Question My Integrity?!?

  • 2 months ago
"In the last couple of weeks, you have repeatedly reiterated your stance that you don't believe in a soul or any other sort of divine essence that could be "dug out" or set free and give people the ability to change. Yet empirical evidence shows that you spend an enormous amount of time talking to people attempting to do just that — showing them the parts of themselves that have been hurt and giving them the tools to protect and nurture those parts in order to heal and improve their lives. You have also repeatedly used phrases such as "selling your soul to the devil", "soul murder", etc.

"Isn't that evidence that you actually DO believe in a soul (even if perhaps it is not immortal and can be damaged beyond repair or somehow sold for material profit) or some similar construct? Because otherwise, it would seem to imply that all of your work is merely entertainment..."


"Hi Stefan, thanks for the forum and time you give to the community, you’ve helped tremendously over the years. I’ll do my best to support more of your good works when I’m financially better able. Onwards, my question is what constitutes a genuine or acceptable apology from a parent to a child regarding verbal and physical abuse sustained during the childhood? for example hypothetically would a simple “I’m sorry” cover it? if genuine or would you see it necessary for a more detailed and context based apology? If this has been asked and answered before, feel free to skip if so, and thanks again!"


"Hi Stef, I’ve been thinking recently about the idea of living a life guided by rational and moral principles at which point the question emerges. What does it mean to be rational? I think you have done some great work on elaborating on what it means to be moral, but I still find myself unsure about rationality (perhaps due to my lack of research).

"As such here is my question. Is it rational for parents to hit their children? If rationality is seen as behaving in such a way that you make a perceived outcome more likely, are parents acting rationally in this case? If what they want is their children’s obedience, or to socialise their children to be able to fit into the world as it is, is it irrational for them to hit their children?"

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Category

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Transcript
00:00Good morning, everybody. Stefan Mahler to you from Free Domain. A little bit of time before the Sunday morning show. I hope you will check out the great content. We're going to do this on locals and I'm going to take the more spicy questions after the first hour. So I hope you'll come by and check it out. Also, don't forget that you can go to fdrural.com.meetup to see what's going on this winter.
00:30In the last couple of weeks you have repeatedly reiterated your stance that you don't believe in a soul or any other sort of divine essence that could be dug out or set free and give people the ability to change.
00:42This is just so you understand. So you understand what it looks like from somebody with a tiny smidge or two of wisdom.
00:53So when I read a question, what I do is I scan for triggered volatility, butthurt, defensiveness, aggression, manipulation.
01:08Because what I want to know is, is someone genuinely curious and asking me a genuine question or is someone upset at my arguments and is kind of hitting back and usually below the belt.
01:25And so you need to have the self-knowledge. This is just a basic, basic thing to interact with anybody with any wisdom. You need to have the self-knowledge to know why you are asking the question and be honest about why you are asking the question.
01:45Otherwise you look incredibly manipulative and it's kind of annoying. And maybe this won't make sense until I sort of explain it, right?
01:58So if something I'm saying is upsetting to you, that's totally fine. If it's any consolation stuff, arguments I come up with and data that I come across is upsetting to me sometimes as well.
02:13So if something I'm saying is upsetting to you, you need to have the self-knowledge to know that you're upset and you're angry and you're frustrated and you're annoyed with my arguments.
02:25Because if you don't have that self-knowledge, you are not in pursuit of truth. You are in pursuit of justification.
02:33There's an old line from the Song of Seven by John Anderson. The great world is to be justified and just both together entwined. Justified and just.
02:42So if you're upset at something I'm saying, if you are, quote, triggered, just know that and that's fine. Then just say, I'm upset at your arguments. Here's what I want to know.
02:52Your arguments are bothering me. But if you don't even know that you're upset or if you feel that you're perfectly justified at being upset and you take this annoying aristocratic tone with me, it's annoying and people of quality, people of wisdom, people of self-knowledge will not want to interact with you.
03:08And I don't want that in your life. I don't want you to only be surrounded by other no self-knowledge triggered acting out people because that's low quality.
03:17That's, you know, three degrees above trash planet. So when I ask a question I'm scanning for, do you want the answer or are you annoyed at the argument?
03:29Are you hitting back because you're triggered or are you genuinely curious about my position?
03:34So I'll tell you why this is annoying and manipulative. In the last couple of weeks you have repeatedly reiterated your stance.
03:44Okay. I'm a philosopher. I don't have stances. I have arguments and evidence. I have reasoned arguments and evidence. I don't have a stance.
03:54So for you to diminish the 40 years work I've done in philosophy to say it's just a stance, a position, a belief, right?
04:03You've repeatedly reiterated your stance that you don't believe in a soul.
04:06So the reason you do that is to diminish my perspective in the eyes of everyone who's reading the question because it makes me sound defensive that I just have some triggered position.
04:17I just have a stance and I just don't believe in something as opposed to I've made arguments from first principles according to reason and evidence.
04:26So what happens is because you don't know that you're triggered or maybe you do but you're certainly not admitting to it.
04:33Because you don't know that you're triggered and upset what you do is you try to portray me as triggered and upset which is annoying.
04:41I guess you've achieved your goal, right? No, that's fine.
