Twega

If you know that your life purpose is to be a communicator, you know that your gift is doing deep research/learning and communicating/articulating. Your value is sharing knowledge/insight. Then, the most lucrative place (in terms of reaching the most people and monetizing) is YouTube. I'm a seasoned hardcore YouTube user, but I don't understand the reality of making a living off YouTube, except for the obvious stuff like how monetization works, YouTube's partner program, etc. I recently bought a book titled: 'The Youtube Formula: How Anyone Can Unlock the Algorithm to Drive Views, Build an Audience, and Grow Revenue' by Derral Eves. Although the book is useful in explaining how the algorithm works, its history, etc. I found it so cliche; the author is a friend and business partner of MrBeast, and he simps on and on about him like he is someone worth emulating. If anything, it just disappointed me that I must reach MrBeast's brain-dead level of attention-seeking content to make it (I don't believe that). I also have no video editing skills or know how to record a video. I am at the newbie stage. I have good speaking skills and I already have a lot of topics I've researched and am ready to share my insight on. I know this process of making it on youtube will take literally years.. But I was hoping if anyone could share their thoughts, tips and tricks with me to help this process be smoother.

Why is philosophy so important? First lets discuss common misconceptions. Philosophy, like education has transformed into a bastardized version of what it truly is. When I was young, I was reading many books on philosophy, Bertrand Russell mostly, and others. While they were enjoyable and edifying, it was so far from the style of philosophy that I saw as important. When I first discovered actualized.org, I realized what I had been searching for. The seeker finally arrives to the place he was seeking. It felt like I stumbled on a gold mine that I always knew existed. I may have stumbled upon it, but I was no stranger to this land. The simple topics, such as "what is perception" "the counter-intuitive nature of life" "65 core principles to live the good life" is what constitutes as the core of philosophy for me. Current and modern philosophers alike, while their work was still impressive and interesting, they fell into the classic trap of not seeing the forest for the trees. Their work is dense, complicated, rambling, and in the end, leaves one with a feeling of being purely inside one's head. In other words, mental masturbation. After ejaculation, you kinda feel like "that was nice I guess". A funny story I read in a book was that a philosopher was looking into the sky and thinking deeply while walking, and someone tripped him to teach him the lesson not to let thinking distract him for being. Alain de Button, although he has problems, was the first to introduce to Michele de Montaigne, who unlike many other philosophers spoke of the relevant problems of what it means to be human. This is what I was looking for. The conception of what is a philosopher in our culture is the bearded old man, endlessly pontificating on questions which are irrelevant to the "real world". While some of this judgment is misplaced, I can totally understand why. It is somewhat true. Philosophy is not only relevant to the real world, I just don't see any other way you can even understand what the real world is without it. Let alone what isn't or is relevant to it. Philosophy is the antidote to so many of what ails us as a culture. To the most relevant problems of today. Such as not falling for misinformation, of understanding oneself, of living the good life, of what to value, how to find your life purpose, etc. Is it the only thing you need? Of course not. But it is a great foundation to have. In my own life, when I started thinking like a philosopher by questioning things like my religion and trying to understand what truth is, a radical transformation in my psychology ensued. Philosophy changed my psychology more than reading about psychology did. Powerful stuff. I got so many things wrong at first, but that only added to my understanding of what truth IS NOT, hence what truth IS. Not just theoretical understanding, but also experiential understanding of how I thought this was true when it was not. Like I said, it's not the only tool. Philosophy, psychology, self-help and spirituality synergize greatly. Add on top of that understanding health/nutrition, business, and sprinkle some basic understanding of general science, politics, history, etc. You have a potent formula for success. Your mind becomes multi-dimensional, you can feel how different your thought process is now compared to before you embarked on this journey. Night and day. Now it is not simply "philosophy", it is literally how your mind work. Its modus operandi. Philosophy isn't a subject matter but a way of being, thinking, and living.

I love Leo, and I will credit him as one of the most influential people in my life. He is the best teacher I ever encountered. I owe my success to him. But I don't care about meeting him. I have my own life, and he has his. I respect him as a great thinker, and I think it's better to have distance with people you professionally look up to.

Thanks!

