One of the crimes that Socrates was convicted of by his fellow Athenians was atheism. So let’s talk about the Super Bowl here. If we read in the Summa of St. Thomas, when we get to his treatment of the virtue of religion, he offers two traditional etymologies of this word religio. One of them comes from the Latin relegit, which means to read again. And the second one comes from religare, which means to bind together. The way Thomas Aquinas explains this is that religion always joins us to that which is highest. Well, if you’ve been to every, if you’ve been to any religious ceremony, especially if you’ve been more than once, you’ll notice they go every so often over the same things over and over again. They’re reading the same things over and over again. And as far as I can tell, that’s something that’s common to any kind of practice that binds people together. They go over the story over and over and over again. They do this in order to, well, a great many reasons, but we could say at least it reminds the people who are gathered together of why they are there. Oh, this is how we came together. This is how we are all joined together. And so, you know, what happens every year at Christmas is we get together, we read the stories of Christmas from the Bible over and over again. We read those stories again. Now, do you, after a certain number of times, know the stories? Well, yes, but together we read it again in order to be reminded. And in the Super Bowl festivities, what do they do? What do they really focus on? Well, they really do focus on the stories of the two teams that are there. We don’t just have people talking strategies. We don’t just have people talking about the different players, the different prospects. When you watch the, especially the pregame, they’re going over the whole season and then very often they’re linking, you know, the 49ers back to the glory days in the 80s and telling this story and that story. It’s all very story based. And so since the Super Bowl is not merely a contest of skill, but also told in this story like manner, and they go over these stories over and over again, you can see that as being one of its religious dimensions. The second one is re legare, to bind things together. So the first thing that Thomas Aquinas says the virtue of religion does is it binds us to God. He locates the virtue of religion underneath the heading of justice. Religion is that virtue by which we render to God what he is owed, what he is owed in justice. It’s what we give to him because he deserves to have it. And so we are bound to him. Praise the Lord. He has bound himself to us as well. A great blessing that we could have never asked for or anticipated. And then when we’ve bound ourselves to the Lord, we are rendering him these things in justice. It’s not something that we do only alone, but it is something that we do together. I can’t think of any 100% private religion. Now, maybe somebody’s gone out there and invented it, but guess what? They haven’t told anybody. So how would I know about it? All of the great religions, all of the ones that have sticking power and are able to actually do things in the world, they have all been communal. They’ve all been public things, something that binds people not only to the Lord, but to the world. And so it’s a great blessing, something that binds people not only to the highest, but also to each other in their common rendering of praise and worship to the highest. The Super Bowl is not something that you do on your own. How many people have ever sat and watched the Super Bowl by themselves? Well, but I’d say that the most common way to do so is to watch it in a group. It’s always considered some kind of a group activity. And people are kind of binding themselves to watch this football game, regardless, oftentimes, of how they feel about football. Very interesting thing that people might feel obligated to sit through this game, even if they don’t feel like they’re particular football fans. So my fellow impious folks, maybe some of you are Canadian or European and are not committing any kind of atheism and not watching the Super Bowl. But I was not invited over to anybody’s house. And I would have said, yes, I would have abandoned this and gone and watched the Super Bowl if anybody invited me. But well, none of my friends are really all that into it. So here I am with a few of you. And we are sitting here in our impiety, our lack of American piety here. So that’s all I’ve got for you today. Actually, if you watch it alone, it doesn’t happen with just you. It is something bigger than you. Super Bowl is one of the only things left in American culture that people traditionally do together. Yes. And look at us. Look at us. We are not doing that right now. It’s a replacement for sure from the recession of the church, not for any other reason. The church makes excuses for not being attractive enough. OK. Thank you. Samuel Ewing is actually S. I’ve been wondering who S is this entire time. We figured it out. Maybe all of you are actually at Super Bowl parties right now and only have this on on the side. That’s why you can’t join on and save me from all my rambling. I knew somebody would save me from my rambling. You ramble instead. You’re better at it. Wow. Thanks. I think. I don’t know. I remember your early live streams. You didn’t really have much of a plan and you just kind of went for it for like an hour. True. It was an hour. It was a little impressive and also somewhat frightening. An hour, an hour 40, whatever. Which we could put on your gravestone when that day comes. I know. Really? It was like, oh, thanks. Right. It’s like he was known for rambling. Yay. No, no, no. Impressive, but also kind of frightening. That’s what I was thinking. Impressive, but frightening. I’ll take that. That would that would be fine. That would be that’d be perfectly fine. Yeah, we were talking about this earlier how, you know, that I think sports has that pattern of religion in it. Right. Because I think that’s really what it what it is. Right. It’s very much that playing out of that pattern of getting together, liturgy, interacting with things outside yourself. He’s not going to an official, you know, he’s not going to do home football, right? All by himself. He’s going to you need to have you need to have another congregation on there for it. Why would you? Yeah. Plus, it’s a terrible game. Just horrible lineup. Taylor Swift is there. It’s just the whole thing’s ruined. Like Taylor Swift, like a black hole where, you know, like the gravitational attention just gets in there and doesn’t come out. That’s part of it. That’s part of it. Sarah sold her cheese game tickets to the Patriots for an ungodly amount of money. Just Taylor Swift was there. So, yeah, pretty much. And she had great seats because you turn around her box was right there. So, yeah, it was it was sort of. It’s sort of interesting, right? Because there’s a there’s a cultural lightning rod icon and Taylor Swift who was more or less wholesome and now is not. And you you actually know where that line is, or at least I do. Where is the line? 2017? I don’t know the date. There was an album that she put out and just while she was producing that up, this is one of those weird things like why would I even know this? Because like I barely pay attention to these things, but it just turns out that I saw like some kind of documentary on Taylor Swift and the time period that it covered was this particular album. She’s like all upset about Marsha Blackburn or something in in Tennessee election. And so her producer, I think her father’s a producer or something. But anyway, you know, the people advising her in the room are like, don’t get involved in politics. Don’t say a word. Don’t go there. Right. And then she does. And her album, it look, she’s a pop star. So flops is a