BlueOak

@MarkKol I can relate I spent much of my 20's drinking to forget or depressed when i wasn't. Do you have any data related to the lack of testosterone being responsible for school shootings? Intuitively as you say I'd think it'd be the opposite, and the more violent people usually have too much in them. I can see though, going around shooting up a school, isn't the average reaction of a violent guy looking for trouble in a bar. It comes from the same place often, the desire for significance being met in an inverted, destructive or harmful way Six Human Needs https://www.tonyrobbins.com/mind-meaning/do-you-need-to-feel-significant/ 1. Certainty: assurance you can avoid pain and gain pleasure 2. Uncertainty/Variety: the need for the unknown, change, new stimuli 3. Significance: feeling unique, important, special or needed 4. Connection/Love: a strong feeling of closeness or union with someone or something 5. Growth: an expansion of capacity, capability or understanding 6. Contribution: a sense of service and focus on helping, giving to and supporting others These are a reasonable way to model human needs, and we each rank these as more or less important in our daily lives, which drive our behavior. It explains why someone can jump out of a plane, while another person feels happier in a steady job earning a wage. It also explains some of the more horrific acts seeking one of these needs to be met. Also, it could just be the kind of person that sits in their room miserable and alone, is the kind of person that has or generates less testosterone anyway, rather than it being directly related to the violence itself. When you hit the level of considering suicide, which I used to do a lot in my 20's, and still do very rarely, then it opens you up to these type of horrific or otherwise inconceivable actions.

Some countries have a lot of firearms, some do not. The Czech Republic is one of those countries that do have more firearms: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/21/shock-in-prague-shootings-czech-republic Still, if someone has 7 military-grade weapons, and assuming they were purchased legally, I would assume that would be flagged for investigation. It's more than you'd need for a bank robbery or significant terrorist act. If it was flagged, and this man has a medical history of depression and psychosis, then that's a failure that can be looked at. Not just from the parents but the state also, which has a responsibility to intercept things like this before they happen. Again assuming a medical history and legal purchase of the weapons.

Its excellent we can blame migrants for all our problems. That way we'll all feel better and we can keep doing exactly as we are doing. Best bit is we can all complain continuously when nobody is there to work manual jobs, or fill labor gaps. Plus you know when business needs labor again, and the economy is looking good, we can all say how well we are tackling the labor shortage by bringing migrants back in. Not that we'll ever really stop taking in migrants in a significant number, because the people with money need a steady flow, but it makes good TV. If we did stop taking in Migrants, you might have to wait longer for transport, not have the same foods, or the prices of items would go up, you would feel the loss of labor in your everyday life, and everyone would be complaining about that instead. This way during the back and forth of hating migrants, hating the cost of living, we can do no self-reflection on the wider issues, such as why migration occurs because of our policies or actions. Huge wealth disparity globally, or the fact 0.001% of people hold all our potential finite wealth. When we run out of migrants or more likely people just get bored of hearing about it. We'll need to renew the focus on gay people, or the poor, but we've got well-used lines ready for those people next, and we are doing more of that now, which is always very useful for our self-esteem. Then after that, we can crack down and demonize socialists further. Being a socialist in several respects I'm especially looking forward to that time, the potential term in jail should be especially illuminating. I believe Trump thinks those parts of me are vermin that need to be eradicated, which I was warmed and comforted to hear about. Roll on fascism and anarcho-capitalism, and the eternal hatred of the other, WW3 has never looked so promising.

Everyone is doing what you say, every day they are alive, step by step. Death - Life same duality. If you want, choose this time to turn inside out of the body. That's my experience. My understanding from mystics or spiritually developed people is that it is a choice when you die (and through life), to accept you are infinite love or not. I tried it this lifetime, but only got to glimpse the totality, and its beyond and words I can use to describe it. Set the intent to turn your consciousness big, small, and infinite. Set the intent to get out of the body. I found the shrinking and enlarging of my consciousness into infinity very helpful. It took me a few experiences for any fear related to completely letting go dissolve, when it has, it's a comfortable and easy transition. You don't need drugs for this, though I hear they can help, you just need routine. Working on an ego renewal (realignment) certainly helps reduce fear. Self Inquiry. Yoga (Kundalini Yoga is the most intensive if you like that), Meditation on stillness (you), focusing on the breath also helps you leave the body. Cleansing the body of toxins. Harmonic solfeggio music and natural planetary frequencies for alignment, I found the sun the most intense at the time, try to get a recording of the sun/planets in the rawest form if you like audio. Burn white sage to clear the room, use Tibetan bells for frequency alignment of the space/mind. Remove electronics from the mediation/sleeping area. Accept everything and everyone as you and show gratitude, joy and love for it, start with the food in your hands. Crystal work, can be very small to position on the chakras at night, and moldavite to accelerate this worn around the neck. - Some of this is designed for rapid self-development, to realign your energy patterns to their natural state. Are you ready to let go of your mortal pattern? Not death (that would be a mortal pattern), the total embrace of everything and everyone. Infinite love is that. The Death-Life Duality is splitting the stillness of your eternal being into two. Your pattern is not going to be magically different when you die, you get a choice to be, like you do right now.

