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Hello. So what happened in the previous video is I
lost the last 20 minutes

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of recording. Uh,

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there was some file corruption issue.

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I managed to recover the first 40 minutes using
the tool. The last 20 minutes got lost.

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Also, it's like past midnight here, so I'm
actually kind of sleepy, but I also feel

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a sense of, you know, if I leave this till
tomorrow, I'm not going to be as motivated to

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finish it tomorrow. Therefore, I'm just going to
do, you know, the rest of the recording

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right now, as well.

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Uh, it might show that I'm sleepy, but, you know,
that's just the choice I'm making being

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23.

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Yeah, so the last 20 minutes of the recording,
the, you know, part one, basically just

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had more examples of, you know,

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uh,

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you know, different power structures, shaping
people's values in different ways,

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basically.

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So I

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discussed in detail, I think, about the
enlightenment, you know, about how the printing

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press, uh,

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made it more...

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The printing press allowed you to, you know,
anonymously spread political ideas.

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This in turn made it more morally acceptable to
spread, you know, political ideas and

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just deviating ideas

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and that directly, indirectly led to the
enlightenment, led to, you know,

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Newtonian physics.

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I talked a bit about, you know,

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me really enjoying reading The Principia, at least
skimming through it and,

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and I tried, um,

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was trying to understand why Newton, even though
he knew calculus, you know, in the

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Principia, he does all the proofs using conic
geometry.

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U- Using, you know, you know, geo- geometry of
ellipses and,

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uh,

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parabolas and stuff.

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See, a printing press is an example of

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something that changed the moral values of a
population, I think.

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I talked about, you know,

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the British

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colonizing the world and how they

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got, you know, first of all, engineering strength
due to ship building and secondly, you

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know, political strength, the ability to do divide
and rule, you know, all these economic

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and financial tools such as, you know, joint-stock
operations, such as, you know,

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double-entry bookkeeping, which is the ability to,
you know, transfer debts between

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people like,

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you know, these financial tools of, you know, debt
and tithes and so on

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have existed in various kingdoms. Uh, you know,
trade has always been there, but this

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kind of, you know, financialization was something
the British got really good at and this

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enabled them to

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colonize

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areas better, I think. Again, this is all guess
work from

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stuff I've not read a lot in detail at the strike
surface level, but this is the general

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impression I get.

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Uh, I talked about, you know, how the internet is
homogenizing morality.

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It's forcing different cultures to come into
contact and, you know, adapt to each other.

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You can't just be in your isolated bubble with
your own isolated moral code anymore.

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You have to interact with the rest of the world.

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Uh, I talked about, you know,

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how the birth of television

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did a bit of this, too. Like, the internet is
going to an ex- insanely extreme degree

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what, you know, television and radio already did.

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So

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radio and television broadcast between US and USSR

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was kind of difficult during the Cold War.

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There were, you know, these, uh, numbers stations
that sent encrypted radio broadcasts

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across and there would be, you know, CIA agents to
literally kill people in the numbers

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stations and so on.

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Uh, but yeah, now, we are in a world where...

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Or even with television, but even more so now,
we're in a world where, you know,

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people of say US and USSR do kind of know what's
going on in the other country

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and they do kind of have some basic understanding
of what are the differences in values

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here and they do kind of need to accept that.

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I talked about, you know,

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how the internet, uh,

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exposes you to people of so many different values
and so many different lifestyles.

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You

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will,

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if you are

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being very rational about it, you will eventually
come to the conclusion, you know, at

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least some of these people have values better than
yours. They're happier than you.

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N- You, they are more successful than you.

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So,

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it's not really surprising for, you know,

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wh- whoever community you happen to be born into.
It's...

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(furniture crashing)

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Sorry about this. I might edit this out later or
not.

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Yeah. I'm just going to wait till that

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finish.

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(furniture crashing) Yeah, I think we're done.
Cool.

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Uh,

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I was talking about the internet, stuff time.
Yeah, I have more examples, though.

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Uh,

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oh, yeah, I was talking about how nuclear weapons
centralize power, uh, that we have, you

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know, basically at

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least nine, you know, nuclear states and countries
that don't have nuclear weapons

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are basically client states for one of these, you
know, nuclear empires.

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You know, US, UK, France, Israel on one side.

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Uh,

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China, Russia, North Korea on the other side.

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India is, you know, 75% US, 25%, you know, this
side and, you know,

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Pakistan is on the other side, you know, 75%, you
know, China and 25% y- you know, US

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like.

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I talked about that.

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I talked a bit about, you know, capitalism versus
communism.

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I mean, there's a lot of examples. I-I should
actually just write an

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entire post on, you know, examples of,

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uh,

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these, you know, technology, how it shapes power
structures, how that shapes, you know,

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people's values. I have a lot of examples on this,
but,

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yeah, that's going to be a long video.

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Actually,

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yeah, I want to maybe

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accept all of that and come to the more personal
thing I wanted to talk about, you know,

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about

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my life and my personal values, not just, you
know, this is how values work in the world

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in general.

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Um,

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no, I'm unsure if I actually mentioned this in the
previous video about, you know,

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low-trust versus high-trust societies.

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Yeah, but the basic idea of low-trust versus
high-trust societies, as per me, is

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if lots of people all have the ability to exit
communities, families,

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situations, et cetera that are harmful to them,
then it's easier to build a high-trust

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society.

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Because then, you know, if people are together,
they're there by choice because they

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want- they actually feel they'll get some value by
being there, and they also feel safe

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enough to be there. They're not, you know, unsafe
and still stuck there.

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And, yeah, I think people in, say, the upper
middle class in the US

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more likely than not live in a high-trust society.

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They've maybe even had, you know, parents who grew
up in a high-trust society and so on.

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Because this is whereas, you know, where I am in
India, where even if, let's say, some of

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the people I know are- grew up in high-trust
circumstances, you know, maybe their

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family did not grow up in a high-trust
circumstance.

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Maybe there's lots of other people in my circle
who themselves are in a low-trust kind of

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situation even today.

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And,

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you know, a lot of, you know, my values,

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my desires, my wants,

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even though I'm trying to be fairly independent of
people around me, you know, I'm- I am

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probably internalizing at least some of it, just
by virtue of being here.

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And

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it definitely made me think about that.

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So there's a practical reality of, you know,

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if people around you have power, uh,

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they feel safer and then they teach you, you know,

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behaviors that are

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appropriate,

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then you are actually safe and you actually do
have the power to defend yourself and you

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do actually have a good rule of law and you do
actually have enough money that you can,

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you know,

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change your house, change your employer, you know,
even break friendships, make new

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friendships if it was absolutely necessary.

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Like,

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when you have money you can do all these things,
like...

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and which seems like a lot of the high-trust
societies that exist, at least some of them.

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Yeah, I won't say a lot, but some of them are high
trust because of this ability to exit.

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There are other ways to build a high-trust
society.

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This is not the only way to do it, but yeah, this
is one way to do it.

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So I think that is something that is affecting me
personally.

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Uh,

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another broad set of things that's affected me
personally a lot is I think basically just

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my childhood. Uh,

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(sighs)

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I might end up summarizing it here but all of
these have just deeply, deeply hurt

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me and

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right now I can be somewhat neutral and objective
about it. Maybe not.

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Maybe I'm still not really objective, but

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I can talk about these things without being in
actual physical pain because I have

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spent a lot of time thinking about it and at least
processing, you know, some of that

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pain.

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But, yeah, I think a lot of institutions I've been
part of in my life have...

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I have found them fairly oppressive to the point
where

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there are points in my life I would have genuinely
been better off if I had killed myself

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instead of, you know, continuing to live.

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Like,

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if, you know, Samuel at the end of, you know,
class well, you know, at the end of school

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chose to kill himself to get away from the pain,

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I honestly think

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that may have been the better choice.

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Like,

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you know, my life is so much better right now, you
know, as a 24-year-old compared to

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back when, you know, I was what?

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17-year-old? Yeah.

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Like in the past seven or so years my life has
just completely changed and

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I'm a lot happier now as a person. I have purpose
in life. I have friends.

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I have people I trust. I do not have a lot of
these things, you know.

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Yeah. I think I'm okay talking with some of this

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in public. Yeah. It's okay. Uh,

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I straight up did not have a lot of these things,
you know.

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Maybe 10 years ago I kind of had friends, but I
did not trust the friends, you know, I

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did not have anyone to talk to about anything
personal to me. I did not...

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Yeah, I think there are some childhood things that
I'm going to have to avoid talking

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about for, you know, protecting privacy of other
people.

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But,

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yeah.

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I think the summary of, you know,

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a lot of my childhood is I can

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give is... Yeah, I just found, you know,

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school fairly oppressive. I found, you know,
religion fairly oppressive.

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I found,

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yeah, not really anyone I could actually trust or
confide in.

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Uh,

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I think that's the short version.

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Might... I don't think I'm going to go into too
much of detail there for, you know,

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certain reasons.I

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think a lot of this,

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maybe I can talk about school. I think school is
safe to talk about, you know, why the

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school damage because of, uh...

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So I was recently, I mean, I say recently, I mean,
a year ago I...

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A year ago, I was teaching English at a school in
Vietnam, uh, for one and a half years.

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It's, uh, one and a half months

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up and sweeping.

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Ah.

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Yeah, I was

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teaching English and I could see that some of the
kids, and okay, their age groups were

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between

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eight

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to 16.

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And

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people, maybe the eight to 12 age group are

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more interested

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in, you know, group activities and doing things

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that are beneficial for the group. Like people
between eight...

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Children between, you know, ages 6 to 12, I felt
are more cooperative and children

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12 above are more accepting of, you know,
competitive kind of games.

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Like, I would play a lot of games with them and

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if I, you know, called an eight-year-old kid to
the board and say, you know, "Do this,"

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and he can't do it and he's feeling kind of bad,
you know, the other kids want to go and,

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you know,

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help him get the answer. Whereas if, you know, I
call a 16-year-old kid and say, you

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know, "Answer this on the board."

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Then, you know, he or she is probably on their own
to figure it out.

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That's not that interesting.

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Yeah, I think if you spend time with kids you
learn interesting things about kids and

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about

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humans more generally. Like,

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yeah, I think society trains a lot of valuable
human behaviors out of kids and school is

234
00:13:51,208 --> 00:13:53,108
one of the institutions that helps them do that.

235
00:13:55,607 --> 00:13:57,687
So yeah, maybe this is one of them. Like,

236
00:13:58,688 --> 00:14:03,127
if you did school very differently, you know,
maybe 8-year-olds kids who are very

237
00:14:03,167 --> 00:14:06,547
cooperative continue to be very cooperative by the
time they're 16.

238
00:14:06,547 --> 00:14:07,407
Mm-hmm.

239
00:14:07,407 --> 00:14:08,727
I'm not sure about that, but

240
00:14:09,767 --> 00:14:10,627
it seems possible.

241
00:14:12,587 --> 00:14:17,167
But yeah, I mean, of course ultimately school is,
you know, feed the system for college,

242
00:14:17,167 --> 00:14:20,307
which is feed the system for employment and
employment is, you know, individualist

243
00:14:20,307 --> 00:14:21,647
capitalist and so on. So

244
00:14:22,687 --> 00:14:26,627
you are going to train people to be very
individualist at the end of the day.

245
00:14:26,767 --> 00:14:27,027
So

246
00:14:28,607 --> 00:14:33,567
yeah, I mean, I get all of this. I didn't get, you
know, individualist econ- economies

247
00:14:33,567 --> 00:14:35,007
that support individualism make

248
00:14:35,867 --> 00:14:36,827
more wealth.

249
00:14:37,667 --> 00:14:38,067
Yeah.

250
00:14:39,487 --> 00:14:39,727
But

251
00:14:40,587 --> 00:14:42,127
yeah, I found it interesting as,

252
00:14:43,007 --> 00:14:47,247
you know, teacher there noticing these differences
between different age group kids.

