Kind: captions
Language: en
you're living in a society that is so
safe and
prosperous and comfortable that the
greatest risk to your life is your own
hands there's ingredients and chemicals
and weird things that are put in here
that are not put in the food in Europe
or in Australia and so on as soon as
someone crosses that line right and hits
someone you shoot someone attack someone
no right and that's where the rule of
law is extremely important there can't
be a tolerance of that there can't be a
tolerance of okay well you were
Justified because he thought the wrong
thing so the big thing for us in the US
is the Border okay I'll give you one of
my favorite Thomas Soul quotes it's
really interesting the first time I
heard this it hit me a so
counterintuitive but I think he's right
if there is any place in the Guinness
Book of World Records for the words
repeated the most often over the most
years without one Speck of evidence
diversity should be a prime candidate is
diversity our strength or anybody's
strength anywhere in the world it has
not been our diversity but our ability
to overcome the problems inherent with
diversity and to act together as
Americans that has been our strength so
when I look at people streaming over the
Border I'm like hey hey we should
probably check at a minimum like do you
believe in the country that exists or
are you coming in to remake the country
over because otherwise we end up in a
values war and I'm not even saying
values are right I'm just saying that
people are going to fight for their
values yes now I have a value system
that forces me to say well you want
human flourishing and if your value
system is suboptimal at delivering human
flourishing you should update your
belief system so I'm super here for that
but I don't think you get there by just
randomly dumping people from all over
the world with no filtering mechanism
whatsoever and just like fingers crossed
hope for the best given that I think
that Thomas soul is right that you
actually to overcome all that divers
everyone used to know that that was a
bad idea right that didn't used to be a
quote unquote right-wing position right
everyone Democrat Republican border or
diversity oh the Border yeah yeah I
think people have a because diversity
feels so good like it feels so right for
me anyway the way I was raised whatever
the way I'm hardwired that that is a
heartwarming belief that I love the most
I'll tell you what I think people have a
very shallow understanding and usage of
diversity these days I I think it's
become this um it's become this buzzword
which is often times I mean when it's
used by certain people certain
progressives for example they really
just mean different skin color genders
and sexualities but you all think the
same way right that's really that's
really what they mean because as soon as
there's someone who's a black or brown
conservative they're not big fans right
or when someone steps outside they're
you know very quite rigid ideology it's
not very liberal ideology they don't
they're not huge fans of freedom of
speech even um um they don't like that
so I think that I I I get asked a lot
about you know the sort of diversity
question the first thing is maybe
there's multiple things to say first
thing is that I think that natural
diversity is generally good what's
natural diversity diversity that just
the human beings is a diverse species
and so if you have a
meritocracy and you have fairness and
reasonable um access and equality of
opportunity you will naturally get
diversity if you run thought of
everything if you run a company or you
have a sports event or a music event or
anything and you just are like we just
want the best people we want the fastest
Runners we want the best basketball
players we want the best programmers we
want the best Engineers or whatever
there is a natural level because Talent
is distributed it's not just like oh
okay all the people from this place or
of this skin color or of this
nationality are just I me all the best
at this thing and so they all go in
there like you there's just a natural
level of diversity that takes place you
don't need to have quotas or affirmative
action or try to force it in this
direction or that direction Talent is
distributed is it completely um equally
across all groups no and people have
different interests and proclivities and
backgrounds you want to make it even
more obvious just look between the two
genders okay males and
females right like we we have different
interests we have generally across as
whole populations we have different uh
strengths and weaknesses there are
certain Fields where okay if you just
take the best people out of the people
who are interested in it you're going to
end up with 95% men and 5% women in this
and in this area you're going to end up
with 95% women 5% men and so whatever my
personal view is as long as there is no
one's being unfairly discriminated
against then cool let people do what
they want to do I'm not on the bandwagon
of hey we need to get everything 50/50
and make sure everything perfectly
reflects the population because you
can't do that without actual sexist and
or racist policies to discriminate
against people who are um more likely to
go into that area if you want 50% of
airline pilots to be female you will
have to unfairly discriminate against
men let's say though that you're not
stupid and so you're not gonna try to
get everything to equal the population
that that is a child's view of how to
make this work
but you really do look out at the world
I I'll give you the easy one so uh you
look out of the world and you realize
that certain zip coaches have terrible
[ __ ] education and so it's like oh
okay that's broken and because of uh the
history of um slavery in the country
that you you started this feeder system
of people into a broken system and I
know I'm I'm making because obviously
there was a moment where it really like
blacks are going to escape and Black
Wall Street and all that like I'm way
way way oversimplifying but
nonetheless a stretch of people whether
white black otherwise doesn't matter