04:44Because you don't know that you are frustrated and annoyed and emotionally upset by my arguments you then try to pretend that my arguments are the result of emotional triggers not your question being the result of emotional triggers.
05:07It's just a self-knowledge thing. You need to know when you're angry and upset.
05:11For instance, I find the question and the framing and the language used to be annoying.
05:17It's kind of belittling. It's insulting to me to say that I'm just repeatedly reiterating my stance that I don't believe in something.
05:24So I'm just tensely reiterating some opinion based on some emotional trigger.
05:29Now that's belittling to the work that I do.
05:33That is belittling to the work that I do.
05:36It's like if I'm a salesman and I put in huge amounts of work qualifying leads and getting the pipeline set up and making sure I ask the difficult questions so I don't waste time.
05:50Finding the right people who need what it is I have to sell and do all of that work, right?
05:55And then you say, well, you just make sales because you wear a certain cologne.
06:01You just smell the way the clients want it. You understand that belittles all of my work.
06:06And belittling all of my work is a negative experience.
06:10I'm sure you wouldn't like it if people belittled your work, the work that you put in.
06:14It's the 10-year overnight success, right?
06:18Oh, it just takes you five minutes to write that hit song and I guess I could do that in five minutes.
06:23Just belittling all of the work that goes into all of that, right?
06:26So I've done a lot of work. I've got a whole series, I think three or four part series on the soul.
06:31So I've got a lot of arguments and a lot of evidence and a lot of reasoning behind it.
06:35And so when you just say you've reiterated your stance, you don't believe in the soul.
06:40Or any other sort of divine essence that could be, quote, dug out or set free and give people the ability to change, right?
06:48So in the sentence, you portrayed me as triggered and deranged, right?
06:54Which is insulting. Now, if I am triggered and deranged, then you would want to make that case slowly and patiently so I understand it.
07:01Because I'm in a state of being triggered and deranged, right?
07:04So what you're saying is, and we'll get to this, right?
07:08So what you're saying is because I make arguments against the existence of the soul, I'm denying people the capacity to change.
07:18Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I mean, that's wild, right?
07:22You haven't done even the most curse research on free will, FDRpodcast.com, now installable.
07:27You haven't done even the most curse researches on free will or my position on determinism and so on, right?
07:33Or the fact that I make arguments in the world, which means I accept that people can change their minds.
07:38Or the fact that I try to supply some philosophical insights to people going through life challenges so that they can see things more clearly and therefore make better decisions to change for the better.
07:49So you've created, first of all, you've insulted me basically by saying I'm just repeatedly repeating a stance of disbelief as opposed to you've made recent arguments.
07:59And then you say that because, Steph, because you don't believe in the soul, you don't believe that people can change, right?
08:07So now then I'm going to get charged with hypocrisy.
08:09Okay, so, yet empirical evidence shows that you spend an enormous amount of time talking to people attempting to do just that,
08:14showing them the parts of themselves that have been hurt and giving them the tools to protect and nurture those parts in order to heal and improve their lives.
08:21Right, so it's a total straw man.
08:24Steph, without the soul, people can't change, yet you try to help people to change for the better.
08:29Hypocrisy much, right?
08:31So this is amateur hour and it's, I'll deal with this because I want to show people how not to engage.
08:38Right, if somebody, it's a bad faith argument.
08:41Somebody says, well, I'm just curious about this.
08:43You know, everybody knows when you ban some troll from a forum, the troll creates a new account, comes back and says, you know, whatever happened to that guy?
08:55I'm just curious.
08:56I just want to know.
08:57I really enjoyed his arguments.
08:58Whatever happened to him?
09:00I mean, it can't be that you're into free speech and banned someone.
09:03Oh my.
09:04So that's just a bad, it's just manipulative bad faith.
09:06So bad faith is when you're not being honest about your motives.
09:09You're annoyed at my arguments about the soul and it bothers you and it upsets you.
09:13And I respect that.
09:14I do.
09:15We should take these things very importantly.
09:16They are very important and I wouldn't want to get things wrong about something as essential as the human soul.
09:22So I respect the fact that you are emotionally invested in the arguments.
09:27Just don't lie about it and pretend that I'm the one who's triggered and hypocritical.
09:32So, he says, you've also repeatedly used phrases such as selling your soul to the devil, soul murder, etc.
09:38Isn't that evidence that you actually do believe in a soul, even if perhaps it is not immortal and can be damaged beyond repair or somehow sold for material profit or some similar construct?
09:47Because otherwise it would seem to imply that all your work is merely entertainment.
09:54I suppose this guy's a Christian and let's say that I am doing something wrong by making arguments against the existence of the soul.
10:01Then as a Christian, you're supposed to love your enemies and lead me with love.
10:05So you're a bad Christian, right?
10:07So you believe in the soul, which means I assume you're a Christian, which means you're supposed to love those who sin, who fall into error.
10:15And you're supposed to approach them with positivity and enthusiasm and love.
10:19And you're not. You're just being low-rent bitchy and calling me a hypocrite and saying that I'm a con man and all of my work is merely entertainment.
10:29That it has no actual philosophical value, that I'm just welding together a bunch of flashy syllables in order to... I don't know what.
10:37Well, obviously it hasn't been to protect my reputation among the normies.