You are right. Him accelerating too quickly is a natural result of inquisitive youth, and the pace a young mind will develop. You telling him to slow down is a natural result of lived experience, and the pace our mature minds develop. I should not have tried to interfere with that natural dynamic. I have a bias to enjoying accelerating development too fast at times, as I find it beneficial to have an intense experience and then a period of rest. Also between incarnations, spiritual experiences, jobs, relationships, you name it.

You put a lot of things in the way of achieving enlightenment. Can I suggest you go easier on yourself.

Let's take what's known first: Yes people's egos and minds are underdeveloped early on. The Ego and mind is also spiritual. The ego is not an enemy, its a necessity, and it's a development that goes on from day 1, which is part of awakening. Everything is spiritual. Early motives are decided before incarnation. From the perspective of the absolute, there is no break between this representation of the absolute being 5 or 70, its a cycle, that is part of a pattern. That pattern, although it seems flawed or seemingly off the rails half the time, is seeking realization(s) from the moment it's observing physical form.

People are what you call waking up with every single interaction they have anywhere. You are defining an absolute view of truth, which is instead ever-changing because everything is eternally in motion. Sometimes an event comes along and knocks you over, and whether it was from a guru, a fire, your boss, or an ex wife, it's going to cause you some drastic development.

@Nilsi Thank you for the advice.

If you were starting a business today in the UK, what would it be? The Midlands for locality if needed or the internet for an even wider reach. Preferably if you've had some success in starting businesses and running them, or have a good idea you've investigated or seen glaring you in the face, and you'd to share. I'm keeping this open-ended so as not to bias it. What opportunities do you see in 2024 and 2025? Thanks.

@Devin | @DocWatts You don't need many people willing to commit violence for it to have a large impact on the population. One radical can hurt many, and one radical can play a much larger role in the creation of fear. This is why when speaking to a large audience, every word needs to be considered, and someone with too narrow a perspective should not be a public speaker.

I didn't mention my own optimism. When space travel, or rather space industry is more normalized, nuclear power could be everywhere by default. People can't conceive the scale of the infinity in space, compared to the grain of sand that is earth. One mineral-rich asteroid, is worth more than our entire global economy many times over. Whatever is fueling that, and whoever has access to that first, utterly dominates everything on earth. It'll make the colonial period look like a footnote. $10 Quintillion Asteroid: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/asteroid-16-psyche-may-be-worth-more-than-planet-earth-at-10-quintillion-in-fine-metals-180979303/ Global GDP: 100 trillion. https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/ Breakdown by country https://www.visualcapitalist.com/100-trillion-global-economy/ I know its not as simple as that. The industry, and R&D required to access that is massive, but there are also many asteroids of differing values. The people designing the mining robots in the UK know exactly what they are doing.

It's something that happens every so often, things fall away. It happens to everyone but you are more conscious of it, and perhaps it's happening more quickly as you are developing more quickly. You are not only a passenger in life. It's up to you to cultivate new interests, friendships, and careers. Otherwise, you'll be sat alone in a room miserable. - Even if those interests are solitary and you are more comfortable alone as some are.

There will be political violence. On what scale I don't know. People keeping telling me so from their own mouths when interviewed. While its much easier to talk. Some of them will do it, they did during his presidency, not even counting the end. There was some during Bidens term due to the Israeli conflict. I am from a conservative area also, I don't know if it compares. It's a farming area largely, slowly becoming a town. its a sleepy place where not much happens and nobody ever changes, for better or worse the drama of the outside world is usually sarcastically mocked or chided. Nobody here speaks like I've heard trump supporters speak in support of a candidate. Their identity is directly tied to his, so they experience some of what he experiences.

I think she got a bump to 39% in the latest republican primary polls, so she has a chance still, despite what anyone says. If others eventually drop out during their primary, she could give Trump a run for his money. Though if we were predicting it, the primary is probably still in Trump's favor. Part of me would be happy, as faith in the rule of law in America is probably restored if Haley is the candidate, and the man running against institutions and the rule of law probably goes to Prison. Part of me wants Trump to run because he's less likely to win independent voters over, but that would be selfish because it's also a path to further social unrest if Trump wins or loses. If Trump is not in the race at all, social unrest is less likely. Why do I care about social unrest in America, well I don't like seeing our allies or countries generally damage themselves, plus we copy America in a watered-down way. I'll have to argue why America is doing dumb things again and not to copy their mistakes.