253
00:14:47,387 --> 00:14:47,687
Uh,

254
00:14:48,987 --> 00:14:50,447
I noticed some kids clearly

255
00:14:51,067 --> 00:14:51,987
don't want to be there

256
00:14:52,627 --> 00:14:52,887
and

257
00:14:53,707 --> 00:14:56,807
ideally if it were up to me, I'm just like, you
know, "You don't have to be there.

258
00:14:56,807 --> 00:14:58,767
You can just leave and go do something else."

259
00:14:59,587 --> 00:15:02,927
(laughs) Like, "You don't want to be here. I don't
want to teach you.

260
00:15:03,167 --> 00:15:05,487
If you don't want to be here, I don't really want
to teach you either.

261
00:15:05,487 --> 00:15:07,227
So, you know, you can just go."

262
00:15:08,307 --> 00:15:11,867
And not in a bad way, like, not like a punishment
you have to go, but like, if you want

263
00:15:11,887 --> 00:15:16,407
to go, you can go, you know? But I can't actually
do that because, you know,

264
00:15:16,867 --> 00:15:19,627
their parents have hosted me, their parents have
paid the school,

265
00:15:20,247 --> 00:15:22,307
the, you know, education center money for them to
be

266
00:15:23,067 --> 00:15:27,107
locked in this class and I'm supposed to be the
disciplinarian who keeps them locked in

267
00:15:27,127 --> 00:15:27,867
this class.

268
00:15:28,667 --> 00:15:29,027
Like,

269
00:15:30,027 --> 00:15:32,187
and I was very uncomfortable with that kind of
role.

270
00:15:32,187 --> 00:15:35,607
Like, "Why am I being forced to lock up these
random kids here when they clearly don't

271
00:15:35,647 --> 00:15:39,967
want to be here?" Like, and the reason they don't
want to be here probably doesn't have a

272
00:15:39,987 --> 00:15:44,807
lot to even do with me, you know? Either they're
not interested in the course or, you

273
00:15:44,827 --> 00:15:49,307
know, they might have issues back at home that
cause them to not be interested in routine

274
00:15:49,307 --> 00:15:50,087
of any sort.

275
00:15:51,407 --> 00:15:53,907
Um, they might have actual priorities

276
00:15:54,667 --> 00:15:56,147
that they want to fix in their life

277
00:15:58,247 --> 00:15:58,747
that, that

278
00:15:59,367 --> 00:16:02,547
more importantly, you know, than acquiring new
knowledge.

279
00:16:02,567 --> 00:16:07,587
Like,

280
00:16:07,587 --> 00:16:07,927
like,

281
00:16:09,207 --> 00:16:11,547
yeah, I did notice this with a couple of kids.

282
00:16:11,547 --> 00:16:11,807
Mm-hmm.

283
00:16:11,807 --> 00:16:15,427
And I think I was the same. Like, I could look at
these kids and I could see, at least

284
00:16:15,427 --> 00:16:18,387
some of them I could see a bit... Not all of them,
but some of them I could see a bit of

285
00:16:18,427 --> 00:16:22,167
myself in that where, you know, I, in school was
like a very naughty kid.

286
00:16:22,167 --> 00:16:22,587
I would not

287
00:16:23,367 --> 00:16:27,427
fit in. I saw school as a complete waste of time
and it was, you know.

288
00:16:29,907 --> 00:16:33,347
Like, most of the best years of my life have been,
you know, gone by me,

289
00:16:34,467 --> 00:16:35,047
you know, just

290
00:16:36,667 --> 00:16:38,767
completely fucking wasted. I mean,

291
00:16:41,167 --> 00:16:44,127
like, it's a waste at an individual level and at a
societal level.

292
00:16:44,307 --> 00:16:44,547
Like,

293
00:16:45,387 --> 00:16:47,367
you know, my life got wasted and I'm personally

294
00:16:48,207 --> 00:16:52,807
kind of, even now I look back and like, I'm just
like, "What?" You know?

295
00:16:52,987 --> 00:16:53,207
Like,

296
00:16:54,367 --> 00:16:58,927
it's a complete waste of my life, but it's also a
waste for society, like...

297
00:17:00,727 --> 00:17:05,127
(laughs) I don't know, maybe this is the narrative
trust me, but, uh, so there is

298
00:17:05,867 --> 00:17:07,627
this epic rap battle, uh,

299
00:17:09,147 --> 00:17:13,007
Edison versus Tesla. And in the third verse, Tesla
has a

300
00:17:13,727 --> 00:17:15,567
line which is pretty hard, uh,

301
00:17:16,707 --> 00:17:18,667
hard and, you know, the rap sense hard.

302
00:17:18,667 --> 00:17:18,967
Uh,

303
00:17:19,947 --> 00:17:21,767
you know, it goes hard kind of. So

304
00:17:23,287 --> 00:17:24,387
it says,

305
00:17:25,187 --> 00:17:28,647
he tells you basically at the end of the second
verse, you know, Edison is like, "You

306
00:17:28,667 --> 00:17:32,747
know, I stole all your tech and you know, deal
with it." And Tesla is like, "You know,

307
00:17:33,207 --> 00:17:35,947
you did not steal from me, you stole me from
mankind."

308
00:17:36,947 --> 00:17:37,407
And...

309
00:17:40,927 --> 00:17:42,387
I don't know, maybe I want to get there.

310
00:17:42,387 --> 00:17:42,787
Mm-hmm.

311
00:17:42,787 --> 00:17:43,047
Like,

312
00:17:43,747 --> 00:17:47,587
I want to reach a point, and I'm not there yet,
but I want to reach a point where I can

313
00:17:47,587 --> 00:17:51,947
honestly say, you know, "If you are here to stop
me, you know, from my mission, you know,

314
00:17:52,807 --> 00:17:56,287
you are not stealing this from me, you're stealing
me for mankind." Like, I want to reach

315
00:17:56,287 --> 00:18:00,647
a point where I can honestly say that with, you
know, no doubt in my conscience about it.

316
00:18:02,687 --> 00:18:05,707
And I feel school did a bit of that, like school
did a bit of

317
00:18:06,367 --> 00:18:10,767
stealing human potential away from entire
generation of people

318
00:18:12,207 --> 00:18:17,167
and I could see that happen.I mean,

319
00:18:17,187 --> 00:18:21,607
it's not just... So there's one aspect of school
which is, you know, what you're actually

320
00:18:21,628 --> 00:18:25,088
curious about, they won't teach you, and what
you're not curious about, you know, they'll

321
00:18:25,088 --> 00:18:27,667
shove it down your throat for endless years.
There's that.

322
00:18:28,447 --> 00:18:29,107
There's the

323
00:18:30,347 --> 00:18:32,187
physically being, you know, stuck

324
00:18:33,327 --> 00:18:36,167
in a place you don't want to be. There's a...

325
00:18:38,007 --> 00:18:41,507
You know, I would play all these board games with
friends for many years, even I-

326
00:18:41,567 --> 00:18:46,007
initially it was these mazes I would make and then
later it graduated more into board

327
00:18:46,048 --> 00:18:50,647
games like chess. I would, you know, on pa-paper,
you know, obsessively play chess with,

328
00:18:50,667 --> 00:18:52,327
you know, a couple of friends. And

329
00:18:54,487 --> 00:18:57,587
the s- school says, you know, that's a bad use of
time, you know.

330
00:18:57,587 --> 00:19:00,928
"Go focus on the classes you already know how to
do."

331
00:19:01,947 --> 00:19:05,607
That's interesting.

332
00:19:05,607 --> 00:19:06,728
Yeah, it's... Now it

333
00:19:08,728 --> 00:19:12,807
sounds kind of very impersonal when I talk about
this, but going through this, actually

334
00:19:12,867 --> 00:19:14,347
living through it, was really painful.

335
00:19:16,447 --> 00:19:17,547
Oh, that's interesting.

336
00:19:17,547 --> 00:19:20,727
Like, I think if I had even one or two people who
were genuinely in my circle, who I

337
00:19:20,727 --> 00:19:24,587
genuinely trusted, I think all of this could have
been less- pretty much less painful.

338
00:19:24,587 --> 00:19:24,927
But

339
00:19:25,587 --> 00:19:28,707
yeah, the system wasn't designed to cater to
people like me.

340
00:19:30,567 --> 00:19:30,647
Okay.

341
00:19:30,647 --> 00:19:33,707
Yeah, maybe there are some people for whom the
system actually works.

342
00:19:34,927 --> 00:19:38,347
It just, it very clearly did not work for me, you
know.

343
00:19:40,727 --> 00:19:44,087
College did not really work for me either, but at
least

344
00:19:44,727 --> 00:19:46,947
I benefited in other ways from college, like
the...

345
00:19:48,127 --> 00:19:52,407
Again, you know, the academic, the curriculum, the
teaching was still a complete fucking

346
00:19:52,427 --> 00:19:56,707
waste of my time and the best of, you know, the
professor's times who were teaching me.

347
00:19:56,707 --> 00:19:56,947
Like,

348
00:19:57,767 --> 00:20:01,867
I think those people are also... They have actual
value to contribute to society.

349
00:20:02,167 --> 00:20:05,687
They want to, they don't want to, that's a
separate thing, but at least some of them want

350
00:20:05,707 --> 00:20:06,247
to, and

351
00:20:07,307 --> 00:20:11,147
to force them to be stuck with, you know, someone
like me who does not want to learn, I

352
00:20:11,207 --> 00:20:13,307
think that's a waste for them and for me, you
know?

353
00:20:17,287 --> 00:20:17,507
That's interesting.

354
00:20:17,507 --> 00:20:18,047
It's hard.

355
00:20:21,907 --> 00:20:23,127
Okay.

356
00:20:23,567 --> 00:20:26,007
Yeah, and I think this has shaped part of my
values.

357
00:20:26,007 --> 00:20:30,367
Like, I think freedom is very core to my values
now and it may be because of, you know,

358
00:20:30,387 --> 00:20:34,107
all these situations. Like, if I had a very
different childhood, maybe freedom would not

359
00:20:34,147 --> 00:20:35,727
be so important to me, but right now

360
00:20:37,107 --> 00:20:41,467
I am willing to sa- go to very extreme lengths of
sacrifice just to, you know, protect my

361
00:20:41,507 --> 00:20:42,367
freedom. Like,

362
00:20:44,147 --> 00:20:47,047
if I have to, you know, lose one of... an arm or a
leg to...

363
00:20:47,047 --> 00:20:50,607
like literally, you know, get one of my arm or
arms or my legs cut off

364
00:20:51,567 --> 00:20:55,087
to keep my freedom, I'll do it. If I have to, you
know, lose friendships to keep my

365
00:20:55,127 --> 00:20:56,927
freedom, I will do it. Uh,

366
00:20:57,767 --> 00:21:01,247
if I have to lose some of my money, paradoxically.

367
00:21:02,827 --> 00:21:04,307
Yeah, that may or may not actually end up
happening.

368
00:21:04,307 --> 00:21:06,087
You know, typically more money means more freedom.

369
00:21:06,087 --> 00:21:08,127
But yeah, if I had to, you know, in the short term
lose

370
00:21:09,047 --> 00:21:13,987
money and go through a bunch of... maybe go
through a terrible job for some short period

371
00:21:14,007 --> 00:21:14,467
of time

372
00:21:15,347 --> 00:21:17,707
to get a lot of freedom in the end, I'll kind of
do it.

373
00:21:21,227 --> 00:21:22,207
Okay.

374
00:21:22,207 --> 00:21:27,187
Yeah, like if someone offered me some really
miserable kind of job, but they said,

375
00:21:27,187 --> 00:21:29,367
you know, "I'm going to pay you, you know,

376
00:21:30,087 --> 00:21:33,567
I don't know, $200,000 a year for it," like, I
might do it

377
00:21:34,347 --> 00:21:36,027
just because, you know, the money...