relative term, but her album flops. It gets just terrible. Her previous album was like three times more successful by any measure. And so that was kind of the beginning of the end. And then the next album, I guess, is a little bit better. And so it’s like, all right, you kind of, you know, you didn’t weigh in on politics. You didn’t mention woke stuff in your lyrics. All as well with the world sort of thing, roughly speaking. And so she’s like, you know, she’s like, you know, she’s like, you know, she’s like, roughly speaking. Right. But now all that’s over again because she’s back on this. Right. And so the meme train on, you know, sings sings. This meme came back. Right. Sing songs about her bad choices in men endorses Joe Biden memes all over the place again. I thought we were over this, but apparently not. And so who knows where that ends. But there’s that lightning rod effect for sure. But also there’s all sorts of weird stuff apparently going on. Like now there’s multiple national anthems being sung at the football game. And I didn’t know that was a thing because that can’t possibly ever be a thing. But they’re going to try to make it a thing. And so it doesn’t have a T-Lost though. So yeah. So there’s that going on. Right. But the corruption is kind of everywhere. And she’s sort of also a symbol of that of that wholesomeness into corruption for sure. Hey Trey. Good to see you, man. I mean, I disagree with that. Pretty big. With what? Well, that Taylor Swift is not political or at least that the fact she’s been less political it’s been to like her benefit. And I disagree. I think that do you know like why she has Taylor’s version? What’s that? So basically she was when she recorded all of her big albums it was under somebody named Scooter Braun, right? And he has access to all the masters. And basically he was kind of a trash guy, bad deal and everything like that. And like pretty misogynistic and all that stuff. And so in spite of that Taylor Swift said I don’t want you having access to my masters. So I’m just going to redo the albums and release it again just as Taylor’s version. So she’s just been redoing the same albums again and again. And they’ve been more popular than the previous times. And technically they’re more political because like she’s making these albums as a statement against like a misogynistic man. So yeah. And I also think it’s interesting. That’s not a political issue, Trey. But okay. You don’t think? Misogyny has nothing to do with politics. What do you mean? It has nothing to do with voting. Politics is voting. Politics really isn’t anything other than voting. But misogyny is independent of politics. You have misogyny in any political system under any political formulation. You can’t link those two things. You’ve got some extremely misogynistic feminists out there. I mean come on. Wait. I’m a little confused by that because what do you think about like Trump’s comments on the bus? You don’t think that was political in nature or like that involved politics or that was used in a political realm? To grab him by the… Okay. That didn’t happen when he was running for office. It was 10 years before. Misogyny was used as a political tool. Everything’s being used as a political tool. That doesn’t mean everything’s political. Those are two different things. It’s common confusion. Right? The fact that I can say X is political doesn’t make it political. By that token, Joe Biden’s Catholicism is also political. And it’s like, well, it really shouldn’t be. Yeah. Catholicism is not political. Your religious affiliation is not political by definition. But it’s being used that way. I agree it’s trying to be used that way. But those are different things, dude. Just because someone’s trying to do something doesn’t mean it’s real. It just means they’re trying to do something. Right? You can’t link things in time like that. Right? You can’t say, oh, well, you see, I thought of a new way to prosecute World War I. And therefore, they had access to that back then. And therefore, the war should have been over two years earlier. Like, it doesn’t make any sense. Right? Right. Yeah. So you also got your story right, Mark. Taylor Swift was kind of wholesome. The Taylor Swift that I remember in high school, I bet she gets political and everything gets weird. Yeah. It’s almost like this politics stuff needs to have specialty hazardous gloves when you’re handling it. It’s a flattening of the world. It’s a low resolution picture to use Peterson language. Do you see politics and governance as being the same thing or related? No, they’re not related. Politics is voting. Politics is binary voting. Really all it is. So the work of governance is actually quite a bit more complicated than the politics. Way more complicated. Well, and you see this, right? Because people go, well, it’s political and it’s about these parties. And then when that doesn’t work, because that doesn’t work to describe anything that’s going on or anything that has gone on, right? When that doesn’t work, they go, it’s the shadow government. You know, which is really just a bureaucracy, by the way. It’s like, all right, well, if all the complications in the bureaucracy and that’s not political because they’re not elected, what are we talking about? And it just turns out that, no, you used a bad frame. Now you have a bunch of things you can’t explain. And so you keep adding things. This is a good tell. If you want to know if someone has a bad frame, if every time their frame doesn’t work or their prediction is bad, they add an exception to their frame and say, well, that would have worked except for the hydro-quadro dynamic equation needed to carry the one. You know right away their frame is bad. Like, no, your frame is bad, dude. It’s just a bad way to think about the world. Okay. I actually really like having a difference between politics, which is politicians out there selling a vision, which is maybe occasionally dirty and necessary, but very prone to corruption. Politics is how you get elected. But most of the government, most of the government operations have nothing to do with elected officials. Nothing. Because most of the government doesn’t consist of elected officials. Understood. Understood. My dad was a government employee for like 30 years. So I get it. I get it. Never been elected. Right. And therefore, even though you can always, and people do this, right? They lump everything into politics. Well, there’s office politics. It’s like, are you talking about what happens when more than one person is in a room? Because then, okay, so any group activity is politics. That isn’t helpful. Well, I mean, it does come from the word polis, which meant city state or community or something like that. Right. But see, and this is where we get confused. But this is where everybody gets confused with language. Language is not flat, right? Language is specific to the layer of analysis. That’s how Peterson would say it, right? And so you can’t say the polis and the family are the same because the polis is more than one family by definition. And so you also can’t do it with the office. You can’t say the office and the polis, they’re different scales. There’s different dynamics. Unless you have a corporation that runs government. Well, that’s only happened a couple of times and it doesn’t happen now. Like everybody bitches about it now. I’m like, oh, let me learn you some history, my friend. You will be grateful that we do not have these problems. They were much worse than the freaking so-called robber barons, who were neither robbers nor barons. They actually got Teddy Roosevelt the vice president. They for real bought that election, like actually bought it. That hasn’t happened since. We should all be grateful, by the way. Nothing like that has happened since. Teddy Roosevelt vice presidency. So that