10:42So it's just a massive attack and assault on my character, integrity, virtue, and life's work.
10:54Anybody who has self-knowledge and a commitment to the truth is going to recoil from you.
11:00I'm just telling you this.
11:03I mean, if I read this to anyone I know who's, you know, the people who are in my life have self-knowledge and quality and so on.
11:11If I read this, I guarantee you, I could go through this experiment.
11:15Every single person in my life, if I read this to would say like, oh, that's really manipulative and kind of gross, right?
11:21Everyone, like it's so obvious. You don't know it because you're in it, but you are absolutely driving quality people out of your life.
11:29You're just driving quality people out of your life.
11:31And it's blindingly obvious how upset, manipulative, and triggers you are.
11:35And rather than, I don't know if you're a man or a woman, I think you're a man who was raised by a woman because this is masculine combativeness combined with female manipulation.
11:44And it's a really gross combo.
11:46So, I mean, if you want to know my answers, just do a search for soul, do a search for free will, and you can get all of that.
11:53All right.
11:55Hi, Steph. Thanks for the forum and time you give to the community.
11:57You've helped tremendously over the years.
11:59You're welcome.
12:00I'll do my best to support more of your good works when I'm financially better able.
12:04Onwards, my question is what constitutes a genuine or acceptable apology from a parent to a child regarding verbal and physical abuse sustained during the childhood?
12:12For example, hypothetically, would a simple I'm sorry cover it?
12:15If genuine, if genuine.
12:18Or would you see it as necessary for a more detailed and context-based apology?
12:22If this has been asked and answered before, feel free to skip it.
12:24And if so, thanks again.
12:25No, I think it's fine.
12:26It's a great question.
12:27And apologies are three parts.
12:30One, the apology itself.
12:33Two, an offer of restitution.
12:35And the reason that you need the offer of restitution is somebody has made your life difficult through bad actions.
12:41And if they've made your life a hundred hours difficult and then they take five seconds to apologize, it's asymmetrical.
12:49So they need to put some work in to show that they take the apology seriously.
12:53Because if they're just, if you're upset and you just say, oh, look, I'm really sorry.
12:56And then you move on.
12:57Then you're just appeasing the person and you have no particular intention of change.
13:00So you need to put in, doesn't have to be an exact match, of course.
13:05But you need to put in some time and work over and above just saying I'm sorry.
13:10Because otherwise you can just wrong people and say I'm sorry.
13:15And then just everything's fine.
13:17So if it is a hundred hours or a thousand hours of wrongdoing unto you.
13:22It's caused you a lot of stress and strain and problems or whatever.
13:25And then somebody gives you a five second apology and wants to move on.
13:28It means that they're not taking your suffering seriously.
13:30And they're not understanding how difficult or bad it was to think that they did.
13:36So you apologize to someone until the person you're apologizing to is satisfied.
13:44It's not up to you.
13:45If I wrong someone, it is up to the other person to know when the apology is satisfactory.
13:53So people harm you either because they're callous or indifferent or cruel or whatever it is.
13:59But you're not like a fully realized emotional person when someone harms you.
14:03They have to depersonalize you.
14:05So the way you know that someone is not sorry is they say I'm sorry.
14:09And you say I don't feel emotionally satisfied.
14:11And then they say that that's your problem.
14:13And I apologized.
14:14It's your issue.
14:15If you can't accept an apology, you've got to go and work on that.
14:17But you told me what was wrong.
14:19I said I'm sorry.
14:20And you've got to move on.
14:21So then they're still in charge and they're still denying your emotional needs.
14:26Now, of course, there are people who will grind wrongdoing and apologies will never satisfy them.
14:34But that's a different matter.
14:35I'm talking to you.
14:36I'm sure you're a decent guy and you'll accept a heartfelt apology.
14:39How do you know when the apology is genuine?
14:42The hurt evaporates.
14:44The hurt, the upset, all of the problems, the pain, the loss, it evaporates in your heart.
14:49It's a gut thing.
14:50You can't just reason it.
14:52It is a gut thing.
14:54It's like saying when are you full?
14:57When do you feel full when you eat?
14:59Well, when you feel full.
15:01When you feel full, you're full.
15:04How do you know if you're thirsty?
15:07I mean, you can't reason that out.
15:08You could say, well, I guess it's been a while since I drank or whatever.
15:10But I mean, that happens every night I go to sleep.
15:12I don't wake up and drink in the middle of the night.
15:15So how do you know that the apology is satisfactory?
15:18Well, you feel relief.
15:20You feel release.
15:21There's a sort of gut level processing of it.
15:23It can't be reasoned out.
15:25I mean, there's a bell curve, right?
15:26Excessive apologies can be manipulative.
15:28Deficient apologies can be usually almost always manipulative.
15:31So somewhere in the middle, there's a sweet spot.
15:33It depends upon the wrong that was done.
15:35It depends on the level of empathy you're getting.
15:37It depends on how long you've held on to the wrong or how long the wrong has hurt you.
15:42It depends how long ago it was.
15:43It depends for how long it went on.
15:45So I don't know.
15:46But if you've received genuine apologies, you feel your heart ease.
15:50You feel better.
15:51You feel good.
15:52You feel relief.
15:53You feel release.
15:54And you can then move on.