378
00:21:36,047 --> 00:21:39,487
Like, I think there are moral boundaries I will
not be willing to cross.

379
00:21:39,587 --> 00:21:44,047
But keeping that aside, I think I'm willing to
tolerate some amount of personal misery

380
00:21:44,087 --> 00:21:44,387
if,

381
00:21:45,387 --> 00:21:46,787
you know, I get the money. It's just

382
00:21:47,807 --> 00:21:51,667
right now when I look at it, like, making money
feels like this huge and painful

383
00:21:51,687 --> 00:21:53,487
endeavor. So I'm not motivated, but...

384
00:21:54,587 --> 00:21:56,747
Like, it feels like it will consume a lot of time.

385
00:21:57,167 --> 00:21:59,067
If it was, I could quickly do it, I would do it.

386
00:21:59,087 --> 00:22:03,127
But yeah, I think if I set out to make a lot of
money, it's just going to take a lot of

387
00:22:03,187 --> 00:22:07,047
time. I don't want to waste my time on that
because, you know, I...

388
00:22:08,047 --> 00:22:12,647
See, because freedom. Like, I can sacrifice some
things in short term, but I don't want

389
00:22:12,647 --> 00:22:15,927
to sacrifice my freedom in the long term for
almost anything.

390
00:22:18,107 --> 00:22:18,627
Uh,

391
00:22:20,247 --> 00:22:22,567
I think truth has become very important to me.

392
00:22:22,687 --> 00:22:23,087
Like,

393
00:22:24,607 --> 00:22:26,827
I think a lot of institutions I was part of,

394
00:22:27,527 --> 00:22:32,067
if the people in those institutions were genuinely
aware of, you know, how much

395
00:22:32,187 --> 00:22:35,827
suffering they're creating in the world by being
part of that institution.

396
00:22:36,687 --> 00:22:40,587
If, let's say, you know, my teachers in school
were aware, you know, how much pain I was

397
00:22:40,627 --> 00:22:40,867
in,

398
00:22:42,887 --> 00:22:46,047
maybe they would not force me to be there. Maybe
they would themselves...

399
00:22:46,067 --> 00:22:48,687
at- at least some of them. Not all of them, but
some of them would

400
00:22:49,727 --> 00:22:52,707
realize maybe there is something deeply fucked up
about me being there.

401
00:22:52,707 --> 00:22:56,807
Like, I don't know, it's a hope, but I do wonder
if- and again, this is not just a

402
00:22:56,827 --> 00:22:59,907
message to, you know, my teachers. Like I don't
know them, so they're probably are not

403
00:22:59,927 --> 00:23:02,167
going see this. If they see, you know, whatever.

404
00:23:02,167 --> 00:23:04,007
Like this is not a message for my teachers, it's a

405
00:23:04,787 --> 00:23:06,927
message to all teachers of the world at some
level.

406
00:23:06,927 --> 00:23:07,347
Like,

407
00:23:10,567 --> 00:23:10,847
you know,

408
00:23:11,867 --> 00:23:16,287
you are the source of, you know, industrial mass
production of human suffering and

409
00:23:17,067 --> 00:23:20,287
as... I think this and you might not be aware of
this and

410
00:23:21,947 --> 00:23:25,567
I just wish more people are honest about their
experience and this truth comes out.

411
00:23:26,367 --> 00:23:28,507
Like, "This is how much suffering school creates."

412
00:23:32,407 --> 00:23:32,487
Okay.

413
00:23:32,487 --> 00:23:37,427
Yeah. And I think there's a lot of other
institutions in the world which I look at pretty

414
00:23:37,467 --> 00:23:38,367
much the same way.

415
00:23:38,967 --> 00:23:42,907
School is just one example I feel safe to, you
know, criticize, but

416
00:23:43,967 --> 00:23:47,007
criticizing school is safe in the way that, you
know,

417
00:23:47,767 --> 00:23:50,727
criticizing a political party is not safe.

418
00:23:50,747 --> 00:23:53,627
Criticizing a religious institution is not safe,
you know?

419
00:23:54,467 --> 00:23:59,007
Okay. Yeah. That's interesting. I think you're
probably

420
00:23:59,027 --> 00:24:02,187
right there. I mean, I'm not sure if I agree with
you 100%. Uh, do you have anything...

421
00:24:02,207 --> 00:24:02,787
What about... You were talking about religion and
politics.

422
00:24:02,807 --> 00:24:03,827
Do you have anything to add about religion and
politics?

423
00:24:03,827 --> 00:24:08,367
Uh, yeah. In general, I think religion and
politics are two topics you need to be kind of

424
00:24:08,427 --> 00:24:09,047
careful with.

425
00:24:09,047 --> 00:24:09,707
Okay.

426
00:24:09,967 --> 00:24:13,307
Like talking about your own ideas is fine, but
then if you go and criticize someone

427
00:24:13,307 --> 00:24:15,067
else's ideas, then it becomes kind of

428
00:24:15,067 --> 00:24:15,747
Okay.

429
00:24:15,747 --> 00:24:22,519
Yeah.Yeah.

430
00:24:24,879 --> 00:24:27,059
So let's just talk about school right now.

431
00:24:27,059 --> 00:24:29,799
Yeah, I think if the truth came out about, you
know, all the suffering that's being

432
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:33,819
created by schools...

433
00:24:36,619 --> 00:24:40,360
(pause) At the very least, people who are creating
will- all that suffering will be aware

434
00:24:40,379 --> 00:24:43,219
that, you know, "I am destroying people's
potential.

435
00:24:43,219 --> 00:24:46,899
I'm going to leave people with, you know, suicidal
depression.

436
00:24:46,899 --> 00:24:50,619
At least one person in my class is going to be
suicidally depressed in five to 10 years

437
00:24:50,659 --> 00:24:51,659
later because,

438
00:24:52,559 --> 00:24:57,459
you know, my effective rules ensured he or she did
not have anyone they could trust."

439
00:24:57,479 --> 00:24:57,819
Like,

440
00:24:58,999 --> 00:25:02,679
I don't know if a middle school teacher realizes
that this is what they're doing, but,

441
00:25:02,860 --> 00:25:03,159
you know,

442
00:25:04,180 --> 00:25:05,519
this is part of what we are doing.

443
00:25:09,719 --> 00:25:10,419
Um...

444
00:25:13,539 --> 00:25:16,519
Yeah. So what was I talking about? Oh, I talked
about, you know, how this is important to

445
00:25:16,539 --> 00:25:21,339
me, freedom is important to me. I talked a lot
about balance of power and, you know,

446
00:25:21,339 --> 00:25:23,679
does that mean I want a lot of power? Like...

447
00:25:25,039 --> 00:25:27,499
Yes, I do want a lot of power, but

448
00:25:29,799 --> 00:25:32,179
there are things I want even more than I want
power, I think.

449
00:25:32,179 --> 00:25:33,919
That's basically how it comes down to really.

450
00:25:35,819 --> 00:25:40,179
I think freedom through politicism kind of are
more important to me.

451
00:25:40,179 --> 00:25:40,499
Like,

452
00:25:41,499 --> 00:25:43,819
I want to acquire power to fit into these things.

453
00:25:43,839 --> 00:25:46,519
I don't want to acquire power just to, you know,
keep myself safe.

454
00:25:46,539 --> 00:25:50,319
Like, you know, if I become a billionaire or a
politician, you know, I am safe.

455
00:25:50,399 --> 00:25:52,319
Like, I'll be more safe than I am today but

456
00:25:53,199 --> 00:25:55,919
that safety is not that valuable to me, like...

457
00:25:58,259 --> 00:26:01,499
Instead of being, you know, this much safe I'll
be, you know, this much more safe as a

458
00:26:01,499 --> 00:26:03,419
billionaire? Like, yeah, that's not valuable to
me.

459
00:26:03,559 --> 00:26:04,139
The reason that

460
00:26:04,979 --> 00:26:09,019
being a billionaire is valuable to me is because I
can permanently, you know, restructure

461
00:26:09,059 --> 00:26:10,079
society, you know,

462
00:26:11,239 --> 00:26:14,419
and give enough freedom, power, truth to a lot of
other people...

463
00:26:15,519 --> 00:26:18,959
(pause) And

464
00:26:21,319 --> 00:26:24,439
I think that is what at some level drives me to
acquire power.

465
00:26:24,499 --> 00:26:24,819
Like,

466
00:26:25,499 --> 00:26:28,059
it's kind of a background thing that I know needs
to happen.

467
00:26:28,079 --> 00:26:31,299
It's not like I'm 24/7 just focused on how do I
acquire power.

468
00:26:32,059 --> 00:26:32,399
Right?

469
00:26:36,259 --> 00:26:38,959
Like, I want to do the thing and acquire power as
a side effect.

470
00:26:41,479 --> 00:26:42,959
Like there is, uh... What should I say?

471
00:26:43,579 --> 00:26:43,919
So

472
00:26:45,599 --> 00:26:48,899
again, this comes back to just that article,
Meditations on Moloch.

473
00:26:48,899 --> 00:26:49,359
It's just,

474
00:26:50,179 --> 00:26:53,919
what fraction of your attention are you spending
on acquiring power versus doing useful

475
00:26:53,939 --> 00:26:54,779
things with the power?

476
00:26:55,679 --> 00:27:00,359
If you spend 100% of your attention just on
acquiring power and 0% of your attention on

477
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:01,779
doing useful things with the power,

478
00:27:04,339 --> 00:27:07,379
maybe you will magically improve the situation. I
think that's possible.

479
00:27:07,439 --> 00:27:11,539
Like, you can spend zero time thinking about how
to do good and do good anyway.

480
00:27:12,219 --> 00:27:15,159
Like... (pause)

481
00:27:16,659 --> 00:27:20,459
I don't know. Like, the situation at the highest
levels of power is in some ways

482
00:27:21,019 --> 00:27:22,879
sufficiently terrible that

483
00:27:24,019 --> 00:27:28,759
simply by you managing to climb your way in there,
you can bring good things.

484
00:27:30,859 --> 00:27:33,899
Like, you might damage yourself in many ways on
the way there, but...

485
00:27:36,279 --> 00:27:39,579
(pause) in spite of all the damage, you might be
still better than the person you're

486
00:27:39,579 --> 00:27:41,999
replacing and therefore it might be good for you
to reach.

487
00:27:42,199 --> 00:27:43,959
I honestly believe that's possible.

488
00:27:43,979 --> 00:27:44,259
So,

489
00:27:46,279 --> 00:27:48,619
you know, when I see people around me who are just

490
00:27:50,419 --> 00:27:54,719
nakedly kind of very power hungry and they don't
have any great sense of what they'll do

491
00:27:54,759 --> 00:27:56,139
once they have the power and like,

492
00:27:56,819 --> 00:28:01,439
yeah, not great, but also I'm not really going to
stop you.

493
00:28:01,439 --> 00:28:05,139
I'm not going to be, you know, against your plan.
You know, you can go do it.

494
00:28:06,279 --> 00:28:09,519
It's not the plan I would take. Like, I would
rather spend at least some fraction of my

495
00:28:09,519 --> 00:28:13,599
attention thinking about what to do with power,
not just how to acquire power but...

496
00:28:14,739 --> 00:28:16,839
I mean, I kind of get that view.

497
00:28:23,279 --> 00:28:23,859
(pause) Yeah.

498
00:28:27,139 --> 00:28:30,539
Yeah, I think the thing that's just really
important and

499
00:28:31,659 --> 00:28:36,439
it's become increasingly important is, like,
values need to be discussed in

500
00:28:36,459 --> 00:28:38,899
terms of these practical trade-offs, you know?

501
00:28:40,319 --> 00:28:44,059
You can't discuss values in the way a moral
philosopher discusses it, you know, with a

502
00:28:44,059 --> 00:28:45,279
thought experiment, you know?

503
00:28:46,479 --> 00:28:48,639
Imagine you had to kill Alice or kill Bob.