What are you interested in learning about? Are you only interested in data science/programming? Do you have other interests like economics, writing, philosophy, spirituality, neuroscience, etc? If you're going to study CS / Data Sci in uni, If I were you I would focus my time on other areas of interest because I know university will not teach me those. But, if you don't other interests then yes I think this is a good plan. Good on you for using your time wisely. When I was your age I wasted this time just fucking around.

@enchanted I agree, MrBeast's business model works. It is undeniable. He is the biggest YT channel. But it is so unattractive and antithetical to what I want. Maybe I can learn from him a few things, but to actually live my LP, I need to find a way to succeed without MrBeast's business model. Success in spite of not being like MrBeast, not because of it, is the goal. But like I said, we can always learn a few things. I also acknowledge he works hard on his video. I'm not denying his work ethic; I just don't like the shallow material, jumpy, frantic editing, attention-seeking methods, etc. MrBeast's strategy is to create content that is designed to get views. Attention is the end-goal, content is the method. I fundementally disagree with that. However, I still want views. But there's distinction between that approach and mine, and even Leo's im sure.

I purposely chose 11-OH-THC because it lasts longer, and some THC is converted to it via inhalation anyway. You mistake half-life with psychoactive effects. Something can have a long half-life but will not produce any psychoactive effect after a certain threshold. For example Aniracetam has an elimination half-life, 0.5 hours. Yet, noticable effects can be felt for at least 4-5 hours, sometimes even up tp 8. Armodafinil has a half-life of 15 hours, but many will notice that beyond 12 hours, you stop feeling it. Half-life doesn't tell you how much a substance is still effecting you.

That's why we don't only look at what neurotransmitters are released but also where they are released. Viewing mental states as simply neurotransmitters is reductionist. For example, releasing dopamine in the substantia nigra will produce a different effect than dopamine released in the prefrontal cortex. Plus, your statement is incorrect as there are different neurotransmitters correlated with states of euphoria and states of anxiety.

huh? I'm just trying to convey facts on THC metabolism to OP

Fat solubility doesn't necessarily mean a long half-life (as in all day long). For example, caffeine is also sufficiently lipophilic to pass through all biological membranes and readily crosses the blood-brain barrier. Yet, people can drink caffeine early in the day and still eliminate it by the end of the day without it affecting their sleep. Don't smoke close to bed is how you eliminate the REM suppressing effects of THC. Although regular weed smokers do show abnormal sleeping patterns, which is a concern. Are you talking about second hand smoke or smelling the plant itself? Smelling the plant is highly unlikely to get you high friend. The form of THC that is found in uncarboxylated buds/plant is Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA). This is a prodrug to THC and doesn't exert psychoactive effects. Conversion of THCA to THC in the body is very limited. Hence why decarboxylated via heat is crucial for getting high. Plus, the smell of weed is due to terpenes, not THC. Second hand smoke is possible but also very unlikely as most of the THC is being absorbed when someone smokes and diluting it with air is just so not effecient that almost no one gets really high just from being around weed, but not impossible especially if its hotbox. Again, highly unlikely. A few molecules? No way, man.. The bioavailability of THC when smoking or inhaling is approximately 25%, with a range of 2% to 56% (although most commonly between 10 and 35%). So when you say a few molecules, cut that by 80%. Also, considering the THC is lipophilic, this means that a lot of it won't even reach your brain but will absorbed in other tissues. Not all of it reaches the brain, and the majority of it isn't even absorbed. A few molecules will not produce an effect; no more than smelling cigarettes makes you high on nicotine. It's harmful to breathe smoke, but that's different from actually getting high from said smoke. Also, you use words like "poisoned" when referring to THC ingestion. Let me first say this: I AM NO FAN OF WEED. I realize its addictive and I was addicted to it.. I know it's not a harmless drug, and it does affect brain development, etc. But you weren't poisoned. Poison means there has to be some form of neurotoxicity involved. THC is not neurotoxic in normal doses, it can actually be neuroprotective in some cases, like protecting from stimulant induced excitotoxicity and reducing brain oxidation.

