Daniel Balan

Hi @Leo Gura! I totally disagree with the idea of nationalising things. Just compare Western Europe with Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe is 50 years behind in development due to the communist regime that nationalized everything. Look at the differences between East and West Germany that are still visible to this day. Nationalization of any kind is a step backward in development. The cold war was won by the capitalistic world for a reason. The reason being that private businesses ALWAYS outperform public businesses. Just look at the factories that the soviets built, those were profitless businesses owned by the communist state that offered piss poor products that required tons of money and resources to produce. To add in salt to injury, no one really wanted to buy those shit tractors and heavy machineries made by the soviets because they would rather buy the same goods at better quality from the western capitalist world. By studying the economy of the ussr and its satellite states we quickly realize that nation wide nationalizations means piss poor products and a giant deficit spending

Good, you have a set of principles that you abide by. But how does respect for human dignity have anything to do with calling someone a lowkey pedophile? That's anything but human dignity. Learn to ignore if you don't agree with. How can you expect people to take you seriously when you don't even follow the very principles you preach.

What's your deal, fam? As a mod he is doing a great job, I don't agree with many of his views either, but that doesn't take anything away from the good job he has done as a mod. Learn to ignore people u disagree with, he has stated his views, you can have totally different views, be nice and civil! Low key calling someone a pedo is disgusting behaviour from you. Especially when @Inliytened1 stated his opinions in a civil manner.

Spot on. Ultimately all the pro Russian naratives are wrong because the fact that this very war is happening is the ultimate reason why Ukraine should be in NATO. Had Russia expressed its "security" concerns via heavy economical sanctions on Ukraine, maybe Ukraine should have dropped the NATO aspirations, but since for 3 and a half years the people of Ukraine are slaughtered, their cities are demolished and so on, by a state that has waged non stop wars since the end of the cold war, Ukraine has all the rights in the world to desire to join NATO. The very war that is happening is proof that Ukraine should be in NATO.

I personally want world class understanding of philosophy, politics, epistemology, reality, metaphysics, spirituality, mastering pivotal human endeavours such as business, relationships, money, work ethic. So my list is as follows: • Reading • Meditation •Contemplation and deep attention to self deception and bias • Deep introspection and self observation •Developing all the good aspects of all the tier 1 stages while dropping all the negative aspects. • Developing tier 2 thought process and behaviour • Being acutely aware of my own corruption both corruption of the thoughts and behavioural • Always doing what I found to be the most emotionally difficult( this is from my favourite episode from you) Here my list ends, I'd like to know how your list looks like.

Hi @Leo Gura thanks for all your blog posts you published today. Really great ones. Regarding the last one, this is how all the right wing and Russian propaganda is done. Exactly the same, half truths and out of context images and texts taken from an article but 80% of the article is missing and only the 20% which is the intriguing part of the text is shown. Studying Russian propaganda is a philosophical enquiry in and of itself. Regarding the quote where you advocate to do all the things that the average humans are too lazy and irresponsible to do, could you please share with us a list that consists of those said things? I contemplated a list but I'm sure I miss some things that are important

@Leo Gura Thanks a lot for these insights! I'll keep on contemplating on how to better judge human character. From my personal contemplation I figured that it is a mistake to focus on the words and the ideas of people like Trump or Whatifalthist, but rather one should closely examine the engine that drives their speech, their epistemology, their biases, the manner they behave and speak, rather than the substance of their words. Focus on the essence of someone, not their words.

@Leo GuraDo you have any tips to determine whether someone is a corrupt devil just by observing his speech? In our current epistemic ecosystem almost all news sources represent paid brainwashing propaganda. So I no longer rely on any kind of information provided by others to asses someone's character. Imagine we lived in 1917 Russia or 1930's Germany or 2016 America, and we don't have at our disposal any information sources on Lenin, Hitler or Trump. How do I determine that Trump is a devil just by the way he behaves and talks? The reason I'm asking this is that most of the corruption and devilry of a bad faith actor lays in the shadows, probably never to be discovered. So what red flags does someone display involuntarily or voluntarily in his speech that allows us to identify that individual as a dangerous devil masquerading as a clean actor? How do we determine that someone like Navalny is a clean actor and someone like Putin is a devil? Only via their discourses and rhetoric. What tools should an average human use to accurately asses whether someone is a corrupt bastard or is a clean honest actor? Without ever relying on information or stories from others about the characters they are trying to analyze.