504
00:28:48,639 --> 00:28:50,759
Would you rather kill Alice or would you rather
kill Bob?

505
00:28:50,759 --> 00:28:53,299
You know, Alice is a pregnant lady, you know,
Bob...

506
00:28:55,239 --> 00:29:00,039
I don't know, Bob has, you know, a brain that ex-
experiences 2X pleasure or whatever,

507
00:29:00,079 --> 00:29:00,579
like...

508
00:29:02,459 --> 00:29:06,139
Like, you can learn some valuable things from
that, but that's not where th- the cha-

509
00:29:06,539 --> 00:29:09,459
wha- maj- majority of the value of studying
morality is.

510
00:29:09,459 --> 00:29:13,579
I think the vast majority of it is in studying
practical situations like these, like...

511
00:29:16,359 --> 00:29:20,559
(pause) Like, yeah, if you're in a com- tech
company with a huge source of power, you

512
00:29:20,559 --> 00:29:23,419
know, how does that destabilize trust in the
institute, you know?

513
00:29:26,119 --> 00:29:26,999
If you're a

514
00:29:28,159 --> 00:29:32,599
politician, you know, how do you think about
keeping resources in your country versus

515
00:29:32,639 --> 00:29:34,059
giving them to the other country?

516
00:29:34,939 --> 00:29:37,159
Do you enable high pressure society in your
country?

517
00:29:37,339 --> 00:29:38,339
Do you enable high press-

518
00:29:39,099 --> 00:29:42,859
between you and the other elite? Like, what
trade-offs are you making there?

519
00:29:44,459 --> 00:29:44,899
Uh...

520
00:29:47,279 --> 00:29:49,979
(pause) How far are you willing to go out, you
know, destroy,

521
00:29:50,979 --> 00:29:55,399
uh, harmful institutions such as, for me, you
know, that's school and that's a bunch of

522
00:29:55,399 --> 00:29:59,999
other institutions. Like, I want to destroy the
institutions, but if I just say, you

523
00:29:59,999 --> 00:30:02,619
know, "Look, I want to burn down every school to
the ground," like,

524
00:30:03,299 --> 00:30:06,859
how does that work? You know, I mean, wha- Am I
going to literally take, you know, a...

525
00:30:08,259 --> 00:30:10,119
What should I say? What do you call that thing?

526
00:30:12,479 --> 00:30:15,959
(pause) Basically just logs and you light them on
fire and you burn it, no? A pitchfork?

527
00:30:15,979 --> 00:30:16,259
No.

528
00:30:17,319 --> 00:30:20,439
Whatever. You know. Am I going to physically go
and burn them down?

529
00:30:20,439 --> 00:30:21,239
Am I going to, you know,

530
00:30:22,219 --> 00:30:25,819
become a billionaire and then, you know, pay an
army to go burn all these schools to the

531
00:30:25,839 --> 00:30:27,739
ground? I don't think that's how any of this
works.

532
00:30:27,739 --> 00:30:32,683
I think it's going to work a lot more...One
strategy is a lot more just

533
00:30:32,763 --> 00:30:35,843
bring the truth of the matter out to the public
and...

534
00:30:37,163 --> 00:30:41,443
I think a lot of str- institutions are going to
just spontaneously collapse on their own

535
00:30:41,483 --> 00:30:44,364
once the truth of what's actually going on in
there came out.

536
00:30:46,343 --> 00:30:46,763
So,

537
00:30:48,563 --> 00:30:49,543
that's a thing.

538
00:30:56,003 --> 00:31:00,523
Yeah, I think another thing that's important to
model is damage to yourself.

539
00:31:00,663 --> 00:31:00,964
Uh,

540
00:31:02,544 --> 00:31:07,124
so Naval Ravikant has this thing about integrity

541
00:31:07,283 --> 00:31:07,683
and

542
00:31:08,503 --> 00:31:13,283
self-respect, like do things that cause you to, to
respect yourself more, not

543
00:31:13,303 --> 00:31:13,944
less. And

544
00:31:14,783 --> 00:31:16,883
I think I generally kind of align with that.

545
00:31:18,303 --> 00:31:21,424
Like, I earlier used to think more in terms of,
you know,

546
00:31:21,603 --> 00:31:26,544
EA/Utilitarian kind of view of, like, if you have
done enough good, the

547
00:31:26,544 --> 00:31:29,223
damage you do is kind of worth it. Like,

548
00:31:30,543 --> 00:31:33,983
if you save a thousand lives, you know, maybe
killing one person to do it is worth it.

549
00:31:36,303 --> 00:31:36,663
And,

550
00:31:37,743 --> 00:31:40,123
yeah, the pract- again, sorry, this is again
thought experiment.

551
00:31:40,143 --> 00:31:43,843
Let me try very practical about it, very
practically this looks like, you know,

552
00:31:45,723 --> 00:31:47,503
if you have to...

553
00:31:50,103 --> 00:31:53,083
Well, okay, maybe let's just... Let me, let me
just talk about SBF, you know.

554
00:31:53,083 --> 00:31:53,683
If you have to

555
00:31:54,323 --> 00:31:58,563
gamble, you know, your business partner's billion
dollars to, you know, make another

556
00:31:58,603 --> 00:31:59,703
billion dollars, you know,

557
00:32:01,823 --> 00:32:06,043
maybe that's worth it. I don't know if that's true
in the ex- SBF's, you know, actual

558
00:32:06,083 --> 00:32:08,523
situation or this is Sam Bankman-Fried by the way.

559
00:32:08,523 --> 00:32:11,403
He was influenced by effective altruistic ideas to

560
00:32:12,203 --> 00:32:16,263
acquire a huge amount of power even if it means,
you know, causing some damage along the

561
00:32:16,283 --> 00:32:17,103
way and

562
00:32:18,023 --> 00:32:18,903
then basically

563
00:32:19,743 --> 00:32:23,423
donate it to various artists because that was his
thing and

564
00:32:24,203 --> 00:32:26,643
I think that he generally believed in that at some
level.

565
00:32:26,763 --> 00:32:26,863
Like,

566
00:32:28,143 --> 00:32:31,503
SBF was kind of, you know, intersection of, you
know, two cultures.

567
00:32:31,663 --> 00:32:31,963
Like,

568
00:32:32,843 --> 00:32:37,763
more of the crypto and finance kind of culture
colliding with, you know,

569
00:32:37,883 --> 00:32:39,303
the more EA and

570
00:32:40,343 --> 00:32:43,843
Holden Carnovski and Bridgewater kind of culture.

571
00:32:44,903 --> 00:32:45,663
Oh, uh,

572
00:32:47,063 --> 00:32:51,003
you sh- anyone who's interested in effective
altruism, you should go read The Principles

573
00:32:51,063 --> 00:32:55,263
by Ray Dalio. Uh, Holden Carnovski is very
influenced by that and he runs...

574
00:32:55,283 --> 00:32:58,623
He ran a lot of EA organizations along those
principles.

575
00:33:02,843 --> 00:33:03,303
Yeah, I think

576
00:33:03,943 --> 00:33:07,483
maybe that is the third thing I can talk about,
just collision of cultures.

577
00:33:07,563 --> 00:33:11,203
So, different cultures have different values and
in practice

578
00:33:12,903 --> 00:33:17,023
you are very often either part of one of these
cultures or maybe a few mutations away.

579
00:33:17,083 --> 00:33:21,083
Like, your ideas are almost the same, but not
exactly the same as one of the cultures

580
00:33:23,143 --> 00:33:26,683
and the interesting trade-offs kind of happen when
cultures collide.

581
00:33:26,683 --> 00:33:26,963
So,

582
00:33:32,463 --> 00:33:33,883
if you're, you know, in,

583
00:33:34,683 --> 00:33:37,783
you know, Wall Street kind of financial culture,
you know,

584
00:33:40,083 --> 00:33:44,423
making a billion dollars to donate, it is seen as,
probably it is seen as bad.

585
00:33:44,423 --> 00:33:46,603
You know, that's a wrong thing to do. Don't do it.

586
00:33:47,843 --> 00:33:51,743
You are not part of a circle if you do it, you
don't get to build a long term reputation

587
00:33:51,743 --> 00:33:52,403
if you do it.

588
00:33:56,343 --> 00:33:57,863
Like this, there is to get away with this.

589
00:33:57,863 --> 00:34:01,383
The way to get away with it is you also keep, you
know, making more and more money, keep

590
00:34:01,403 --> 00:34:04,783
compounding upwards but you're also donating some
fraction, that works.

591
00:34:05,103 --> 00:34:08,003
But if you're like, you know, you know, the Bill
Gates strategy of, "You know, I will

592
00:34:08,003 --> 00:34:10,223
make a lot and then I'm going to just give all of
it,"

593
00:34:11,383 --> 00:34:13,383
actually, you know, even Bill Gates is making some
money.

594
00:34:13,863 --> 00:34:14,263
Uh,

595
00:34:15,363 --> 00:34:18,843
yeah, I think Dustin Moskovitz might be an example
of, you know, kind of give up all of

596
00:34:18,843 --> 00:34:19,143
it.

597
00:34:20,143 --> 00:34:22,643
Wait, even Dustin, Dustin Moskovitz is making
money.

598
00:34:23,583 --> 00:34:28,303
Is there any billionaire that has actually donated
most of their wealth while not

599
00:34:28,323 --> 00:34:30,623
also having a company that is appreciating in
value?

600
00:34:31,623 --> 00:34:33,023
That is an interesting question.

601
00:34:38,103 --> 00:34:41,103
The ad is interesting, I lo- I'll have to actually
think more about that.

602
00:34:41,143 --> 00:34:43,623
I don't have an answer as of yet but, uh...

603
00:34:47,963 --> 00:34:50,323
I got distracted, what was I actually talking
about?

604
00:35:02,303 --> 00:35:02,583
Um,

605
00:35:04,983 --> 00:35:07,863
yeah, I was talking about collision of cultures,
so

606
00:35:08,963 --> 00:35:13,063
yeah. You know, it's financial kind of culture
versus, you know, the EA kind of nonprofit

607
00:35:13,143 --> 00:35:15,963
kind of culture versus let's say, you know,
Silicon Valley,

608
00:35:16,783 --> 00:35:18,783
that kind of culture, you know, the whole...

609
00:35:19,883 --> 00:35:21,423
Yeah, a lot of these things are kind of...

610
00:35:22,163 --> 00:35:24,363
Like, I have seen all this because I am, you know,
fairly...

611
00:35:24,383 --> 00:35:27,983
Basically all my ideologies kind of come from the,
you know, tech space

612
00:35:29,043 --> 00:35:32,903
but I'm sure for a lot of people this does not
make a lot of sense. So there's...

613
00:35:33,323 --> 00:35:37,383
Then there's the more standard Silicon Valley
culture, you know, Paul Graham, Peter

614
00:35:37,403 --> 00:35:38,943
Thiel, Marc Andreessen.

615
00:35:40,023 --> 00:35:40,623
Uh,

616
00:35:42,783 --> 00:35:47,343
then there is a more open source kind of culture
then there is a more...

617
00:35:51,163 --> 00:35:55,883
Yeah, leftist kind of culture within Silicon
Valley, like you do

618
00:35:55,903 --> 00:35:56,423
notice a u-

619
00:35:57,063 --> 00:35:58,283
lot of developers online

620
00:35:59,683 --> 00:36:01,683
influenced by that. Then there is...

621
00:36:01,963 --> 00:36:05,063
Yeah, more recently there's the more AI ideology
of, you know,

622
00:36:06,003 --> 00:36:09,783
we should build super intelligent AI and this is
good actually and, you know, if it,

623
00:36:10,723 --> 00:36:14,423
you know, causes humanity going, to go extinct,
that's kind of fine.

624
00:36:14,843 --> 00:36:15,123
Like,

625
00:36:15,963 --> 00:36:18,923
there is the more, like, transhumanist kind of
culture like...

