kylan11

Sure, the SEC should (again, SHOULD) investigate blatant insider trading and similar fraud... except that the whole system is rigged, there are no adults in the room. They've been kicked out one by one (you could argue there never were any, see the 2008 financial crisis or senators turbo selling stocks prior to COVID). So don't hold your breath.

Ben Shapiro (who's actually pretty pissed off about the tariffs) optimistically argues that Trump is responsive to bad press - and while that's true, he doesn't seem to realize (or refuses to say publicly) that his response has always been spinning, lying, distortion and scapegoating. Hardly helpful when you operate on the economy that tracks reality much more closely than theatrical politics. He may dig himself into a deeper hole by doubling down, or back off by getting some largely symbolic concessions in negotiations and spinning those into a huge win "for the american worker" (= best case scenario). It's a 50/50 the way I see it. EDIT: Actually, the absolute best case scenario would be an actual win: the EU getting their shit together and tearing down the innovation-crushing bureaucratic labyrinth that it is + Musk convincing Trump that an EU-US trade agreement is in the best interest of both. Now that would be one way to seriously fuck with China. Pure fantasy for sure, but you never know. Trump has been failing upwards his whole life after all.

The prophet had warned us.

100%

Hedge funds don't beat the market with an army of analysts, insider knowledge and so much computing power you could train GPT-6 on it. For all intents and purposes, everything is priced in. The thing about market doomers is that eventually they're right. Graham Stephen has made millions fearmongering for the imminent collapse, basically throwing shit on the wall until it sticks. Stocks... usually go up. Bad luck for you if you invest before a bubble explodes, but NOBODY can predict that with any accuracy in the long term, so in the meantime you're missing out on a sweet yearly return, potentially for years, losing out on significant compound interest. If you're really convinced that the crash is imminent, wait it out and buy the dip in one or two highly diversified ETFs tracking a decent index fund (arguably with some exposure to emerging markets), and monthly deposit whatever you can save consistently for 20 years. This is the only way to make money for the retail investor. In the off chance you were right, great! You managed to time the market. Never try that again unless you're so delusional you're convinced you're the next Warren Buffett.

So what you're saying is I should YOLO my life savings into 500 OTM SPY puts expiring tomorrow? Well then, that's my sign from God Wish me luck!

The best thing about a degree is that it at least gives you structure in your studies. A basic framework to explore the field, and as you progress you can deconstruct the framework also. You get exposed to the best thought humanity has to offer over thousands of years (although in a superficial way, it's up to the student to get to the substance) and then you use those tools in your personal philosophical inquiry. But so few people delve into that, it's a failure. Instead, learning online quickly gets you overwhelmed by the sheer size of the beast, leaving you a shaky knowledge base made up of little fragments gathered by insomniac 2 AM google searches.

Haha, but in my humanly egoic motivations I am not omniscient, so I don't take that privilege for myself

Resorting to intellectual sleight of hand and manipulation is and will always be inferior to actually learn how to communicate with others. People respond to genuine interest in them. They want to be heard. Only when you've given them full attention and genuine open-mindedness to consider things from their perspective will they be open to consider your concerns. Have you taken the time to do that? If not, are you instead convinced that you're correct "a priori"? Do you think you have insight on your own limits and cognitive biases? If you're unable to communicate honestly but instead implicitly try to affirm your own superiority, you are always doomed to fail. Good luck.

I've been there! Thoughts are NOT the enemy. Just another appearance in consciousness. They may feel like the enemy in the beginning (this phase can last for the longest time! don't feel hopeless, trust the process), but anytime you bring your attention back to the object of meditation you are actually improving your concentration. It's like any muscle that gets stronger over time when you exercise. This is the point, you are doing the equivalent of a push up for the mind everytime you bring it back to the present. One step at a time you are getting closer to breaking the spell. So don't get frustrated, be grateful.

Chill out... what this clown is trying to say is: just vote for me now, I'll fix everything so you won't ever need to think about politics again (and I won't be on the ticket so who gives a shit frankly). The guy is so clearly too stupid for 1. realizing how easily his words can be used to portray him as the dictator he would like to be but won't ever be able to be because 2. he's a wanna-be, unfocused, impulsive and nowhere near intelligent enough to actually pull off the complete destruction of american democracy. He's dangerous because he's batshit insane, incompetent, narcissistic and easy to manipulate, not because he's some american Putin with a master plan. Let me be clear, he would LOVE to be Putin, but sadly for him, he just doesn't have it. Sorry. He's little more than a puppet for far more dangerous actors to fatten their already morbidly obese purses and destroy the world in the process.

I'm highly skeptical that this will ever happen, but if it does, the second it drops I would stop literally ANYTHING to watch it asap. And honestly Leo, I'd be just as curious to see you interview Sam Harris, Alex O'Connor, various New Age figures and, fuck, even Richard Dawkins etc. I think one of the problems, for me, is that your work kind of just sits there in a vacuum. I believe you have more than reached the intellectual maturity to really put your work as a philosopher and mystic out there, in the public discourse, by discussing it with these well-known intellectuals. And I'm sure that, by having an actual world-class "But Leo..." at your disposal to challenge you, it would do nothing but mature your philosophy further. Despite these people not being nearly as "enlightened" as you, surely the top human beings of this time in terms of pure raw intelligence and culture will have something to offer you and us all.

We might actually have a fighting chance here! Between Biden doing the honorable thing and Trump being so inconceivably stupid as to revert to his old divisive, incendiary, name-calling, red stage self in the span of 15 minutes (when he could have so easily destroyed the entire leftist strategy by presenting himself as a "changed" man and a unifying figure), and 2024 being his last realistic shot at political relevancy... I am hopeful for a slow and gradual return to normalcy in the next few years.

Just wanted to share this as I thought it might be of interest as it was for me. Especially considering that Leo, like me and so many others, has taken a special interest in the phenomenon of Trumpism and the rise of right-wing populism around the civilized world. Opinion | On Anti-Trumpers and the Modern Meritocracy - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Maybe, just maybe, when we straw man the rise of trumpism as a fundamental issue between progress and bigotry (as the intellectual left does), we are completely overlooking the elitist society that we have, perhaps unconsciously, constructed. We might have brought this madness upon ourselves. It's especially ironic to me that I find myself in complete agreement, and yet due to survivalistic self-interest most of my mid-20s life efforts are basically a struggle to gain entry to that same professional elite. Perhaps I am there already, if "cultural capital" and higher education are the conditions. I'm not entirely convinced that there is a solution to this problem. If anything I suspect it might get worse now that white collar jobs are threatened by AI as well. I'd like to hear your opinion on this.

It's an insightful reading. The biggest lesson I took from it is the fact that being harmless does not equal being good - an important point too often forgotten today in a victim-complex ridden culture. "Those who have swords and know how to use them yet keep them sheathed shall inherit the earth".