aurum

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Posts posted by aurum

  1. Posted

    2 hours ago, Libra said:

    What are your advice, experiences or the likes with hypersexuality in general? 

     

    Hard to say. What you are describing sounds beyond anything I’ve personally ever experienced. I can easily go some time without sex if I want.

    It might just be genetics. Maybe hormones. I don’t really know.

    You probably just need to find a girlfriend who has a close to equally high sex drive. 

  3. Posted

    @jimwell Yes, ChatGpT is correct. That is a basic explanation of how money comes into existence. Obviously more complicated explanations are also possible.

    Ecological economists and degrowth scholars are often concerned about this progress because they argue it creates “a growth imperative”. In other words, the need for the economy to grow is baked in to the monetary system itself. It creates a situation where debt always outstrips the money supply.

    If there is corruption in this system, I’d argue this is at least one of the places to look. We know what the benefits of economic growth are, but what are its costs?

    Here is a good talk by Jim Rutt on the subject:

    Note: I am not necessarily endorsing his solution of Dividend Money. I am skeptical that will work. But his analysis of the problem with the current system is pretty good.

    5 hours ago, Gesundheit2 said:

    That's not how money is created. It's just how banks work.

    It is both.

  4. Posted

    13 hours ago, Tanz said:

    Come on man, you are being hysterical now. 

    I am getting frustrated because I feel like my points are being perpetually misunderstood.

    13 hours ago, Tanz said:

    The issue is people allowed such petty ideas to get them to hate each other so much. 

    No, that is not the issue.

    There may have been times when things got out of hand. But overall, what you just said was a defense many anti-vaxxers used when the heat was (rightfully) coming down on them.

    The main issue is the following: is COVID dangerous? Is the vaccine effective? And to what degree should the vaccine be enforced?

    13 hours ago, Tanz said:

    I suppose if you somehow over powered me to take the vaccine that would make you worst than the virus you think is trying to kill me.  

    Which is of course why no one did that. I am not suggesting that as policy. I am attempting to show you why there needed to be consequences for not taking the vaccine.

    13 hours ago, Tanz said:

    It's very clear the covid vaccine is light years a failure compared to polio, or tuberculosis vaccines which completely sterilizes the person taking it.  The minute it did not sterilize is when they should give people a choice without shaming them or firing them.

    This is completely wrong.

    The whole problem of COVID is that it was a legitimate dangerous situation with a lot of uncertainty. Public officials do not have time to wait until the vaccine is 100% effective in all circumstances. They needed to stop hospitals from overflowing and people from dying.

    In real life, good enough is good enough.

    The practical result of the policy you are advocating would have been more deaths, more hospitalizations, and possibly a situation where COVID remains out of control.

    In fact, it is precisely because people like Brand promote vaccine and anti-establishment conspiracies that public consequences of not taking the vaccine became necessary. If everyone just got the vaccine, it wouldn’t have been necessary to threaten people with being fired.

    14 hours ago, Tanz said:

    I actually live in a place where 95% of the population got vaccinated and the number of infections after the vaccine actually went up.

    I highly doubt that.

    14 hours ago, Tanz said:

    The way I look at it is if someone does not want to get it, they are free to not get it and risk their lives.   

    Then you are being foolish. Which is the whole point of this conversation.

    You are not free to endanger other people with your stupidity. If you drive a car without glasses when you need them, you will rightfully lose your license. This is the correct response. And it doesn’t matter if you “don’t believe” in the effectiveness of glasses while driving. That is your problem. Which is why education matters.

     

    14 hours ago, Tanz said:

    On the topic of Russia. So far they show no sign of wanting to invade the rest of Europe. For now I rather not have the American government fund them anymore and actually take care of their own people.  It is a pretty reasonable idea.  Your logic with Putin is based on speculation. Are you watching too much Rachel Maddow or something?

    You missed the point entirely.

    I am not at all making a commentary on what is happening in Ukraine. I am simply pointing out how little freedom you’ve ever actually had.

  5. Posted

    11 hours ago, Michael569 said:

    Maybe not. I am generalising and speculating but based on my experience with high-end clinics such as these in UK, who derive majority of their income from pseudoscientific protocols, overcharging clients 3 times the national standard, selling overpriced tests & supplements with no evidential basis and taking commissions on supplements.

    No I think your assessment is pretty spot on. Thanks for the thorough reply.

    For context, I found this company from the Aubrey Marcus podcast. Aubrey is the co-founder of Onnit along with Joe Rogan.