626
00:36:21,883 --> 00:36:26,403
Yeah, and I think right now I took a lot of the
Silicon Valley examples because I end

627
00:36:26,423 --> 00:36:27,383
up

628
00:36:28,963 --> 00:36:31,083
paying a lot of attention to that

629
00:36:33,003 --> 00:36:37,043
and noticing when, you know, two cultures are
colliding and there's a person trapped at

630
00:36:37,043 --> 00:36:37,643
the center of the

631
00:36:37,643 --> 00:36:42,573
collision.So

632
00:36:43,013 --> 00:36:47,993
more recent examples may be, you know, Dario
Amodei who's stuck between the collision

633
00:36:47,993 --> 00:36:48,614
of, you know,

634
00:36:51,634 --> 00:36:53,634
three different cultures. There's the, you know,

635
00:36:54,453 --> 00:36:58,533
super intelligent AI is good culture colliding
with the super intelligent AI is bad

636
00:36:58,573 --> 00:37:00,254
culture colliding with the

637
00:37:01,173 --> 00:37:02,574
standard Silicon Valley

638
00:37:03,933 --> 00:37:06,393
make use protect to get 5:10 kind of culture.

639
00:37:08,493 --> 00:37:09,033
Like...

640
00:37:09,833 --> 00:37:10,154
like,

641
00:37:12,653 --> 00:37:14,254
I'm sure he has thought a lot about this.

642
00:37:14,254 --> 00:37:16,974
He has thought about, you know, out of these three
cultures, you know, which one does he

643
00:37:16,993 --> 00:37:18,613
want most of his employees to come from.

644
00:37:26,833 --> 00:37:27,173
But,

645
00:37:29,253 --> 00:37:31,513
yeah, filtering cultures is hard. Like

646
00:37:32,273 --> 00:37:32,673
it's

647
00:37:33,493 --> 00:37:36,973
not really straightforward to look at, you know, a
software developer and decide, you

648
00:37:36,973 --> 00:37:39,193
know, which culture he's a part of. Uh,

649
00:37:40,173 --> 00:37:42,813
maybe partly because all these cultures are also
kind of nascent.

650
00:37:43,733 --> 00:37:48,633
Like they're not, you know, 100 year plus
established kind of things the way in, let's

651
00:37:48,653 --> 00:37:49,213
say, you know,

652
00:37:50,033 --> 00:37:53,533
uh, an oil industry can be est- established for
100 years.

653
00:37:53,573 --> 00:37:55,013
You kind of know this is how they think

654
00:37:56,813 --> 00:38:00,453
and their institutions kind of entrenched 'cause
none of these ideologies are that way.

655
00:38:00,453 --> 00:38:02,313
They're all kind of a lot more in flux.

656
00:38:03,733 --> 00:38:08,553
So it becomes harder to filter and therefore you
can end up with institutions at the

657
00:38:08,593 --> 00:38:09,413
center that are

658
00:38:10,513 --> 00:38:11,213
like the,

659
00:38:12,453 --> 00:38:13,393
what should I say, the,

660
00:38:15,433 --> 00:38:18,053
you know, ground zero collision between two
cultures and

661
00:38:18,813 --> 00:38:22,573
either one culture, you know, swallows the other
one or the institution is ripped apart

662
00:38:22,633 --> 00:38:25,673
and, you know, both cultures get transformed and
they build, you know, separate

663
00:38:25,673 --> 00:38:27,213
institutions as a result. You know,

664
00:38:27,893 --> 00:38:31,093
something is going to happen. Something
interesting typically happens when cultures

665
00:38:31,093 --> 00:38:31,633
collide.

666
00:38:34,873 --> 00:38:35,033
I

667
00:38:36,693 --> 00:38:40,013
think Vitalik Buterin is trying to do a bit of
this, you know,

668
00:38:41,913 --> 00:38:43,993
forge alliances between cultures. Like

669
00:38:44,833 --> 00:38:49,573
Vitalik was initially part of the more, you know,
crypto anarchist kind of culture

670
00:38:50,233 --> 00:38:51,073
and now...

671
00:38:52,033 --> 00:38:56,573
Or maybe Vitalik was, Vitalik himself maybe he was
only somewhat, but

672
00:38:57,653 --> 00:38:59,593
he advanced technologies and,

673
00:39:00,773 --> 00:39:01,333
uh,

674
00:39:02,793 --> 00:39:06,653
you know, people, ideologies. Like he brought a
lot of attention and capital to

675
00:39:07,353 --> 00:39:11,493
people with very crypto anarchist, crypto
libertarian, you know, anarchist, uh,

676
00:39:12,353 --> 00:39:13,593
ideologies. Uh,

677
00:39:15,333 --> 00:39:19,033
but he himself is not, you know, like a very
hardcore anarchist or libertarian.

678
00:39:19,433 --> 00:39:19,733
Uh,

679
00:39:21,953 --> 00:39:25,653
and he's actually fairly influenced by at least
some of

680
00:39:27,573 --> 00:39:32,173
the AI ideology in Silicon Valley. Uh, you know,
he has donated to MIRI for

681
00:39:32,213 --> 00:39:37,193
example. So... He's trying

682
00:39:37,213 --> 00:39:40,613
to play this role of, you know, being in both
camps and trying to bridge the gap between

683
00:39:40,613 --> 00:39:42,393
the two and I find that interesting.

684
00:39:46,513 --> 00:39:49,113
I find that interesting because I relate it a lot
personally.

685
00:39:49,113 --> 00:39:51,953
I think I'm also a bit in that camp of, you know,

686
00:39:54,393 --> 00:39:59,293
kind of crypto, like at least 10% crypto anarchist
but not completely

687
00:39:59,333 --> 00:40:03,633
and then, you know, at least 10%. It's a lot more
than 10 but at least you know 10%

688
00:40:04,433 --> 00:40:08,093
super intelligent AI is the most important thing
kind of camp. And...

689
00:40:12,393 --> 00:40:16,113
I do see myself as, you know, center of collision
between the camps.

690
00:40:16,113 --> 00:40:21,073
Like I'm definitely not in the, you know, Paul
Graham kind of camp.

691
00:40:21,213 --> 00:40:21,593
Like,

692
00:40:24,053 --> 00:40:28,953
yeah, not in the, you know, Paul Graham,
Witteftel, uh, Marc Andreessen camp that's

693
00:40:28,953 --> 00:40:29,833
for sure. But

694
00:40:30,873 --> 00:40:34,253
it still remains to be seen, you know, which camp
I kind of solidify into at the end.

695
00:40:34,573 --> 00:40:34,893
Uh,

696
00:40:36,313 --> 00:40:37,833
you know, maybe I'll create a camp. Like

697
00:40:38,893 --> 00:40:40,693
ideally that's what I want to do. Like

698
00:40:43,853 --> 00:40:48,113
I mean I'm basically in the camp of, you know,
what happens in Silicon Valley is going to

699
00:40:48,153 --> 00:40:48,733
determine

700
00:40:50,173 --> 00:40:54,953
future of humanity but also the way Silicon Valley
works right now is kind of fucked up.

701
00:40:55,053 --> 00:40:57,433
Like I think that's basically the camp I'm in.

702
00:40:59,613 --> 00:41:01,533
And that is not a definition of a camp.

703
00:41:01,533 --> 00:41:02,693
There are multiple camps who

704
00:41:04,833 --> 00:41:05,373
will...

705
00:41:08,453 --> 00:41:13,093
claim to be part of that and some of them have at
least a kernel of truth there but

706
00:41:13,353 --> 00:41:14,433
in some level, you know,

707
00:41:16,553 --> 00:41:18,933
even Paul Graham is trying to get away from Paul
Graham.

708
00:41:18,933 --> 00:41:21,333
Like there is a thing going on there. How do I
explain it?

709
00:41:21,333 --> 00:41:22,453
It's like, uh,

710
00:41:26,113 --> 00:41:29,753
it's like when Paul Graham writes, you know, on
his blog that, you know, here's why you

711
00:41:29,753 --> 00:41:34,133
should be a good person while he himself knows
he's funding a bunch of companies who are

712
00:41:34,133 --> 00:41:37,033
going to have people who are going to do all sorts
of fucked up shit and

713
00:41:37,673 --> 00:41:38,793
he funds them anyway.

714
00:41:40,153 --> 00:41:43,513
And that he writes on his blog, you know, "Here's
why you should be a good person, here's

715
00:41:43,553 --> 00:41:46,893
why it will make you more money later on." Like he
argues it in a very consequentialist

716
00:41:46,913 --> 00:41:47,593
kind of way.

717
00:41:49,313 --> 00:41:49,853
Uh...

718
00:41:58,893 --> 00:42:02,533
Yeah, like at some level I see this,

719
00:42:03,773 --> 00:42:05,393
what should I say, cultures colliding.

720
00:42:05,433 --> 00:42:06,673
It's not like, you know,

721
00:42:08,053 --> 00:42:12,013
you know, Hitler is very squarely one camp and
Stalin is very squarely in one camp and

722
00:42:12,013 --> 00:42:14,073
they're just going to, you know, fight to the
death, you know.

723
00:42:14,653 --> 00:42:18,013
Millions of people die this side, millions of
people die that side and, you know,

724
00:42:18,653 --> 00:42:21,573
somebody has, you know, the more brute force and
they win.

725
00:42:21,713 --> 00:42:22,013
Look

726
00:42:23,453 --> 00:42:26,933
I see a lot of these cultural collisions in
Silicon Valley

727
00:42:27,833 --> 00:42:32,093
less like, you know, Nazism versus Communism and
more like

728
00:42:33,253 --> 00:42:36,973
col- collisions at some level taking place in the
minds of the people

729
00:42:38,193 --> 00:42:43,077
advancing them. Like...Like,

730
00:42:43,117 --> 00:42:46,657
it is, as of today, still not impossible to change
Paul Graham's mind.

731
00:42:46,658 --> 00:42:48,977
It's not impossible to even change Peter Thiel's
mind.

732
00:42:48,977 --> 00:42:50,978
It's not impossible to change Vitalik's mind.

733
00:42:51,777 --> 00:42:54,337
It's not impossible to even change Sam Altman's
mind.

734
00:42:55,277 --> 00:42:57,077
And I find that interesting that

735
00:42:58,877 --> 00:43:03,857
people are able to wield that much power and build
entire institutions around their

736
00:43:03,897 --> 00:43:04,458
thing, and

737
00:43:05,357 --> 00:43:08,117
there is a possibility they can still adapt and
change.

738
00:43:08,377 --> 00:43:08,658
And

739
00:43:10,637 --> 00:43:12,137
that doesn't mean they will adapt and change.

740
00:43:12,137 --> 00:43:13,537
Of c- they probably won't, but

741
00:43:14,937 --> 00:43:18,997
the fact that they even can, to a little extent, I
find that interesting because,

742
00:43:22,757 --> 00:43:26,998
you know, a lot of political groups throughout
history are a lot more rigid than even

743
00:43:27,057 --> 00:43:27,458
that.

744
00:43:30,477 --> 00:43:32,937
Again, let's talk about Stalin, right?

745
00:43:32,937 --> 00:43:33,257
Like,

746
00:43:33,917 --> 00:43:37,977
Stalin is not going to be pragmatic and say,
"Okay, you know, look, I'm losing.

747
00:43:37,998 --> 00:43:42,617
Let me dilute my ideology by 75%, but I'll get to
keep some of my power." Like,

748
00:43:43,157 --> 00:43:45,577
he's not going to do that. He's going to fight
till the very

749
00:43:46,437 --> 00:43:47,277
death of

750
00:43:48,857 --> 00:43:52,677
significant fractions of his population, and then
ultimately his own death, you know,

751
00:43:52,697 --> 00:43:56,258
before, you know, he gives up on communist kind of
ideology.

752
00:43:58,458 --> 00:44:00,937
And he's not going to dilute it.

