you're willing to stand in
place and defend it someone will come
and take it away from you it's no
different to cartels in in Mexico right
once they sense a weakness in the
strongest cartel what happens someone
comes after it it fragments they form a
new thing they start again that's how
power works and there's no escaping it
on the the Power Front um and then I'll
come back to the the beliefs that lead
us astray on the power front yeah it the
truth of the world is is deeply
uncomfortable and there's something very
weird about that nature is red in tooth
and Claw So for anybody that's heard
that but never stopped to think about it
uh what it means is you stop your enemy
and unfortunately I'm actually really
curious to get your emotional take on so
I've seen a lot of the footage coming
out of the Israel Hamas conflict it's
doing something to me that I really
don't like the way it makes me feel and
I watched one today wow I'm getting
emotional I watched one today where um
there was a somebody from Hamas going
through and they had a camera like a
GoPro or whatever on their head and
they're just filming it and through the
window they shoot and kill somebody you
can't really see it but you hear the
person die it's crazy and then um that
person ends up getting shot and killed
and I just
thought to kill another human you rip
their body like you tear a hole in their
organs they bleed out it's violent and
painful and simple and fast and watching
that person die I mean they die fast man
like at the end somebody shoots him I
don't know sniper what single shot not
even like a just pow drops you hear him
he's talking it oh dude it was just so
crazy
and that nature is red in tooth and Claw
we have not escaped nature m not
entirely but there is something about
how much progress we've made that is
thrilling and when I think about how
much prosperity and how much um Peace
the Western World on our home turf
because I am well aware of the
horrendous forever Wars that we have
gotten into but on our own home
turf how much that we have had and
what's scares me is that it's huge
blessings huge blessings and also seems
to derange our thinking in some way
going back to the idea some people need
to be chased by a line like there is
something about human nature that has to
be has to be that's a wrong way to think
about
it if it isn't kept in check that that a
way of thinking becomes pathologized and
we the oh God I'm explaining an idea
that I've not had to articulate out this
is why I love having you on
uh the group begins to vibrate stick
with me the group begins to vibrate it
sounds like a sexual fantasy mate let's
see it doesn't end like one I don't
think not for me uh the group begins to
vibrate and the individual gets lost
Collective thinking takes over and all
all hell breaks loose and that all hell
breaks loose can be just a a weakening
and so a stronger force from the outside
comes in and takes over or it can be um
I'd have to really think
about times where the group the
collective becomes like a a ma China or
something like that
um that worries me the deranging of that
to keep it on things we've already
talked about in this conversation when
you get the pulling all of the structure
apart so that there is nothing left to
push back on so that everyone is equal
everyone is the same nobody is worse off
because we have the luxury to believe
that so um I say that because if um
great example if somebody broke in to
the this studio right now and they said
okay we um you have to win a debate or
everyone here dies I would IM
immediately go okay constant is a better
debater than me so constant sorry so um
you you go do the debating and I would
just have because I don't want anybody
to get shot I don't need to be right I
just need somebody that I've seen do it
and I know that they're good at it boom
so now reality slaps you in the face and
everybody lines up behind that but when
there is none of that you get this slow
Decay and the slow Decay is hard to
protect against and that's where we are
I think uh that's exactly where we are
we've become very uncomfortable
with look this is a very very difficult
thing to talk about okay but I think we
have to talk about it particularly in
this moment so I've talked we've got a I
don't know when this will go out but we
have an episode where Sam Harris and
Eric Weinstein come coming out and we
talked about Israel and Palestine a lot
and the thing that we were talking about
is This World War II ended because
United States dropped two nuclear
weapons on Japan
and because of what happened to Germany
okay
now when the United States dropped I
think it was Hiroshima when they dropped
that nuke they afterwards one of those
two they
went and measured the blast
impact of those
detonations not the release of energy
from the liqu weap which is much greater
but the blast impact and they calculated
how many conven Munitions you would have
to use to achieve the same blast impact
on a city when they did those
calculations there's a Russian historian
called Mark salonan who's gone through
all of this in the last year and a half
of World War II the Allies that's mainly
the Brits the Americans and the Soviets
dropped 50 hirosima a month on
Germany whoa every month for 18 months
they wiped German off the map flattened
cities hundreds of thousands of people
burned alive now historians have come
along and say and said that was too much
that was unjustifiable that was wrong
Etc but the fact is that Germany was in
the death in the grips of a death cult
Hitler said we're going to make a final
stand we're not going to retreat we're
not going to capitulate we're not going
to surrender uh and that is what
happened and the only way the Allies
could win that war was To Kill a hell of
a lot of innocent people
okay are we saying that was wrong are we
saying that murdering not murdering
sorry killing millions of innocent
civilians in war is wrong well I think
so don't you yes can you win a war
without doing it no I don't know I will
say that no you can't look like it you
can't you can't so what does that we in
so if you accept my premise then we are
in a moral paralysis right now because
if you want to win the war you have to
kill innocent civilians and we don't
want to kill innocent civilians what's