    Aubrey is a wealthy guy and obviously big on supplements. It doesn’t surprise me at all that something like this would appeal to him. He also (apparently) has been struggling with low testosterone for some time.

    11 hours ago, Michael569 said:

    Peter Attia did a great deep dive into this topic on his Drive Podcast.

    I’ll check it out.

  6. Posted

    1 hour ago, Tanz said:

    "Misguided" is assuming that you are absolutely correct?  We live in a society where evolution has created variety, and the fact that people see things differently than others shows that evolution has done a good job of not making us the same. The way people think leads them to make different decisions in life, and perhaps 200 or 300 years from now, the offspring of those people may do something great for humanity. 

    Hitler gifted America with Albert Einstein, and another great scientist made America the #1 country because he was freaking nuts.  
    There is a higher order to the universe, and when things seem "wrong" "off" or "misguided" there's actually a thread of higher order and intelligence that is actually guiding those things.  

    Spiritual bypassing.

    That there is a higher order intelligence to all things does not mean that anti-vaxx hippies cannot pragmatically be called "misguided".

    They are misguided in the sense that they have let their bias against the establishment blind them to what happened with Covid. Whether or not it works out in 300 years is irrelevant to this point.

    1 hour ago, Tanz said:

    Taking this in mind, I believe we should allow people to be themselves and not inject their views onto others.  

    And what if my view is that people should be forced to get the vaccine?

    If you say "no you can't use force, that's not allowed", why can't I? Who are you to tell me I can't use force? Why are you forcing me to give up force? What if I don't see it as force, what if I just see it as being a good citizen?

    Your laissez faire philosophy will eventually eat itself.

    1 hour ago, Tanz said:

    Russell never told anyone not to take the vaccine; he's been leaning more toward giving people a choice.  

    No of course not. He just spread a bunch of nonsense conspiracy about the vaccine, fear mongered about it, and in the process likely stopped thousands of his followers from actually taking it.

    1 hour ago, Tanz said:

    I never agreed with making people take it because the long-term price of not allowing people to live their lives is greater

    For the record, NO ONE ever forced any one to take the vaccine. Not even the government.

    What did happen was consequences were put into place. If you didn't want to take the vaccine, fine. But you're not gonna have your government job. You're not gonna travel. You're not gonna get to go to restaurants. People will likely even shame you for it.

    This is the way society has ALWAYS worked! 

    If you don't want to pay your taxes, fine. But you're going to prison for it.

    Don't want to get a pair glasses so you can see while driving? Fine. But you're not gonna get a legal license.

    Don't want to go to war when Russia invades your country? Fine. But then see what happens when Russia is now in charge.

    "Medical freedom" is not something you've absolutely ever really have had. It only exists to a degree.

    The reality is that centralized authorities make certain rules for the WELL-BEING of the society as a whole. And even though there can be corruption, the majority of the time, these decisions are actually very reasonable and necessary.

    This is exactly what happened with the vaccines. Vaccines were determined by public health officials to be one of the best courses of action OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY had to prevent Covid from possibly getting much worse. And they were correct. The risk for the vaccine has proven to be incredibly low, while its efficacy for helping people to be high.

    The irony of the stage Green response to COVID is that stage Green loves to talk about the importance of community. Yet when it came time for vaccines, many of them were not willing to endure a slight risk to improve the safety of those around them and themselves. Simply because they were blinded by ideology. Just like Brand was, and continues to be.

  7. Posted · Edited by aurum

    1 hour ago, Tanz said:

    My point is Brand is not a grifter.  The way he thinks and does is consistent.

     

    You're not understanding my perspective. I don't think Brand is a grifter.

    I believe Brand sincerely believes the things he is saying. I am not suggesting some conspiracy narrative where Brand actually doesn't believe the things he is saying, but is just faking it for the cameras to make money.

    It's not that simple.

    Brand is sincere. Sincerely caught up in ignorance and stage Green ideology.

    This is the whole problem. Ignorance and the limitations of getting stuck in a narrow perspective.

    1 hour ago, Tanz said:

    Even though you don't like Brand's stance on vaccines, most likely, you would get along with him better than any democratic politician because he probably has more values that are similar to yours and than anyone in this forum. 

    Because of online culture and optics, people easily judge each other based on ideology, but in reality, if you spend physical time with most people, you would find out that you probably like them.  

    Why are you assuming I don't think I would like Brand?