they find themselves in poverty and now
they're they're just in a poverty
creation machine yes and that is the the
ZIP code that they're born into and so
now you're like uh I really I don't it
would be absurd to get equal percentages
everywhere but at the same time I
actually do want to fix the real [ __ ]
problem y so how do we do that I think
you go to the root of the
problem okay something
like 72% of black Americans born in this
country are born to unmarried
parents that is a
problem only
28% is 25 to 28% being born to married
parents that is a gigantic issue people
don't like to talk about this because it
makes people uncomfortable and certain
people feel convicted or feel like
you're attacking them or something like
that but if you can't talk about a
problem openly you certainly have no
chance of fixing it so that is one of
the roots of the issue the family
structure what are the environments
people are growing up in is there even a
father in the home or there fathers in
the community if the answer is mostly no
you can actually just accurately predict
everything from education success to
long-term income to incar eration rates
crime rates poverty rates so on and so
forth they're all correlated you find
the communities with the highest rates
of uh intact families and fathers in the
households they also look they lo and
behold they have the lowest incar
incarceration rates uh highest incomes
highest educational attainment and so on
and so forth so these things are firstly
you have to be able to like really just
be truthful about the issue and get to
the core of it and all the all the
different factors right I'm not saying
that's the one factor I'd say it's
certainly one of the biggest if not the
biggest um and that's also a
multigenerational fix it didn't happen
overnight like that and you can't just
fix it like that and it's not something
that you just make a political policy
which suddenly improves it so I think
I'm speaking here as a foreigner but as
a foreigner who uh cares about the USA
and does want to see people flourish
across the Bo and I think in that
specific situation I think you need some
you need the long-term solution which is
okay let's look right at the route let's
look right at the root of this and see
what's going on here and let's have a
multi-decade plan to remedy this and
then you might need to have some type of
interim solution I know that a lot of
conservatives here talk about school
choice that's not something I've looked
into that much you certainly need to
invest in improving certain schools and
communities if it's just like okay this
is a poor area and therefore all the
schools suck that shouldn't necessarily
be the situation right and it doesn't
have to be that's not an inevitable
situation that oh this is a poor
community so the schools are just
garbage right no I don't think I don't
think Americans should just accept that
I don't think they should just accept
and tolerate that this is the richest
country in the world we've got trillions
and trillions and trillions in debt but
also so um a lot more trillions talking
but also but also being sent overseas
and going to the military industrial
complex and so on like there's so much
wasteful spending that's my point this
is what's driving the question let's
let's redirect this towards our own
citizens um I do I'm not American but I
am America First for Americans right
that shouldn't be some controversial
thing or some things that's view to some
Fringe right-wing view or something it's
like no these are the citizens these are
these are the taxpayers MH so that money
and funding education's a really basic
foundational thing if if the next
generation of Americans coming up is not
well educated and a lot of them don't
even know how to read and write properly
and do basic math like that's not the
things ain't looking good in 30 40 50
years if that's the situation across
millions and millions of people and I
don't think it's a gigantic ask that hey
how about we we make it so that every
American child graduating from 9th grade
can read and do math
properly I don't think that's like a
crazy
utopian oh like that should be basic in
most countries that's basic that's like
yeah of course they can read and they
can do math and they have basic
understanding of certain things but I
think that um I'll tell you why I don't
think I've ever even said this before
but I think like I think in this country
and in the UK as well I think people
need to like raise their standards and
expectations in a way of
what I I think that just because you
know I think people get used to
things and sometimes people get used to
things that they shouldn't I'll give you
a parallel so my family's originally
from Nigeria in Nigeria for the past
several decades my entire lifetime
you've been dealing with power Cuts
blackouts sometimes multiple times a day
three four times a day every single day
for the past 40 50 years blackouts
and it's been going on for so long that
every Nigerian whether in Nigeria or in
the diaspora is just kind of like you
know that's just how it is right that's
just how it is and I'm like you
shouldn't tolerate that Nigeria exports
oil to other
countries NE you know countries like
Ghana haven't had you know they've been
they've been free of blackouts for two
decades at this point why is Nigeria
still having blackouts that's goofy how
are they having petrol shortages in a
country with as much oil resources as it
does like guys you know come on we
shouldn't just be like oh well that's
just how it is right that's just Amica
oh that's just the American education
system no no why should America have a
crap education system compared to other
countries in Europe or in Asia or in the
Middle East why should the US be behind
in that it shouldn't
be it shouldn't be like this country has
stupidly blessed Nation I mean
ridiculous amounts of resources so much
money so many entrepreneurs so much
going on and people just kind of like
accept that oh well like you know our
education system is just crapping
getting worse I'm like no or or or when
people uh kind of give up on the cities