@Leo Gura You know which historical figure I'm deeply intrigued by? Lenin! A lot of liberal and intellectual youth at the dawn of the 20th century was drawn towards Lenin's leftist Marxist ideals. Had I been alive in 1917 in Russia I would 100% been a great supporter of Lenin and his leftist ideals especially before him taking power. After taking power he threw out the window all the liberalism and intellectual stuff the young liberals stood for. Someone like Lenin or Marx is a real danger to society! He was able to conquer deeply introspective, independent minds. In comparison, The philosophy of Trump and Whatifalthist seem like child's play compared to the philosophic worldview of Marx or Lenin that attracted some of the most cognitively developed minds during that era. It is easy to fool an illiterate red neck that has seen all his life only cow and horse shit, into far right nationalism. It is much harder to fool an introspective philosophical mind, the way Marx and Lenin did. Albeit Lenin did fool mostly rednecks, he did conquer the minds of a demographic that Nazis could never do. Fascism also attracted a base of intellectuals and philosophers but it was much smaller in size and their philosophy was so dog shit and cartoonish that it is almost laughable compared to the philosophy generated by those who were supporting leftist movements in the beginning of the 20th century in Russia, Germany, France and so on.

What are they trying to accomplish? I mean, it is clear that they want to wipe Ukraine off the map, but if they supposedly defeat Ukraine, what is Russia's endgame? Do they settle just for Ukraine? I don't think so! My personal opinion is that if they could, they would conquer Moldova, then they will challenge Nato by trying a blitzkrieg on Romania! They will try to anchor their border with the west on the Charpatian mountain range in Romania and Slovakia, while at the same time trying to conquer the Baltics! Betting that Nato wouldn't risk ww3 over half of Romania and the baltics! I contemplated on the conflict in the last year and this is my hypothesis on what Russia's endgame plan. Basically they want their soviet era vassal states back! They would leave Poland alone, because Poland, in my opinion is as battle ready as Ukraine is right now, too tough to defeat and probably isn't worth the hassle. But via heavy propaganda interference in elections, they would take control over much of the former Warsaw pact, and in the countries they didn't succeed to place a trojan horse government, they would certainly attack militarily! Bluffing that Nato is not as united as Nato claims. Also Trump would probably give Putin all of Eastern Europe if that means that all the wars in Europe end. So guys, what do you think?

Hi @Leo Gura You know what would be really dangerous? A Whatifalthist version of you. I can only imagine how much deceptive and evil such a character could be. If Whatifalthist was the evil version of you that could possibly cause a cult 100 times more dangerous than Trump's MAGA. The good thing about Trump and MAGA and Whatifalthist is that they are very limited, cartoonish and stupid. They can't do grotesque amounts of damage to the epistemology ecosystem the same way Russia couldn't overrun Ukraine in a month. The internal corruption of Russia, its backwardness, incompetence and arrogance saved Ukraine. But imagine if an evil version of you emerges, such a devil actor could corrupt and destroy the minds of generations with unparalleled amounts of vicious devilry. Leaving this hypothetical scenario aside, I noticed that when a devil encounters your teachings it makes that devil even more dangerous and manipulative. I shared the spiral dynamics model with a far righter and he turned it upside down to suit his agenda, calling leftists at stage red and calling people like Andrew Tate, Xi Jinping, Putin and Trump at stage Yellow. Imagine calling China at stage yellow..... He made that claim because he lived in China, Beating his chest that he knows from direct experience how evolved Chinese society is compared with the "decadent" West, The West which he then placed also at stage Red because it has migrants and SJW's that annoy him with their "Wokeness".. Bottom line is that Whatifalthist is an immature cartoonish child, with a sloppy and flimsy propaganda system. His foolishness is very obvious. The real mortal danger for society is someone extremely charismatic, very meticulous, very clever, very skillful at hiding bias and ideology, someone who is a master at exploiting and manipulating the self deception found into others. Whatifalthist is too self deceived and cartoonish to properly self deceive a developed and introspective mind. What I fear the most is someone who can capture my mind into fascist propaganda without me even realizing. For that to happen takes a real sociopath that knows the mechanisms for self deception, how to hide malicious intent and poisoning my epistemology while masquerading as a champion of truth.

