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Language: en
you're breaking things into the the two
camps the sort of never dos and the
conditionally
dos how does one do that well so let's
take truth and freedom which
are I think two very important things
because I have a North star of human um
flourishing and so everything that I do
I'm trying to aim it towards what
improves human flourishing for the
largest number of people what decreases
human suffering
but most people don't have a North star
they've never thought about it right um
so do you have like a set of principles
that you've knowingly walked through
that people will need to walk through in
order to be happy like do you have
things that you're like these are the
things that are inviable as relating to
the deontological versus everybody so if
you think about this your book feels
like an instruction manual so if I think
about your book as an instruction manual
and I think about okay you have to be
the architect of your happiness and you
have to do the work then I want to get
really specific about what that work is
so first to me is what's your North Star
and then it's okay what are the things
that if you don't do you will inevitably
violate that norstar so I'll give one
which the thing I find myself thinking
about more and more is right now freedom
of speech is coming under attack and
when I think about my Northstar is human
flourishing I don't think you can get
there without freedom of speech I
couldn't agree more right I mean fre
freedom of speech is everything I mean
it truly is now I say this both as
someone who comes from the Middle East
where that's not an enrin Universal
value right it uh freedom of speech in
the Middle East as has been throughout
the entire history of The Human
Condition is really a consequential
thing yes you have freedom of speech but
don't criticize religion X yes you have
freedom of speech but don't criticize
dictator why yes you have right and
that's why I get upset by the way when I
see contemporary rep public
intellectuals exactly committing those
types of deep moral transgressions right
yes I believe in freedom of speech fully
but surely not for the orange himler
Donald Trump yes I believe orange him
right yes I believe in the presumption
of innocence principle in American
jurist Prudence but certainly not for
gang rapist Brett Kavanaugh sure there
is no real evidence that he did any of
those things but we can't take a a risk
with this guy and so let's presume that
he is guilty because after all it's only
a job interview right sure I believe in
journalistic Integrity but it was
perfectly fine to suppress the hunter
Biden story because otherwise orange
himler would have become president so
you see how in each of those three
examples that I just gave it there's a
deontological principle that you should
always adhere to but somehow because
you've suddenly become a a a political
tribal person you're now willing to
violate using a consequentialist uh
calculus this is wrong and that's by the
way one of the reasons why when I've
gone after some of the folks that we
might know in common uh I really did it
advisedly because at first I thought you
know I don't want to burn a bridge with
this person they're a nice person I went
after another person recently by the way
uh in a contrary to pragmatic calculus
let me explain there's this gentleman
who has a very large show not Joe Rogan
level but one that I certainly would
have uh wanted to get on given that I am
trying to promote my book so now there
is this tug this pragmatic tug on the
other hand this gentleman is pedling
some full positivity that's
really pissing me off so am I going to
be quiet and pragmatic so that I can get
on his show and sell a couple of
thousand extra copies or am I going to
be authentic and say cut it out guess
which one I chose cut it out cut it out
and but again then I not I regret it
after but because I sometimes go after
people in a uniquely God style they they
then get offended but my purpose was
never to offend them individually it's
that I'm attacking their position with
satire with satire and that can be quite
Punchy right so Neil degrass Tyson I'll
mention his name since I don't know him
personally
uh although the full positivity guy I
also don't know personally uh Neil
degrass Tyson have you seen his recent
famous clip where he so he's a physicist
so I've had him on the show okay yeah
but you don't I haven't seen the recent
thing but he basically said look it's
very clear gender is on a spectrum and
I'm I'm paraphrasing I don't remember
the exact words but you could go look it
up I just did a s truth satire on his
whole thing where he says look today I
wake up and I feel 80% male and then I
might put on some makeup and then I'm
now more female right so already he's
saying something insane which is your
your Mas you know your maleness or
femaleness is defined by the AK that you
wear and so I said okay well let how can
I attack such a ridiculous thing through
satire so what I did is here's the
usually if you hear the following words
in the sad household you know trouble is
coming up I call my my daughter and I
say bring the Halloween wigs when I when
I make that when I give that instruction
you know there's going to be trouble and
so I take I took all the wigs I looked
at the camera I said look I completely
agree with Neil degrass Tyson because
he's super smart because he's a
physicist and so look now I am 100% male
I am the epitome of manhood and now
watch how I'm going to transition into
female as I wear different wigs of
different lengths different colors and
then I put lipstick either 25% of my
lips 50% 75 or 100 and so I literally
took Verbatim what he said and mocked it
into Oblivion and it went viral now I
didn't do that because I'm a mean guy
who is trying to hurt Neil degrass
Tyson's feelings but Neil degrass Tyson
has an obligation he's a public
intellectual who has a large
platform if you're going to go and use
your scientific impr premature to say it
is settled gender is on a spectrum I'm
coming after you that's called
authenticity so now we get into another
part of your book which I think is
really important which which is variety
now you will and I'm sure we'll talk
more about other areas but one of the
areas you say variety becomes important
is intellectual oh yes and so this is
and the person one of the people I think
you were making oblique reference to
that I'll I'll drag into the light here
uh with truly with love is Sam Harris
yes so I recently had him on the show
yes and I disagree with Sam around
freedom of speech very much but I think
the way that people are dismissing him
is a mistake and so the reason I think
that is because he's grappling with a
problem again I think he's come to the
wrong conclusion but he's grappling with
a real problem and I want because of
epistemic humility my absolute just