753
00:44:02,817 --> 00:44:05,297
There are people who will do things for money, but
then,

754
00:44:06,237 --> 00:44:10,418
like, you know, then the money becomes, you know,
their ideology. Like, uh...

755
00:44:15,517 --> 00:44:16,978
Who's a good example of this?

756
00:44:19,077 --> 00:44:23,238
(laughing)

757
00:44:23,238 --> 00:44:33,637
(mic echoing)

758
00:44:33,637 --> 00:44:37,377
I mean, to some extent, probably MBS, Mohammed bin

759
00:44:38,097 --> 00:44:39,257
Salman. I mean,

760
00:44:40,677 --> 00:44:43,277
I have not studied MBS, uh,

761
00:44:44,497 --> 00:44:48,137
a lot in detail though, so I'm uncomfortable
commenting about him without complete

762
00:44:48,137 --> 00:44:48,797
information.

763
00:44:54,957 --> 00:44:58,437
Oh, I mean, there's, like, there's definitely a
bunch of industrialists in India I can

764
00:44:58,457 --> 00:45:02,457
talk about, you know. Uh, Ambanis, for example,
Adanis, uh,

765
00:45:04,417 --> 00:45:07,317
who are basically not loyal to any ideology per
se.

766
00:45:07,337 --> 00:45:08,737
They just want to acquire a lot of money.

767
00:45:08,757 --> 00:45:11,877
They're pretty flexible of which ideology they
have to follow if...

768
00:45:12,437 --> 00:45:14,477
as long as it gets them more money in the end, you
know.

769
00:45:15,417 --> 00:45:17,377
If Congress is in power, they'll probably

770
00:45:18,377 --> 00:45:21,577
strike deals with Congress. If BJP is in power,
they'll, you know, strike deals with the

771
00:45:21,617 --> 00:45:23,357
BJP. Uh, that's

772
00:45:24,637 --> 00:45:25,577
maybe an example.

773
00:45:27,697 --> 00:45:30,657
I mean, there's a lot of industrialists in a lot
of countries that operate this way.

774
00:45:30,657 --> 00:45:33,137
It's not an India-specific phenomenon.

775
00:45:33,417 --> 00:45:33,437
Yeah, and then that is also, like, kind of fairly
rigid.

776
00:45:33,437 --> 00:45:34,037
It's very unlikely any of these people

777
00:45:38,157 --> 00:45:42,857
changed their mind

778
00:45:42,877 --> 00:45:43,377
about, you know,

779
00:45:44,097 --> 00:45:48,957
money being the number one priority or, you know,
having, "Well, okay, 75% this but 25%

780
00:45:48,977 --> 00:45:49,977
another thing." Like,

781
00:45:51,417 --> 00:45:55,377
a lot of Silicon Val- Valley elites seem a lot
more flexible in that way and I find that

782
00:45:55,417 --> 00:45:55,977
interesting.

783
00:45:57,957 --> 00:46:01,297
Like, I can actually even go speak to a bunch of
these billionaires and influence them.

784
00:46:01,317 --> 00:46:01,517
Like

785
00:46:02,517 --> 00:46:03,657
I, I have, like...

786
00:46:04,737 --> 00:46:08,697
I, I, I'm not trying to boast. Like, the point is
not like, "Oh, I'm a cool person

787
00:46:08,737 --> 00:46:12,557
because I have these billionaires in my social
network." That's not the point.

788
00:46:12,657 --> 00:46:14,137
Uh, the point is,

789
00:46:15,597 --> 00:46:17,057
uh, Vitalik can

790
00:46:18,417 --> 00:46:22,837
read your blog post, but, you know, uh, Mukesh
Ambani is never going to read your blog

791
00:46:22,877 --> 00:46:24,537
post. Like, that's the point.

792
00:46:28,277 --> 00:46:28,777
And

793
00:46:31,817 --> 00:46:34,757
yeah, I think broadly, a lot of my values are
influenced by

794
00:46:35,457 --> 00:46:37,497
a mix of personal background,

795
00:46:40,197 --> 00:46:41,537
uh, plus

796
00:46:42,317 --> 00:46:44,437
Silicon Valley's ideologies going forward,

797
00:46:45,377 --> 00:46:49,977
plus, you know, my own political ideas that seem
to be forming at least somewhat

798
00:46:49,997 --> 00:46:50,997
independently.

799
00:46:54,737 --> 00:46:59,037
But yeah, all of it is very practical. It's not,
you know...

800
00:47:00,777 --> 00:47:05,737
Like, I, until now, I have not mentioned anywhere,
you know, coherent extrapolated

801
00:47:05,757 --> 00:47:07,057
volition. I've not ex-

802
00:47:07,917 --> 00:47:11,097
talked about, you know, what do you call that
thing?

803
00:47:11,137 --> 00:47:11,577
Uh,

804
00:47:15,237 --> 00:47:19,797
oh, Rawls' Veil of Ignorance. I've not talked
about human rights.

805
00:47:21,017 --> 00:47:25,037
I have not talked about, you know, high-minded
ideals like democracy, liberalism, and so

806
00:47:25,057 --> 00:47:25,457
on.

807
00:47:28,477 --> 00:47:29,177
Uh.

808
00:47:31,577 --> 00:47:34,177
Like, I've basically said I'm kind of pretty
flexible.

809
00:47:34,177 --> 00:47:34,837
I want to

810
00:47:35,757 --> 00:47:40,077
kind of win and have a somewhat amorphous
definition of what winning is, but it's

811
00:47:40,077 --> 00:47:42,217
something closer to, you know, truth and freedom.

812
00:47:43,777 --> 00:47:44,217
Uh,

813
00:47:46,337 --> 00:47:50,037
and I'm flexible about which ideology I need to be
an ally with to get there.

814
00:48:05,877 --> 00:48:08,677
I don't know, I'm unsure if being morally flexible
is good or bad.

815
00:48:09,777 --> 00:48:10,157
(laughs) Like,

816
00:48:11,617 --> 00:48:14,817
there are some people who would see, you know,
being morally fe- flexible as just

817
00:48:14,877 --> 00:48:16,097
basically bad, like.

818
00:48:16,957 --> 00:48:20,457
And I find that also a bit hard to relate with.
Like, I'll give you an example.

819
00:48:20,477 --> 00:48:22,957
So, hardcore extreme version of this is, you know,

820
00:48:23,577 --> 00:48:25,817
when China colonized Tibet.

821
00:48:26,437 --> 00:48:29,837
Yeah, that's a political example, but I'm going to
take 30 minutes. Forget it.

822
00:48:29,877 --> 00:48:30,177
Uh,

823
00:48:31,177 --> 00:48:33,577
there were a lot of Tibetan monasteries where,

824
00:48:34,297 --> 00:48:39,257
uh, you know, the monks gave messages to their
populations that, you know, "You are

825
00:48:39,257 --> 00:48:44,097
going to face a lot of suffering. You know, don't
seek revenge, don't form an

826
00:48:44,117 --> 00:48:48,921
army, don't go into the des- the soldiers were
approaching."And I don't

827
00:48:48,982 --> 00:48:53,282
get that. Like, maybe I get that a little bit, but
I don't want to be like that.

828
00:48:55,441 --> 00:48:55,721
Like,

829
00:48:56,901 --> 00:49:00,961
I am not that non-violent. If my life is in
danger, then I will kill you.

830
00:49:08,722 --> 00:49:09,461
Yeah. And

831
00:49:12,861 --> 00:49:13,281
I think, uh, one of the things that I'm curious
about is how you...

832
00:49:13,281 --> 00:49:13,281
How you deal with people who are, um, you know,
hard to work with.

833
00:49:13,281 --> 00:49:13,281
Or even if they're not hard to work with, but
they're just, you know, they're difficult

834
00:49:13,281 --> 00:49:14,761
to sit with. Yeah. I- I think that is a way in
which I've kind of

835
00:49:15,781 --> 00:49:17,642
broken apart from

836
00:49:18,642 --> 00:49:20,481
values of at least some people around me.

837
00:49:22,581 --> 00:49:25,842
Well, I know some people around me, they won't say
it, but actually when they're in, you

838
00:49:25,861 --> 00:49:26,081
know,

839
00:49:26,822 --> 00:49:29,442
real problem, you know, they will also compromise
their ideas.

840
00:49:29,662 --> 00:49:30,001
Uh,

841
00:49:31,662 --> 00:49:34,241
there are some people who might even, you know,
keep all their

842
00:49:36,041 --> 00:49:38,162
idealist kind of values until the end.

843
00:49:38,162 --> 00:49:39,902
Like, you know, they will never kill another
person.

844
00:49:40,061 --> 00:49:43,302
They might keep that even when their own life is
in danger.

845
00:49:45,261 --> 00:49:48,641
But, yeah, I think I am very squarely in the camp
of,

846
00:49:50,261 --> 00:49:53,921
at least mostly, not very squarely, but I'm mostly
in the camp of, you know, optimal

847
00:49:53,921 --> 00:49:56,581
amount of violence is non-zero. Right.

848
00:49:56,581 --> 00:50:01,381
The optimal number of innocent people who need to
be killed for greater...

849
00:50:01,381 --> 00:50:03,221
For a good future at the end is non-zero.

850
00:50:03,961 --> 00:50:05,481
And that does not mean it's large,

851
00:50:09,561 --> 00:50:12,821
but it is non-zero. Right. Yeah, and I think
that's the beauty of it, right?

852
00:50:15,181 --> 00:50:15,901
Is that we all have different values and we all
have different, uh, different reasons for

853
00:50:15,901 --> 00:50:17,241
why we do the things that we do. And I think,
like, even as an adult, like, I still try

854
00:50:17,241 --> 00:50:17,241
to figure out, like, what would my parents do?
What would my grandparents do?

855
00:50:17,241 --> 00:50:20,321
Um, and I think, like, even by admitting to
myself, "Look, I am willing to damage some

856
00:50:20,321 --> 00:50:22,741
innocent peoples' lives to get to the greater good
at the end,"

857
00:50:24,101 --> 00:50:28,401
like, I am accepting damage to myself, and it's
again the Noam

858
00:50:28,441 --> 00:50:29,421
Chomsky thing. Yeah.

859
00:50:30,841 --> 00:50:34,321
There is a part of me that respects that move and
a part of me that does not respect that

860
00:50:34,361 --> 00:50:37,681
move. There's, you know, again, internal conflict
and... Yeah.

861
00:50:37,701 --> 00:50:38,321
I mean, I think it's important, though.

862
00:50:38,321 --> 00:50:40,441
I think it's important to figure out what is the
best move for you, uh, in any situation.

863
00:50:40,441 --> 00:50:42,181
Right now, it's, you know, the

864
00:50:43,481 --> 00:50:48,041
optimal violence is non-zero side is winning that
conflict, but it has not won, you know,

865
00:50:48,041 --> 00:50:50,001
in, you know, my internal kind of conflict. Yeah.

866
00:50:50,321 --> 00:50:50,841
I mean, I think that's the beauty of it, right?

867
00:50:50,841 --> 00:50:50,841
Is that we all have different values and we all
have different reasons for why we do the

868
00:50:50,841 --> 00:50:50,861
things that we do. And I think, like, even as an
adult, like, I still try to figure out,

869
00:50:50,861 --> 00:50:50,861
like, what would my parents do? What would my
grandparents do?

870
00:50:50,861 --> 00:50:50,881
Um, and I think, like, even by admitting to
myself, "Look, I am willing to damage some

871
00:50:50,881 --> 00:50:51,661
innocent peoples' lives to get to the greater good
at the end," like, I am accepting

872
00:50:51,661 --> 00:50:51,981
damage to myself, and it's again the Noam Chomsky
thing, right?

873
00:50:51,981 --> 00:50:51,981
Like, there is a part of me that respects that
move and a part of me that does not

874
00:50:51,981 --> 00:50:52,681
respect that move. There's, you know, again,
internal conflict and... Yeah.