As it's not a resource out of the ground, or tied to a locality. You can't tie it so easily to culture, they could with effort, but mostly they just get in experts from other countries. So there is less national interest, political capital, or care, besides the people directly earning money. Nobody is saying they are the nuclear power region and proud of it. A few countries are starting to realise it's beneficial to say this but that is harder because: Then there is the drama. One disaster is remembered forever. I would say if you add up all the accidents in the oil or gas industry over time I would wager they would have caused much higher casualties, because these are physically demanding jobs with a larger workforce, and spillage or damage to the local ecosystems from extraction. Plus all the environmental damage from global warming, and fallout that causes on people's quality of life, wars, famine, migration, disease etc The military-industrial complex cannot yet use nuclear reactors directly to power its vehicles. The car industry cannot use nuclear power to power its vehicles directly. Same with shipping, or rail networks, farming etc. I touched on that it's a smaller workforce at a nuclear plant compared to the entire complicated oil/gas industry, which is honestly incredibly inefficient by comparison of its size and related supporting network, but it does mean more people are given money to work in oil/gas, which they need to live or support their families. So the related special industry groups that work together, and have in all likelihood started working as groups of companies when lobbying politicians or running advertising campaigns to affect public perception/opinion, are not directly allied with nuclear power. If you want to understand why gas and oil are so directly intertwined with our lives, and the compounding influence and wealth that generates, you need to look at all the industries directly impacted. People just think its because they've got more money, well yes but that's a symptom, not a cause. Ditto environmentally friendly energy, which gets even more pushback. The thing I hate the most about the fossil fuel industry, is they are directly responsible for us as a species warming up the planet for our future generations, drying it out, and leaving it in a worse state. All the wars and suffering it has and will cause. They have warped people's minds, and lied for so long, that people resist looking directly at what is going on in front of them, let alone reading a chart or looking at a temperature graph. Thanks for the new video link i'll have a watch tomorrow, when its a better time of day.

If you want what we call a tier 2 answer. You look at the planet as a series of interconnected systems. Do those systems benefit collectively, from intervention or not? That is things like: International Trade, supply chains, the Creation of Jobs, Technologies, and Interconnected Global Networks. Things that don't require each country to be an island, thus decreasing costs through specialization of the above factors, or instead as is sometimes preferred, encourage independence and jack-of-all-trade approaches in critical industries - Domestic food production, for example, is the global food supply affected, ditto energy. The level of fear or safety the action generates globally, fear negatively affects all other things you can name, except perhaps things like military readiness or the push for change within a country. Populations are incredibly easy to manipulate on the fight/flight response within an established and understood framework, people are using this in a more saturated propagandist way pre-war to try and achieve outcomes. Tourism, Growth, Development/Education, Stability, Opportunity for Crime, Mischief or Malevolence, the Current trends being magnified, accelerated or slowed. The stability of a region is a huge factor, and without it, all kinds of negative side effects happen. Whereas education for example de-radicalises a population, and leads to more positive growth, job creation, and stability. Long-term global strategic and security outcomes. For treaties, diplomacies, alliances. No world leader is thinking about this on a planetary scale, only from their side of it. BRICS vs NATO, leads to a constant undermining of each. The actual borders. Seemingly nobody ever thinks of this until decades afterwards, or diminishes the importance due to other immediate concerns. The mess borders are left in, and the claims either side has on a piece of land, is often the cause of future skirmishes or wars. Climate impacts of fuel use, political and social impacts of further financing military-industrial growth. (There is a social and cultural impact related to all industries and state-level actions). Now we have to consider diseases and viruses, more than we have. As the biosphere weakens and the proximity of urban centers is closer together, as well as the density for virus mutation, the natural barriers to infection (ex: distance/air and food quality) and cures taken from nature are reduced as well, giving a compounding effect. - In wartime, or the decades of social breakdown that follow virus and disease are rife. Migration. Seemingly everyone hates it. Seemingly almost nobody understands the many above factors that cause the imbalances, which necessitate or at least encourage it. Radicalization of the youth, again touching on the fear, stability, and education aspects. The growing interconnected communications across the globe, allow for that fear to be exported effectively. Thus meaning we have an ongoing and never-ending core of instability within our societies and flashpoints of violence. With sometimes net beneficial outcomes, but usually not. This is a snippet of some of the bigger ones, we could keep going, you get the idea. Everything about you is interconnected with everything and everyone else. The more a leader can model or keep this systemic approach in mind, the better they can answer your question. Isolation and inaction is also a choice, and not always the best one.

