Leo's Blog Discussion Mega-Thread

[CARDOZZO]

As a Brazilian, what I can say is that we have many countries inside Brazil.

There are areas in Brazil like Europe. There are areas in Brazil we can consider it a narcostate. 

Spiral dynamics is a great tool to understand Brazil because we have a lot of diversity here.

Check it out:

 

[Socrates]

@zurew Outsourcing is inevitable and not inherently problematic. The goal isn't independence from all external input—it's retaining ownership of the conclusions. You outsource the technical and mechanical parts of validation: the experiments, the data collection, and the methodology execution. What you never outsource is the evaluative layer—scrutinizing sample size, methodology quality, experimenter incentives, and whether the conclusions actually follow from the data. That part stays yours.

The smarter move is a reduction to fundamentals. Most topics have a small number of high-yield structural questions that determine the shape of everything else. Getting those right produces more epistemic value than mastering the technical periphery, and it's more time-efficient. The technical experiments become inputs you filter, not authorities you defer to.

The one honest complication: identifying which experiments are high-yield versus low-yield requires some prior competence in the domain. That distinction isn't always visible from the outside. 

[LoneWonderer]

5 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

India is a democracy yet it is corrupt as hell.

Brazil is a democracy yet it is corrupt as hell.

@Leo Gura That is interesting. I'd say other factors play in as well such as historical development, culture, religion's hold on society, the countries geography (I remember you posted a video on the blog on how difficult it was for Africa to succeed geographically) on top of political and societal structures. 

Lastly I'd say humans all of us are corrupt wherever we are be it is USA, Scandinavia or Africa. As an example now the son of the queen of Norway is on trial for rape and Noreay is supposed to be the pinnacle of the developed world. 

What else am I missing?

Edited 6 hours ago by LoneWonderer

[Rafael Thundercat]

3 hours ago, CARDOZZO said:

As a Brazilian, what I can say is that we have many countries inside Brazil.

There are areas in Brazil like Europe. There are areas in Brazil we can consider it a narcostate. 

Spiral dynamics is a great tool to understand Brazil because we have a lot of diversity here.

Check it out:

 

I am in Bahia. 

[Miguel1]

1 hour ago, LoneWonderer said:

Lastly I'd say humans all of us are corrupt wherever we are be it is USA, Scandinavia or Africa. As an example now the son of the queen of Norway is on trial for rape and Noreay is supposed to be the pinnacle of the developed world. 

What else am I missing?

It’s a matter of relativity, as everything is.

[Ajay0]

8 hours ago, LoneWonderer said:

 It's not a coincidence Africa, India, South America, South East Asia are underdeveloped in contrast to Western Nations such as Australia, EU and USA.

2200 years back  Ashoka the Great created a model administration in the Indian mauryan empire benefitting all sentient beings including humans and non-humans with measures for proper law and order.. He spread buddhism through all sea and land routes and made it a global religion. He gave up warfare except for self defense alone.

Countries like USA and Australia did not exist back then and came up only two centuries back. Only Greece and Rome existed as civilized nations back then in Europe while the rest were in a barbaric savage state.

As an ancient civilization India may have slipped in standards a bit at present,  but is rapidly galloping back to an optimal state again, powered by the fastest growing major economy in the world at the moment. 

Same is the case in Brazil as well, which has a fast growing economy that is bettering its socioeconomic standards. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Ajay0

[LoneWonderer]

47 minutes ago, Miguel1 said:

It’s a matter of relativity, as everything is.

@Miguel1Hmmm...thanks. I definitely need a lot more work in this "everything is relative" area of my operating paradigm 👍. 

[Miguel1]

20 minutes ago, LoneWonderer said:

@Miguel1Hmmm...thanks. I definitely need a lot more work in this "everything is relative" area of my operating paradigm 👍. 

Study Leo’s relativity video. It’s a game changer.

He definitely needs to record a part 2 for that.

[LoneWonderer]

29 minutes ago, Miguel1 said:

Study Leo’s relativity video. It’s a game changer.

He definitely needs to record a part 2 for that.

That was the very first video of Leo's I saw waaaay back in the pandemic days. It's it's like I forgotten or failed to integrate those video lessons properly.

Funny enough I think I had a better grasp on the nature of relativity back then than I do today. 

Edited 3 hours ago by LoneWonderer

[Miguel1]

45 minutes ago, LoneWonderer said:

Funny enough I think I had a better grasp on the nature of relativity back then than I do today. 

Yeah, Leo’s videos are not meant to be consumed once and move on.

His most classical and profounf ones are to be revisited once in a whilez

[gengar]

Quote

Why So Serious?

May 16, 2017

Any philosophy or ideology or school of thought that takes life seriously is wrong.

Think about that. Think of how many ideologies this rules out.

There's a deep reason for this. Seriousness is a tell-tale sign of lack of self-reflection.

Comedy, mockery, and satire have always been a threat to people in power, because they shine too much light, and people seeking power must do so in an unconscious way, otherwise they would stop themselves.

The ego's game is to act serious. It must be that way. Because the ego's life is always at stake.

Notice that highly conscious people are able to make fun of themselves and be playful.

 

Quote

June 13, 2025

If you fall into the trap of taking unserious people seriously, you will become unserious. And when you become unserious you will become profoundly self-deceived. Seriousness is the only way to have a chance of solving the problem of self-deception. All unserious people are self-deceived. This is a iron law of the universe.

@Leo Gura Would you care to elaborate on this apparent paradox?

[LoneWonderer]

7 minutes ago, gengar said:

 

@Leo Gura Would you care to elaborate on this apparent paradox?

I think he means un serious people who are not seeking truth. Un serious people are those lost in Maya.

Once you know truth you realize everything is a game and an illusion, you become un serious once again and just enjoy life. Un serious about your ego self. You are under no illusion of permanence.

So no contradiction in the statements.

Edited 1 hour ago by LoneWonderer

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, gengar said:

@Leo Gura Would you care to elaborate on this apparent paradox?

Wisdom is knowing when to be serious and when to be playful.

Foolishness means taking unserious things too seriously, and take serious things unseriously.

Notice that deluded and mentally disturbed people take things way too seriously that shouldn't be taken seriously at all. And they are unable to laugh at themselves and their own deluded narratives.

The sage only takes the most important things seriously, and laughs about everything else.

Edited 15 minutes ago by Leo Gura

[YIDIRYIDIR]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

The sage only takes the most important things seriously, and laughs about everything else.

Damn. So you’re saying all this time I wasn’t joking… I was practicing wisdom? always knew i was special, I might start writing books. 

Edited 16 minutes ago by YIDIRYIDIR