875
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
I mean, I think that's the beauty of it, right?

876
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
Is that we all have different values and we all
have different reasons for why we do the

877
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
things that I do. My internal conflict, right now,
it's, you know, the optimal violence

878
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
is non-zero side is winning that conflict, but it
has not won, you know, in, you know, my

879
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
internal kind of conflict. Right. Right. Yeah.

880
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
And I think, like, even by admitting to myself,
"Look, I am willing to damage some

881
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
innocent peoples' lives to get to the greater good
at the end," like, I am accepting

882
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
damage to myself. And it's again the Noam Chomsky
thing, right?

883
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
Like, there is a part of me that respects that
move and a part of me that does not

884
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
respect that move. There's, you know, again,
internal conflict and...

885
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:52,681
Right now, it's, you know, the optimal violence is
non-zero side is winning that

886
00:50:52,681 --> 00:50:54,001
conflict, but it has not won, you know, in, you
know, my internal kind of conflict. Yeah.

887
00:50:54,001 --> 00:50:58,841
I mean, I think that's an important thing I need
to figure

888
00:50:58,841 --> 00:51:00,661
out. Yeah. I mean,

889
00:51:04,441 --> 00:51:08,221
I think that's the beauty of it, right?

890
00:51:08,221 --> 00:51:08,841
Is that we all have different values and we all
have different reasons for why we do the

891
00:51:08,841 --> 00:51:09,261
things that I do. My internal conflict, right now,
it's because of, you know, I can get

892
00:51:09,261 --> 00:51:14,061
more things done in the world if I don't have, you
know, very uptight kind of rules of,

893
00:51:14,061 --> 00:51:18,181
"I will never d- damage anyone ever." If I'm
somewhat flexible, I can get more things

894
00:51:18,201 --> 00:51:20,621
done. I think that's just true. Right.

895
00:51:24,621 --> 00:51:29,261
Right. Yeah. And I think,

896
00:51:29,261 --> 00:51:33,921
like, even by admitting to myself, "Look, I am
willing to

897
00:51:33,941 --> 00:51:38,881
damage some innocent peoples'

898
00:51:38,881 --> 00:51:43,801
lives to get to the greater good at

899
00:51:43,801 --> 00:51:43,981
the

900
00:51:44,721 --> 00:51:44,941
end," like, I am accepting damage to myself.

901
00:51:44,941 --> 00:51:45,061
And it's again the Noam Chomsky thing, right?

902
00:51:45,061 --> 00:51:45,081
Like, there is a part of me that respects that
move and a part of me that does not

903
00:51:45,081 --> 00:51:45,641
respect that move. There's, you know, again,
internal conflict and...

904
00:51:45,641 --> 00:51:45,721
Right now, it's, you know, the optimal violence is
non-zero side is winning that

905
00:51:45,721 --> 00:51:45,721
conflict, but it has not won, you know, in, you
know, my internal kind of conflict.

906
00:51:45,721 --> 00:51:47,881
Right. Right. Yeah. And I think that's an
important thing I need to figure out. Yeah.

907
00:51:47,881 --> 00:51:52,461
I mean, I think that's the beauty of it, right?

908
00:51:52,461 --> 00:51:52,521
Is that we all have different values and we all
have different reasons for why we do the

909
00:51:52,521 --> 00:51:53,601
things that we do. My internal conflict, right
now, is because of, you know, I can get

910
00:51:53,601 --> 00:51:53,801
more things done in the world if I don't have, you
know, very uptight kind of rules of,

911
00:51:53,801 --> 00:51:54,981
"I will never d- damage anyone ever." If I'm
somewhat flexible, I can get more things

912
00:51:54,981 --> 00:51:56,961
done. I think that's just true. Right. Right. I
don't know.

913
00:51:57,021 --> 00:52:01,741
So there's the thing that is definitely true,
which is a lot of my childhood has trained

914
00:52:01,781 --> 00:52:04,061
me to not have empathy for other people.

915
00:52:04,181 --> 00:52:04,961
And

916
00:52:05,941 --> 00:52:10,381
this is something I realized only a lot more
recently,

917
00:52:11,861 --> 00:52:14,041
like, literally a year or two back, you know, I
was

918
00:52:14,921 --> 00:52:16,261
crying about this for,

919
00:52:17,281 --> 00:52:20,101
at least for a week, well, kind of a month really,
I don't know.

920
00:52:21,141 --> 00:52:25,021
That while realizing, you know, the extent to
which, you know, I've kind of switched off

921
00:52:25,041 --> 00:52:26,561
my empathy for other people, like...

922
00:52:27,781 --> 00:52:29,201
I don't know, I think I'm kind of my...

923
00:52:29,201 --> 00:52:32,581
You know, my empathy is kind of switched off by
default, but then I can kind of sometimes

924
00:52:32,601 --> 00:52:33,181
switch it on,

925
00:52:34,161 --> 00:52:37,281
and I'm... Sometimes I need to make a conscious
effort to switch it on otherwise it's

926
00:52:37,281 --> 00:52:39,941
kind of switched off by default, like... Yeah.

927
00:52:39,941 --> 00:52:43,041
My default mode is, you know, very rational, is
information processing, you know,

928
00:52:43,061 --> 00:52:44,661
information in, information out.

929
00:52:45,561 --> 00:52:48,421
It's not emotions in or emotions out, you know.

930
00:52:49,661 --> 00:52:53,541
How the other person feeling is, by default, you
know, it's been filtered out right at

931
00:52:53,561 --> 00:52:55,681
the gate, you know, that information is not
passing in.

932
00:52:56,681 --> 00:52:57,841
Yeah. And vice versa, you know.

933
00:52:58,741 --> 00:53:02,101
Many years of my life have trained me to not talk
about my emotions with other people

934
00:53:02,141 --> 00:53:03,661
either, like, it's kind of filtered.

935
00:53:03,961 --> 00:53:06,881
Either it's filtered or it's, you know, kind of
overflowed, you know, the dam overflowed

936
00:53:06,901 --> 00:53:07,481
and now I'm just

937
00:53:08,301 --> 00:53:12,521
dumping all my problems on a random person who
doesn't want to actually hear it, like...

938
00:53:13,021 --> 00:53:14,701
I still do that sometimes when I

939
00:53:16,241 --> 00:53:17,761
feel not great about it, like,

940
00:53:18,581 --> 00:53:22,001
I have complained to random people about my
problems and then regretted it.

941
00:53:22,001 --> 00:53:26,781
That's good advice. Like, yeah, I think I don't
have a very healthy relationship with

942
00:53:27,661 --> 00:53:29,581
emotions, basically, like...

943
00:53:32,261 --> 00:53:33,221
Yeah. I mean, I think that's the beauty of it,
right?

944
00:53:33,221 --> 00:53:33,221
Is that we all have different values and we all
have different reasons for why we do the

945
00:53:33,221 --> 00:53:33,241
things that we do. My internal conflict, right
now, is because of, you know, I can get

946
00:53:33,241 --> 00:53:35,441
more things done in the world if I don't have, you
know, very uptight kind of rules of,

947
00:53:35,441 --> 00:53:36,761
"I will never d- damage anyone ever." If I'm
somewhat flexible, I can get more things

948
00:53:36,761 --> 00:53:40,361
done. I think that's just true. I don't know.

949
00:53:40,361 --> 00:53:41,861
So there's the thing that is definitely true,
which is a lot of my childhood has trained

950
00:53:41,961 --> 00:53:44,761
me to not have empathy for

951
00:53:44,761 --> 00:53:48,221
other people. And this is

952
00:53:49,041 --> 00:53:51,181
something I realized only

953
00:53:52,001 --> 00:53:52,581
a lot more recently, like,

954
00:53:52,781 --> 00:54:00,981
literally

955
00:54:01,441 --> 00:54:02,161
a year or two back, you know, I was crying about
this for, at least for a week, well,

956
00:54:02,161 --> 00:54:02,901
kind of a month really, I don't know. That while
realizing,

957
00:54:05,201 --> 00:54:08,241
you know, the extent to which, you know, I've kind
of switched off my empathy for other

958
00:54:08,241 --> 00:54:08,321
people,

959
00:54:09,761 --> 00:54:10,301
like...

960
00:54:15,241 --> 00:54:15,561
I don't

961
00:54:15,581 --> 00:54:26,121
know,

962
00:54:26,141 --> 00:54:27,041
I think I'm kind of my... You know, my empathy is
kind of switched off by default, but

963
00:54:27,161 --> 00:54:32,081
then I can kind

964
00:54:32,081 --> 00:54:35,841
of sometimes switch it on. And then sometimes I
need to make a

965
00:54:35,841 --> 00:54:40,701
conscious effort

966
00:54:40,741 --> 00:54:40,881
to switch it on otherwise it's kind of switched
off by default, like...

967
00:54:40,881 --> 00:54:41,101
My default mode is, you know, very rational, is
information processing, you know,

968
00:54:41,101 --> 00:54:46,041
information in, information out. It's not emotions
in or

969
00:54:46,041 --> 00:54:50,761
emotions out, you know. How the other person
feeling is, by default, you know, it's been

970
00:54:50,761 --> 00:54:50,761
filtered out right at the gate, you know, that
information is not passing in.

971
00:54:50,761 --> 00:54:51,081
And vice versa, you know. Many years of my life
have trained me to not talk about my

972
00:54:51,081 --> 00:54:51,681
emotions with other people either, like, it's kind
of filtered.

973
00:54:51,681 --> 00:54:52,361
Either it's filtered or it's, you...

974
00:54:52,361 --> 00:54:55,821
enlighten, like I want to get enlightened kind of
trajectory.

975
00:54:55,821 --> 00:54:59,061
I tend to see things kind of selfish. I don't
know.

976
00:54:59,181 --> 00:55:01,882
Like...

977
00:55:05,962 --> 00:55:08,761
I don't know. I do judge them a little and maybe I
shouldn't.

978
00:55:08,761 --> 00:55:08,962
Like,

979
00:55:09,601 --> 00:55:13,302
maybe I'm judging them because I don't understand
their whole view well enough from their

980
00:55:13,361 --> 00:55:14,381
point of view. Like,

981
00:55:17,021 --> 00:55:21,461
like why do you see this much suffering in the
world and decide, okay, the thing I need

982
00:55:21,462 --> 00:55:24,041
to do here is not to go fix any of it. It's, you
know,

983
00:55:25,761 --> 00:55:29,662
go meditate or go become more at peace or
accepting of all of this.

984
00:55:29,701 --> 00:55:30,041
Like,

985
00:55:32,441 --> 00:55:34,621
why do you think you'll be able to accept all of
this?

986
00:55:34,681 --> 00:55:34,962
And

987
00:55:35,721 --> 00:55:39,702
if you manage to ac- in fact accept all of this
and do nothing about it, you know,

988
00:55:40,901 --> 00:55:44,162
aren't there parts of yourself you have killed in
the process of doing this?

989
00:55:44,221 --> 00:55:44,501
Like,

990
00:55:47,361 --> 00:55:50,901
haven't you damaged and scarred yourself to make
this happen? I don't know.

991
00:55:54,661 --> 00:55:58,841
I don't know. I think I need to see more examples
of this in real life and talk to more

992
00:55:58,861 --> 00:56:03,121
people, ideally, if I want to get a better sense
of this because in my head the whole

993
00:56:04,001 --> 00:56:06,601
non-violence thing does not make a lot of sense to
me.

994
00:56:06,681 --> 00:56:07,061
Like,

995
00:56:08,141 --> 00:56:12,201
I mean, it... Non-violence makes sense to me as a
tactical strategy in the way, you know,

996
00:56:13,021 --> 00:56:14,761
you know, Mahatma Gandhi was non-violent.

997
00:56:15,701 --> 00:56:17,941
Like, it practically kind of worked.

998
00:56:18,421 --> 00:56:21,801
Or even let's see, you know, Nelson Mandela was
fairly non-violent for a long time.

