• Your dopamine reserves are like a pool with waves. Throw too much in at the same time and it can slosh out.
• Much more difficult to replenish dopamine from zero than from low.
• NSDR has a huge impact on replenishing

• There's a problem with relying on dopamine - it's short lived and we quickly acclimate to it.

• In the early part, where they talk about Dom Hoffman/simulation theory etc., it becomes really clear that Balaji isn't an expert on everything - in that his "answer" is saying he's more into "hard science" and that because we can make fake eyes, that means subjective experiences/qualia can be engineered in a universal way - completely avoids the subject rather than probing to understand it more.

• We see the child prodigy story and think "I should do that for my child - it's a trajectory."
• In fact, the narrow focus approach doesn't work.

• Foucault and Derrida - took a critical approach to the history of western philosophy.
• Both interested in how Christian logic was used to make absolute claims about truth and power.
• Peterson ascribes a lot of modern cultural problems to postmodernism and these guys.

- “At best he’s wrong. at worst he hasn’t read these guys”.

• Started in the 60s
• Massive in Spain
• Tons of celeb players
• One of fastest growing sports

• Really really interesting stuff. The trauma/infant attachment/parental losing of intuition stuff seems correct to me, particularly having read his book. At the same time, I feel he doesn't do a great job at addressing some of the questions, and repeatedly leans on the "aboriginals /hunter gatherers do it this way" as the source of his authority, which feels weak. Tom asks about tantrums at one point and he mentions that you should allow kids to express their anger rather than teaching them that you'll only love and respond to them under certain conditions and emotional states. I would've loved to hear Tom ask about obviously-manipulative behaviour children engage in to get what they want, and how to be responsive without rewarding, which is to me where the interesting stuff lies.
• Book - the myth of normal
• Rheumatoid arthritis - avg profile tends to be super conscientious, suppress healthy anger, some more stuff <- strong claim. Claim is that rheumatoid arthritis is the result of adaptive response.
• We have to connect. But we also have to be in touch with our emotions and be true to them, and to be in relationships where we can do that.
• Lots of people grew up in a house where your honest emotions are not accepted by your parents.
• Not a fan of Jordan Peterson - “he says children should be made to sit alone until they come back to “normal”.
• If a child experiences healthy normal anger, but gets the message that he’ll be excluded for expressing that, they’ll adaptively repress the anger.
• When you suppress your emotions, you suppress your immune system.
• The lungs evolved as an expectation to oxygen. humans evolved as hominids as expectations for certain conditions. The less society meets those conditions, the more toxic it is. <- This sounds pretty close to many of the things I’ve written.

• Really really high-insight and should return to this again and again
• Figure out your Vo2 max and be in the top 5 percentile.
• "Until you have your exercise house in order, worrying about supplelments/diet is stupid."

Fascinating insight into how Mr Beast’s machine works

• Rails app that can do a billion requests per day

• Insulin - doesn't just partition calories into fat, also shuts off the use of fat for fuel.

• "People vary greatly in their need for intimacy & closeness & these differences create clashes"
• 4 attachment styles: "Secure, Anxious, Avoidant, Disorganized"
• We're told that the ideal relationship is between two self-sufficient individuals.
• But
• "Codependency" - has become a buzzword.
• "Our need to share our lives with someone is part of our genetic makeup"
• Once we choose a partner there is no question about whether dependency exists or not - it always does.
• In order to have a strong survival advantage it was very beneficial for a couple to become one psychological unit.
• "We've been bred to be dependent on a significant other. The need starts in the womb and ends when we die"
• "There's no such thing as co-dependency, just effective and ineffective dependency" - Sue Johnson.
• The dependency paradox: Most people are only as needy as their unmet needs.
• Numerous studies have shown that dependency leads to independence.
• If people would become better at communicating their needs & feelings we'd likely see more relationships where people's needs aren't being met.

• "We're overfed & under nourished"
• "Beauty & health are different. "
• "Diseases of civilization"
• "60% of calories from processed foods"
• If you say "Eat until you're full" with processed foods, people will on average eat about 500 calories past what's recommended.
• "Mouthwash is a major problem"
  • Nukes nitric oxide which is key in regulating
  • Anyone who uses mouthwash twice a day is 2x as likely to develop type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
• "Exercise is as powerful as medicine for regulating blood pressure" Dental
• Floss & brush daily, eat evolutionarily appropriate diet.

• "When you hire, you generally hire from interns"
• "Any intern that could afford to take 3 months off college is gonna come from a wealthy background."
• "So all the people you hire are at a high level socioeconomically"
• "By paying interns you get a more diverse group of people come in."
• "Before was diversity for diversities sake - let's hire a woman - We realized we weren't changing the system."
• "Which also often put them in a difficult position - now they feel the responsibility to represent"

• Scenarios

  • Russian Victory Scenario: Militarily Russia retains enough hardware, occupies Eastern half of Ukraine. Anything east of Kyiv is unlikely to be retained.
  • "Russian gas continues to flow into Europe"
  • "In the future the Russians are relying on their arctic ports for their gas/energy"
  • "We're seeing the final economic decoupling of Russia from Europe. Will remain a petrostate. Will build pipelines to Chinese markets"
  • "China has the resources to bail out Russia if needed".
  • In this scenario, China is emboldened, likely takes Taiwan in the next 3 years.
  • China supports Russia from economic sanctions
  • Putin popularity soars.
  • Scenario 2: Stalemate
  • Ukraine becomes "Syria of Europe"
  • Sanctions cause pain, but not enough to withdraw. Proxy groups end up involved with states affiliated but not taking responsibility.
  • Massive refugee crisis. Like Yugoslavia but much worse.
  • Russian Loss
  • Putin would probably still retain power.
  • State would probably also survive. But become closer to China - cut off from west.

• SB: My expectation currently is that I don't think Ukraine will militarily stand for 3 weeks, and Putin won't fall from power in that time.

• Western media saying "Putin's government falls because of sanctions" - Samo doesn't think so.

• Civil war in a nuclear-armed country is something the world really doesn't need.

• "Russia & Ukraine are relatively older populations. For the first time we may see a real manpower shortage."

• Putin won't be toppled by financial oligarchs.

• Putin loses power if he is perceived to have lost the war. In this scenario it could drag on for years.

• Germany might literally not be able to hire back the team to reopen the nuclear plants.

• Russia has been fighting wars for the last 10 years.

• Foreign fighters would make a big difference for either side. "Dying in a war has historically been young men. Ukraine doesn't have many"

• "Contrarian argument for why Northern Ireland is more peaceful now - population is older."

• Crimea 2014 - no insurgency since then. Probably the majority wanted to be part of Russia.

• If you're a Ukrainian nationalist, your best hope is for an Eastern European country to get involved. If Poles come in, for example, Russia has run simulations over going into Poland with nuclear warheads.

• Re: Nuclear: What does "honor and justice" mean if hundreds of millions die? Not applicable as an argument.

• "School never clicked. I never wanted to learn"
• "Filmmaking was the moment I fell in love with learning."
• "Education has changed, just like filmmaking has changed"