15:56And it's a good thing.
15:57So, yeah.
15:59So first is apology.
16:00Second is restitution.
16:01Third is a plan or program by which you can be reasonably assured that the wrong will not happen again.
16:06So, I mean, if it's a parent and they wronged you for 20 years, it's going to take years for the apology to take hold.
16:13That's why you don't wrong people and leave it lying because it just gets worse and worse and worse.
16:17And, you know, every step you take in the wrong direction is two steps, right?
16:22It's a step away and then the step back.
16:25And the tiredness, it's three steps, right?
16:27You go a mile south when you should have gone north.
16:29You've gone south.
16:30You've got to go back.
16:31And you've already walked two miles and you're tired to go north.
16:33So don't go in the wrong direction.
16:35Personally, I don't think a wrong of 20 years can ever be solved.
16:38I mean, I guess it could be in some theoretical way.
16:41I've never seen it really happen.
16:43But you apologize and make restitution until the other person feels better.
16:51It's tough for people who wrong others to apologize because wronging others is a form of dominance.
16:56And then apologies is a form of submission.
16:59And it's very tough for that person emotionally.
17:01All right.
17:03Hi, Steph.
17:04I've been thinking recently about the idea of living a life guided by rational and moral principles,
17:08at which point the question emerged.
17:09What does it mean to be rational?
17:11I think you've done some great work on elaborating on what it means to be moral,
17:14but I still find myself unsure about rationality, perhaps due to my lack of research.
17:20Well, you could read my book, The Art of the Argument.
17:24You can read Aristotle's Laws of Logic.
17:27It's about a way of making sure that your thinking is clear and consistent and universal.
17:34Clear and consistent and universal.
17:37Which means you have to root out contradictions.
17:40You have to root out contradictions within yourself and expose those contradictions to your mind.
17:45All trauma causes contradictions.
17:50And whenever I see somebody contradicting themselves,
17:54like the guy in the first part who said, I'm the one who's upset.
17:57But he's the one who's upset.
17:59There's trauma.
18:01Our minds are naturally clear and consistent.
18:03And if you've ever been around children who are growing,
18:05you know how incredible the human mind is at unraveling contradictions and finding consistencies.
18:12My daughter, when she figured out what a ball was,
18:14she almost instantly knew what every ball was and then every spherical shape.
18:17And there's no contradictions.
18:19And she's unbelievably great at figuring out contradictions.
18:23It's just instinctive to her because I've never asked her to accept a contradiction.
18:26And so when they show up, and because she's untraumatized,
18:30when they show up, she's immediately able to identify them even in me,
18:33or especially in me perhaps.
18:35And that's great. It's fantastic.
18:37I've got this greatest radar that works beautifully for contradictions.
18:41So, all contradictions in thinking result from trauma.
18:46Because the natural state of the human mind is universality, rationality and consistency.
18:51So, if you show up in the ER with a broken arm,
18:57the broken arm is evidence of some force that broke your arm,
19:01or some situation or some pressure that broke your arm.
19:04Or even if it broke from some disease, some disease that weakened your bones.
19:08So, you understand as a doctor, you say, what happened, right?
19:13Oh no, I just woke up this way. Nothing happened.
19:15And the doctor won't believe you.
19:17It can't be true. It can't be true that a broken arm is no physical trauma or ailment.
19:23Because the natural state of arms is to not be broken.
19:27Like if a tooth enamel is the hottest substance on your body,
19:31so if something breaks through your tooth enamel, it's got to be some external thing.
19:34Or if you go in to your dentist with a bunch of bloody teeth in a bag,
19:38and they're all ripped out, what happened? Nothing.
19:41This is what happened. It's like they can see the trauma, they can see the teeth.
19:44So, when contradictions arise, that's the result of trauma.
19:47And that's why it's hard for people to resolve contradictions.
19:52Because when they start to resolve their contradictions,
19:54and they start to look for consistency and universality,
19:59the person who hurt them arises and tells them to stop.
20:03Because what they're doing, when you are examining your own contradictions,
20:07you are examining the scene of a crime. Just so you understand that.
20:11You are examining the scene of a crime.
20:14So, you think you're just going in and having a look around,
20:16there's a contradiction, that's interesting.
20:17And then as you start to poke around the roots of that contradiction,
20:20it's a scene of a crime. The crime was child abuse.
20:23Almost always could be adult abuse, but usually it's child abuse.
20:26So, contradictions result from child abuse.
20:29So, when you start to unravel contradictions and poke around the root of the contradictions,
20:32all the criminals who harmed you arise as one and tell you to stop.
20:37They provoke anxiety, sleeplessness. Criminals don't want to be caught.
20:42Criminals don't want to be caught.
20:44And if you start poking around the backyard of some guy who's got bodies buried in there,
20:48he's going to have something to say about it.
20:50So, that's why we talk a lot in philosophy, people don't really understand.
20:54A lot of people don't understand.
20:55Well, why do you talk about people's contradictions and personal issues?
20:58Because all of the call-and-shows demonstrate that contradictions arise from trauma.
21:04And if you unravel the contradictions, you get to the trauma.
21:09And if you can't deal with the trauma, the contradictions will simply reform,
21:13and you won't be any more rational.
21:15In fact, you'll have skepticism for rationality, right?