with when it when it comes to crime or
homelessness and and like drugs and
stuff and they're just like well it's
just it's just like that it's like no it
shouldn't it wasn't firstly it wasn't
always like that it wasn't always that
way and we're moving in the future not
in the past so it should at least in
theory be getting better it should be
improving it shouldn't be like oh each
year Los Angeles or San Francisco or
California or wherever you are oh it's
just like declining you're paying more
in taxes and it's declining I think I
don't I I firstly think like there just
needs to be
more what's the right word I'm looking
for I think there's too much apathy I
think there's there's an acceptance of
the unacceptable
and I think that that should not be the
case I does it feel accurate if I call
that
culture we have a culture of apathy see
I don't think Americans generally have
this though I think America has one of
the most optimistic culture of any
country that I've been to and I've been
to over 40 moving in the right direction
holding steady trending down uh the
culture yeah an Outsiders
view us as a whole is difficult just
because it's so big it's so big and
there's 50 different states I would say
that in some ways okay let's let let's
expand the time Horizon a little bit
because I think it's easy to get caught
up in kind of the last five to 10 years
let's go let's do 100 years let's look
from 1924 to
2024 I think pretty much everyone would
agree that the country has made massive
strides and progress in the past 100
years regardless of your uh skin color
or income level whether you're a man or
a woman or you're straight or you're gay
or whatever I think it's very clearly
overall trended in a in a positive
direction I think the world has in
general um I think in the last 10 to 15
years there have
been elements of Decline and elements of
regression as well as elements of
progression I think a lot of it actually
stems from an absence of perspective and
gratitude so one reason why I
appreciate America so much is because I
have a wide Global Perspective so I
appreciate the USA often in a way that a
lot of Americans who have never left it
don't because this is just kind of like
the default and they haven't been to
other parts of the world and seeing how
people live and seeing the opportunities
and lack thereof
um and they're just like okay well you
know this this is just kind of it and
with an absence of perspective can come
an absence of gratitude and I think that
when you are not grateful for something
no matter what it is it could even be a
relationship you often tend to undermine
and destroy it sometimes without even
trying and when I look at the USA and
the way the culture is going right now I
see a lot of elements of
self-destruction I think the same is
true of the UK maybe not to the same
extent but it's similar I mean I know
for certain in the UK I don't know if
this statistic holds true in the U us as
well but it will certainly be close but
if you look at say like men under 50
what's the most common cause of death
suicide
yourself when you really think about
that that's
deep so you're living in a society that
is so safe and
prosperous and comfortable that the
greatest risk to your life is your own
hands that's
crazy right like that that when you
really think of it like that is nuts
like that just strikes at the heart of
like okay there's something really
fundamentally wrong here so we have
overcome to a large degree all of the
things that have been killing Humanity
for all of these thousands of Wars War
pestilence famine malnutrition all these
things there's more people dying of
eating too much than not having enough
to eat so we're in this weird age of
decadence and excess and surplus to a
point where on an individual and
Collective level there's a kind of
harakiri like a kind of suicide that is
going on culturally where it's turning
the guns or knives are turning
inwards
and I don't know exactly what to
make of that but when I think of
cultural decline that is the attitude
and some of those behaviors that I'm
referring to I mean in the US over
100,000 people died of overdosis last
year 100,000 and that's deaths so for
each of those I'm sure there's a
multiple of people who did overdose but
they didn't die right and then I believe
there's another 100,000 on top of that
that's um
alcohol right so that's and then you've
got like the the actual suicides and so
you've got hundreds of thousands of
people just in this country particularly
young and middle-aged men who
are for whatever reason there's a
variety of factors here but they're
they're taking themselves out and I
think that this is also happening on a
social and a cultural
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today you've got
people who are ashamed to see or put up
an American
flag yes right or who or who want to
burn it or who will say we need to
dismantle destroy you know the whole the
whole all of America is a racist white
supremacist sexist homophobic
transphobic country and we need to
destroy the whole thing like with with
these people I know they haven't
traveled firstly because because I'm
always like a question I like to ask is
compared to what you know I've had
interviews where someone will ask me
zuie do you think the UK is a racist
country do you think America is a racist
country compared to
what like compared to compared to Utopia
where everyone is zero bigotry and
everyone's um then okay yeah I mean yes
there's some there's some racism like
compared to the rest of the world no
compared to history absolutely not and I
think that that needs to be celebrated
more I think a big big big problem we're
having in the west is I think people
haven't looked up to to see the progress
that has been made the true
progress like the the the harmony
amongst different groups the fact that
this diversity sure the the diversity
thing is um you know it's become a bit
of a buzzword and people have their
different takes on it but in the true
sense people have become way more
tolerant in the good way far less
violent and hostile towards each other