THC metabolites is what lasts a long time and what can be detected in drug tests, this is different from it having effects which last this long. Metaboloites can be tested for up to 1 month while THC itself breaksdown faster. After cannabis consumption, THC is metabolized inside the body by cytochrome P450 enzymes such as CYP2C9 and CYP3A4 into 11-hydroxy-THC and then further metabolized by the dehydrogenase and CYP2C9 enzyme to form 11-nor-9-carboxy-THC (THC-COOH) which is inactive at the CB1 receptors;[2] and further glucuronidated to form 11-nor-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid glucuronide (Δ9-THC-COOH-glu)[3] in the liver, from where it is subsequently excreted through feces and urine (via bile from the liver).[4] Both metabolites, along with THC, can be assayed in drug tests.[1] Getting high for a week is really weird.... it should not last this long. I suspect you might have a metabolism abnormality which makes your body inept at converting THC and excreting THC metabolites.

@Leo Gura Thanks for the lips, Leo. I have a few more questions. If you already have a job/need a job to sustain yourself: How will this realistically be achieved? I work in business consulting and my hours are already stretched thin as is. To live my LP I need to somehow make it online, but if you're saying I need treat it like a fulltime job to maybe even make it..... This feels like a double whammy. What constitutes consistent uploading? What do you mean by high quality? The content itself, or do you mean editing/video quality I have this camera, is it good? I truly believe I have fresh and high-quality research/thoughts. But I have to say its not purely original. I synthesize from several domains/people, but the originality of what I offer is how I synthesize/integrate it into one idea/video/topic, etc.

Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday

@Leo Gura Technically all tinnitus is brain-related, since processing sound happens in the brain.

I wasn't in Saudi I was in lisbon Portugal. But no they wouldn't, they would jail you. Which is why I avoid taking anything here

Oleamide does as well. I explained the mechanism behind it and have tested it myself

Leo has mentioned that sometimes you need to immigrate to another country to fulfill your LP. I totally agree with this, not only that. I must immigrate because I cannot stay where I am now because of my values. I live in the Middle East and in many ways I am an outsider even though I am Arab, because my values and beliefs are so different. I just cannot bare the thought that I will live and die here.. But immigration is insanely difficult, Leo has said something like "Do whatever is necessary", "Find a way", "Make it happen", "If thats what you need to do then you have to do it, dont ask how, focus on doing it." I agree, but the problem is so fucking difficult, especially when you don't have money. Immigration in the west is becoming harder by the second. Canada is even hard to get into now, even though theyre accepting hundreds of thousands. For example, even if you're wealthy its hard. the Neatherlands had a invest for temporary residency program, which you can then later apply for a PR. And that is now closed as of March 2024. My buddy paid 3.3k $ through a law firm to apply for canadian immigration and was rejected. Its fucking tough. All of this while im still trying to figure out how to make money from my LP. Creating my LP and immigrating to western nation (also my options are limited to pretty much US, Canada, UK, Neatherland, maybe a few others as those are english speaking / majority english speaking countries) will be the hardest thing i ever do, if I do it. Im hoping I do..

Great Life synthesizes several domains of knowledge (Neurobiology, nutrition, philosophy, psychology, spirituality and self-development) with one goal in mind: Helping you to live the great life. What is the Great Life? The great life is: Truthful Holistic Disciplined Conscious Actualized Purposeful Joyful Love abound Free Creative Selfless Balanced Rich in Knowledge Wise Healthy The great life is a concept, an idea, waiting to be realized and fulfilled. A guiding principle, why I see it as Great, is because it entails 1- Wholism/Holistic, 2- Individualistic yet, the principles are shared, the methods many, the principles few the methods varry. My guiding tools: The simultaneous use of seemingly opposing skills Focus, and flow. Seeking and letting go, Learning and unlearning, Effort and rest Trust and skepticism Love and fear Desire and Resistance Being and doing You must be a seeker, seek knowledge, truth, wisdom, understanding, seek a better life a better future, seek seek seek! Seeking is prerequisite, if you did not seek, you wouldn’t be interested in any of this. Be hungry for these, yet also, learn to let go, of results, of always knowing everything. As Socrates said "All I know is that I know nothing." This quote illustrates the essence of what I am saying, Know (seek) that you do not know (let go). Great power comes from this, all great thinker display this ability, simultaneously balancing these forces, lack of balance leads to ignorance Learning is essential to the great life, you must learn many things, skills, knowledge, reading, etc. You know this. However, you can also learn falsehood, maladaptive behavior, ideas of yourself and other which are neither true nor do they serve you. As is the case with most people So what is even more important is learning how to learn, in order to learn how to learn, one must first unlearn concepts, ideas, imprints of society, to be able to learn what is true, and what serves you. Learning something new usualy involves breaking an old paradigm, new knowledge replaces old. In and out. This is very important. Trust in your potential, but also recognize where your errors lay. Trust in knowledge, but be skeptical of it, this is supposedly the essence of the scientific method, science trust the method, but not what the method is examing, the true core of skeptisim and trust is to develop trust in yourself while also not trusting yourself fully. This creates opposing forces whoch dance oin harmony to reach to the truth. Love and fear, when you love your work, you also fear, fear is a powerful motivator. Use it wisely, fear without love is destructive. I love my life, so I fear wasting it. Being and doing, this is similar to rest and effort, do what is needed, but also learn to simply be, simple, powerful, easier said than done. No shortcuts. In my life I have seen this happen, learning religion only to unlearn it, the process of unlearning reveals more truth and entails more "learning" in my opinion than learning. Because it shows you the mechanisms of the mind , the way which you believed, how it happened, why. It reveals your unconsciousness, by using your awareness. Powerful stuff, because it is deep. Learning the underlying mechanism is important to the great life because it shows you all the ways in which the great life may not be achieved. Two sides of the same coin, completing each other. The great life must be system based.