21:18So, this is why people are so angry at me out there in the world,
21:22because I'm telling people to go examine the scenes of the crimes
21:26that were inflicted upon them as children.
21:28And the criminals don't like it.
21:30So, the criminals create all of this hysterical language around me
21:32so people don't go digging in the dirt to find the bones.
21:37So, as such, here's my question.
21:38Is it rational for parents to hit their children?
21:40If rationality is seen as behaving in such a way that you make a perceived outcome,
21:43more likely are parents acting rationally in this case.
21:47If what they want is their children's obedience,
21:49or to socialize their children to be able to fit into the world as it is,
21:51is it irrational for them to hit their children?
21:55So, if rationality is seen as behaving in such a way that you make a perceived outcome,
22:00more likely, no.
22:01No, that's called consequentialism, maybe pragmatism, utilitarianism.
22:05No, that's practicality, right?
22:08But that's not the same as rationality.
22:10Rationality is universality, non-contradiction, and consistency.
22:18I can tell you that doesn't always make a beneficial outcome more likely.
22:22I can tell you that one for absolute sure.
22:25So, no.
22:26Rationality is not behaving in such a way that you make a perceived outcome more likely.
22:30So, if a serial killer is stalking his victim,
22:32it makes practical sense for him to creep along in the dark and all that kind of stuff,
22:36because his perceived outcome to murder his victim will become more likely.
22:40This is not rational or moral.
22:42So, I just wanted to do that quick thing.
22:45I'll get to the other ones later.
22:47Oh, no, I've got time.
22:48I lie.
22:49Sorry, I thought it was 10.30.
22:51Part two.
22:52So, no, it's not rational.
22:54So, rationality is, and I go into the Peaceful Parenting book in this,
22:58the rationality with regards to hitting children would be,
23:00it's okay to hit people smaller and weaker than you, but we don't allow that in society.
23:04It's okay to hit people who are cognitively deficient,
23:07like those who have mental retardation or those who have Alzheimer's.
23:10We don't allow that in society.
23:12So, there's no rationality that justifies the hitting of children
23:16that doesn't also justify hitting other people with the same characteristics, right?
23:21We can hit people we have power over.
23:23We can hit people in order to make them fit in.
23:25We can hit people because they're cognitively deficient.
23:27We can hit people in order to instruct them,
23:29but you wouldn't ever allow that in the workplace.
23:32I mean, there are oddballs in every workplace.
23:34Do you get to beat them up until they fit into the general culture?
23:37No, you just don't allow this.
23:39Violence is wrong.
23:40The initiation of the use of force is wrong.
23:42That's what we accept in society.
23:43So, why do we make an exception for children
23:45and no other group that shares the characteristics of children?
23:50That's a contradiction.
23:53We can't allow it, right?
23:54Okay.
23:55I must admit that I still haven't made my way into the Peaceful Parenting book,
23:58so if I'm exploring settled territory, then I apologize.
24:00Otherwise, there are some more thoughts, blah, blah, blah,
24:03that hitting children is sometimes rational, although immoral.
24:05No, it can't be both rational and immoral.
24:08You could say it's practical, right?
24:11But rationality includes morality, right?
24:13Morality is a subset of rationality, right?
24:18So, it's like saying you can go generally north but partly south, right?
24:23So, if you're acting irrationally,
24:26then you can't say that you're acting rationally.
24:28So, if you're acting immorally, you're acting irrationally or anti-rationally,
24:32and therefore you can't say you're acting rationally.
24:34It says no action is rational in isolation.
24:36Eating isn't rational, nor is sleeping.
24:38It all depends on the goal and context.
24:41No action is rational in isolation.
24:44Well, I'm not sure exactly what that means.
24:48All animals, you have to be rigorous with yourself,
24:50and you have to be skeptical with your own formulations.
24:52Don't be lazy and put all the work on me.
24:55So, if you're saying what we're judging is actions,
24:59then, well, animals act, don't they?
25:01And are animals subject to morality? No.
25:04So, it must be something other than action that we're judging.
25:08So, UPB judges moral theories, right?
25:13So, rationality doesn't judge actions.
25:16Rationality judges propositions, theories, concepts, arguments, syllogisms, hypotheticals.
25:23Rationality is an abstract thing, and abstract things judge abstract things.
25:29They don't judge particular actions, if that makes sense.
25:32A guy stabs another guy. Is that good or bad?
25:36Well, it's bad if he's robbing the guy.
25:39It's good if he's giving him a tracheotomy that's going to save his life,
25:42or surgery that will cause him to survive, right?
25:45I mean, I got a stab wound on my neck here from a great surgeon.
25:49But, you know, he wasn't stabbing me.
25:51I mean, he was cutting me open with a knife.
25:53So, no, you don't judge particular actions.
25:56You judge arguments.
25:58It's a category error to say that reason should judge individual actions, right?
26:03Eating isn't rational, nor is sleeping.
26:07It all depends on the goal and context.
26:09Well, okay, yeah, I mean, I make this case in UPB, right?
26:11So, yes, eating is rational if you want to survive.
26:14Sleeping is rational if you're tired and want to be refreshed.
26:17Two, if no action is rational in isolation, it depends on the goal that the person has in mind,
26:22then it is possible that hitting children is rational depending on the goal.