would have been when, who was the president that he ran with? Who got shot making him president? That’s the better question. Remind me, I know I know this, but it’s gone. All of your history is gone? It’s all gone. Haven’t you ever had this happen before, Mark? I’m mere flesh. I’m not an angel from the realms of light like you. Well, JFK was expected to die as well because he had long-term illness as well. We all die, dude. I hate to break it to you. I expect everybody to die, except me, because no evidence. But that’s just the way I roll. William McKinley. Don’s being helpful here. William McKinley. That’s what I was, that was all I was asking about. And then nobody but the irony is that they give Roosevelt the vice presidency specifically to prevent him from becoming president, to prevent him from doing what he eventually does when he becomes president. It’s just hysterically funny. So corporate attempt and like this is it’s not like it’s not a backroom conspiracy, right? Like literally everybody knows what’s going on. The three or four wealthiest men in the world at the time, right? Way wealthier than anybody alive today, by the way. Any one of them is way wealthier than anybody alive today. They actually just freaking buy the election. Like flat out like, nah, this is how this is going to go. We’re going to jump all our money into it. And they did it very above board because they’re all religious men. That’s the other thing that everybody misses. These wealthy people are all super religious. Like John Rockefeller tithes from the beginning from when he was poor to when he was wealthy, he tithes to the church 10%. Nobody realizes this. And so they actually just throw the money into marketing for real. This is before marketing was a term. They throw the money into advertising for election. And so these things happen, right? But they don’t work. Even that fails because there’s an assassination. They’ve got trust busting Teddy Roosevelt to the presidency. Right. And then Teddy Roosevelt enacts exactly what he wants. He breaks up Standard Oil and Rockefeller gets more wealthy. It has the exact opposite of every time people try to do something, it fails. It’s hysterical. And everyone’s like, I know we’re going to do X. And I’m like, oh, is that how that works? Yeah. Have you read a history book? You should get one about anything. So Standard Oil gets broken up into smaller companies. And Rockefeller still has stake in all of them. But that’s how he gets more wealthy or he just starts investing his money elsewhere. So the way wealth works is some portion, there’s a difference between cash flow, wealth and income. Right. And so the way wealth works is most of your wealth is locked up in an asset. Right. As long as you don’t move that asset, you can’t realize that wealth. That’s why you can’t have Jeff Bezos come up with 200billionorwhateverthehellhe′sworthovernight.Becausesomebodyhastogivehimthatmoneyforthewealth.Wealthisnotmoney.Andsoit′spotentialmoney.Andsountilthewealthmoves,there′snomoney.Right.Butwhenwealthmoves,typicallythemoney,thevalueofwealtheithergoeswayuporwaydown.Again,never.Inotherwords,thevaluationofwealthbeingstaticisneverproperlyrepresentative.It′salwaysatthehigherlow.AndthereasonthiswouldbeisifJeffBezosstartedsellingawholetonofAmazonstock,eitherAmazonstockwouldgoupbecausepeopleseeagreatopportunityorAmazonstockwouldgodownbecauseallofasuddenthere′salotmoreofitavailable.Grossoversimplification.There′slotsofreasons.Butyes,thatisonewaytolookatitthatisvalid.Butit′sasuperflatwaytolookatit.Butvalid.Like,yeah,youcansay,andthishashappenedmanytimesinthestockmarket.Thishappensallthetimeinthestockmarket,actually.Right.Right.Likesomebodygoes,well,I′mgoingtodivestmyshares.ThatmeansIlosemyseatontheboard.Right.Andthenthey′relike,ooh,finally,likethisishappeningwithDisney.Right.Disneyshareswouldgouptomorrowifcertainpeopleweren′tinchargeofthecompany.AndElonMuskisverymuchtryingtomakethathappen.Right.Becauseheknowsthatunderthecurrentregime,Disneystockisinthetoilet.Andallyouhavetodoischangethemanagementanditwillgoup.AnotherpersonthatdoesthisallthetimeisWarrenBuffett.Right.WhenWarrenBuffettbuysanynumberofsharesinanykindofacompany,typicallywhatthey′redoing,too,isthey′recomingwithconsultingagreementsandstufflikethat.Andsothesharesarenothing.They′regettingdirectincomeformanagementconsultingsortsofdeals,thingslikethat.Thesharesgoupimmediatelybecausethewealthismoving.Right.AndthenwhenthewealthmovesthatRockefellerhasinStandardOil,itjustsohappensthatitwasallundervaluedbecausenooneknowshowtovaluethingsandvaluestaticandthingsarenotstaticrightattheendoftheday.Andso−It′sagenuinelyhardproblem.Well,thisisthething.Therealproblemintheworldisthatyou,me,andeverybodyelsehasbeentoldthattheycanunderstandthesethings.Andthesimplefactofthematterisno,youabsolutelycannot.No,youcan′t.Youjustcan′t.Andthenyou′vebeentoldthataboutabunchofthings,noneofwhichindividuallycouldyouunderstand.Noneofthem.Right.Andthenyoupreferthesesimplemodelslike,oh,well,everything′spolitical.Itdoesn′tmakeanysenseatall,aswe′veprovenearlier.Right.Andthen,oh,it′sjustabouteconomics.Nobodyevenunderstandseconomics.Buteveniftheydid,economicsdoesn′texplainanything,actually.Right.Andthen,oh,well,it′ssports.Iknowhowsportsworks.Andthenit′s,oh,Iknowhowvaluationsworkinthestockmarket.Youdon′tunderstandanyofthatstuff.Idon′tunderstandanyofit.That′smypoint.Right?Becausehowwouldyoudealwiththingsthatdon′tinvolvevotingbutarepolitical?Likerevolutionswouldnotbepoliticalunderyourdefinitionbecauseyou′renotvotingforit.You′retakingactionsinthestreet.Yeah,revolutionsaren′tpolitical.Revolutionsarepolitical.No,they′renotpolitical.They′renotevendoneforpoliticalmeans.Thenwhatwouldyoucategorizeas?Yeah,youcansayXispolitical,butit′snot.Right?Onlyreallyvotingispolitical.Butthatseemslikeanerrorinyourdefinitionofsayingrevolutionsarenotpolitical.They′renotpolitical.Thenwhatwouldtheybe?They′rerevolutionsare…Whatitis,onething,iftherevolutionariesgetwhattheywant,it′samovementfromwaterintochaos.Sothefactthatitcan′tbereallynicelyclassifiediskindofafeatureandnotabug.Oh,we′removingoutoftherealmofthecrownrunningthe…Okay,thatwasarebellion.No,we′removingawayfromtheking.We′removingawayfromkingrulership.Alltherevolutionshavebeenmovingawayfromkingrulershipsofar.Allofthem.Everysinglerevolutionwe′vehadhasbeenmovingawayfromkingrulership.Sobecauseit′seitheratimeoffluxorjustatimeofdestruction,becausesometimesyougetbothofthose,thefactthatyoucan′treallycategorizeitwell,wecan′tjustsay,oh,thisisjustpolitical.That′sjustkindofwhatitis.No,butIthinkgoingfurther,becauseIwanttosayrevolutions,butthenyoualsohavetosaythatlike,MalcolmXwasnotpoliticalinhisactions.BLMisnotpolitical.Like,Ifeellike…Yeah,they′renot.That′snothard.Icansaythat.Ijustdid.Problemsolved.Solike,adictatorshipdoesn′tinvolvepoliticsthen?Idon′tthinkdictatorshipsarepolitical.There′snovoting.Thethingthatpeopletalkaboutwithpolitics,isanappearancethatisdesignedtogetormanipulatepower.That′sallthey′redescribing.Okay.Well,guesswhat?Guesswhat?Itdoesn′thavethatfeature.Anythingthatdoesn′tinvolvevoting.Becauseakingdoesn′tneedthesamesortof…Kingsonlyneedoneappearance.Theregalappearance,roughlyspeaking,ifyouwanttocompressit.That′salltheyneed.Theyjustneedtheappearanceofregality,whichwouldincludethingslikeconfidence.Itwouldincludethingsliketheideaofleadership.AlexandriaOcasio−Cortezdoesn′tneedorhaveanyofthat.Okay.Well,she′salsonottryingtobeakingoraqueen,althoughmaybeshekindofis.Differentdiscussion.Andso,she′sapoliticalanimal,whereakingwouldnotbeapoliticalanimal,becauseakingcallsaveryclearpattern.Noway.I′mconfused,becauseyoumentionedit′saboutpower.Andasyousaid,thingsaren′tinnatelystatic.Anditseemslikeyou′regivingastaticdefinitionofonlyvoting.Butpowerfluctuates,right?There′stimesthatakingcanbe…Whatdoyouthinkpoweris,Trey?First,you′vegottodefinepowerforme,buddy.Because…Iwouldsayinfluenceontheworldandotherpeople.Powerisnotinfluence.Influenceisinfluence.Tryagain.Whywouldyoudisagreewiththatdefinition?Becauseallyousaidwasinfluence.Like,youdidn′tsayanythingotherthaninfluence.Iagreethatinfluenceexists,butit′salsoinevitable.Everybodyhasinfluence.No,butI′msayingtoacertainobject.AndI′msayingtolike…Okay.Everybodyhasinfluencetoacertainobject.Nowwhat?Like,theydo.Like,Ido,youdo,everybodydoes.There′slevels.Okay.Howisauniversaldefinitionhelpful?Like,I′msayingtoacertainobject.Like,I′msayingtoacertainobject.Howisauniversaldefinitionhelpful?Everybodyhaspower.Iactuallyagreewiththat.Althoughmydefinitionisnothingtodowithyours.Butgoon.Justexplainittome.It′sfine.I′mjusttryingtofigureoutwhatyou′retalkingabout,dude.It′snotanattack,right?It′sjustlike,whatareyoutalkingabout?No,butI′mtryingtobreakitdown.Well,Iguesswhywouldyou…Areyousureyouknow?Here,Trey.Trey,here,letmehelpyouout,buddy.Yes.Almostnobodywhousesthatwordeverhasadefinitionforit.Ever.Ever.I′venevermetapersonthatcoulddefinepoweradequatelyoutsideofahandfulofpeoplethat…whosedefinitionsIfundamentallydisagreewithonsomelevel.Right?Like,peopledonotknowwhatthey′retalkingaboutwhentheyusethewordpower.I′mnotsayingthey′renotreferringtosomethingspecificandimportant.I′msayingtheydon′tknowhowtodefineit,whichisadifferentstatement.Okay?Andnotforallofthem.Energyoveranobject?Energyoversomethingmaterial?Meaning,like,Imean,ifyouhavepower,like,wecanuseitina…Like,Imean,wecallitelectricitypowerbecauseitcan…Ithasasubstancewhichcanpossessanotherthing.Itcanmanuallypossessthatthing.Like,whenIgetshockedbyelectricity,Igetpossessedbyit.So,Josh,howaboutthis?Howaboutithastobefocusedenergy?Yeah.No,that′skindofwhatIwassaying.Like,itisconducted…Like,electricityisconductedthroughawire,which,youknow,comesintomeand…Whenit′sconductedthrough…Right.See,here′sthe…Andhere′stheproblemwithawordlikepower.Youarecorrect.Yougethitbyrandomelectricity.Howeverthathappens.Itcouldbelightning.Itcouldbestatic.Itcouldbeyoustickyourfingersinalightsocket.Randomthingsaregoingtohappen.Yep.Youcanstillcastthataspower.I′mnotevengoingtodisagreewiththat.It′snot…Idon′tthinkit′shelpful,right?Ithinkthatifpowerisnotfocused,it′snotreallypower.Becauseifitdoesn′thaveanelementofcontrol,right?Thenit′suseless.Becauseallyou′resayingnowiswhenyoumoveintheworld,thingshappenrandomly.Nokidding.Iagree.Thatistrue.Like,Itakestepsacrossthedesert.Imakeimprintsonthesand.Whatever.Like,weallinfluence…Wecan′tmakeamovewithoutinfluencingthegame.Youaffectthehabitat.Youchangethetemperatureofthesand.Maybeyoukillabunchofcreaturesyoucan′tevenseebecausethey′reunder…Whoknowswhathappens?Allkindsofthingscouldbehappening.Andso,like,Iagreethatthere′sapowerinwalkingacrossthesand.Butnobodywouldcastitthatwayeffectively.Becausewhenthey′retalkingaboutpower,they′retalkingaboutsomebodywieldingsomethingtoaspecificeffect.Andso,that′swhyIaddinfocus.Like,yougottohavefocus.Yeah.Well,like,let′stakethegameofchess.So,it′sthemostpowerfulpiece,thequeen.Why?Becauseshecanmoveina360direction.Andshecancapture…Like,shecankill…Like,shehasthemostmobilitytokill.Like,themostmobilitytopossess.Mostmobilitytocaptureandposition.Andit′sfocusedinsidethegame,likeyousaid.Yeah.No,Igetyou.Igetyou.No,Idisagree.Well,andthequeen′snotpowerfulifyoudon′tusehercorrectly.Exactly.Like,shecanbewasted.Youneedthefocus.Withoutthefocus,thequeen′spowerisnull.It′szero.Yeah.Well,we′lltryto…Imean,Ithinkthat…Sorry.Whowouldsaythejokerissomebodywhoispowerful,atleastin,like,themythos,right?Butheisn′treallydirectingitanywhere.It′sverymuchchaotic.It′sunpredictable.Andthat′ssortofwhat…He′sjustdirectingittowardsdestruction.Yeah.He′sasupportedcharacter.He′samirror.He′samirror.Thejokerisamirror.Like,he′ssupposedtoshowthecourthowridiculoustheycanlook.Like,howsillyyourgameofroyaltyis.Like,lookatme.Like,I′m…Heminds…NothingaboutBatmanorjesters.Or,yeah.Whichjoker?Both,honestly.Like,becausejokerintheBatmanwasshowingsocietywhattheyreallyare.That′swhyhe…IfyoulookattheDarkKnight,whenhe…JonathanPazoudidavideoaboutthis.Whenheputsthe…Hemakesthecriminals,thenurses,andthedoctors,andthenhemakesthevictimsthecriminals.Hereversesitsothattheheroendsup…Thehero,thepoliceman,endsuptryingtoattackthecriminal.Ortrytoattackthevictim.Sorry.Right.Andthat…Thejokerisineffective.Right?Andthat′sthething.Like,ajokerisnottakenseriously.Why?Becausethejokerdoesn′twieldpower.Well,hejustreflects.Hejustreflects.He′smirroringyou.Like,inamirror,yourimageisreversed.Youlaughatthejoker.Youlaughatjokers.Why?Becauseyoucan′ttakethemseriously.Why?Becausethey′reofno…Theycan′tharmyou.Why?Becausethey′renotdirectinganything.Well,youhavetoknow.Takeastand−upcomedian.Whatmakesthemfunnyisthattheypointoutpointsofcivilizationandsocietythatareridiculous,andtheyshowittoyouhowridiculousitis,anditmakesuslaugh.Usually,theyjustswapperspectives.Okay.I′llagreewiththat.Right?Hegoeslikethis.Hegoes,whenIwasachild,IdidX.Right?Buthetalksaboutitasthoughhe′sanadult,eventhoughhe′slikefouryearsoldorwhatever.Right?Andthat′sextremelyfunnybecauseeveryoneknowsachild′snotanadult.Andthat′shisfunniest…Like,BillCosby′sstufffromthe60s.Ohmygoodness.Thatstuffistotallynext−levelcomedystuff.Right?Butthat′swhathedoesprimarily.JoeRogandoesthesamething.Right?Youtaketwoperspectivesandyoueitherswapthemoryouswapthecharactersinthem.Andthenthatcreatesanabsurdity.Andthat′sagoodwayto…That′stheformulaforhumor.Ifyou′reautisticandyouwanttobefunny,that′swhatyouwoulddoasaproceduretomakeithappen.Anditworks.Yeah.That′stheformulaforhumor.It′saswapping.It′saflip.Jonathandescribesitastheupside−downworld.Hegivesyouaglimpseintotheupside−downworldandthenyou′relike,oh,myworldisridiculous.Andthenyou′relike,oh,that′sfunny.Iagreewithyou.Iseethat.ButI′mthinkingyoustilldisagree,Trey.What′sup?Well,Ifeelthatifwegavedescriptionsofthepeoplewhohe′schanging,IwouldsaytheJokerisexertingpowerontwothings.Right?LikeonHardtoGetandchanginghimtosomethingelse.AndIwouldsaythepeoplewhooperateoutsideofthesystemandhavemorechaoticpowerhavethemostpowerbecausethey′rechangingtherulesandeverythinglikethat.Andthey′rechanging…Butitdoesn′twork,Trey.Thisisthepoint.Itneverworks.Ever.Itdoes.Ever.Ever.LookattheFrenchRevolution.That′sexactlywhattheydid.Theysaid,allright,we′regoingtogetridoftheking.Okay,we′regettingridoftheking.Andnowwhathappens?Everybodydies.Andeverybodydiesuntilthepeoplewhostartedtherevolutiongetkilledbytheguillotine.Thethingthattheystartedinaction.Whathappenedtothepeople?Whichpeople?Theyalldied.Everybodydied.Yeah,butthentheyalsobecameokaywiththatsystem.Theybecameokaywiththesystem.Theydidn′t.TheygotNapoleon,dude.TheyliterallygotNapoleon.Theygotadifferentking.That′swhathappened.Theygotadifferentking.AndtheFrenchRevolutionisNapoleondeclaringhimselfemperor.Areyousayingthattheywerenotsocializedintosortofbeingokaywithseeingpeople′sheadsdroppedoff?Becausethat′swhatI′msaying.No,theyweren′t.That′swhythekillingmachinestopped.It′sjustthekillingmachinecouldn′tstopuntiltwothingshappened.One,thefoamentersoftherevolutiongoteatenbythethingtheystarted.It′sparasiticinnature.Arevolutionisaparasiticthing.That′swhyanarchistsarealwaystheonestheytrotout.Whathappensinarevolutionistheintellectualclassgetspissedoff.Andsometimesthenobility.IntheFrenchRevolution,there′snobility.Robespierreisnoble.That′sthething.He′snotacommoner.He′snotevenmerchantclass.He′sinthenobleclass.Sohegetspissedoff.Hefeelslikehe′sbeenstumpedbytheking.Thekinghadacold.Butwhatever.It′sastupidstory.Thewholethingisdumb.It′sanotheroneofthesedumbthings.It′sjustdumbthingshappen.SoRobespierrebasicallyorganizesthiswholething.Andthennobody,justlikeintherevolutionbefore,I′vegotvideosonthisinNavigatingPatterns,bytheway,justsaying.JustliketheEnglishRevolution.Nobodywantstotakeresponsibility.Nobody.Parliamentwillnotvote.Ithinkit′scalledParliament.Whatever.TheFrenchgovernmentwillnotvoteonanythingaftertheyexiletheking.Theywillnot.They′relike,nah,bro,wedon′twanttobeincharge.Andsothekillingmachine′sgoingandgoingandgoing.Randomnobles.Andit′srandom.Randomnoblesarelosingtheirheads.PeopleliketheMaquisdeSade,who′sobviouslynotagoodguy,incaseanybody′scuriousaboutthat.StillanoonMaquisdeSade.He′snotacooldude.He′sactuallyinchargeofsomeofthelists.Andhe′slike,well,here′smy,youknow,WomanoftheWeek′sparents.We′regoingtosparethem,eventhoughbyalltherulesthatquoterules,revolutionsdon′tfollowrules.Youknow,we′regoingto.Butwho′srunningtheguillotines?It′snotthepeoplewhostartedtherevolution.It′stheanarchists.Becausetheanarchistsalwayskillpeople.That′swhatanarchistsdo.Theybombpeople.Theyshootpeople.Whatever.They′rejusthatredandresentmentdriven.SamewiththeEnglishRevolution.SamewiththeRussianRevolution.Right?Theonlyrevolutiondoesn′tseemtofollowthatpatternisoursintheUS,bytheway.Differentproblem.Sotheyalwaystrottedout.They′realwaysbeingused.Andthey′realwaysusurped.AndyouseethiswiththeBolsheviks.Right?TheBolshevikslosepowerimmediately.Immediately.AndthepeoplewhoproppeduptheBolsheviksknewforsure.They′reweakpeople.They′renotgoingtoholdpowerforanything.Andtheytookoverpowerfromtheanarchists.Right?Soit′slikeTrotskyandLeninknewwhattheyweredoing.Theyweren′tstupid.Theyweren′tthesmartestpeopleattheball.ThatwasStalinwaswaysmarterthanthoseidiots.Buttheyknewwhattheyweredoing.Sotheyjustkindoftakeover.Right?Andtheyhaditallplannedouttosomeextent.Imean,asmuchasyoucanplanarevolution.Didn′tgoanyofthewaytheythoughtitwould.Butlike,that′sthething.Like,arevolutionisn′tevenapoliticalthing.Becausethefirstpeopleinvolvedineverysinglerevolutioneverareanarchists.Andanarchistsarepeoplewhoidentifyagainstpolitics,government,andstructure.That′sthedefinitionofanarchy.That′swhattheycallit.It′slikethemusicinmusicalchairs.Itjustopensupthedoorforopportunity.Like,it′sallaboutrandomopportunity.AndsoRobespierrecan′tcontroltherevolution.Anditendswheneverybodywhostarteditgetseatenbythemachine.Andsomebodycomesinandenforcestop−downpowerfromabove.Andofcourse,thatalsodoesn′twork.Becauseeffectively,hedoesn′trun.SeemyvideoontheFrenchRevolutionwithAdam.It′sexcellent.Allright.Thatalsodoesn′twork.Itshattersandbreaksapart.Andthat′sthepattern.It′saveryclearpattern.HappenedinEngland,too.IthappenedinEnglandbeforeFrance.It′sjustthattheydidn′tgetthemessage.Theywerelookingatus,attheUS,going,well,weknowhowtohaveasuccessfulrevolution.Wefundedone.Andit′slikeyouguysdidn′tevenunderstandwhatwasgoingon.YourownspiesintheUnitedStatesweresaying,thisexperimentisgoingtoendanydaynow.SothepeopleinFrancedidn′tbelievethatourrevolutionhadworked.Andyettheyweredoingtheirown.Thewholething′sdumb.It′sfullofdumbness.Wait.ButOK.Justlookthisup.Somemembersofthepublicinitiallycomplainedthatthemachinewastooquickandcynical.Butbeforelong,theprocesshadevolvedintohigh−earningpain.Peoplecametoreplacetherevolutionindroves.Sowhat′sthedealwithgrislywork?Andthemachinewashonoredincountlesssongs,jokes,andpoems.OK.That′salie.Letmeexplaintoyouwhy.IfyoulistentoDanCarlin,hehasanepisodecalledPainfulTainment.It′sfourandahalfhoursorsomethingridiculous.It′sveryhardtolistento.Veryhard.It′sbasicallyaboutthefactthatupuntiljustafterwhatyou′retalkingabout,theFrenchRevolution,publicexecutionwashighentertainment.Anditwasmorethanentertainment.Right?Itwasritualisticandliturgical.Andactually,whathetalksaboutisitbecamemereentertainmentwiththeintroductionoftheefficiencyoftheguillotine.Onewastheguillotineinpoit.Whatwastheguillotinewhat?Onewastheguillotineinpoit.JustbeforetheFrenchRevolution.Well,asaresultoftheFrenchRevolution.Beforethat,noonecared.Becauseitwasn′tadoptedimmediately.Nooneusedituntiltheyneededtokilllotsofpeople.Andtheytooktheritualoutofit.Becausepriortothat,andCarlingoesintothis,it′sanexcellentpainfultame.It′sanexcellentepisode.Ifyoucompareittolistentoit,it′shard.IguessIadmitI′mnotasinformedonyouonthis.Butitdoesseemlikewe′resayingthatbefore,therewasn′tasmuchneedforthisguillotine.AndIwouldsaythatitseemsthattherewasn′taquicknessofit.Therewasadifferentsetofliturgyandeverythinglikethat.Andthenwehavethissortofuseoftheguillotine.AndIwouldassumethattherewouldbeadifferenceinunderstandingitasentertainment.Imean,ifyou′regoingfromsomethingthatisn′tused.Itgotreducedtoentertainmentandthatwashorrificandbad.Butit′snotlikenobodywatchedpeoplebeingkilledbeforethat.Theymostcertainlydid.Yeah.Sonothingchanged.Thatprobablycausedthechangeinpeople.Thatthey′reusingtheguillotinemore.Andnowthatthissortofchaosofeverybody′sgettingkilledisgoingtochangepeople.Nowthey′remoreokaywithit.Idon′tthinktheyweremoreokaywithit,dude.TheywerehappytoletNapoleonruleoverthem.Likeitjustopenedthedoorfortyranny.Imean,thisis...Yeah,Iremember.Ihaven′tforgottenabouttheVendee.That′sallthegoodCatholicsdowninthesouthofFrance.Fightingthegoodfight.Fightingthegoodfight.ButthisisPichot′spoint.Heactuallytalksaboutthis.Hesays,wheneveryouhavechaos,right?Whenevertherulesandorderbreaksdown,peoplecryoutforatyrant.AndthenliketheFrenchRevolutionislike,really?Ifyoudon′tlookattheFrenchRevolutionandrealizewhatJoeissayingisabillionpercentcorrect.Idon′tknowwhattotellyou.Likeyouneedtoreadanotherbookorsomething.Becauseyoukindofmissedthepattern.Andthethingaboutthatisthat...AndIgooverthisagaininmyvideowithAdam.Adam′sawesome,bytheway.YoushouldwatchallmyvideoswithAdam.ButthethingaboutthatisbecauseNapoleonmisunderstandseverything.Andhereallydoes.Hejustdoesn′tgetit.Henameshimselfemperorinallkindsofplaces.Andthat′slikeaninvalidwaytodothings.Andsoitdoesn′twork.Likeeverybodyfeelsoppressedandupset.Buttheywon′tgobacktotherevolution.AndsowhenheescapesfromElba,fromhisfirstexile,everyone′slike,well,wedon′thaveabetteralternative.Sowe′regoingtosendtheremainderofourpopulationtodiewiththisidiot.WhohatestheFrench,bytheway.BecauseFrance′sgreatestgeneralisnotFrench.It′sjusthysterical,right?He′sCorsican.AndhehatestheFrenchbecausetheydestroyedhisfamilyandtookallhisfamilywealth.Soeffectively,he′shappytokilloffasmanyFrenchashecananyway.It′sthesamepatternyouseewithlaterdictators.It′sprettyfunny.Exceptit′shorrific.Butyeah,alsofunny.Funnytousnow.How′sthat?SodidNapoleonhavepower?Well,yeah.Youcan′tstopme.Ispend30,000livesamonth.Exactly.Solet′stalkabouthowwasAlexandertheGreat′spowerdifferentfromNapoleon′spower?Becausehemadesurethathewasgoingtobeaddedtoeverypantheonthathepassedthrough.Yeah.Right.WhathedidwasheusedtheRomanmethod,ormaybetheRomansgotitfromtheGreeks.Idon′tknow.Timeperiods,blah.Right?Butheusedthemethodofadoption.HadNapoleondonewhateverybodyelsebeforehimhaddone?LikeIsaid,hejustmadeastupid−assmistake.Hadhedonewhateverybodyelsebeforehimhaddone,itmighthaveworked.That′sthefunnything.Hadhetakenthehonorificsfromeachplaceandplacedthemonhimself?AndI′llgiveyouanexample.SoNapoleondeclareshimselfHolyRomanEmperor,althoughIdon′tthinkhegotalltheland.Maybehedid.Iforgetwhetherornothegotallofit.Whenhedeclareshimselfthat,though,hejustsays,I′mtheHolyRomanEmperor.ButtheHolyRomanEmperor,theoneprevioustohim,hadsomethinglike80or120titles.Andthethingabouttitlesisthey′respecifictoregions.Andsothat,youwanttheflatteningoftheworldandtheintimacy?BecauseItalkedaboutthislikeadayortwoago.Idon′tbelieveit′scomingupagain.There′stheflatteningoftheworld,right?Whereyou′relike,I′memperorofEurope.It′slike,wait,what?YouhaveanemperorofEurope.YouhavetohaveaKingofFranceandaKingofGermanyandaKingoftheNetherlands.AndaKingof,right?ADukeofNormandyandaDukeofTuscany.YouneedtohaveaDukeofPoveriaandaBaronofBlablabla.Becausewhatyou′redoingiseachtitleisaniconorahandleorhoweveryouwanttothinkofitthatconveysthequalityoftherelationshipthatthepersonhastotheplace.Andthatqualityofrelationshiphastobedifferenttoeachplacebecauseeachplaceisdifferent.Andifit′snot,you′reflatteningorreducingorcompressingtheworld.Sotimeout.Whatyoujustsaidisitsoundedquitepropositional.Likethisideaoftitleisavery−Ihavetosayitinwords,butnowIusethewordicon.No,theideaoftitle.Iconisdifferentbecauseyou′remixingthingshere.Youcanclaimatitleandyoucanusepowertograbatitle.Notalltitlesareicons,butsomeare.Right,butyouhavetodosomethingadditionalthanjustclaimatitle.Right,andIthinkthisissomethingthatwe−Youhavetouseamethodinordertogetthisintotheworld′speople′sworldviewwhoactuallyascribethepowerassociatedwiththattitle.ButCorey,ifyou′renotwillingtotakethetitle,youalsocan′tdotheritual.No,sure.Iagreewithyou.Iwasn′tgoingtogetintothewholethingaboutyouhavetotakethetitle.Youhavetotakethetitleseriously.Thenyouhavetoenacttheritualineachplacetobeofficialineachplace.Now,Napoleondidn′thavetimeforanyofthat,foronething,becausehe′sbusybuildingabigempireveryquickly,bytheway.Veryquickly.Byanystandard,hejustbowlsoverallthesechaotic,roughly,city−states.EspeciallyinItaly.Italywasalwayscity−states.It′sstillnotacountry.It′snotgoingtobeacountryever.There′snosuchthingasItalianfood.That′showyouexplainit.Thereyougo.There′snosuchthingasItalianfood.Iwanttojustbringthisback.MaybeImisunderstood,butIfeelliketheJokercertainlyhaspowerinexactlythesamewayassomebodylikeAlexandertheGreatinusingauthoritytotakeupthese−IsitJokerorisitCesarRomero?So,no.Isdirectionofattentiontomoldpeople′sworldviewnotaformofpower?Jokerdoesn′tmoldanybody′sworldview.That′showTreystarted,andhe′scorrect.Hedoesn′t.That′sthewholepoint.Hehasnofocus.Likeidentificationagainst.SoifIsay,yourgovernment′ssillybecauseyourkinghasnoclothes,Idirectedyourattentionforsure,butIdirecteditagainstathing.Ididn′tdirectittowardsanything,andthereforeit′snotpower.Doesitdestroypowerorstructureorboth?Doesitdestroyorder?Doesitcreatechaos?Yes.Butanyidiotcancreatechaos,andthereforewe′reallequallypowerful.That′swhatI′mtalkingabout.Soyou′reusingpowerinawaythatpresupposesithastoleadtoanewformoforder.Itcan′tjustbechaos.Itcan′tjustbenegation.No,I′mjustsayingthere′sanasymmetricaldefinitionbecausetheworldisactuallyasymmetricalatalllayersofanalysis.Atall,we′llsayself−similarlyfractallayers.It′sasymmetrical,andsoyoucan′tjustreverseit.Powerisfocusedenergy.It′snotenergyperse.Andagain,wedoequivocateontheword,andmaybewehavetobecausewordsareimprecise,andthatjustsucks.Languagesucks.Don′tknowwhatelsetosay.ToJosh′spoint,yeah,iflightninghitsyou,it′spowerful,butit′snotthesamepoweraspeopletalkaboutwieldingbecausepeopleverymuchtalkaboutwieldingpower,whichmeansit′sfocusedtowardssomesortofgoal.AndIwouldsaydestroyingsomethingisnotactuallyagoal.It′snoteventheoppositeofagoal.Sothat′swheretheissueis.It′sbecauseyouusethewordgoalinaveryspecificwaythatimpliesyouaremovingtowardssomeformofbeingratherthannegationofsomeformofbeing.Yeah,negationisnottheoppositeofnon−negation.NowI′mfollowing.Andthat′stheproblemisalotofpeoplegetstuckinthebinarythinking,seemyvideoonnavigatingpatterns,thebinarythinking,andthentheycan′tunderstandthingsbecausetheyexpectthemtogobackandforthequally,andtheydon′t.It′swayeasiertoblowupthetwintowers,whetheryouuseatruckbomb,whichtheytriedfirst,oranairplanetodoit,thanitwastobuildthem.There′sjustasymmetryeverywhere,butespeciallyin,Idon′twanttocallitcreation,Iwanttocallitmanifestation.Especiallyifyoubuildsomething,anything,anorganizationwithnoheadquarters,butyoucouldbuildanorganizationwithnoheadquarters,that′swayharderthantakingoneoutandturningitintochaos.Wayhardertobuilditthanitistotakeitapartordestroyit.Sooutofcuriosity,when,likesomepeoplewill,andI′vekindofdoneitmyself,I′mnotarguingwithyouoranything,I′mjustlikecurious.Somepeoplewilltalkaboutdifferentformsofpower,likepoliticalorstatusormoneyorphysicalforce.Andsowhenitcomestophysicalforce,itcouldbeusedforgoodorbad.Itcouldbeusedforself−defense.Itcouldbeusedinpolicework.Itcouldbeusedinbadstuff,inviolence.Soifyou′resayingviolenceandbadstuffisnotpower,howwouldyouexplainit?Soitwouldbethecasethat,let′ssaythere′sanactiveshooterandthepolicemangoesinanduseshisguntotakedowntheactiveshooter.Right?Hisgoal,unlessthisguywasapsychopathinauniform,hisgoalisn′ttogoaroundkillingpeople.Hisgoalistoprotectthepublicorder.Andsohehasthishigherendtowardswhichheisorientedasapublicservant.Andinordertocarrythatout,becausethisguyisanactiveshooter,hetakeshimoutwithhispistol.Basicallyamurderer.Yeah.Soit′samatterof,evenifyou′redestroyingsomething,ifit′sactuallygoingtobeproperlygoal−oriented,it′sbecauseyouwantsomegreatergoodtocomeinwhereyou′redestroying.Right?SoifIwerejusttogodownstairsandtakeasledgehammertothekitchen,justbecauseIlikesmashingthings,thatwouldnotbeagoodexerciseofpowerrightthere.Butifyou′regoingtodemothekitchensoyoucanbuildabetterone,that′sacompletelydifferentstoryrightthere.Sothedestructionhastobeapartofsomethingbiggerthanitselfinorderforittobeapartofagoal−orientedaction.Butthenagain,atthatpoint,that′sthebiggerpoint.Whenyousaysomethinglikepower,youhaven′tsaidanythingofanyusetoanyone.Becausepoweristhepowerofthebad.Powerisneutral.Itcouldbegood,itcouldbebad.Solike,okay,soIgotabullethere.Thisisnotpowerful.Likewhy?Becauseit′snotplacedandfocusedinsideofthis.Likeassoonasit′splacedandfocusedinsideofthis,thenit′spowerful.Andithastobeheldbysomebodywithanintelligentbrainandaimedatsomething.Nowwehavesomethingpowerful.Wedon′tevenknowifit′sgoodorbadyet,becauseitdependsonwho′sinthefield.Yeah,exactly.I′mtrackingwithyou.I′mtrackingwithyou.Andthere′smanylayersbetweenlikethislittle...Imean,thisisjustanencapsulatedcomponentofelementsthatcango...AndImean,Ithrowthisintoafire,there′snowheretellingwhereit′sgoingtogo.Butthenassoonasit′splacedinsideofthis,thenallofasudden,nowwehavesomething.Nowwehaveafocus.Nowwehave...Andweevenputsightsonthese.Why?Sowecanlaserfocusit.That′sthething.Whenpeopletalklikethat,they′reengaginginsorcery.Andmaybetheydon′trealizeit.Fair,likewhatever.ButI′mapragmatist.Idon′tcare.Ifyou′reintent,Ican′tknowyou′reintent.Idon′tcare.Ijusthavenoaccesstopeople′sintent.Orwhetherthey′reintentionalorignorant,there′snowaytodeterminethatinmostcases.Youcaneventually,butnotwithasinglestatement.Soit′sjustabadframe.Andtheimportantpartistoknowabadframe.Thequickeryourecognizeabadframe,thebetter.AndsosomebodywastellingmelastnightonDiscord,theywerelike,ohyeah,IpayattentiontothisYouTuber.AndthisYouTuberwassayingthatthereasonwhytheUkrainewarisgoingonsolongisbecausetheWestdidn′tinvestinsurface−to−airmissiletechnology.Okay.Corey,Corey,tellus.HastheWestinvestedinsurface−to−airmissiletechnology?Weinventedit.We′renotentering...Buttheguy′sYouTubethesiswasbasedonthatfact.Andthatfactcouldn′tpossiblybelesstrue.It′simpossibleforsomestatementtobelesstruethanthat.Sinceweinventedsurface−to−airmissilesforallintentsandpurposes.Andwecontinuallydevelopedthemforyearsandyearsandyears.Andsoallofthethingstheguysaysafterthathavetobewrong.Itdoesn′tmeanthataccidentallyhewon′tsaysomethingcorrect,becauseyeah,accidentallyeverybodysayssomethingcorrect.Andaccidentallysomepeoplesaysomethingwrongtoo,right?Evenwhenthey′rerightaboutit.Butit′sagoodtellfornotlisteningtoanythingtheguyhastosay.Andthesamepersondidthesamethingwithabookwrittenbythisguy,WilliamFerguson,wherehewaspositingthatnoone′sgoingtounderstandwhyGermanyinthemidtolate1300sstoppedgrowingandstoppedfarming.Oryouknowabouttheplagues.AndeverybodyI′vetoldthistoonbothaccountshasjustbeenlike,wow,timeout,holdon.Soyougottoknowwhenthesepeoplecomeupwithbadframes.Becauseit′slike,okay,becausetheycanspinyouagoodstoryifit′sbasedonalie.It′snothardtospinagoodstorybasedonalie.Andthenit′seasyforpeopletogetfooledandsay,well,thatsoundsreasonableandlogical.Anditprobablydoes.Butitmightbebasedonafalsehood.Andtheymaynotknowthatit′sbasedonafalsehood.Theymayhavenoidea.Butthat′stheproblem,right?Andthere′ssomuchwrongwithwhytheWestislosingthewarinUkraine.Well,theWestisn′tfightingRussiatechnicallyinshadowwar,whatever.Youcangetintoallthat.Butit′saweirdwaytothinkaboutwhat′sgoingon,right?Andthat′stheproblemispeoplefoolyouintothinking,oh,thisisavalidwaytothinkabouttheworld,likepolitics.Andthenitjustturnsouttonotbeuseful.Andittakesyoualongtimetofigurethatout.Ittakespeopledecadestofigureoutthingslike,oh,thepredictionsofpeoplewhousepoliticalframingarealwayswrong.Always.Hey,Mark,I′mcurious.Haveyoureadthebook?Actually,that′sfunny.TheAgeoftheUnthinkable.Youheardofthisbook?WrittenbyaguynamedRamo.You′dprobablylikeit.Itactuallymademethinkofyoubecauseoftheageofgnosisandtheyalwaystalkingabout.Ageofgnosis?That′swhatitis.Ageofgnosis,yeah.Yeah,yeah.You′dlikeit.Hetalksaboutit′sverymuchata...It′swrittentoalaylevel.He′sa...Ithinkhe′sajournalist,ifIrememberright.Buthetalksaboutthisproblemhowkindofinthelastfewdecades,policymakersandeconomistsandmilitarystrategistsandthingslikehavebeencompletelyandutterlyfailingtopredictanythingthathappens.Andallofthestrategiesandalltheeconomistsandallthecrazystuffthathasbeenupendingourworld.It′slikejusthowtheirparadigmisstuckinparticularways.Andhegoesinto...Heactuallykindofendsupataplaceofcomplexitytheoryandkindoforganic.Hearrivesrightontheedgeofcollectiveconsciousnessandkindofstopsthere.Idisagreewiththisconclusion.Butthestuffthathelooksatisreallykindofneat.Ithoughtyoumighthavereadit.No,no,Ihaven′t.Itsoundsgood.Sulebtalkedaboutthat.Hesaidalleconomistsarefraudsbecausealltheirpredictionsarewrong.Hetalkedabout...Ican′trememberwhicheconomistitwas.ButhetalkedaboutoneeconomistwhoreceivedaNobelPrize.AndhebasicallyusedhisNobelPrizespeechtoapologizeforthestudyofeconomics.Abouthoweverybodywhothoughtthiswasthebignewsciencethatwasgoingtosolvetheworldwerecompletelywrong.AndthathewasbasicallyapologizingforwinningaNobelPrize.Wow.EvenThomasSowell?Idon′trememberthename.ThomasSowell?ThomasSowellisthebest.He′soneofthefewthatisrightaboutabunchofstuff.Butit′snosurprisegiven...IremembertheThomasSowellvideothatIwatched.AndIwaslike,oh,thisguy′srealsharp.WaswherehetalkedaboutAfrica.Andhetalkedabout,well,whataresomeoftheproblemswithdoingtradeinAfrica?Andyou′vegotlotsofmountainranges,lotsofthickimpenetrablejungles,andnonavigablerivers.Yeah.Andit′slike,hey,waitaminute.Thatdoesn′thaveanythingtodowithcolonialism.Andyouwouldbecorrect.There′snocolonialismthere.Andwhat′sthemosteconomicallydevelopedpartofAfrica?It′stheonewiththebigoldrivergoingthroughit.Thatallowsmovement.Youknow,andit′sjust...ThisiswhereIputinmyplugforairshipsarethetechnologyofthefuture.Yes.Yes.Steampunkforever,baby.I′m1002 billion or something stupid, like legitimately, right? Because the people who have river blindness don’t produce goods that are easily converted into currency of any kind anywhere in the world, right? Because they’re the poorest of the poor, right? They live in the middle of nowhere, to your point, in Africa, places you can’t get to. And Merck, because most companies, certainly in the 90s, are not complete scumbags, decide to develop the drug, make enough to service everybody that they estimate has river blindness and give it away for free. And on top of all of that, they’re like, we’ll actually fly it into a port in Africa. It’s amazing. It was a huge cost to the company. It’s not a billion dollars, right? But it’s probably 100million,plusthecostofdevelopingthedrugforriverblindness,whichwasprobablyabilliondollars,maybealittlebitmore.Sothecompanyisjustthrowingawaythismoney,literallythrowingitaway,right?Forthegoodofhumanity,whichiswhatmostcompaniesdo,bytheway,Icontrarytopopularmodernbelief.Mostcompaniesactuallydothingslikethis.Theydolotsofthingslikethis,actually.Sowhathappensisthey′relike,theonlyproblemwecan′tsolveishowtodistributeit.Soyouguysareonyourown.Andpeopledidfigureitout.Volunteerscameinandfiguredouttheygotthisbicycletradingnetworkthinggoingwherepeoplearedoingbikesandboatsandeverythingtogetthedrugstothepeoplethatneedthem.Andyeah,it′sanamazingtale,right?Becausethere′snowaytodoitinamoney−basedeconomicsystem.Likethecurrencywouldnotworktodistributethatdruginthatplaceatall.Butthere′sabetterwaytodoit.Itdoesn′tcostanymoney,right?Andwedon′taccountforthat.We′resocynical,right?Everything′smoney.Weflatteneditall.Weflattenedtheworldagaintomoney.Andthat′sjustnotthewaytheworldworks.Thankfully,thankfully,let′sbegrateful.Let′sbegratefulforthat,shallwe?Nicetohavesomegoodnewseveryonceinawhile.Yeah.Well,nobodyknowsthatstory.Idon′tknowwhy.Idon′tknowwhyeverybodydoesn′tknowthatstory.It′sagreatstory.Youhaven′ttoldittoenoughpeopleyet,Mark.Youshouldmakeitlikealittledocumentaryaboutit.PBS,forfreak′ssake.Like,comeon,guys.ItwasfreeTV.Itusedtobegood.PBSisevilnow.Buttheywereverygoodinthe70s,80s,and90satleast.Anybodyhere?AnybodyeverseeTheRedGreenShow?Josh?Yes.Yes.Thatwasawesome.Excuseme.Stickontheice.I′monmyhands.Icanchange.Yeah.IfIhaveto,Iguess.Mymomistheducttapequeen.Like,shehomeschooledfourboysandonegirl.Therewasfiveofus.Dadwasgoneworkinganhourandahalfawayfromtown.Andmymomfixedeverythingwithducttape.ShelovedRedGreen.Classic.Oh,verygood.Yeah.PBShadthegreenshow.Theshowswereamazing.Thatwasforever.Ohmygod.Well,RedGreen,plustheybroughtinalltheBritishstuff,includingBlake7,whichiseverybodyknowsthebestsciencefictionshowofalltime.AndthingslikeThePrisonerandothergreatRedDwarf,FaultyTowers.Mybrother′sfavorite.Theybroughtitallin.Yeah.MyoriginalHitchhiker′sGuidetotheGalaxyminiseriesformatthatwasonPBS.Yeah.Yeah.Yeah.Hitchhiker′sGuidetotheGalaxy.That′swatchingmystery.Ohyeah.Mystery.Yeah.Theydidallthat.Yeah.Theyhadallkindsofgreatmasterpieces.Allkindsofcoolstuff.VincentPriceandthenDianaRiggtookitover.Itwascool.Yeah.TheybroughtintheoriginalAvengers.Ifyouhaven′tseenthatwithPatrickMcNeeseandDianaRigg.Excellentstuff.Ohyeah.MarvelComics.Well,yeah.Justtobeclear.Yeah.NotMarvelComics.IfyouwatchtheoriginalAvengers,especiallytheDianaRiggepisodes,andthenyougoandwatchTheSpyWhoShaggedMe,it′llbemuchfunnier.Iassureyou.Yeah.ThoseAustinPowermovies.Anybodycouldwatchthem.Ifyouwereinthemoodforthatkindofmiddleschoolpottyhumor,itkindofhitthespot.ButonceyouseethattheBritishstuffitwasbasedon,it′slike...ThatfirstoneisbillionsoftimesfunnierifyouknowtheAvengers.It′salotfunnier.Andthentheothersbecomeverynotfunnybycomparison.Butyeah,it′salotfunnier.ButalsoCosmos.Imean,theyfundedanddidCosmos.AndI′mabigCarlSaganfan.Thatwaskindofamouthpieceforreductionisticmaterialismsometimes.Itdiddestroytheworld.ButIstilllike...Blackholesarereallycool.Neutronstarsarereallycool.Iwouldmakethesameargumentaboutprogrock.Ireallylikeearlyyes.IreallylikeDreamTheater.IreallylikeHeavyMetal.Buthowdidthatdestroytheworld?Therewasa...Idon′tremember.Nobody′slisteningtoit.Howcoulditpossiblydestroytheworld?No,no,itinfluencedeverything.Itinfluencedeverything.That′sthestory.That′stheuntoldstory.Thereisapointto...AndTalebmakesthispoint.There′sapointtosmallnumbersofpeoplemovetheworld.That′sabsolutelytrue.ThepointhemakesiseverybeverageintheUnitedStatesthat′ssoldiskosher.Allofthem.ThenumberofJewsintheUnitedStatesislikebetween8and135,000 for the problem to go away, then yes, you know, then we can, then we could do this, but it will replant a fruit tree, something small next to the house, something like that. But it was, yeah, it was a very strange thing to think about the world. Like that’s how I’ve always thought about the world in those terms is what deserves to go, what deserves to stay. And it was, and it usually comes down to, well, how long has something been here? And how well has it done since it’s been here? And that’s the way I, and that’s not reading the eyes that I guess in a way maybe it is, but it’s, it’s like with, you know, Charles Manson or something like that. What has he actually done? You know, like what, what, what does he deserve the death penalty? Does he deserve the most violent, you know, death? Like I remember Rogan talked about one time a UFC fighter that had killed or no, had violently assaulted somebody who had touched his child inappropriately. And he went to prison for it. And, and Joe Rogan was like, I just, I just hope he used his hand. And he was like, he was talking like that. Like he was like, he was like, yeah, I just really hope he did that. And I was like, that’s so interesting. You talk about peace and love so much, but I was like, why did you want to make sure that he did it in this way? Like, what was it about like this thing? Like, once you, once you have been satisfied, like the guillotine, like once you have been satisfied with that quick, efficient, you know, killing, why does he need to be tortured to death? You know, like in that info, somehow the maximum amount of pain and effort that you could deliver to