I did not find psychocybernetics useful, will check out the second suggestion, many thanks

I'm not a fanboy of RSD, but I really liked this video by Julien. Watch the first 6:50 mins. Julien states that most people have a self-sabatoging tendencies(what leo calls Ego Backlash). I have become painfully aware that this is truly what is holding me back. Julien says that dicipline, motivation, hustiling, and working is like trying to install software while there is a virus in the hardware. His analogy is that shadow work is the anti-virus, and that for as long as this virus remains sooner or later it will sabatoge the "apps/software". The apps/software are basically regular self-help stuff. I love this analogy. I certainly seem to recognize its truth in my own life. How do you deal with self-sabotage? When you're working on your life purpose, working on your spiritual practices, the virus is still infecting you. It seems no matter how much hardwork or dicipline you put in, sooner or later it will defeat you. Leo's content doesn't seem to deal with this much, except in a few videos. I understand that Leo's content is more advanced and assumes a certain level of development and trancendence of self-sabatogging tendencies / severe mental illness etc. So I invite people in this forum to share stuff they found useful for dealing with your shadow / self-sabotage

So, I watched the series on abiogenesis by James Tour, which Leo also shared on his blog. After watching it, I watched Prof Dave's response and their live debate. Let me clarify: I don't like Prof Dave, and his video on quantum mechanics (in which he criticized Leo) wasn't good, in my opinion. I don't like the guy nor think he's right on everything; he's also biased. But his response to James Tour's video is rock solid. It's clear to me now that James Tour is not a reliable source on evolution/abiogenesis, and even though he claims his religious beliefs don't factor into his opinions, they do. 1. Prof Dave responds to James Tour Series 2. Response to James Tour Response 3. Live Debate Also, I watched this video of James Tour being invited to Harvard to speak with scientists on abiogenesis; look and observe: Are the ivory tower Harvard scientists the ones who are close-minded? Are they the ones who are so shackled and tied to their dogma? Are they the ones refusing to accept a new paradigm? Or is it James Tour? Watch and decide for yourself.. for me the answer is clear. Science needs to evolve, science needs someone to challenge its dogma and assumptions, but James Tour is no the man for the job. Again: Prof Dave is annoying. I don't like his style nor do I think he's right on everything. But in this case he is.

I am not a materialist, but the examples you gave are literally explainable by chemistry. If you don't see the magic in chemistry, keep looking!

Leo, I remember you mentioned that excessively viewing youtube political content will slowly start to "toxify your mind" Can you please elaborate on this?

I clearly said in my post that even I disagree with him on a lot of things. My post was about appreciating his achievements, specifically his work/art.

Think what you'd like about Sam Harris. Honestly, I really like his Life Purpose. Wrote influential books, traveled to India to learn about meditation, and then created a successful meditation app. He had a successful podcast which he then made a membership-only model, and so many found him to be so insightful that they subscribed to listen to his podcast. He has become independent of advertising and youtube monetization. I have to admire that.