Leo's Blog Discussion Mega-Thread

[Natasha Tori Maru]

@JTL Happiness increase, or pleasure increase?

[Leo Gura]

5 minutes ago, JTL said:

People do small things like playing soccer, etc and other things, and their overall happiness increase

You can get happiness from the flow state of playing a sport. That is well and good. But happiness from defeating someone is not doing anything for you.

If you like a sport, good. There's no need to defeat others.

Imagine if the happiness I got from being on this forum was from defeating you guys. That would be sick.

Edited 3 hours ago by Leo Gura

[UnbornTao]

The point of competition is usually winning. That's what the team effort is about. 

[JTL]

@Leo Gura okey, thanks for the response.

[Joseph Maynor]

35 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

The point of competition is usually winning. That's what the team effort is about. 

Yes but what is being won?

[Bogdan]

On 3/26/2026 at 0:16 AM, integral said:

Guy on the left died of steroids use at 22. 

He had a congenital heart defect. But I'm sure steroids didn't help.

[Magnanimous]

Leo could we attain your level of insight as well?

Or after doing the spiritual work you teach, will we gain abilities enhancing our own genetic strengths?

Like for example better wit if you're a people person?

[Joshe]

 

 

@Leo Gura

Your cognition is structurally non-conformist. You didn't arrive at it through decades of rigorous epistemics.

Nature and nurture gave you 3 traits that all but guaranteed non-conformity.

• independent perception (builds own models of reality rather than importing from consensus)
• independent judgment (evaluates by internal standards rather than tribal expectations)
• behavioral energy directed inward (processes internally rather than engaging in the social field)

Combine all 3 and you get someone who can't be a conformist without significant discomfort. I'd say this is roughly 1-2% of the population - far from 1 in a million. 

Roughly 43% of the population operates on dependent perception AND dependent judgement. 

Which means about half the population imports their model of reality from consensus and they calibrate their decisions to the tribe. And everyone else is missing one or the other or lack the inward energy orientation to shield them from the social field. So, roughly 95% of the population is missing at least one of the ingredients you need to be a true non-conformist.

None of this can be fixed through epistemic labor because if your perception is oriented toward concrete reality, building independent models of reality isn't something you can just decide to prioritize. And if your judgment naturally defers to the tribe, you can't just say fuck the tribe's opinion. 

The thing that makes someone conformist isn't how they think - it's what their mind prioritizes. Which they have little to no say over. 

So, you're telling structural non-conformists who didn't undergo your epistemic project that they're actually conformists, and you're telling structural conformists that they can be like you if they try hard enough. lol. Both are wrong.

Edited 1 hour ago by Joshe

[Leo Gura]

55 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

Leo could we attain your level of insight as well?

That's what I am hoping for. But I don't know how insightful y'all can be.

55 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

Or after doing the spiritual work you teach, will we gain abilities enhancing our own genetic strengths?

Yes

[Leo Gura]

22 minutes ago, Joshe said:

Combine all 3 and you get someone who can't be a conformist without significant discomfort. I'd say this is roughly 1-2% of the population - far from 1 in a million. 

I didn't achieve non-conformiry until a few years ago. I noticed a shift in myself once I saw how conformist the mind is.

So it's not something I was born with.

Autonmous is a stage of cognitive development.

You are right in that my personality is suited to it.

[Magnanimous]

34 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Yes

Meaning I'll get an extra 6 inches?