@Devin Yes, Israel is a big one it will certainly deflate the democratic vote, depending on how long it goes on for. However, the cost of living, safety etc is always the primary reason people vote. On whether their own lives are what they consider good or not. Safe, comfortable etc. That's why a lot of effort is put into magnifying or manufacturing causes for fear by whatever party is not in power. - Drugs/Housing/Crime certainly all fit under the fear or comfort feeling people vote on. I'm not even going to do a comparison because that's not the point. If people feel like they have more money for things, safety, and a level of comfort, they trend toward the status quo. If they don't, they look for change. I can't predict 6 months from now, we'll see. Abortion was the primary issue the Democrats hit the Republicans with, in this latest round of voting that happened, even Fox was forced to acknowledge for a time it was a dagger in their side. This is not a statement of validity, or not, to anyone wanting to challenge it, validity is secondary to propaganda-fueled public perception: If I can say to you, they are coming for social security, your healthcare, and choice whether you have a kid or not, that's a big thing to hit the opposition with. - It is the primary dagger in the republican side currently.

Probably in order of current importance. The top 3 of each are core issues each party can work on certainly Hurting the Dems 1, Economy. - If Biden cuts cheques in some form for people toward the election, he could give this a temporary bump. If trump promises it, he gets the same. This is by far and away the giant in the room. 2, Israel - If this ends early enough the damage might start to reverse, but I don't see it ending early enough. Yemen tensions are picking up. 3, Migration is successfully weaponized by a variety of factors and clever maneuvering, causing the majority of people to want a stricter approach. 4, Killing Leftist Populism for Fanatical Corporaistim. Dismissing people's concerns in an aloof way is the usual liberal position that works against them to deflate their vote. Then they try to shame people for not voting their way. 5, The move to the right in part caused by the above, to the point where more and more people cannot align their values with the current political dynamic, and fewer people are represented or they shift right collectively. if you are not seen as the most supportive of bloodshed in Palestine, or the strongest response to Mexico (bomb Mexico's cartels one Republican suggested), then you are seen in a more negative light or less masculine. 5a, Hero-idealized masculinity (which is not objective reality), when used as a way to govern society, is a fascist trait. 6, Crackdown on protests, are all part of the above chain of democratic self-sabotage among their base. ? Maybe, the perception of being Anti guns, in Ameria is probably a net negative. One of the few things we differ with you on. This is borderline, i'd say it hurts more than helps, but I am less certain. Hurting the Republicans 1, Policies I'll list two obvious ones. Being fanatically anti-abortion, is a terrible position to take in a liberal democracy. 1a, The constant reference to cutting social security, toward an aging population, is politically stabbing yourself in the foot over and over for no gain. Just stop people doing this, at least till past the election. 2, Crimes of their candidate, and being against the legal system, or traditional conservative institutions. Plays well with a fanatical base, and gives everyone else pause for thought. 3, Trump's narcissism and victim mentality. Accepted by his core base of 25-30%, hated by everyone else. His general words are loved by his base, but these two aspects of Trump are harder to swallow. The victim mentality especially does not play well with right-wingers, why someone doesn't stop him from using that language is probably due to his narcissism. 4, Conspiracy lunacy, and acting the fools. If they just took all QANON from their discussion, and stopped attacking each other, it'd be a huge step in the right direction. Kick the crazies like MTG out of the party, she does nothing good for you at all. 5, Their need to vilify the left rather than liberals, at this point they'd start to pick up actual leftwing votes if they just stopped that language. Sadly its all about appearance for and against the reasoning for not doing. They need to be more unified in the general message, but being selective would divide and conquer an already divided liberal party. 6, Climate Ignorance. I realize it still plays to core support, but for everyone else as they see more and more evidence of it, it looks increasingly foolish. At the moment Trump wins, we'll see what happens when he's convicted of a few crimes, and if things like Yemen don't turn into a war for the democrats, which seems to be about to happen on some scale. Republicans would have more likely won with a more traditional candidate and by a wider margin. Picking someone who can at least appear respectable, goes a long way with how the average person views the world (sadly). I realize some of these also help each party, but net it would be a loss. We get some of this in England too so I see it play out here, only of course we are supposedly more civilized - Which is funny, go view an MPs behaving badly House of Commons video for a laugh, it might also make you reflect more positively on your politics, though it looks more fun here. Provided in a spoiler for levity.