far less bigoted far less any of these
isms and phobias that people worry about
they've declined so sharply not so long
ago I mean you this country had
segregation I would not last year I went
to South Africa twice I mean in my
lifetime they ended racial segregation
over there like it's not that long it's
not it's just not that long ago and it's
interesting have you been to South
Africa no it's interesting over there
because you can still um you can still
kind of feel and see the aftershocks of
it I'm sure yeah so it it's interesting
because you can be in some places and it
almost feels like I'm in like middle
England you know like everyone's I think
white people there are maybe 15% of the
population but there's some places which
are like you know it's like totally
white or you you go to a bar or
something and it's like oh it's like
it's is like a white bar you know what I
mean school of fish man and then there's
other places where it's like you know if
you were to see a white person it's like
whoa like what's that what's that person
doing there so the the his because the
the desegregation there is more recent
you can also sense that the
um it's hard to put into words but you
can kind of see and feel it a little bit
more over there compared to other
countries um and so I think we need to
celebrate those successes more man I
think the there's always different ways
to to look at history and to look at the
history of a country and you could
certainly look at America's history or
or British history look at the British
Empire right and you could certainly
paint it as you know just all built on
racism and white supremacy and slavery
and segregation and discrimination and
violence and lynchings and brutality and
so on like you can there's a lot of
stuff that you can use to paint that
story and someone can choose to do that
and they can choose to be resentful and
hold people's ancestors responsible for
things that they didn't even do if you
want I don't think that's very um
helpful or pro-social or what story
should we be telling I think it's a
story of continual progress and Triumph
over these human
sins the triumph over slavery triumph
over segregation triumph over extreme
tribalism triumph over um intolerable
violence triumph over I mean even from
even in the last few decades right like
we we now live in this time where you
know people are talking about you know
the LGBT acronym keeps on keeps on
growing but like a few decades ago
gay bashing really was a thing right
like like right like people there were
people who thought oh like that person's
gay like let's beat him up because he's
like
no like that's so in that's it's so
intolerable to even kind of think of now
but not so long ago it was normal dude
at its peak the
KKK had about four million
members
oh members not
sympathizers right like act actual white
supremacy and keep in mind the
population was smaller then right so
like at its PE at the peak of like white
supremacy in America and racism in
America they had it's estimate some
people's a know three three to four
million um so I mean I don't know
number-wise what that means but maybe
like one in 15 or one in 20 white guys
being a member of the KKK right and they
were in they had they were in Congress
they were in the police force they were
in all these types of things so when
you're hearing these people like in this
day and age you know screaming about
white supremacy and this and this and
this again it's that man like compared
to what like how many real like genuine
white supremacists are in the are in
this
country like a few thousand are there
any in like Congress or in like leading
police forces or whatever like so
there's been huge amounts of progress
that have been made and I think if
people can appreciate that I think it's
always important to on an individual
level too right to to celebrate the
successes and you realize there's work
to still do right there's Improvement to
still make we've been talking about that
there's things that can still be better
some things can be very significantly
better but in striving towards that
let's not be so reckless to just throw
away the last 50 or 100 years and
pretend that no I hear people you know
say crazy things like
um oh like all the amount of racism is
still the same it's just more subtle now
like dude stop you know what I
mean like you're going to see what you
look for though this is my my big
problem and I I think the right question
is uh what does a healthy Society
celebrate like when a culture is doing
well what is it that they celebrate and
I actually loved your answer um the
catch is that to your point about all
the deaths of Despair that young people
or young men specifically the thing they
most have to fear is themselves the
question becomes okay why you actually
had a really cool quote I'm not sure if
this is verbatim or uh if I'm I'm sort
of ballparking this but you said men
need to feel some sense of power and
usefulness in order to thrive uh and I
think that that that is indicative of
what I see as happening in our society
so everybody has already heard this but
strong men make good times good times
make weak men weak men make Hard Times
Hard Times make strong men who make good
times and you loop around and it's one
of those it's becoming trit because it's
repeated so often because it is true and
so one of the most interesting things to
look at is Rich Kids and why they so
often implode not always but a lot and I
think a big part of the reason is that
there are algorithms running in our
brain evolutionarily placed that nature
I mean it really is red in tooth and
Claw so going out and fighting for your
survival was a real daily thing for
anybody who has not seen the show alone
I highly encourage you go watch that you
really get to see even with like some
modern tools how hard it is to stay
alive like it is brutal to get the
calories and to know that other things
are looking at you as like oh your
calories so it was just grueling
difficult and then you had to worry
about other humans and all this stuff so
anyway nature had to hardwire you to get
a very strong sense of positive emotion