Hi Leo! Do you think that Gavin Newsom and his vice president nominee could win against the JD Vance/Marco Rubio ticket in 2028? I don't like JD but Rubio is a decent and well respected politician as far as I can tell. I mean he is not as dangerous as Trump is. Regardless of the democratic ticket for 2028, the JD Vance/Marco Rubio ticket will be extremely hard to defeat. The dems will win only if Trump screws the economy real bad for the average folk to feel that in their pocket.

The “world” is only as true as the consciousness perceiving it

You have to watch the movie The Sixth Sense starring Bruce Willis to truly understand solipsism. The child character Cole Sear is the textbook definition of solipsism coupled with the role of Malcom Crowe played by Bruce Willis. "I see dead people". The reason the kid could see dead people while others couldn't is because those dead people were the hallucination of that kid's mind, his mind created them. And the character played by Bruce Willis was invisible to other people because he only existed in the plane of existence perceived by this kid Cole Sear. That movie is one of my all time favorites coupled with K PAX starring Kevin Spacey.

My contemplative face

I was 19 when I did this. I didn't even knew basic ww2 history back then. All I knew is from my grand parents that my grandmother 's father fought in the Romanian army on the eastern front for Hitler's Germany from late 1943 until Romania switched sides, then against the 3rd Reich until the fall of 1944 near Hungary when he got wounded. He died when I was 5, he missed like 3 fingers and was almost totally deaf due to the war. Right now at 25 after thoroughly studying history on my own I'd never make jokes in Germany about WW2 especially with Die Polizei

The German police is so cool, I've been stopped and checked for alcohol and drugs, yet they fined me for 20€ for not having a night time green vest in my car. I told them to forgive me this one time because I didn't know it was mandatory to have one. I told them to be friendly to me because my great grandfather fought alonside their great grand parents in WW2 😅 They were nice and told me that they are forgiving me with the fine for the green vest because it was the first time I was stopped by the police, but they told me to never again joke in Germany about WW2.

The German people are so cool, they work like crazy from Monday to Friday, during the week no one is out, but when Friday night comes, the Germans go out partying hard AF, I love this culture of working hard then also partying hard and socializing hard in the weekend. Germany is so beautiful. I honestly believe it is the best place to live on earth at the moment. I've worked there in agriculture and construction for a year and I fell in love with the villages. After finishing work I changed in clean clothes and I started wandering at night nights on end to the point I had a lot of nights with 0 sleep before 5 am when work began on the cabbage fields. I walked on through the villages, the cities, the forests the prairies almost like I was being called by mother nature to wander till the edge of the night. In every forest there were benches to sit on to admire the breathtaking scenery. Everything was so picturesque, so pristine, so neat and tidy, so fresh and clean. State-of-the-art country.

100%! Some people here are in a desperate need for a reality check. Imagine calling Leo someone that feeds off of us. That man litteraly spent his peak adult years shooting hundreds of hours worth of videos for damn free, combined with the tens of thousands of hours spent here explaining things on the forum. The ammount of ungratefulness and spoiled kid attitude is through the roof for some folks on this forum.This forum is a gold mine, literally every time I've had a question the members of this community have provided me with answers. People expect that this community should do their inner work for them, which is completely wrong attitude. I personally don't even care about enlightenment, but it drives me mad seeing people complain about this forum although they haven't even begun doing even remotely the work Leo advocates for. To all the complainers, firstly do the work then come and complain.