999
00:56:21,901 --> 00:56:22,941
You know, that worked, but,

1000
00:56:23,561 --> 00:56:26,541
you know, Nelson Mandela's wife talked about, you
know, we should go and kill,

1001
00:56:27,261 --> 00:56:28,881
uh, British colonizers.

1002
00:56:29,761 --> 00:56:31,821
That is fascinating, by the way. So

1003
00:56:34,321 --> 00:56:37,781
you have, you know, the husband is more
non-violent, you know, the wife was more violent.

1004
00:56:37,821 --> 00:56:38,101
And

1005
00:56:39,901 --> 00:56:43,841
eventually Nelson Mandela did support some acts
of, you know, terrorism,

1006
00:56:44,481 --> 00:56:47,721
war or whatever you want to call it. You know,
this is that, you know, Orwellian kind of

1007
00:56:47,721 --> 00:56:50,341
double-speak, you know, is it terrorism or is it
war? But, you know, whatever.

1008
00:56:50,841 --> 00:56:51,161
Uh,

1009
00:56:52,501 --> 00:56:56,381
South Africans murdering Britishers, basically,
uh, in,

1010
00:56:57,341 --> 00:56:58,641
you know, civil disobedience

1011
00:56:59,801 --> 00:57:01,181
at that time. And,

1012
00:57:04,621 --> 00:57:08,541
yeah, I get that is a practical thing, like if you
start off with the...

1013
00:57:09,261 --> 00:57:12,281
If you start off waging war, you are going to lose
a lot of supporters.

1014
00:57:12,281 --> 00:57:15,321
If you start off, you know, in the very
non-violent kind of strategy, you will gain a lot

1015
00:57:15,321 --> 00:57:15,961
of supporters.

1016
00:57:16,881 --> 00:57:20,181
There's a practical consequentialist kind of way
of looking at non-violence.

1017
00:57:20,281 --> 00:57:20,521
And

1018
00:57:21,601 --> 00:57:22,861
then there is the very,

1019
00:57:24,001 --> 00:57:26,661
you know, moral rule kind of way of looking at
non-violence, like

1020
00:57:27,801 --> 00:57:28,981
let's say, you know,

1021
00:57:29,961 --> 00:57:33,541
let's say how Buddhism looks at it, let's say
maybe how Christianity looks at it of, you

1022
00:57:33,581 --> 00:57:37,821
know, here is the commandment from God that says
never kill another person, and that's

1023
00:57:37,881 --> 00:57:39,101
it. No exceptions.

1024
00:57:40,401 --> 00:57:40,701
And

1025
00:57:41,501 --> 00:57:45,441
I am not in that camp. I'm too pragmatic about
these things, about

1026
00:57:46,041 --> 00:57:48,761
where does this lead to actually go out and
survive out from San Diego.

1027
00:57:52,061 --> 00:57:55,941
There is a perspective that is contradictory to
mine, which is that, you know,

1028
00:57:56,681 --> 00:57:59,681
Buddhism has not been wiped out of this face of
the earth and

1029
00:58:01,401 --> 00:58:03,141
therefore Buddhism has not yet lost.

1030
00:58:03,201 --> 00:58:03,501
Like,

1031
00:58:04,461 --> 00:58:08,261
I cannot confidently declare, you know, Buddhism
is a losing strategy because they've not

1032
00:58:08,261 --> 00:58:08,901
lost yet.

1033
00:58:10,381 --> 00:58:11,381
I think that's fair.

1034
00:58:13,561 --> 00:58:14,061
But,

1035
00:58:16,501 --> 00:58:21,301
yeah, I'm right now not persuaded to pour my life
into a strategy that has not

1036
00:58:21,321 --> 00:58:23,221
yet lost and will maybe win. But

1037
00:58:23,881 --> 00:58:26,201
yeah, I'm not very optimistic on it winning, so

1038
00:58:27,361 --> 00:58:28,541
I want to win. I want to...

1039
00:58:29,541 --> 00:58:33,121
Like, it's not I want to win, it's I want to
advance a strategy that will win.

1040
00:58:33,121 --> 00:58:33,461
Like,

1041
00:58:35,701 --> 00:58:40,521
I want society to be in a good kind of structure,
you know, centuries after I die.

1042
00:58:40,521 --> 00:58:42,321
Like, it's not about, you know, what

1043
00:58:43,641 --> 00:58:47,921
I manage to do while I'm alive. It's what happens
after I die that's important to me,

1044
00:58:47,921 --> 00:58:48,961
honestly. Like,

1045
00:58:49,721 --> 00:58:53,121
yeah, I think that is another core thing in my
values of, like,

1046
00:58:56,141 --> 00:59:01,041
don't be trapped by your place and your time when
thinking about morality or place and

1047
00:59:01,101 --> 00:59:02,501
time are kind of fucked up.

1048
00:59:04,321 --> 00:59:05,241
You can

1049
00:59:06,281 --> 00:59:10,261
transport yourself to a place and time that is not
fucked up and think from there.

1050
00:59:10,781 --> 00:59:12,861
Like, I think that is an important thing for me.

1051
00:59:12,881 --> 00:59:13,101
Like,

1052
00:59:17,821 --> 00:59:18,801
I am willing

1053
00:59:21,321 --> 00:59:22,721
to tolerate, you know,

1054
00:59:24,541 --> 00:59:25,761
some amount of

1055
00:59:27,821 --> 00:59:30,201
stuff, you know, just because if

1056
00:59:32,141 --> 00:59:37,001
at the end, you know, let's say, 100 years from
now I can look at society and say, you

1057
00:59:37,021 --> 00:59:38,941
know, "This is what a healthy society looks like.

1058
00:59:38,941 --> 00:59:41,441
This is a society that will have a good future,"
you know?

1059
00:59:42,101 --> 00:59:45,501
If I can say that with any degree of confidence,
which I cannot say right now.

1060
00:59:45,701 --> 00:59:45,961
Like,

1061
00:59:46,881 --> 00:59:47,741
right now...

1062
00:59:49,921 --> 00:59:53,681
Yeah, right now I'm, like, very, like, it can go
this way also, it can go that way also,

1063
00:59:53,681 --> 00:59:57,401
and I'm not very optimistic or pessimistic about
the future of humanity.

1064
01:00:01,261 --> 01:00:04,801
Like, like, the optimism kind of feels like faith
and the pessimism feels kind of like

1065
01:00:04,821 --> 01:00:06,041
faith as well. Like,

1066
01:00:07,021 --> 01:00:08,921
neither of those is actually locked in.

1067
01:00:10,581 --> 01:00:11,241
But I want

1068
01:00:11,921 --> 01:00:12,861
a future with...

1069
01:00:13,621 --> 01:00:15,701
Like, I want a good future that's somehow locked
in.

1070
01:00:15,761 --> 01:00:18,141
Like, I want the certainty of, you know, we are
going to have a good future.

1071
01:00:18,241 --> 01:00:22,181
I think that this is beneficial for me personally
to know that the future will go well

1072
01:00:22,681 --> 01:00:24,241
and also for a lot of people around me.

1073
01:00:24,661 --> 01:00:25,021
Like,

1074
01:00:27,621 --> 01:00:30,941
I mean, there's the expectation of it going well
that's valuable and then there's, you

1075
01:00:30,961 --> 01:00:34,001
know, the actual reality of it going well, which
is obviously valuable.

1076
01:00:34,041 --> 01:00:34,301
So,

1077
01:00:37,661 --> 01:00:42,121
yeah, I want to lock in some sort of structure
that will outlast me

1078
01:00:42,141 --> 01:00:42,821
basically.

1079
01:00:44,461 --> 01:00:44,761
That

1080
01:00:45,381 --> 01:00:46,481
is important. Like,

1081
01:00:50,501 --> 01:00:54,641
it's important to me that I don't look at myself
through the lens of, you know, the

1082
01:00:54,641 --> 01:00:58,689
handful of.... people around me right now, the
culture around me right now.

1083
01:00:58,689 --> 01:01:02,409
Like, it's important for me to be able to rise
above all of that.

1084
01:01:02,670 --> 01:01:02,869
And

1085
01:01:03,909 --> 01:01:05,169
above doesn't mean...

1086
01:01:06,929 --> 01:01:10,869
Like, not every way of, you know, separa-
separating from your culture is a good thing,

1087
01:01:10,869 --> 01:01:13,369
but yeah, I want to find honestly good ways of
doing it.

1088
01:01:13,369 --> 01:01:13,669
Like,

1089
01:01:14,789 --> 01:01:19,629
you know, bring a superior culture in, basically.
Like, morally superior, you know?

1090
01:01:22,829 --> 01:01:27,589
A culture that can actually, you know, achieve
more happiness for more people,

1091
01:01:27,770 --> 01:01:30,469
and more safety, more trust, more love, more
friendship,

1092
01:01:31,349 --> 01:01:32,489
and so on.

1093
01:01:41,869 --> 01:01:43,029
Yeah, I think I maybe

1094
01:01:44,569 --> 01:01:48,310
summarized a bunch of my kind of childhood stuff,
and maybe that is actually more

1095
01:01:48,349 --> 01:01:49,769
important to discuss, you know?

1096
01:01:51,449 --> 01:01:51,649
The

1097
01:01:52,289 --> 01:01:53,049
breaking of

1098
01:01:53,889 --> 01:01:58,729
trust in society, the suffering due to
institutions, you

1099
01:01:58,770 --> 01:02:01,169
know, suicidal ideation over many years.

1100
01:02:01,229 --> 01:02:01,469
Like,

1101
01:02:02,089 --> 01:02:06,629
all of that has impacted me a lot, and I'm not
talking a lot about it. Maybe that's fine.

1102
01:02:07,189 --> 01:02:11,430
Actually, there's a bunch of external reasons I
feel uncomfortable talking about all of

1103
01:02:11,430 --> 01:02:11,729
that today.

1104
01:02:18,250 --> 01:02:21,289
But yeah, I mean, end of the day, like...

1105
01:02:26,949 --> 01:02:30,729
yeah, I think there may be some things I still
need to learn about, you know, my past and

1106
01:02:30,729 --> 01:02:32,529
how I came to be this way. Uh,

1107
01:02:34,009 --> 01:02:37,570
but ultimately what I'm most interested is, in is
the future.

1108
01:02:37,629 --> 01:02:41,970
Like, going forward, you know, what are my values
going to be independent of everything

1109
01:02:41,989 --> 01:02:43,289
that's happened in the past? Like,

1110
01:02:44,229 --> 01:02:46,129
I want... Again, see, I want to be flexible.

1111
01:02:46,129 --> 01:02:47,129
I don't want to be stuck

1112
01:02:48,769 --> 01:02:51,890
as the, you know, Samuel I was, you know, five
years or ten years ago.

1113
01:03:00,250 --> 01:03:04,309
Yeah, I think that is important to me. I don't
want to be stuck.

1114
01:03:04,309 --> 01:03:05,209
I don't want to

1115
01:03:06,869 --> 01:03:11,529
carry over patterns of thinking that served me,
you know, ten years ago but don't

1116
01:03:11,849 --> 01:03:12,729
serve me today.

1117
01:03:14,789 --> 01:03:18,169
And I think I have more work to do to figure out,
you know, how to

1118
01:03:19,050 --> 01:03:21,210
move past all of that, basically.

1119
01:03:23,129 --> 01:03:27,130
Yep. Think I'm going to end this video right now.

1120
01:03:29,009 --> 01:03:32,930
Yeah, I mean, I'm sleepy. Also it's been another
hour, which means, again,

1121
01:03:33,569 --> 01:03:34,309
quite a lot

1122
01:03:36,169 --> 01:03:37,729
of time has passed.

1123
01:03:39,769 --> 01:03:41,969
Yeah, I don't immediately have anything more to
say.

1124
01:03:44,250 --> 01:03:45,129
Goodbye.