from doing hard things and so when you
have a society where the worst of us
have air conditioning Refrigeration a TV
and mult rooms usually it's like and
those are the worst of us here in
America you end up
disconcertingly creating this sense of
like wait I didn't earn all the things
that I have and so I start feeling
guilty I want to help others I see
people struggling I want to make things
as easy for them as humanly possible and
because I have that same impulse I know
where it comes from the problem is that
as you start thinking about I want to
buy needles for people that are
struggling with drugs I want them to you
know look it's hard to get people off
and so I want them to have dignity and
so I want to make sure they have clean
needles uh you know if they've put up a
tent somewhere I want to treat that as
private property and that you can't just
move them along and so you get all of
these really wonderful impulses that
turned into policy become deranging yes
and so now all of a sudden if you are
only judging a policy by how it feels
and not by the result that it actually
yields now you've got a problem and of
course it's even more complicated than
that and you have some people with Will
to power and they hey I don't want my
charity to go away I actually want it to
grow more powerful over time and I'm not
trying to work myself out of a job by
making sure there are no homeless
people exactly Y and so going back to
that idea of uh okay you need to judge
everything based on the results but you
also need to decide what is it that we
celebrate and if people celebrated hard
work like oh yeah look life is amazing
but you need to find a thing and do it
it needs to be hard you need to push
yourself but if I want to piss off the
internet I would go right now and and do
the tweet that always whs people up uh
Hey everybody you need to work smart you
need to work hard and you need to work
long hours it is inevitable that I will
get a just ton of people in my comments
like if I'm working hard and smart why
do I need to work long hours and the
reality is because if you want to build
something that really matters you're
going to go up against people that do
all three and that's just reality and
you will lose every time you go up
against somebody that's doing all three
of those now when it was hard as hell to
get into this country and people were
coming from all over the world escaping
persecution coming to the land of
opportunity we celebrated that [ __ ] like
we wanted you to build something we were
never paana there has always been
corruption I get that but I'm just
saying it was just in the ether man that
you celebrated people trying to build
things and do things and we wanted to
cheer them on and now as somebody who's
been here for almost 50 years
uh I see this slow shift away Elon Musk
captured this well he was like when did
a billionaire become a pejorative yes he
was like this used to be something that
people celebrated aspir and yeah like
dude it it I had my head down for so
long just trying to get rich not having
come from money that by the time I
picked my head up I realized oh people
think it's gross now and I was like wait
what like i' I've worked so hard to
build something that people want so much
that they would rather have the thing
that I've created than the money that it
cost them and I reap the benefits of
that in my own life but bro I was heads
down solving problems that people wanted
to solve and it was grueling and there
was no promise that it was ever going to
work out and so when you start going
that's not worthy of Celebration it's
like be careful because now all of a
sudden what you're incentivizing is in
this case we've we have come to
celebrate victim mentality the problem
is check the results when you get
celebrated for being a victim it doesn't
feel good you're you're out of alignment
with what I will call the evolutionarily
placed algorithms running in your brain
and so now you've won one and you feel
clout because I'm a bigger victim and
you feel righteous and that you have one
over on people and at the same time
you're doing drugs and you're dying
deaths of Despair because it is just so
out of alignment with a human animal
that has come up over Untold tens of
thousands of years depending on when you
clock us as humans probably hundreds
hundreds of thousands of years that it
really was grueling difficult and so
that had to be neurologically rewarded
and so when you take that person and you
celebrate them for don't worry uh you've
been hard done by the system is stacked
against you you shouldn't even try like
just let us come in and Nanny you and
take care of you and then the nannies
feel good about being nannies and they
perpetually want to keep people in that
situation like it deranges real fast and
think people need only ask what is my
norstar the things you're doing what
outcome are they yielding things moving
in the wrong direction they feel good
yes they feel good but they're just the
data is not good yes uh this generation
will be the first generation that lives
less time than their parents uh we have
more homeless at least in California
than in any time that I know of uh more
people dying from drug overdoses than
any time I mean just on and on like
there's all these super gnarly metrics
you've talked about so much there I have
so many thoughts I think the first thing
that's important to say is that
those angry perhaps jealous and envious
people and critical people who are
leaving who would leave mean comments on
such a thing they're a minority and I
think it's always important to remember
that most people
are
aspirational and actually the
celebration of success at least in the
USA is more common
than the victim mentality or the
billionaires bad millionaires bad
mentality I know that there are people
who have that and there probably always
will be some segment of the population
with those views and we can we'll get
into that but the vast majority of
people still want to be successful and
they Aspire and are they are inspired by
and motivated by people who achieve it