the outcome we can't win the war and
that's where we are that's where we are
okay so power as the returning theme uh
I imagine people are getting squeamish
what you point you keep saying that but
what what does squeamish mean it means
that they're going what I mean by that
now is people are going to reject a tool
because it can also be used to um do
horrendous things so I saw a tweet um
that said there there is only tragedy in
the um Israeli Palestine conflict
there's no good that can come of it no
that's not what they said there's only
tragedy that is what they said uh and I
wish I had memorized it because it was a
really eloquent description of it's it's
not good guys bad guys it's just tragedy
Every Which where you look
and nature is red in tooth and Claw and
there is tragedy to that but I don't
know that there is any way to escape it
and relinquishing your power is not the
way to do it as somebody who thinks in
movies I will remind everybody of
Superman 2 uh when Superman gives up his
powers because he wants to just be a
normal person and be in love with Lois
Lane and do the things at a normal
person would do only to then find out
that he gets knocked around by the bully
and to help people has to uh get his
powers back it's interesting I have not
thought about that uh metaphor but yeah
that I think is the very hard lesson
we're learning that it feels really good
to focus on how much I love my wife to
focus on how much I care about uh my
team here at impact
to focus on the people that I'm trying
to help with the show but there's a
reason why I talk constantly about the
imagery that I use to keep myself
motivated is me and a loin cloth covered
in the blood of my enemies and I have to
channel that willingness to be hard to
be tough uh in order to stay focused to
not give up to not fall into a weak
mindset here's another quote that I wish
I had memorized but I'll get you CL with
a paraphrase this is George
Washington uh George Washington said
when a group of people loses their hard
fighting
disposition um they can no longer claim
themselves to be among the
best just as cowardice is a mortal sin
in the individual it is a mortal sin at
the population level and I was like whoa
like especially when you understand his
role and what he did in order to help
America get the American experiment off
the ground uh which is hopefully
something we'll get to before the end of
this talk like what the American
experiment is why it matters why it's
not owned by America one of the aspects
that we're circling around here is
sacrifice think about what George
Washington did he led hundreds of
thousands of men many of whom were
maimed and killed into battle
over
what an idea the idea that you people in
this country should be free of external
tyranny and he
sacrificed men's lives to achieve it now
we would agree that killing people is
bad maming people is bad we don't want
any civilian or anyone killed do we
because we're good moral virtuous
people but that is not how the world
works if you want to achieve goals
inevitably that will happen right if you
want to defend your country you have to
sacrifice some men usually men almost
always men have to sacrifice themselves
and someone who's in charge of that will
be in charge of do we send these people
here do we send them there some of them
are going to
die we're in moral paralysis in the west
at a level of society we still have
generals we still have you know
presidents who will press the button and
send men into battle and whatever but a
level of society we are incapable of
understanding that reality we're
incapable of understanding the fact that
look the Israel Palestine situation is a
perfect example of this if you believe
that Hamas is a terrorist
organization you understand that this
was Israel's
9/11 and Israel has to destroy Hamas if
Israel has to destroy Hamas Hamas using
civilians as a shield means that
civilians are going to
die I don't feel comfortable being the
guy yeah yeah yeah press that button go
on I'm not happy saying that I'm not
saying that but the people making that
decision if they want to destroy Hamas
have to take innocent life that's the
moral quandry that the entire world is
in and the reason that Israel is
particularly in that position it is
being forced to play by Western rules
against people who play by a completely
different set of rules who don't operate
on those values whatsoever it's
interesting calling them Western rules I
like to think hm I haven't thought about
this so I can tell that what I'm about
to say is ill informed but I'll walk
through the way that I was thinking
about it and then I'll sort of
self-correct
um what I was going to say is I like to
believe that as a
society finds itself
prosperous uh not quite true this is how
I I know this still informed uh okay
there are two ways to approach it you've
got the individualistic way you've got
the collectivist way you can achieve
extraordinary things through both as
China shown over the last whatever 30
years been absolutely breathtaking to
see that level um I just have a feeling
that that one deranges a little more
quickly than does the individual so if
you made me place a bet on which one is
uh going to yield the best results over
time I would say that betting on the
individual um meaning individual
freedoms property rights all the things
that will call Western values um I think
that that makes sense I think the once
you do that and you make the individual
you think of them as having a Divine
spark within them and that each
individual is precious and and not this
disposable thing um that that has a
self-correcting mechanism in it that
leads to what we're seeing now now we
have looped back to beliefs that end up
creating um the uh the pathology and
we'll we'll keep going through some of
them because I think it's pretty
fascinating but I that to me I think
makes a lot of sense so I want to
believe that any society that bets on
the um in elevating the individual the
individual as the um the right unit of
account as you begin to analyze what to
do what not to do uh that it requires
you to look at them as sacred
individuals and thly protect them and
thly any society that goes down that
path is going to find themselves not