somebody was more, now it’s more, now it’s better. Like that’s a better death for this person because like you sit on saying there, like it’s all in like how the, how the thing was, it’s not only what decision was reached, but how it was reached. And that’s what made people like, that’s what made the, the carrying out of it better or worse. You know what I mean? Like, I don’t know. It’s just, it’s, it’s, it’s an interesting way that people go about their, the way that they reach decisions and the way that they execute those decisions is, is like, there’s a, there’s levels to it and there’s, there’s, yeah. That’s how they justify it, Josh. That’s not really how it happens. And people get confused. They think the way they rationalize something is the way it actually went down. And that’s almost never the case. And people think, oh, well, the way I made this decision was, and it’s like, no, no, it didn’t happen. Right. Oh, the way I know what power was is because it’s like, now, now you never even thought about it. Mark, if somebody’s confessing to sin, I think that would be an exception to that. When they’re saying, I did this wrong. No, they’re describing an action that they know was wrong. They’re not, they’re not describing how they arrived at the action. And in fact, most sin confessions are, you know, oh, forgive me. I don’t know how this happened, but I did it. It’s like, okay. I hear a lot more confessions than you do, and it’s usually simpler than that. Yeah, but that’s what I mean. Like, it’s simple. Like when somebody describes how they came to a conclusion, it’s usually like an hour or 20 minutes of them talking. It’s a very, because rationalizations are like that. They’re very complicated. Right. And, and well, it’s like a neuron path, right? It’s probably like a neuron path, like a rationalization of justification is like, okay, well, I did this because I did that. And because I thought this and that, and so you’re it’s a neuron path through the wood. But you couldn’t have, right? Because all the things you’re describing would have taken way more time than what happened. Yeah. Like you can say like, somebody broke it. So that’s imaginary. Well, look, yeah. I, I suspect, I can’t prove this. I suspect all rationality is post-hoc. It’s after the fact. All of it. We don’t rationalize anything upfront. Somebody commits a really bad sin. Like the demon got a hold of them. They did something really gnarly. Is the demon, well, that’s what I’m saying. Is the demon, is the evil feeding them the story of why they did this? No, no, no, no. They can come up with the story on their own. So is the story neutral? Is rationalization neutral? Or is it, is it, is it, does it have an origin? Like, I guess I’m trying to figure out like in my own brain, like Nationalization is neutral. Okay. Okay. So it’s making and it’s part of understanding or it’s part of being, being able to be comfortable with, with the world around you when you’re rolling it. Yeah. So like after I like, I’m sorry to be gross, but just airing some of my stuff, but like after I got divorced, like, you know, pornography became a part of my life, you know, because I was no longer with a partner and that’s how I justified it. I was like, well, this is like, you would supplement, I supplement, like if I, if I didn’t have a nutrient, I would supplement it with, with like a vitamin or something like that. I have a desire. That desire needs to be filled. The way I was filling that desire is gone. And therefore, yeah. And therefore, yeah. Is that rationalization you’re, you’re saying that that’s neutral. That’s not the demon feeding me a line. Could be like rationalizations are model generators and models lie and some models are useful. Yep. Yeah. Well it is. I mean, a rationalization is what model was I using when I acted out in the world? And it’s like, well, maybe you know, and maybe you don’t. And, and, and if you think when and why and how you acted out in the world is wrapped up in logic, reason, and rationality, you’re nuts. There’s no freaking way. Right. Now you can, you can do that after the fact. And I would argue that maybe you can do it before. Right. And so there’s a bunch of patterns I have in my head around, how do I know when someone’s done something where I might need to maim or kill them. And the only reason why I have those, ever had those thoughts is because when I took karate when I was young, that’s what they taught me. They did not teach me how to disable people. They just didn’t. They taught me how to maim and kill. And I’m, I can just tell you right away that if you trigger that the odds that this is going to end well for you are zero. Cause I’m still, even when I’m sick, I’m still pretty quick. I’m still way quicker than most people physically. I just move fast. I’m the type of guy who drops something and catches it with the same hand he dropped it with all the time. Not that I drop things very often, but when I do, I almost always catch them before they hit the ground or anything else. I’m really quick. I’m stunningly fast. That’s why in, in, in Kempo, I was allowed to fight people to belt up. And they want, the guy wanted that because he’s like, they’re not going to be able to kick, to go after you. And all you know is punch and kick. You don’t know any of the sophisticated moves, which I almost never learned by the way. But I was just so quick, I didn’t need it effectively. And so what happens is I had to go through the process of when do you use that force? Right. Like, so you better kind of figure out like where your, where your line is. And it’s just like, somebody breaks into your house. At what point do you shoot them? No one’s worrying about the law. First of all, almost nobody knows the law in their state. It’s never going to happen. Most people have no idea what the law is in anything in their state. Right. And then you’re not thinking of that in the moment because you’re not able to. Because, and this is thinking fast, thinking slow by, oh, what’s his name in Tversky? I can’t remember his name. Kahneman, Kahneman and Tversky. And basically that side of your brain isn’t even working. The rational side of your brain isn’t even on. When you’re, when adrenaline’s pumping, you’re actually, we, and we know this, we’ve done it experimentally. We’re actually aware of this fact. You can not- Well, if you’ve ever had an adrenaline surge, you know that because it happened to you. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. But like when the tiger moves in the jungle, you don’t know if it’s a tiger or not. You act as if it is. Like Peterson talks about this because that’s surviving and anything else is less likely to survive. And so we, we have to have been doing this for a long time in order to be here. And therefore. Well, yeah, I’ll often hear people be like, oh, I got it. Like an adrenaline rush off of that. And I’ll be like, did your skin itch? Like, did it, did it it? Cause that, that’s a true adrenaline dump. When you’re like, when you get done and your skin, like you, like it’s like the hair raising on a dog. Like, you know, like that, that is like when you actually had a physical like, or did you throw up? Did you feel nauseous? Like the after the fact, cause that’s a true adrenaline dump. Like a lot of people will be like, oh yeah, I know. I love adrenaline. It’s like, no, you don’t. It’s one of the most grossest feelings in the world. I was like, you know, like while you’re in it, you don’t realize it, but afterwards you’re exhausted. You’re just like, oh, and ill. Yep. Yeah. You’re ill. You’re ill. Okay. We are 10 minutes past our ordinary ending time here. I’m going to go ahead and wrap the stream up. Yeah. So anyway, my, my fellow NPS atheists did not participate in the nation’s festivities. Good night and God bless you all. Good night. Good night, brother.