https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=8GwHNY_mEjk
It is the case that even in a hierarchy that’s functional, the thing can go sideways, and it does. You know, you get companies that get too big, they start to get corrupt. People who play politics and who are good at manipulating start to rise up the hierarchy. The structure stops performing its function, its useful function in the way that it should. It starts to degenerate, but generally then it dies. You know, like the typical Fortune 500 company only lasts 30 years, and the typical family Fortune only 3 generations. It’s not that easy to keep a functional enterprise going. You have to be awake. And so, no, it’s not an oppressive patriarchy, our culture. That’s wrong. It’s based on competence, fundamentally, imperfect as that is. It’s not like we don’t make hiring mistakes. It’s not like there aren’t people who are foolish and blind and hire and fire based on attributes that have nothing to do with competence. But that’s a sign of the deterioration of the system and the corruption of the system, and not an indication of its fundamental function. And it’s also the case that, and this is partly what I tried to outline in rule 1, which is pretty much the rule we’re going to discuss today. Part of your goal, if you want to take your place in the hierarchy properly, is to be a good person. And that was the argument I was trying to make in the chapter. Not that you’re supposed to be like the most brutal crustacean on the block, you know? It’s so foolish. It was Kathy Newman, I think, that asked me in the UK. So you’re saying that human society should be organized along the lines of lobsters. It’s like, look, lady, if you’re going to insult someone, you might want to try accusing them of something, of believing something, that someone somewhere believed at least once in the entire history of the human race. And not that, yes, absolutely. Lobsters for everyone. What I was trying to make the case was that we have this very old system in our nervous systems, which is very old, which keeps track of where we are in hierarchies, and that regulates our emotions because of it. Because it’s really important to you, and you, and you, and you, if you’re not completely bloody psychopathic, that you have a place in a social hierarchy, and that you’re admired and respected and valued by other people. And it’s so important that the neurochemical system that keeps track of that regulates your other emotions. So that if you’re low on the totem pole, because, well, for whatever the reason happens to be, sometimes you deserve it, sometimes it’s accidental, sometimes you’ve been hurt, there’s lots of ways that this can happen, your serotonin levels plummet like a defeated lobster, and then you feel way more negative emotion about everything, and way less positive emotion about everything. And that’s absolutely dreadful. Like, that’s clinical depression, and it’s a terrible, terrible condition. And so it’s absolutely crucial that you maintain a tenable position in a hierarchy. And not one of power, but one of competence. And at least even if you’re not in a position that’s tenable, you’re moving upward towards one that’s tenable, because that at least gives you hope. You know, because maybe you’re young and useless, and you don’t know what the hell you’re doing, you’re just getting started, and so you’re a low man on the totem pole. But it’s not like you’re stuck there forever, you do some decent work. I had some kid tell me the other day, it was really nice, it was just last night, it was at a comedy show I went to here, and a lot of the comedians knew us, Dave Rubin and I went in there, and so a lot of them knew us, which was quite interesting. And one of them said, God, you know, I was in a rough shape two years ago, I was just getting married, I just got married, and I was nihilistic as hell and depressed and bitter, and things weren’t going well for me at all. And I was unemployed, and one of my friends got me a job. And he said, I didn’t really like the bloody job, I didn’t want to have the job, and I was kind of dragging my ass to the work and not doing it well. And I listened to one of your lectures, and it said, look, if you haven’t got anything going for you, but you have a job, don’t quit your job. Whether you hate it or not, it’s like, man, that’s what you’re hanging on to the edge of the world with your fingertips, you know? Don’t let go. If you can find a better job, okay, fine, but you don’t just quit, because then what? You’re done. And he said, and another thing that I had mentioned was, why don’t you just try to work as hard as you can at your damn job for like six weeks, right? All flat out. You know, if you work 10% longer hours, you make 40% more money. That’s something worth thinking about. You know, you’ve got a job, maybe you show up 15 minutes early, and you leave 15 minutes late, you know, and you actually work, and your boss notices, because he would probably notice, and then maybe someone’s going to get promoted, and maybe it’ll be you, because something’s going to tilt the scales, and that little extra bit of work done without cynicism and resentment might be enough. Well, he said he started at 21 bucks an hour, and in six weeks he was making $37 an hour, and it’s not a king’s ransom, man, but it’s a hell of a lot more than zero, and it’s quite a lot more than 21. He said his life had turned around substantially, because he learned if he put some damn effort into it, and I’m not trying to be Joe Optimist here. Like, I know that people hit runs of bad luck, and that things can take you out of life, right? Unfortunate illnesses and betrayal, and like, there’s no shortage of randomness and horror that can wipe you out even if you’re doing your best, but you don’t have a better bloody plan than to do your best, and it tends to work a lot better than you think, and what’s so interesting about the hierarchies that people set up is that that’s how they’re set up. They’re not set up on power. They’re set up on reciprocity and skill and trust, not always, you know, and if you’re in a job where you work hard and you’re a good guy and you’re doing your best and your boss is a bloody tyrant and you never get a break, it’s like, okay, fine, you’re in a Foucault world. Get the hell out of it, you know? Get your resume set up, write your CV, fill in the educational gaps that you have, send out your 25 resumes a day, and prepare to make a lateral move, because you’re in a bad place. But almost everywhere, and this is certainly being the case virtually everywhere I’ve worked, and I’ve had like 50 jobs, you know? If you go above and beyond the call of duty in an awake and intelligent way, interpersonally, socially, with regards to the diligence of your work, with regards to the truth of your attitude and your courage and all of that, that will work. And you know, if you try it for a year and it doesn’t work, then go somewhere else, because you can, right? You’re free, I mean, it’s not easy, you can’t just walk out the door and instantly find another job, but you’re not enslaved, you could make a move, you could even decide that you’re going to make a move and double your salary, you know? It’s not a bad goal, and it’s certainly a possibility. It’s like, it isn’t hierarchy. It’s ethics that determine success in a functional society. It’s ethics that determine success, not power. The rest of it’s a bloody lie, and that doesn’t mean that all our systems are perfectly ethical. You know, you’ve got to be awake. If you’re in a system, there’s going to be some corruption in it. Part of what you’re supposed to do is keep your damn eyes open for the corruption and your mouth speaking truth, so when the corruption starts to take root, you object to it so the whole system doesn’t turn into a pathological power play. And that’s part of your ethical responsibility as a conscious being, an ethical being, a religious being for that matter, and a citizen, you know? And you’re charged with that. That’s why you vote. That’s why you’re the cornerstone of your state, man. You’re the, what would you call it? You’re the wellspring of the ethical actions that replenish the dying world. That’s what you are.