wanting to use human Shields or blow up
human Shields
um so anyway I think I navigated that
reasonably well I stopped myself from
the most absurd uh trip-ups which is
that a collectivist society can work um
I just have a feeling that it because it
only requires one person to become
pathologized that uh that has a tendency
to end in tyranny and bad news much
faster but it's certainly not impossible
for either system uh to end up
there
okay anything anything on more on that
belief no okay so uh I I have more so
problematic beliefs that cause collapse
that I want people to pay attention to
because if you adjust these in your own
life not only do I hope that that means
the collective won't derange that it
means if we really are living through
effectively the modern version of the
Roman collapse that this is going to
help you see opportunities if you can
avoid these problematic beliefs okay so
Prosperity is a fundamental law of human
nature I feel like people believe that
that's
true what do you think dumb people
believe that that's true yeah or maybe I
take that back lucky people people in
the Western World believe that that's
true because they've never experienced
anything else but that isn't the world
the world is very very different to that
and this is one of the things I've made
it my business to remind everybody you
know we talk endlessly about all sorts
of forms of privilege this privilege
that privilege you know the the real
privilege that we all enjoy is Western
privilege first world privilege uh and
we have been very comfortable for a very
long time in that privilege and we have
forgotten that life for the overwhelming
majority of people throughout human
history has been an immense struggle for
survival Prosperity is not a given it is
a product of the things that we have
been very lucky to enjoy in the west and
the values that we have are what has
allowed us to build it which is why
they're important to preserve so
Prosperity Prosperity is not a human
right it it doesn't fall out of the sky
it's not on your birth certificate
Prosperity is a product of action it's a
product of action in your personal life
it's a product of action at the level of
society for you to enjoy the prosperity
that you enjoy you have to work your
butt off as you have done and be smart
and be creative and be driven and be
talented and have great ideas that you
test against reality and fail and
recover and adjust that's how you build
prosperity in your own life and
countries are no different I heard a
really cool quote I'll paraphrase I
mentioned it
earlier in the capitalist system people
recognize that Prosperity is the miracle
in a socialist system people get
confused and think that redistribution
is the miracle so if it's true that it's
the rules and rules of thumb that really
are going to equate to your level of
success whether that's emotional
succcess financial success societal
success uh what are highle rule sets the
the two that came to mind the fastest
just at the highest highest level we
capitalism and socialism so I was like
all right without looking it up what
would I Define these two systems as so
for capitalism I said individuals try to
try to contribute to the group and
prosperity is their reward if
successful for socialism I said the
group takes from the individual to
divide Prosperity evenly
and what do you think about those
definitions first of all pretty good I
mean they're obviously by definition
extraordinarily simplified yes but but
broadly speaking yes okay
so when you look at those rule sets one
of them I think acknowledges that
Prosperity is going to be hard to come
by that's why I said because originally
I was like individuals cont contribute
to the group and prosperity is their
reward and I was like hold on because
you're going to try to contribute you
may not be able to society may say I
don't like your contribution the one
that kills me Society may say you're not
smart enough to contribute
meaningfully that one is hard but real
and there are going to be people that
just do not have the intellectual
horsepower to contribute meaningfully to
society and hence I like a social safety
net of some kind like looking out for
people wanting to help people all of
that's amazing anyway socialism takes
that prosperity for granted and does not
realize realiz that you can break the
very thing that creates the prosperity
which is giving people the individual
freedom to try to contribute to the
group and if they're able to do that
successfully that Prosperity is their
reward they are able to create a
differential between themselves and
other people they're actually able to do
that now of course anybody that's
familiar with the jinny coefficient
knows that if that gap between the
halves and the Have Nots becomes too
much you are basically guaranteed
violence because people can actually be
poor and it's not a problem if everyone
around them as poor where it becomes a
problem is if your neighbor is super
wealthy and you're even normal like you
have a refrigerator you have air
conditioning you have a PlayStation like
you can have it all but if your neighbor
is Elon Musk now there's a real problem
and he has rocket ships and makes his
own cars all that stuff so um they can
be a problem but if you fail to
recognize that you that Prosperity is by
default everyone is broke all through
human history and everyone but the the
smallest number of like Royal people
just suffered endlessly and were victims
of just climate just you froze to death
you overheated just was or you starved
to death probably even way more common
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impact Theory that's K
Aja bi.com SL impact Theory earn more
doing what you love all right here's a
new one can we pause on nature has no
rules because I think one of the
interesting things about this all all of
this thing is um the biggest problem
with blank
slatis is the attempt to pretend that
human nature doesn't exist that humans
are not
wired to be predisposed to certain
things and it's incredibly unscientific
belief given that we know that we
evolved we're evolved creatures and
therefore um it's it's kind of it's
obviously understandable but at the same
time very silly to think that horrible
things that human beings do are some
ki