    This is not a critique of his "like-ability". He is very charismatic, funny and even wise at times. I have a lot of respect for the growth he has made over the years.

    I'm simply saying that on some issues, like vaccines, he gets stuck in his Green ideology. And then he spreads that same way of thinking to his followers.

    The situation is more tragic and commands compassion than anything else. Ignorance and unconsciousness are the deepest of traps. I have fallen into them many times and will likely continue to do so.

    1 hour ago, Tanz said:

    Plenty of hippies out there do not believe in taking any medicine, including tried and tested through time vaccines, so their default is not even to take a new vaccine.  I also know Buddhists that do not take any medication because of the way drugs are made at tested on animals.  

    I not sure exactly what point you're trying to make here.

    Are you saying because lots of hippies and Buddhists aren't taking the vaccine that Brand is justified in doing the same?

    In that case, I would also argue those hippies are misguided. They've created a bias against "unnatural" and allopathic medicine. And they are also getting stuck in their narrow perspective, just like Brand.

    1 hour ago, Tanz said:

    One person's singular view does not encompass the entirety of that person. 

    Obviously.

    1 hour ago, Tanz said:

    If you continue to live this way society will never move forward and work towards higher shared interest.  

    I'll take my chances.

  9. Posted

    11 hours ago, Michael569 said:

    Believe it or not, the role of testosterone is not to make you muscular but to stimulate the production of sperm more than anything else.

    What do you make of companies like Biohax (https://biohax.com/) who are selling testosterone replacement therapy?

    Seems like a waste and possibly just dangerous if you’re anything under middle aged. But perhaps something there for men who are much older, i.e pushing senior citizen age?

    I imagine there must be much more to testosterone levels than just semen production. It seems to at least also affect your mental health.

  11. Posted

    57 minutes ago, Tanz said:

    brand is not anti vax he's pro choice and freedom

    People are always pro choice and freedom when they have to do something they don’t want to do.

    57 minutes ago, Tanz said:

    His stance on legalizing drug and offering treatment makes his stance on giving people a choice to vaccine consistant with his idiology

    It is internally consistent. But internal consistency doesn’t mean you aren’t making errors.

    At the end of the day, did Brand get the vaccine or not? My assumption is he did not. And that’s because he is subscribed to and proliferating a bunch of anti-vaxx memes. Fundamentally he does not believe in the covid vaccine efficacy. 

    1 hour ago, Tanz said:

    He's always been suspicious with power even 10 or 15 yrs ago if you watch his interviews

    Again, consistency doesn’t mean you aren’t making errors. It just means you are consistently making errors.

    That he has been suspicious of power for so long shows where his bias lies. As much as he talks about “the system”, he actually deeply lacks Tier 2 systems thinking.

    People in power can be corrupt. But in systems thinking, you cannot just be suspicious of people in power. You must view situations as a whole with complex feedback loops.

  12. Posted

    16 hours ago, Tanz said:

    Jimmy Dore and Russell Brand are the most fairest voices out there. They call bs on both sides while Kyle and especially Dave still want to believe the democratic party is salvagable.

    Brand is entertaining and has some decent takes. But he is badly stuck in stage Green populism. Which has dragged him down the route of anti-government / anti-vaxx / anti-elite nonsense. He is essentially a conspiracy theorist at this point.

  15. Posted

    3 hours ago, Ninja_pig said:

    I'm asking the dream to help me come to terms with the dream. Don't you guys who have awakened feel alone?

    No. I feel more at peace and connected to others than ever.

    3 hours ago, Ninja_pig said:

    Isn't it depressing that reality is a never ending process of duality and I'm completely alone?

    It certainly doesn’t have to be.

    You are taking an Absolute insight and putting a relative interpretation on it. Not that I’m blaming you. It’s a very common thing to do.

    3 hours ago, Ninja_pig said:

    I'm literally talking to myself right now but how the hell do I come to terms with this and accept this?

    It’ll take some time and more work. Take a break and go do some normal human stuff if that feels good to you. Spiritual work can be extremely taxing. 

  17. Posted

    1 hour ago, integral said:

    All i see is someone who spends 2 hours a day infront of a mirror. 

    Because that’s part of her survival strategy.

    If it seems stupid to you, that’s probably just because doing so wouldn’t serve your survival.

    The better question we should all be asking ourselves is: what is my version of spending two hours in front of the mirror?

  18. Posted

    2 hours ago, billiesimon said:

    Yes, I was shocked too. I was expecting some geometrical patterns and some nondual insights. Which I got from other psychedelics by the way. 