right so you can push all the body
positivity and fat acceptance you want
but people still look up to the guy or
the gal who's clearly built an
impressive physique and who is in good
shape and they still want to watch the
Olympics and they still want to watch
sports and top tier athletes and that's
how we are right human beings like
Heroes we like aspirational stories we
like people who show us what we are
capable of and what our potential is yes
is there a segment of the population
that's gets mad at that they are that's
their that's their issue second thing i'
say with that is a lot of people who are
in that latter category a lot of it is
just driven by Envy and jealousy that's
the truth of it and envy and jealousy or
sins and those are not emotions that
they're emotions that we all can
occasionally feel but you should
transmute that into inspiration and
motivation anytime I feel even the
slightest Pang of
Envy like it's almost imperceptible for
me I can't remember the last time I was
like truly envious of someone because
I'm just motivated ated or inspired if I
see someone out there has done something
or has something or has achieved
something that I would like for myself
in some way or even if I don't I just
think it's cool I'm a celebrator I'm not
a hater I'm like dude that's awesome
like I love that like I you know I'm in
the studio I'm like dude this is the
studio is cool like I'd love to have a
studio like this in the future and so
that's awesome and I think this is
happening on a bigger scale than ever
now just cuz we have the internet and
social media so I think the haters are
hating harder than ever before but the
people who uh want to be inspired and
motivated gosh it's never been easier to
have mentors you know even just by
clicking the follow button on someone
you it's truly incredible like the fact
that I'm you know yesterday you know I
obviously had Elon Musk on my podcast
last year but the fact that I can just
like message him like we were chat you
know we're chatting yesterday I'm just
like I'm talking to freaking Elon Musk
like how what like this is this is crazy
right like you can just Reach people wow
like I'm so inspired by this guy I've
been following this person for decades
whatever it is and you can just you can
reach out to them and spread the
knowledge and have conversations and
other people can tune in and listen um
so in terms of uh you know I do think
the the reason why certain
narratives that promote and encourage
some form of victim mentality the reason
why they can be so powerful I think it's
it's mult it's multiple reasons normally
there is some kernel of Truth to them
right so it normally takes a kernel of
Truth and then it just expands it and
oftentimes creates an oppressor class
right so everything you were saying
about historical racism and
discrimination in the USA like that is
that's all true okay but also all the
stuff we said about the progress that
has been made and the opportunities that
exist regardless of your background and
so on all of that is also true the idea
that the game is rigged against you I
mean it's true in a way I mean I mean
there are look at the the fed and the
money printing like infl inflation just
that alone just looking at like the
money system and inflation and how that
disproportionately affects particularly
people who are of lower classes and
don't have as much income and don't have
as much assets it's much much harder on
them than people who have a lot of
assets and real estate and whatever and
so as inflation takes place the value of
their net worth actually is going up as
other people are struggling to buy basic
groceries in that sense you could say
actually the system if you if by that
you mean the monetary system and the way
some of these politicians and
bureaucrats move yeah actually that is
rigged against kind of everybody to an
extent um so there's some truth to it
but I think the reason why a lot of
people latch on to it hard is because it
gives a permanent Alibi this is why I
I've thought for a long time of why
victim mentality is so appealing and yes
I think people like having an enemy but
I also think people like having a
permanent Alibi and excuse for their
absence of success so if I fail or I
don't succeed or even if I behave badly
I could say oh this is because the
system is biased against me in some way
shape or form it's not my issue and I
don't need to take accountability
because it's just the system there's a
narrative for this for people of
different skin colors there's a
narrative of it for men there's a
narrative for women there's a narrative
for everybody so anyone no matter who
you are where you are like there's a
victim narrative that you can use and
some people will empathize with and
sympathize with because there's that
element of truth to it and I think
oftentimes people like to kind of like
Bond over the bond over how they're
victims rather than in how they can
achieve success and Achieve Victory so
with it all I mean the the point I often
make with people because I get in a lot
of these conversations because I I get a
lot of push back because I I I'm very
sort of anti- victim mentality and I
like to focus on the positive and
optimism and the opportunities and the
things that not just why things are take
okay I'm a big Fitness guy okay um the
obesity rate now right now in the US is
hovering around 40% on track to hit 50%
within about a decade um you know as it
currently goes you'll get to a point not
so long in the future where literally
90% of the population is overweight or
obese and only 10% are you know of a
healthy weight in shape and is it true
that there's a lot of garbage that is in
the American food system absolutely and
I can say that as someone who travels a
lot right there's ingredients and
chemicals and weird things that are put
in here that are not put in the food in
Europe or in Australia and so on um is
there just an abundance of cheap
calories yes is are certain healthy and
nutritious Foods getting more expensive
yes certainly per calorie compared to um
you know cheaper less nutritious Foods
is there a lot of advertising and