Bro you are simply not right. From a governing perspective, the center right is more helpful for the economy than the center left is. The moderate right has somewhat logical and practical ways in regards to dealing with the economy, but the further right you go, the more the right treats economy the way a business man treats his shopping mall. Center left with its Social Democracy its pushing deficit spending through the roof while also providing average ass government programs. How does it happen that even in the most established social democracies people when they have an illness they opt to get a surgery or advanced treatment in a private clinic rather than in the public health care system? Although I am a big advocate for public healthcare for all, the government provided healthcare provides average healthcare. The schooling system is similar. Although I also advocate for free schooling for all, I am also aware that public schooling is inferior to private schooling. I've been educated via free public schooling and honestly I haven't gotten any value from it. All the education I have right now I obtained mostly via self education. I've read a lot of books on various subjects since I was 5 years old. If I solely relied on the education the public schooling gave me I'd be a stage red illiterate redneck. Socially the center left is far more beneficial than the center right. I'd take Woke Culture and Feminism any day of the week over Christian traditionalism. I came to the conclusion that the right's positions on social issues are caveman policies. All the right wants to do in regards to social issues is to maintain backward social hierarchies while staunchly defending the status quo. I'd bring to the attention of everyone that criticizes wokeness and feminism that those movements happened as a reaction to the brutal domineering behavior of the traditional patriarchal system. Wokeness is right when it comes to racism, to sexism and misogyny. You guys only hate Woke when it benefits you. If you were born a woman in a 3rd world nation getting her daily beatings and slave treatments from her husband, you'd appreciate why Woke and Feminism exists. Only when you are woman who can't even work a job without men constantly nagging her for sex and being constantly belittled and made fun of by men at the workplace, then you would understand why Woke and Feminism exists. Also about racism, I'm a white Romanian male but I swear I'd metaphorically punch in the mouth any Dutchman, British, Belgian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, or French dude complaining about affirmative action. The ancestors of the aforementioned have colonized and enslaved basically the entire globe, yet they have the nerve of bitching about blacks or Muslims or Asians or Indians getting fair job opportunities. Ludicrous behavior. You cry about affirmative action and immigrants, yet when the aforementioned enslaved Africa and the Middle East and The Americas and Indochina and India etc. Their resources were good? All that slave labor was good? All the iron ore that was extracted to build your cities was useful?? Right now I'm only allowing complaining about immigrants from people whose country hasn't had colonies. As I said both the right and the left have their pros and cons. Honestly the moderate right is much better at handling economies because it is more grounded in reality. The Left and the moderate left is too utopian and idealistic to understand proper economy. But in regards to social aspects, the right in my eyes loses on all fronts in comparison with the left. I like both political philosophies. The right political philosophy is very beneficial for the individual. It says that the individual must work hard and continuously evolve and seek progress via his own mental and physical capacities, which I totally agree with. Whereas the left wants the government to be their daddy. This is totally wrong philosophy. Government shouldn't spoon feed anybody. The people who expect government to wipe their ass are the biggest losers. Government should offer basic schooling, average healthcare, fire department, army, social security only for the ones who truly need it to survive, state-of-the-art court system, state-of-the-art police etc. Anything else the individual must channel effort and achieve the things it desires via hard work and personal ambition. Government is here to afford a fair playing ground for all. To ensure everybody plays by the same rules.

The left needs a ton more criticism than what you did at the beggining of this thread. One can write a political manifesto against the foolishness of the left. HOWEVER, if the left needs a ton of criticism, the right needs like 10 thousands tons of criticism. You don't appreciate how disfunctional and insane the right is. Those fools don't believe in basic science. To them the government is like running a shopping mall. Utterly stupid political framework. But the left is to a less degree equally stupid for being too idealistic and utopian. You should adopt more centrist views. Both the right and left have really big flaws, although the right's flaws are bigger. You should visit 3rd wolrd countries to see what is life for the people being rulled by the conservative right wing. But what's your beef with Leo? Why you refuse to call him by his name, instead you use the eufemism " the bald man". I'm watching Leo since 2014 and right now he is pretty centrist. Sometimes he gives me right wing vibes of how much his politics have changed towards the centre right in the last decade.

Give my ego back. I didn't know having no ego means being solipsistic. I want others, solipsism means I am all alone, who am I going to debate politics if all there is is myself? 😥

I asked God for a refund for my ego 😎

Self love. Thats it. Learn to love yourself, learn to love your own company more than you enjoy the company of other people. To put it simply, instead of falling in love with women, FALL IN LOVE WITH SOLITUDE! If you do that, the presence of your loved one becomes a bonus, not a must. Now you will no longer be needy. If you need other people to be happy you are operating from a needy framework.

This proves solipsism is bullshit. If it were to be true I could just imagine Yimpa posting right now new posts on the forum. But the reality is that she is an independent entity from me with her own sovereignity that allows her to not post anything for now. Final verdict : The materialist paradigm is true, and solipsism is just self deception caused by psychedelics. I feel so cool now 😎