26:28No, so hitting children, it is not the individual act of hitting a child
26:36or causing pain to a child that makes sense.
26:39You cause pain to a child when you give them an inoculation for smallpox.
26:43You cause pain to a child when you take them to the dentist.
26:46You cause pain to a child, emotional pain to the child, when you refuse the child candy.
26:50You cause emotional pain to the child when you say no.
26:53So, the idea that you don't cause pain to children, that's not rational.
26:57The question is not hitting children. You just look at the goal.
27:00That's not it. You look at the justifications.
27:02Why do you hit children? Well, you hit children because they're smaller,
27:05they don't understand, you're instructing them, they need to fit in, blah, blah, blah.
27:09Okay, in which case you're making an argument.
27:11And once you make an argument, you're subjected to rational analysis, right?
27:15And if you have an arbitrary distinction, that's called absolute bigotry.
27:19If you say, redheaded people can't have human rights.
27:23They're human beings, but they can't have rights. Well, why?
27:25They're human beings, they have red hair.
27:27That's not an essential characteristic of whether you're a human being or not.
27:31So, if you say, redheaded human beings can't have rights,
27:35or don't have the right to property or self-defense, you're making a category error.
27:39Because you're saying, there are human rights,
27:41these people who have a characteristic inconsequential to their essential humanity,
27:45i.e. the color of their hair.
27:47And so you're saying, all human beings have rights,
27:50but redheaded human beings don't have rights.
27:52Well, then you're just prejudiced, right?
27:56And you're saying that they are human beings, all human beings have rights,
28:02color of your hair is not consequential to your status as a human being,
28:06but I'm going to make this exception for redheaded people.
28:08That just shows that you hate and fear redheaded people.
28:12Right, so that's irrational.
28:14And so if you're saying, you can hit people you need to instruct, okay.
28:18Can you hit in an HR training seminar? No.
28:20Well, there's a lack of knowledge and you're trying to instruct them.
28:23Can you hit people who are doing dangerous things?
28:25Okay, some guy wants to go ride his motorcycle in the rain, can you beat him up?
28:29Some guy wants to do some sort of MMA that could result in brain damage,
28:34or wants to go into the NFL where he could get concussion syndromes or whatever,
28:38can you beat him up?
28:39If people want to do risky things, can you beat them up? No.
28:42Okay, so that's not the category.
28:44Can you hit people who are cognitively deficient? No, you can't.
28:48Okay, so you just go through these things and you say,
28:50well, if you can't hit any characteristic of a child, how can you hit a child?
28:56Right, so that's important, right?
29:01Ah, all right.
29:05So, let me just see your example here.
29:11If someone wanted their children to have a capacity for antisocial behavior,
29:14such as bullying, because they have been successful in gaining a mate
29:17and resources through using these methods, are they irrational for creating a home environment
29:20that turns their children into bullies?
29:22So, you're saying practicality.
29:26It is practical for a lion to creep before he runs,
29:30or a tiger to creep and hide in the bushes or the tall grass,
29:34which is what the tiger stripes are for.
29:36It is practical, it further achieves the tiger's objective.
29:40It is rational for those crazy birds in the Amazon
29:42to build those big giant nesting displays to attract a female.
29:45It is practical for them to do all of that.
29:47So, if you're going to say practicality is the same as rationality,
29:50practicality is goal-oriented.
29:53If you want to kill a guy and you take the steps necessary to kill a guy,
29:57you're being practical, but evil.
30:00So, practicality is taking the steps to achieve a goal.
30:04Morality is universally preferable behavior.
30:08So, if you're going to conflate the two, you need to read my book.
30:15So, you're going to need to figure that one out.
30:22It's like saying, well, a witch doctor, by convincing people
30:25that his dancing changes the rains, gets a really, really good living,
30:28so it's practical for him, and therefore that's science.
30:33So, a witch doctor lying to everyone and saying his dancing creates rain
30:37and therefore he gets a good living without having to work,
30:39well, that's practical for him.
30:45And therefore, that's science, because science is all about practical outcomes.
30:48And it's like, nope, nope, nope, nope.
30:51So, the DEI stuff, there's a big emotional thing about DEI.
30:57And, yeah, you're going to have to deal with the fact that society
31:00is getting less and less competent.
31:03And people who want me to become preppers, that's not my gig.
31:10I'm a philosopher.
31:11If you want to go look up prepping, there's tons and tons of people
31:14who do great work in the realm of prepping.
31:17And if you are interested in prepping, which I think is not the worst idea
31:20in the world, then you should go and look at that.
31:22But asking me to do everything is lazy on your part.
31:26And honestly, it's kind of annoying a little bit.
31:29I didn't wake up on the wrong side of the bed,
31:31but I've decided to be more honest about things that bug me.
31:34Not that I've ever been particularly dishonest,
31:36I've decided to be a little less diplomatic as I age out of this mortal sphere.
31:41So, Steph, I'm really interested in X. You should do X.
31:47Why?
31:49Do you not understand opportunity costs?
31:51Let's say I become an expert in prepping.
31:54Well, that means there's less philosophy.
31:56Are there more great philosophers or are there more great preppers?
32:01I mean, you just have to think through these things for a moment.