marketing and fast food joints on every
corner and all of that yes that is true
there are many things you know are
people living more sedentary Lifestyles
than ever before yes there are many
things working against people to stay
physically healthy I completely concede
all those points and but with all of
this stuff Tom it comes down to like
okay well what are you gonna do about
it I don't have control over how much
money the bank of England or the FED
decides to print I don't have influence
over the advertising policies or which
Pharmaceuticals or foods are uh pushed
and what's advertised I don't have
control over all of the other people and
all the politicians in the system and
the at best we have control over
ourselves and as we all know that is
hard in
itself right just controlling yourself
and doing the things dayto day hour to
hour that you know you're meant to be
doing that is a massive battle so that's
why I tend to focus on that because it's
internal versus external locus of
control I can talk to someone who's
Rants and Raves about all of these
different systems and historical issues
and things happening right now that are
making it harder for the average Joe or
Jane to live and to thrive and so on but
it comes down to just okay so if I give
you all
that what are you going to do are you
going to just accept that and say okay
for the next 50 60 70 years I'm going to
just give up right or I'm just going to
complain about it I'm just going to
Tweet about it online and be angry and
get mad at the people who managed to win
or are you going to be like okay you
know
what I'm I'm in like the top 1% of
privileged individuals who have ever
walked this earth look if you were born
in the USA or the UK
or another developed Western Country
let's say in the past 70 80 years just
that
alone you are massively privileged just
having an American C just have just
being an American citizen we're being a
British Citizen and and then then if you
add on top of that being able-bodied not
having some you know serious physical or
or mental disability just that alone you
have a ridic ridiculous number of
advantages and quote unquote privileges
compared to most people I mean to be in
the top one I know that obviously things
you know cost of living differs in
different nations of course but I think
to be in the top Global 1% of income
earners you need to earn around $35,000
a year so if you earn $35,000 or more
per year you are in the global 1% of
income earners 99% of the world's
population earns under $35,000 a year
most people don't know that but just
just that alone even if they know it
though it's not going to change their
sense day to day it doesn't but the the
point is just having that perspective
and being able to recognize okay I have
issues we have issues the nation the
state there are there are problems but I
think number one it's like okay it could
be way way way way way worse and it has
been way worse in the past and it is way
worse in most countries around the world
um so
let's have us you can you can
simultaneously have
gratitude and also want things to be
better like these are not it's not a
it's not a dichotomy like they're not
mutually exclusive I think there let me
take a swing at this tell me we think
about this all right there are three
doors before you door number one is uh
victimhood by all means walk through it
and it has its pluses and minuses door
number two is the um path of individual
self-improvement Improvement door number
three is swaying culture
mhm do you see those as three valid
doors or because what you've been
talking about now is um where I spent
99.999% of my life and can feel myself
um going through a transition where I
previously in fact if you go back far
enough seven years ago I said and this
is going to be very close to a quote I
don't focus on the culture or Society I
focus on the individual I just want to
do me and I'm going to get as good as I
can get booze don't block dunks I can do
anything I want whether the deck is
stacked against me whether I'm a victim
it's all irrelevant uh I can get so good
I can't be stopped and I spent a ton of
my life there now I'm beginning to
realize I can sway culture and I have a
an operating system that tells me that
ideas matter that you can influence what
ideas people hold and if they change the
ideas that they if the way I really
think about it is those ideas are
beliefs or values which is why I started
this conversation of values if you can
change what people value and what they
believe then you change their entire
frame of reference their frame of
reference controls their outcome so then
I go huh there's a lot of weird [ __ ]
going on this moment feels particularly
interesting now one of two things is
possible either we really are in the
west living in a transitional moment or
we're not and as you approach 50 no
matter what you just start thinking you
are because you know the kids today
right like they're just they see things
so differently you stop feeling like you
recognize the world that began to happen
to me in my mid-40s so it's entirely
possible that's an illusion that just
happens to everybody in their mid-40s to
50s that the world now is just so
different from when you were a kid you
can't help but think whoa like you wake
up to this sense of maybe I should try
to have influence in the world but I
actually think that while that's true
the predominant thing is this really is
a transitional moment that is very
reminiscent of the 60s and so just
perfect storm uh money printing which is
something hopefully we'll have time to
talk about is playing a huge part in
this um the kids Futures have been
stolen from them uh they can feel that
and I'm finally now at a position where
I can actually articulate oh I know
exactly how your future was stolen from
you which is really terrifying yes it's
terrifying because uh it it happened
broad
daylight but because people don't
understand the way the world works and
it takes a very long time so the the
whole thesis of my show is uh you can
think of it as an unbiased pursuit of
the truth you can think of it as