pervasive not only fear that I'm wrong I
know I am frequently wrong right and so
I want challenges to my ideas which you
also talk about in the book again guys
this is a book about happiness but
you're you're you're really giving a um
a value stack that I think is critical
for people to work through in their own
lives in order to actually make this
real you're talking about people really
do have to understand you you have to
want to be challenged that's going to be
the thing that makes you stronger you
have to want intellectual even Variety
in your life and so
where this gets very difficult I think
Sam is being authentic so for him to
look himself in the mirror even though
from the outside I look at it and go Sam
that's a wrong conclusion not only is it
wrong it's dangerous but he's on the
opposite side of that intuition saying
Tom not only have you come to the wrong
conclusion but it's dangerous and so the
problem he's dealing with I think these
are not his words this is my
interpretation what he's dealing with is
the realities of a world driven by
algorithm where ideas have Extreme
Velocity right and they're all crushed
down into memes so there's no more depth
there's no more Nuance it's headline
that is fed to you algorithmically so
you're being manipulated and you don't
even know it and the idea is coming at
you so fast that even if you're smart
you're not going to be able to hold a
nuanced position on that thing you don't
have time to think through all of the
ideas and so in grappling with that
again I don't agree with his conclusion
but I really think he's approaching the
problem
sincerely I do think that he's authentic
so contrary to the F uh full positivity
guy who I think is is putting on kind of
I think I know who you're talking about
but I don't know him right I don't know
him either personally it it it almost
can't be that a functioning adult can
spew some of the vacuous platitudes that
he puts out on his Twitter feed it's
impossible we can conquer War through
love oh gez if if only the Nazis had
been more loving than we wouldn't have
had it you know the okay that's
ridiculous I admit but here you have to
Anchor to something yeah right so for
instance when I had Neil degrass Tyson
on the show he said uh I don't think I'm
right for your show and I was like whoa
why and he was like you're trying to
bend everything to empowerment and I was
like these are not the actual words he
used but this is the punchline and he
was right and so but I'm not being fake
but at the same time it forced the
interview into an angle so I think look
we're talking about Lex Freedman yes I
think okay so uh do not know him have
never met
him do I think that he owns a position
that puts him into at times he's being
silly and naive but I fall into the same
bucket of trying to make things like you
can take control and you can find your
way out so I understand how I'm just as
guilty of something so if I look at my
own behavior I'm like what am I trying
to do I'm trying to Anchor my life I
need a way to think about the world I
need a way to organize the complexity so
just as my eyes don't go there's 177,000
photons in this wavelength bounc
bouncing off of that quarter inch of
thing it just goes that's gray that's
blue right and so ah now I can deal with
the
world he we all
need an orienting mechanism
now if all of us go there's limitations
to my orienting mechanism and I have to
distrust myself then you probably are in
better
shape
and I I I will speak for myself if you
made fun of one of my ideas through um
satire one I'd be like I made it and
then two I'd be like it does Sting man I
won't lie yeah but at the same time it's
kind of how I think about Dave Chappelle
when he makes fun of white people right
I'm like Dave Chappelle is one of the
most insightful people I've ever seen in
my life never met him but oh dear God do
I think that we need him and so I'm like
word like I I find it funny but that's
what anti fragility is right I mean yes
Nasim Talib is the guy who kind of
popularized that term but the concept of
antifragility exists since the time of
certainly Sena so I have a in one of the
chapters of the happiness book I have an
epigraph from Sena where he basically
argues that strong trees are PR and that
have deep roots are precisely those that
have been exposed to severe wind
stressors that that that's why they then
become non-brittle trees that haven't
been exposed to wind stressors then
break off very easily well of course
that antifragility concept squeaky doors
don't break that which doesn't kill you
makes you stronger
that those Concepts those maxims apply
to uh your ideas being scrutinized right
so for example when I went after uh Sam
Harris's ideas or when I go after the
full positivity of Lex fredman a in my
view someone with testicular fortitude
would basically say hey God why don't
you come on my show and let's hash it
out or hey why don't I come on your show
because right there there has never been
a context where I've said something and
that I wasn't willing to stand by it
because for better or worse when I say
something good luck to you if you want
to debate me on it because I I I just
like you I have epistemic humility I'm
very modulated about what I know and
what I don't know when I know something
I walk with the Swagger of someone who
knows it but there's a million things
that I know almost nothing about so if
you ask me what has been the
repercussions of the legalization of
marijuana in Canada you know you're
Canadian what what do you think you know
what Tom I I know very little about this
I'm not going to try to wing it I simply
don't know enough to offer you an
intelligent answer but if you take the
positions that some of these gentlemen
or other gentleman have taken in the
public sphere then expect guys like me
to say I'm calling you out on it now a
someone with strength with a spine says
let's hash it out but then when you
block me and all this kind of stuff
people thought oh I'm hurt I I don't
care if you block me or not what it does
to me it's it's a dishonorable act it
comes from my middle e Eastern
background perhaps right you don't block
you fight I fight not physically you
fight the ideas and so and to go back to
happiness the reason why uh people say
you know you always seem to be you know
twinkle in your eye you always smile
because I'm confident within my
personhood there are no fers in in G so
even though I'm not a tall person I walk
as though I'm 15t tall why because I
exactly don't have to remember 73
stories there's only one story I
remember it's called the truth and so
that's why I think truth and freedom are
so fundamental not just as an
existential philosophical thing but to
my flourishing to my happiness to why
I'm smiling all the time because I I
have a nonfractured personhood if you
like that clip check out the full
powerful episode here and I'll see you
there