32:04Steph, I have a pain in my side. It could be appendicitis.
32:08I really need you to become a doctor.
32:14Steph, my roof is leaking. I really need you to become a roofer.
32:17Steph, I'm interested in X. You really need to become an expert in X.
32:19And then there's all of this emotional manipulation nonsense
32:22about how it's responsible and good and right and decent and generous and moral.
32:26And it's like, no, no, no. You just want to take away.
32:30You like the way that I communicate, so you want me to communicate something to you.
32:33You want me to do the work. You don't want to find out who the good prepper is.
32:36You already trust me, so you want me to become a prepper.
32:39No, no.
32:41So, in order to be good to the world, you have to understand opportunity costs.
32:45I mean, you just have to.
32:47Otherwise, you're lazy and chaotic.
32:49And it is lazy. It is lazy.
32:51Go find yourself a good prepper. Go find someone you trust.
32:54Asking me to become a prepper is asking me to take
32:56hundreds or thousands of hours away from philosophy.
33:01Right? So, no. The world needs philosophy.
33:07So, if I've got a toothache, you should really study to become a dentist.
33:12The world needs philosophy.
33:14Everything that serves philosophy is what I do.
33:17That is the north star by which I guide my public life.
33:22My private life, it's the good of virtue family friends, right?
33:28So, what is good for philosophy?
33:31What does the world need more philosophers?
33:33It's why I quit my already high-flying job as a software executive
33:36and chief technical officer and board member and entrepreneur.
33:39Why did I quit all of that?
33:41Because the world needs great philosophy
33:44more than it needs another software guy.
33:48You know, there are hundreds of thousands of software executives,
33:51maybe millions, I don't know.
33:52But certainly hundreds of thousands of high-flying entrepreneurial
33:55software executives scattered throughout the globe.
33:57How many great philosophers are there
33:59who are going to solve the problem of ethics
34:01and focus people on the hypocrisy of the rank prejudice in society
34:04that destroys the world repeatedly called childism,
34:07bigotry against children?
34:09How many people have a unique ability
34:11to communicate these things in a user-friendly way
34:14with a pleasant voice and a decent demeanor?
34:17And how many people are really, really competent
34:20at having these kinds of ferocious debates
34:23and dealing with trolls in a positive and productive way?
34:27I mean, how many people are good at that?
34:29I have a unique set of skills that can advance philosophy massively.
34:32And what does the world need?
34:34Another prepper or more philosophy?
34:37Think about what you're asking for in the world
34:40and remember that everyone you ask to do something
34:42is not doing everything else, if they agree with you.
34:45And you need to not be selfish.
34:47And you need to think what's best for the world, as I do.
34:50I have to not be selfish and think about what's best for the world.
34:53So saying, well, Steph, you're hypocritical if you're not a prepper,
34:56if you're not helping prep, is selfish.
34:58You want me to tell you how to prep,
35:01when there's already thousands of people already doing that,
35:04infinitely more experienced and competent than I am.
35:07So you don't sit there and think,
35:09gee, well, if I can convince, if I kind of hop bullying Steph
35:12because your appeals to hypocrisy or you're a hypocrite
35:15if you don't believe in the soul and still want people to change,
35:18that sort of aggressive assault is pathetic.
35:20It really is. It's beneath all of us.
35:22You should stop doing that stuff. It's really sad.
35:24It's driving good people away.
35:26Like this guy, I won't read the whole thing, but it's like,
35:28if you really believed in your philosophy, Steph,
35:30you'd be a prepper and you'd tell your audience about prepping.
35:32And it's like, don't tell me.
35:34Don't tell me how to do what you want and call it integrity.
35:41Don't say, Steph, you're a bad person if you don't do what I want.
35:45That's sad. That's pitiful. That's gross.
35:48That's repulsive, honestly.
35:50And I say this forcefully because I want you to stop doing this
35:52so you can have quality people in your life.
35:54And not all of the losers who will succumb to such obvious
35:57and pitiful emotional blackmail and manipulation.
36:00It's sad. It's sad.
36:03And it is a big calling card and a big siren
36:06and a big come-hither look to all of the crap people in the universe
36:09while all the good people edge away.
36:12I think I've earned some respect for my integrity.
36:16And if you attack my integrity,
36:18you'd better come at me with a great fucking argument.
36:23Because I've earned some respect for my integrity.
36:26And if you say I'm a bad person because I'm hypocritical
36:28and all my shows are just entertainment and I'm a bad person
36:31if I'm not telling my audience about prepping and blah, blah, blah, blah,
36:34if you attack my commitment to virtue, the benefit of the audience,
36:38and the beneficence of philosophy, if you come at me with that,
36:41you'd better have a damn good argument.
36:44Because I'm pretty strict about what I do in the world.
36:47I'm pretty strict about how I present myself
36:49and the arguments I bring forward.
36:52And I'm pretty strict with my own integrity.
36:58So have a good argument. Do some research.
37:04Well, Steph, it's rational to beat children.
37:07I guess you've just missed something super obvious in 40 years.
37:12Do not think that you get to be a smart guy
37:14by pretending other people are stupid as a bag of hammers,
37:18dumb as a bat of rocks.