debating the world's most important
ideas uh you can think of it as mapping
great thinkers Minds so that you can use
them as your own AI at the end of the
day I need to understand how the world
really works not so I can cry about it
so that I walk through the right of
those three doors now I hope every word
out of my mouth and everything about my
life tells people people to slam door
number one shut don't [ __ ] waste your
time being a victim you will you will
literally die a death of Despair I don't
mean that figuratively I mean that
literally uh door number two is awesome
but I'm now I have a growing hypothesis
that door number two merely prepares you
for door number three now door number
three for most people is probably just
the family but once you understand that
the family so you've got the diad which
is the first moment where you're like oh
my significant other is a life outside
of me that I care about then you have
kids full disclosure anybody who's
followed me for a while knows I don't
have kids but I get that this is the
first real complete unit of uh the
grander structure that is society and so
doing that well is very wise but there
is also just a scale up from that which
is to really try to influence culture in
the hope that at least in your I'll use
country as a standin uh at least your
country you can impact things in a way
that will make life better for people
now all you're really trying to do is
sway that frame of reference yes so I'm
trying to celebrate things that alter
your value system I'm trying to uh hold
quote unquote facts which we could
derail on that but you're trying to sway
people's understanding of the facts to
be checked against reality the very
first thing that you said here so that
the things they do don't just sound good
on paper they actually work
but if I'm right about all of that and
as soon as I stop talking in nine
seconds you'll tell me uh if I'm right
about that then we have to understand
how the world really works and I believe
we now live in the age of conspiracy and
I believe
that people doing dumb [ __ ] has earned
that right I'm going to stop there I
first want to get your read on the three
doors sure thing well I was thinking
that um you know doors two and three are
not mutually exclusive I think I think
you want to walk through both of them
and I think that the further you walk
through the second door oftentimes the
more impact you can have when you do
walk through the third one because you
can't pour water from an empty jug so if
you have not done anything to reach your
own
potential then number one you don't have
much to teach and you don't have a lot
of resources if any to give be that time
or money or experience or knowledge you
have to go on you have to develop
yourself individually as a person in
order to have any type of positive
cultural impact if you and
I had not done any type of
self-improvement or education or
knowledge or achieved any type of
success in any
field well firstly why would anyone
listen to this podcast
right the podcast wouldn't be possible
to begin with um but by doing that you
then gain The Leverage to help other
people in different ways the way you
shift culture can look very different
for different people right you don't
need to be a wealthy person or
materially successful necessarily there
are people who you know they earn a very
modest living and they're out there but
you know they've raised eight kids and
they have 30 grandkids and they're a
pillar in their community and they're
just a good solid person who people look
up to and they're like hey I want to be
like that guy that guy's going to you
know he knows his stuff and he can pass
on knowledge to his children and his
grandchildren and so on and he's just
making that making that type of impact
and then there can be someone else who's
a wealthy philanthropist and they're you
know donating to genuine causes that are
helping to move the needle especially in
areas where the government or the state
is not helping out and they're hey I'm
going to build a school or I'm going to
do this or I'm going to do that um but
you can't you can't do any of that
unless walk through that second door
because you have to achieve something
first and also the more you achieve as
I've said before human beings are
aspirational
so the more you achieve in that door
people other people see it other people
see it and they are you know all all
human beings are we're all followers to
some degree some people flip between you
know if you are a leader you still flip
between leading sometimes and following
Sometimes some people are more in the
following role but we all look for
leaders we all look for individuals who
show us I mean our parents are the first
version of that in most cases where it's
like okay like what do I model myself
after how do I live my life so yeah I
think
um I think yeah doors two and three yeah
I'm I'm with you close door one shut and
and keep it shut and yeah two and three
as you proceed through your life I I
don't even think they're concurrent
doors I think you continue to
self-improve
and to better yourself and improve
yourself and fulfill your potential and
at the same time you have that Community
or cultural impact um for some people
like I said it's going to be in a you
know for a small minority of people it's
going to be in a massive way Elon Musk
right it's going to be a whoa okay this
guy's really he's trying to make us a
multiplanetary species right like kind
of hard to go kind of hard to go bigger
than that um but it doesn't need to be
on that level and it doesn't need to be
so public for everyone right most of the
good that exists in the world I would
say is done in private and it might not
get a lot of shine it might not go viral
on social media or make the news or
anything like that but there's just that
day-to-day good and and by the way this
is one of the things that you know we
were talking a lot about the darkness of
humanity and this is one of the things
that makes me like a permanent
Optimist and a genuine lover of human
beings and this is the those just unseen
unheard day-