Comments by "michael" (@michaeld4861) on "Big Think" channel.

  1.  @johnscanlan9335  Dude?... Seriously never heard of Sweden, Norway, Denmark. They are all way more socially democratic than the US, all have free healthcare, many EU countries have free education as well as the highest standards of living and rates of happiness in the world.
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  2. This man has been making science and learning fun and approachable for my entire life (well probably longer), what an incredible person. If only more people would listen to him. I just can't understand how we seem to be going backwards into religious indoctrination in this day and age so thoroughly.
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  3.  @leleltea8921  He was critical of authoritarianism in any form. Not socialism.
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  4.  @ThatGuy-zu7ze  Usually you are born into religion. It's quite rare for older people to become religious or change their religion, which makes your statement false lol And even if most religious people were old, that doesn't mean there aren't old people who aren't religious, and those would be the wise ones referenced. Since young people (below 18) don't have any power politically, they are not very relevant when it comes to the reference of religion being used as a social/political tool.
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  5.  @andrewblake2254  When that debate is about the nature of reality it most certainly does.
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  6. Tha'ts what I was wondering. That's insane. I don't know anyone that doesn't live with their parents that can afford to live on 12k a year. I mean you can technically do it, but nobody would ever choose that lifestyle. Hell, the cheapest studio apt is at least $500/month and most are more (I mean in my area, in michigan surrounded by ghettos and farmland). How could someone support 4 people on 26k?
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  7.  @brucefrykman8295  getting out of bed is way different than molboro using doctors to convince you that smoking is health promoting. You moron.
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  8.  @AmazePaulz  They are not saying that it's an insta-cure. But I challenge anyone who is depressed to workout for half an hour or even 20 minutes a day and cut down on meat and dairy and then try to say you don't feel any better. Also, social media and even things like youtube can be significant factors in perpetuating depression or anxiety. It's that dopamine hit seeking habit. I've tried just about every antidepressant known to man but none of them work even half as good as consistent exercise, eating better and cutting down on habits that make you feel worse like social media. There are quite a few studies showing these things as well. I know when you are depressed the last thing you want to do is workout but it's a lot easier if you only commit to small steps like 5 minute workouts or 30 pushups and then once you've started you almost always want to continue. It's not like a full 100% solution but anything that helps by 10 or 20% is a win. Same with things like mindfulness and meditation.
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  9. Am I missing something or does he spend the first half of the video debunking the second half? That's some wicked circular reasoning.
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  10.  @Baj64  Learning is ambition and they are programmed to be masters of that. Can't learn without ambition to do so. Isn't consciousness kinda defined by ambition in a way? I mean even the lowest of lifeforms has the ambition of natural selection, to live, reproduce, advance...
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  11.  @wilsons2882  If this was the case then carnivores would have been the ones to evolve big brains not plant eaters. Starch is what helped the brain grow. Think about it, every great ape eats only plants. Plus if meat helped us evolve we would be more evolutionarily adapted to eating it. It wouldn't give us heart disease and cancer. Carnivores don't get heart disease. When the great apes were learning to use tools and fire suddenly cooked starches (like potatoes) became great sources of calories. (Funny note, there are monkeys in Japan that have learned to cook potatoes in fire after observing humans, and Koko the gorilla could actually start a bon fire using a lighter)
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  12.  @MrWollybot  I totally agree with the other stuff but why can't American's eat healthy? Rice and beans are super healthy and they are practically free. Sweet potatoes, or any potatoes are healthy (just don't drown them in oil and dairy) and cheap. Bananas. carrots, kale, oats. I think I just described half of my diet and all those things are under 99 cents a pound, some way under.
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  13.  @compteofficiel4112  If you seriously think that medical errors (while it is a leading cause of death) kills more people than antibiotics, vaccines, and all medical interventions save then you are lost to the darkside forever I'm afraid.