37:20Don't imagine that I've just missed something blindingly obvious
37:25in 18 years of public, incredibly examined and pushed back on philosophy,
37:3040 years of working philosophy.
37:31I've just missed the most obvious thing.
37:34Well, I guess I'm a determinist who asks people to change.
37:37Well, I guess I'm hypocritical because I don't talk about prepping.
37:42Well, I guess I'm just not practical
37:44because sometimes it can be totally rational to hit children.
37:47Like the idea that I've missed something completely obvious
37:51after 40 years.
37:57No, no.
37:59It doesn't mean I'm right about everything, of course.
38:01But don't assume that I'm just some dumb guy
38:04who's missed something completely obvious
38:06and asked people to change while being a determinist.
38:10Have some respect for competence.
38:14Like, seriously.
38:15Because this is Dunning-Kruger.
38:17You're saying, well, I'm not competent in philosophy,
38:21but Steph must be even worse at it after 40 years.
38:25Don't do it.
38:28Don't imagine that you can be the smartest guy in the room
38:32by pretending that everyone else is a complete idiot.
38:36You need to work to contribute.
38:38And I appreciate these questions.
38:39I really do.
38:40And I do want people to ask questions.
38:42And sometimes the answers are meta.
38:44I'm answering about the question
38:46rather than answering the question directly.
38:48Have some respect for competence.
38:50Have some respect for people who know what they're doing.
38:52Have some respect for people who've gone through
38:54close to two decades of intense fire.
38:57If somebody's been a soldier for 30 years
39:02and has been under fire for 18 years in full-on world combat,
39:08asking them basic questions about basic training,
39:11and maybe you missed that you need to point your gun at the enemy.
39:13Maybe you missed that you need to take cover when you're under fire.
39:16And maybe you missed that a battle that seems to be going too well
39:19might in fact be a trap.
39:21And maybe you've missed the fact that the enemy's side attack
39:23could be their main attack.
39:24And maybe you've missed the fact that you need extra bullets.
39:26And maybe you've missed the fact...
39:28Like, when you've never been in battle,
39:30and I've been at war for 40 years,
39:33and you've never been in battle,
39:37questioning my fundamental...
39:38And not only have I been in battle,
39:40in the most foundational, elemental battles of the modern world,
39:43I've survived.
39:47So then coming to me and like,
39:48Well, Steph, you've just missed some absolutely basic and obvious thing.
39:52Bro. Bro.
39:58You need to have some humility.
40:00Not humility to me, but humility to competence in general.
40:06Can you imagine going to the best surgeon in your region,
40:09your best surgeon in your state,
40:12and lecturing him on the fact that he needs to use a scalpel,
40:15and he needs to make sure he doesn't cut through a vein,
40:18and he needs to make sure that he cuts the person
40:21where the person actually has the problem and not some unrelated part.
40:25And if he has to amputate a leg, it's really, really important
40:28you don't amputate the wrong leg.
40:29This is a guy with 40 years experience as a surgeon
40:33and 20 years at the very top of his profession.
40:41Sometimes it's good to just shut up and learn
40:46and not intrude with these kind of insulting questions
40:51when the answers are already out there.
40:53And again, I appreciate that.
40:54I don't want people to hesitate asking me questions at all.
40:57I mean, maybe it sounds that way,
40:59but what I'm trying to do is to get you to be humble,
41:02because if you're not humble, you can't learn anything.
41:04And if you think that I've been a philosopher for 40 years
41:08and I'm somehow a determinist who wants people to change,
41:11that that foundational error has never crossed my mind.
41:14It's never crossed the mind of any of the millions of people
41:17who've cross-examined me in comments and message boards
41:20and email and debates.
41:22It's never crossed.
41:23And you're the first person to say,
41:26gosh, isn't there a bit of a contradiction
41:28if someone is both a free will and a determinist?
41:32Huh, I am super smart.
41:34I am giant brain.
41:37I am giant brain.
41:39If somebody has never even thought
41:42that somehow there could be practical approaches
41:46to things that are immoral,
41:49I am super giant brain.
41:51I am super smart.
41:55If the guy who writes a book called The Art of the Argument,
41:58which is all about what rationality is and how to be rational,
42:02if that guy hasn't thought about basic contradictions,
42:06I am super smart.
42:13Competent people who aren't respected for their competence
42:16don't want to spend time with you,
42:17which means that you're going to be surrounded by incompetent people.
42:21And being surrounded by incompetent people is hell on earth.
42:25They can't help you.
42:26They can't clarify your thinking.
42:28They can't put back on your mistakes.
42:29They can't watch your back.
42:30They can't help you to a better place.
42:32They can't do any of these things.
42:34You're down there in Trash Planet,
42:35trading giant brain non-thoughts back and forth
42:38and thinking you're solving all the problems of the known universe.
42:40You are witch doctors thinking you're changing the reign
42:42and insulting all the scientists for not being scientific enough.
42:46Try and elevate yourself.
42:48Have some humility, learn stuff, and then ask the questions.
42:51That's totally fine.
42:53I appreciate the questions.
42:54All of these were great questions in many ways.
42:56So thank you everyone so much.
42:57Have yourself a wonderful day.
42:58Lots of love. I'll talk to you soon.
42:59Bye.
43:04Transcription by ESO. Translation by —