EternalForest

I've noticed that much of the discussion on the forum is centered around Leo's latest content. This is understandable, but I feel like there are a lot of great discussions to be had around the topics of his earlier videos. Many of them have barely been discussed on the forum before. So every day, I'm going to create a thread around an Actualized.org video (starting with the oldest first), and store all the threads here in an index. Hopefully this series will be a fun journey and a great refresher for everyone!

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A mostly philosophical episode, focusing on the concept of qualia. The dialogue begins with this question: if you took a blind man who has been blind his whole life and suddenly gave him vision, would he be able to tell the difference between a cube and a sphere visually, purely based on his experience touching them throughout his life? Another question: even though we may technically be looking at the same color "red", could the red that you see possibly be a bit different than mine? We both agree on the label "red", but the actual color we're seeing associated with that label could be different from a subjective point of view. The only way to tell would be to do some sort of brain transplant or merging of the minds. Another interesting concept brought up was the idea of the human mind being a machine that often goes on auto pilot without us realizing, stressing the importance of snapping ourselves out of the program once in a while and actually being aware of what we're doing. Fascinating episode.

@Leo Gura Not impressed tbh. Of course a robot is gonna be smarter than the average human on paper or when it comes to arbitrary factoids. It's a fucking robot. It has no soul. It has no emotions. It has no wisdom. It has no experience. It has nothing new to bring to the table. Could it be useful when making sense of your own thoughts and theories? Sure. Would I ever trade the intellectual discussion I get from my educated friends, great authors and philosophers for a chatbot? No way.

First off, I agree with much of what Leo said about modern Hollywood trying to push their narratives and agendas on audiences, which has made the movies less nuanced and more black and white. They put their politics and identities before the storytelling, which is what really makes for bad art. In fact, the best filmmakers are actually mostly apolitical and focus more on the complexity of the human experience and telling it in and unbiased way as Leo describes in the post, which is not limited to conservatives or liberals in specific. As for my disagreements, I can't stand how Leo lumps Kanye West in with all those other people as if he is on the same tier when he's not. KANYE WEST IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ARTISTS OF OUR GENERATION! Forget about his politics for a moment. If you actually took the time to listen to his albums you would see the depth of wisdom in his lyrics and the revolutionary and powerful musical approach. If you don't have the time to listen to them all, at the very least, watch this video to get a sense of how much great material is in his catalogue and again, how much wisdom there is to be gained from it. Also notice how neither the members of the podcast or the commenters mention anything about his politics. Although Kanye may be a conservative, he is an incredible artist.

Focus and full engagement is key in career development. Although some diversification isn't bad, it's better to be a master in one specific area rather than a jack of all trades. Invest over a longer period of time in a focused way rather than jumping from job to job.

The debate was supposed to be Christianity vs Secular Humanism. Andrew tried to turn it into Pro-Trans vs Anti-Trans. While I don't think Matt should've walked out, Andrew definitely wasn't debating honestly, holistically or in good faith

It depends on what you value. Technology, medical care and LGBT acceptance have gotten much better since the 90s. On the other hand, student loans have gone up, climate change has gotten worse and happiness rates have gone down. Not to mention obesity rates. So it depends on who you ask and what they value.

Why isn't anyone discussing the actual video?

Oh without a doubt, there are dozens of people in that position. Let's not kid ourselves though, if the Alien Insanity post wasn't a joke, there are some serious concerns to be had. The question now becomes, will this forum accommodate fans of his old work to stick around? Because I'll always love actualized.org, no matter how extreme the Alien stuff gets. I just don't want to be expected to believe it.

You can care about someone without being dependent on them. Leo's a big part of many of our lives, even though we've never met him. It's normal to feel concerned that someone you love might be going off the deep end.

Leo's new video is amazing, he's back!! Best video in years honestly.

Think about this, no one cared how JK Rowling looked. They still lined up around the bookstores all night to buy the latest Harty Potter book, because her writing was just that good. No matter how she looked, she still would have sold millions of copies.

@Vido Nothing wrong with your question at all. Everyone's a fan of something, and fans love updates and new content! There's no shame in that. A good method I've used for this is letting yourself get one video behind. For example, I haven't watched his latest video on gaslighting yet because if I do then I'm out of new videos. But if I wait until the next video releases, now I have two new videos, one to watch now and another to watch later if I really need it. This method puts the control back in your hands, try it!

- Identify your life purpose - Identify your strengths and weaknesses - Identify your top values - Become excited about your future - "Tap into the energy and aliveness that you get when you know that you're on purpose and you're having a big impact and you've got a sense of confidence with you. You get a sense of power that you're able to control the world in the sense that you're able to control your world, the things that you think in your mind, the things that you dream, the things that you visualize, and you're able to manifest them and put them out there. And those things are positive and help people and help you in return."