I'm severely stuck in my spiritual/personal development. This is either the crux or a good part of it. I cannot get past my need for people to acknowledge others' pain, fear, and suffering. Usually between two third parties external to my own identity (which I acknowledge is also me) Thoughts? Solutions? Opposites for healing? Seeing the pattern though clearly obviously helps.

Yes. I thought of this. Its not a bad business model at all times, but especially good in hard times. What I would like to do is not feasible without financing. A small youtube improvisation semi-professional theater or show. It would cost about 3,000 an episode for cast/crew/location. Perhaps being able to do 2 in one day if things run smoothly, because that covers the whole day shooting. That would be a hobby if I was ever successful. I have been thinking how to use AI more deeply. At the moment its like blindly shooting, as there as so many ways it could go. The best guess I have is to take an established industry or medium, and use AI to enhance it.

The opposite of this is brutal but possibly balancing. If you can imagine the opposite. The career of this is counseling between families or marriages for example, perhaps healthcare. Though this indulges the behavior, it is the same as how some people utilize their own trauma or bias to their advantage. I don't think it'd cure me of it, only through repetition lessen the need for it more quickly. I can understand why someone might think this is not harmful behavior, but anything to an extreme or any behavior that is invasion and overriding of others is usually harmful. Also any 'need' or expectation from others towards themselves or a third party is just not realistic or very helpful.

@Starlight321 Reading your link. Ukraine will never be demilitarized. Think about that. Russia has bombed it to oblivion, killed many tens of thousands of civilians, hundreds of thousands of people total. Done every conceivable horror I've ever witnessed in war, I saw some truly horrific things. Deported, tortured, force conscripted, aand now they say just put down your guns, you can trust us. Despite the fact they assassinate or imprison anyone who disagrees with them, which is the entire country at this point. There are more guns there than there ever was or will be, that isn't going to change even if the Ukranian government wanted it, its an impossible ask. As for Denazification that is a conspiracy that doesn't exist, and so is impossible to achieve. How can you do something that is purely in Russian fantasy? Putin has given impossible goals, that can never happen even if people wanted it to, so he doesn't have to make peace. Then Ukraine's surrender, that's not happening either, for all the reasons i've listed. He's spent 18 months bombing the population and uniting everyone against him, I don't really think he wants peace. He wants an extended war so Ukraine cannot join NATO.

@Starlight321 I agree I don't acknowledge the fear of survival or change in Russia as much as I should. A long time ago I said that part of the reason people don't understand the Russian perspective is because it's kept private. They are not a culture prone to speaking about it openly and honestly with strangers. They almost do the opposite and prefer privacy and secrecy, at least that is my experience. So what happens is people blunder all the time in dealing with Russia, and sometimes it helps Russia and sometimes it hinders them. Here almost nobody knew or believed that Russia would invade, so that ambiguity in negotiation hurt them a lot. I also want to apologize I shouldn't have pushed back so hard on Maersheimer's perspective, people need to be told NATO's expansion was a factor in the war, one of many, they need to realize their own agency in what's happening too. I've just heard it so much used as a justification for mass violence and terror.

What I quoted was 1 month afterward, coming from Ukraine, when they realized the reality of the situation and Russia's commitment to it. Previous to this neutrality offer, it was a matter of trust. Nobody in Eastern Europe extends Russia much trust, because of the history of violence both overt and covert, and the fear that is there. Maersheimer and Breaking points are idiots. Sorry. I'm a lefty also on many things, but they talk like children in black and white. They still to this day can't understand Eastern European fear or resentment toward Russia, which now is hatred. Breaking points talk about it like some kind of business competition or friend you've fallen out with. Not a country or opponent with centuries of terrorizing their countries, and now hundreds of thousands dead. Oh just come together and sing Kumbaya. Breaking points dismiss all the things Ukraine achieved, which was huge given their opponent. They are NOT in a worse place, than Russia ruling over their country again, not for the people living there. That's why the coup happened in the first place, it's not magically more suited to being ruled by Russia just because Putin wants it to be. Maersheimer cannot ever give you more than half of the truth. He can't see that people joined NATO, NATO didn't come to them. He can't tell you its a collection of voices, not one voice. Same with Putin, because Russia is unable to perceive what a collection of leaders or a multi-polar governance means. He can only understand one voice ruling not many. They joined out of fear of Russia, something no Russian apologist i've ever spoken to or seen can acknowledge. It's like there is a mental block in them. Why do people join NATO, I dunno, just because one day they fell over and ended up in NATO I guess, nothing to do with anyone else's actions, no consequences to anything anyone does, because everyone lives in a vacuum.