    That aligns with my experience though. Granted I haven’t done psychedelics a lot, but the times I have, they’ve been almost entirely visual free. Surprised me as well.

    My guess is intention and the lessons you are seeking to learn have quite a bit to do with it.

    Also, dosage. If you do a high enough dosage it seems almost inevitable you’ll get visuals. 10-12mg for DMT is on the lighter side.

  21. Posted

    10 hours ago, r0ckyreed said:

    My only fear is having children, but maybe my desires will change 10 years later. I am 26 now. If I have kids, then that is an irreversible decision that I would have to live with and be responsible for. 

     

    Yup. It’s a big commitment.

    10 hours ago, r0ckyreed said:

    However, why not both? Why can’t I have a family and be a Serious Philosopher? Maybe it isn’t either or.

    I wouldn’t say it necessarily has to be either or. But I would say it’s a bit naive to think that having kids won’t come with real tradeoffs. Even small choices have tradeoffs. 

    The key is to correctly identity those tradeoffs as best you can and decide if it’s still worth it. One of those tradeoffs is that you may not have as much alone time to simply sit around and contemplate. Most new parents I talk to struggle to find any time for themselves.

  22. Posted

    @Tudo you cannot live with a perspective. If you believe otherwise, that is your perspective. But as you grow and evolve, you can become less ideological in your perspective.

    Therefore I would make a distinction between having a perspective and being ideological. If you want to know the difference, just look at the stages of ego development. That basically is a masterclass on how one evolves from being dogmatic and ideological to simply owning their perspective and embracing other perspectives.

  23. Posted · Edited by aurum

    Interesting quiz, very SD stage Green. I got 0% hostile sexism, 3% benevolent. 

    My main critique of these academic perspectives on men/women is that they do not understand fundamentally what masculinity / femininity are.

    Yes, masculinity and femininity are essentially social constructs. But they are based on something beyond society and beyond even biology. It’s more like masculinity and femininity are forces in the universe, like yin and yang. Or unity and division.

    Our social constructs and also our biology reflect these forces. And traditional gender roles were not random, despite their limitations.

    Why don’t academics understand this? I suspect it’s because you cannot do a scientific study to prove what I just said. Nothing I said is measurable. Therefore, according to science, it’s not science (and therefore probably not true).

    Needless to say, this does not justify harmful regressive attitudes towards women or stereotyping. One of the fundamental problems with stereotypes is that they are way too simplistic to account for the complexity of living in modern society. Inevitably this leads to harm. Our thinking must become more nuanced than that as we evolve.

     

  24. Posted

    @r0ckyreed You may want to watch Leo’s video on reproduction being an illusion, perhaps even with your girlfriend if she’s open to it. Then ya’ll can make a more conscious decision.

    Be warned though, if your girlfriend really wants kids, she is unlikely to like that video. It’s going to be very threatening to her. So keep that in mind.

    My personal thoughts are that having kids is not my highest priority. If I feel like having them will get in the way of those priorities, I will probably not have them. But if I’m in a relationship with the right women it could happen. I think I could enjoy being a dad.

    1 hour ago, r0ckyreed said:

    Are children helpful to self-actualization and spiritual awakening and doing serious philosophy?

    Technically it’s possible. Some people’s spiritual awakening gets kickstarted by a traumatic event like the death of their child. So you never know. Life is twisted.

    At the same time though, I’d say it’s not a safe strategy to bank on. Notice how many people are parents but are not doing serious philosophy or awakening work. Your life mostly just becomes about taking care of your kids.

  25. Posted

    7 minutes ago, Noahsteelers34 said:

    After you said the solution is "just do it" I saw a cute girl sitting next to me in the library, and just leaned over and started talking to her. It was a bit awkward and didn't go anywhere but just shows how much easier things are when we don't think and just act.

    Yes, a lot of times you just get in your own head about things. Even the idea that “I must overcome all my resistance to approaching” can be a sneaky form of avoidance. You are spending all your time attempting to overcome your resistance instead of actually doing the uncomfortable thing.

    Really you want to work both angles. Yes, do inner work and introspection to work on your resistance. But don’t let that become an excuse either. At some point, good enough is good enough. You don’t need perfect inner game.

    Another thing to consider though is that you are at college. I really don’t consider that a great environment for strong approaching. College is a social circle environment. You can use approaching as a tool in your toolbox if you want, but even then I would use it to focus more on building a large network of friends and relationships.