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  14.  @LiveLXStudios  probably because he ends the video saying that christianity has the answer which is to imagine the best possible person and that's what god is like. So his reasoning, while great in the beginning, comes full circle back to making a point that he already debunked in the beginning of the video. lol
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  15. This is frustrating and painful to watch now after how crazy the last few years have gotten...
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  16. That depends on what you mean by "Peterson" and also what you mean by "thoughts" as well as "informative"......
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  17. If I change my mind or beliefs am I still the same me (self)? Ship of Theseus. I think the eastern notion of ego dissolution has to do with this and the attachments formed to the parts. Anything you identify with in order to define yourself ; job, country, beliefs, hobbies, muscles, money, etc, you will either lose or change at some point in your life and this will inevitably cause great suffering unless you learn to detach from the ego and it's identification with things that are impermanent. Now if only there were an easy way to accomplish this. lol
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  18.  @whitefang238  There is no reason we NEED to use animals for anything let alone food. Only super rare diseases would cause a person to need anything from animals (like carnitine). But then we can just synthesize those and make them into vitamins which are all available online.
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  19.  She’s so Lucky  The ones that allow companies to funnel money through the Cayman Islands for one. lol Ain't nobody fooled by that shit. We all know google and amazon don't make all their money from the 3 people that live in the Cayman Islands.
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  20. How the second guy promotes red meat and seafood I have no idea. Sea creatures are the most densely polluted "food" on the planet. And red meat is a carcinogen. Recognized by the WHO to cause cancer. It's not the 50's anymore dude. It's one thing to eat red meat and seafood but it's totally idiotic to promote them as being health promoting. First guy has some good points though. I don't think most of the depression in our society is caused by a genetic chemical imbalance. That's just pharma propaganda.
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  21. yeah right. with virtual reality porn that can jerk us off in our minds why would we waste time with dancing n shit. lol I think we will get to a point where there are two types of people. The ones that run reality and innovate and the ones that sit at home addicted to the new internet features.... after all, our brains are wired to become addicted to these dopamine hits
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  22.  @adamrules01  This goes back to the saying of "you're ignorance is worth more than my knowledge" (or something like that). Imagine if you were going to have surgery and everyone got to vote on who the surgeon would be, you'd end up with a homeless guy doing your surgery just cause most people voted for that.(That's probably a bad example but still there is a problem when people with no knowledge of an issue get an equal vote and people with no knowledge greatly outnumber people with knowledge.) The problem, I think, is determining who has knowledge or how to sway things so that people with understanding of an issue get at least an equal representation to the ignorant masses.
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  23.  @jochenzimmermann5774  It's even better since humans basically did create dogs, just not from scratch maybe. (selective breeding) People need a god to make them feel better, we just create one. People need a dog to make them feel better, we just create one. Need one that fits in a purse, I'll make one. Need one that looks like a rat mixed with a hairless cat. Coming right up. lol
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  24. Terrible title for the video. It makes it sound like he's advocating FOR unbridled capitalism which is literally the opposite of what he's actually saying.
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  25. If they cannot keep a secret then it is essentially irrelevant whether they would tell us or not. We are human and asking 10,000 humans to keep a secret might as well be asking them to fly.
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  26.  @poopoopeepee42069  In the video Bill explains that fossil fuels are heavily subsidized. They are not really cheaper than other forms of energy, they are just more heavily subsidized to appear cheaper. And other industried don't get the same investment making them more expensive than they would be otherwise. Same with meat and dairy, going to the store it appears like meat and dairy are cheaper than bread but in actuality they are just subsidized and therefore being paid for by taxes before it gets to the store.
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  27. Dave Asprey is a fucking moron. Eating whole sticks of butter every morning will not help your gut or make you healthier!!!!!!!!!!! And neither will his coffee enemas.
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  28. He assumes corporations pay 35% taxes? What?!
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  29.  @AmazePaulz  Nobody is saying that if you eat right and workout you will be a perfect happy human 100% of the time. You are essentially "black and white" -ing this issue. Eating better, especially avoiding dairy and meat, and consistently exercising can have a positive impact. Maybe a good 10-25% increase in mood. Dan Harris has a good book called 10% Happier. It's about meditation. There is never going to be a miracle cure or a quick fix. Pills don't fix depression. They are a band-aid for the brain essentially. A temporary patch for a larger issue. Also, optimism is available to everyone. This is why I like Buddhism so much because it gets you to analyze your own thinking and habits and try to identify when you are being unreasonable. There's a good book called Feeling Good by David Burns (you can find a PDF for free online, it's like 800pages though) that goes into detail about the logical fallacies and thinking errors that people make in depressed states and advocates for a sort of mental analysis when you have habitual or unreasonable negative thoughts. Like trying to be more aware of when your are having negative thoughts and taking a step back to actually think about them instead of just letting them pass though your mind and affect you negatively. It's like a little logical battle with every thought that makes you feel worse and trying to get out of the habit of justifying and reinforcing those thoughts and instead challenging them. Obviously easier said than done and can take years to achieve but that's still better than pharmaceuticals. I for one never want "brain pops" again. The withdrawal for many antidepressants can be shockingly similar to heroin. (minus the brain pops)
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  30.  @davidgoodwin4148  Communism and a dictatorship are actually opposing ideas. Just look up the definitions. Just because I call my cat dog does not make my cat a dog. lol Many dictators use the ideas about increasing equality and the standard of living for all as a way to gain power. Just look at any crooked politician ever. They never once have promised the iron fist of domination to gain power lol
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  31.  @TERRORSPEED  Oh no! What will they do slightly less than 100 million dollars a day? Bahaha
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  32. The military spending money on things to actually help people?!?! I'm genuinely shocked!
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  33. This just confirms that people are god damn morons.
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  34.  @AmazePaulz  There's nothing more arrogant that killing 70 billion just for taste pleasure. Yes, veganism is not a magic panacea, but then again he didn't claim it was. He just said his life changed. For all we know, the only thing that changed in his life is his diet.
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  35. Hold on, the poverty line is $12,760. And for a family of 4 it's $26,200?!??!?!? That's fucking insane. How does someone live by themselves and afford an apartment, food, transportation, clothing, etc. on $12,600? I'm baffled to see that I'm actually over the poverty line, but if I didn't live with my parents I would not be able to survive currently. The cheapest rent in my surrounding areas (the fucking ghetto) is over $500 per month for a studio apartment. That's half of the income right there.
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  36. Nobody is making 15-20% return/year. Pure capitalist propaganda.
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  37. Drugs are just another piece of propaganda that the aristocrats use to divide the people while they run out the back door with all our money and power.
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  38.  @AmazePaulz  Joe Rogan is anti-vegan.....lol but totally agree, Rogan is not a great source for scientific info.
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  39. haha Pinker says "there's no reason to think that AI will naturally evolve in that direction" (talking about subjugating humanity) like dude, we are talking about AI, nothing "natural" about that. Plus are you going to trust the people in power to create an intelligent being that doesn't want to profit off us? Or what if someone hacks it and changes its directive? Like "sorry a russian hacker hacked my AI robot and now all of humanity is doomed" lol Seems like there are a LOT of ways for this to go wrong
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  40. Inventing a time machine to go back and abort Reagan and Milton Friedman would create, as Aladdin would say, a whole new world. At least in the US.
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  41.  @thebman80  I think it would have the opposite effect. It's like drug users that flock to the heroin that kills people. When movies turn into a VR experience where you actually feel like you are in the movie/experience people will flock to that. Especially adrenaline junkies after hearing it's so real people were trampled to death. I mean I wouldn't want a horror experience but it would be awesome to be able to be immersed in Luke Skywalker's experience or something.
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  42. If you want to have more time in your day.... take acid.... slows reality down real good.
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  43. Holy shit! "40% of cops admitted to physically abusing their spouse in the last 6 months"! That is a shocking finding, even for US cops.
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  44. I mean he literally compares it to The Hunger Games...
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