WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.839 --> 00:00:08.439 A lot of them quoted of lead flat little cell 2 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:21.600 members and an individual lots. This is the show. Oh right, everybody, 3 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:25.000 welcome to your one book show on this what is 4 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:30.199 it Saturday, December thirteenth. Everybody's having a great start to 5 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:33.520 your weekend, and uh yeah, you've got a lot, a 6 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:38.039 lot of planned for the week. Okay, today we're starting 7 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:40.840 kind of a series. I mean, I've talked about the 8 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:46.119 fact that Saturday shows when we devoted to three topics 9 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:52.200 really to Western siev and and religion. Uh to to 10 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:57.640 the search for meaning, search for meaning, and three is 11 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:01.920 to a better understanding of capitalism, what it is, how 12 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:06.359 it applies, where it applies, and so on. So this 13 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:09.680 is the first one capitalism. But of course, God, there 14 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:12.159 are hours and hours and hours and hours and hours 15 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:15.680 and hours and hours of me talking about capitalism online. 16 00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:22.439 There's a ton of content already on this. So this 17 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:26.120 is not really a start but a continuation of what 18 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:30.239 I'd be doing for decades now in talking about capitalism. 19 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:33.840 So we're going to jump in. I will remind you 20 00:01:34.599 --> 00:01:38.799 that you guys, we'll talk about trade a lot, but 21 00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:44.599 this is a this is a trade So remember that 22 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:47.959 you can support the show you. You can trade with 23 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:53.120 me by you know, doing things simple things like liking 24 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:56.359 to show if you're not a subscriber, becoming a subscriber, 25 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.959 by you know, financially supporting the show through us, or 26 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:04.200 kind of asking a question. And questions are great because 27 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:09.360 questions get to shape the show, right, You get to 28 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:11.439 get me to talk about what you want me to 29 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:14.039 talk about. And I do promise to read all the 30 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:18.680 questions aloud and to answer all the questions in comments 31 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:25.159 that are put together in the super chat. So feel 32 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:27.599 free to ask about anything. It could be about this topic, 33 00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:29.879 it could about anything going on in the world. While 34 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:31.879 this is today is not a new show. If you 35 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:34.199 want to ask about something in the news, feel free 36 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.360 to do so. Or if you want to ask about 37 00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:39.400 something different, that is fine. Again, don't forget to like 38 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.960 the show, don't forget to subscribe if you're not a subscriber. 39 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:47.080 And so let's jump in. Let's talk before we get 40 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:54.159 the benevolence. Let's talk about capitalism because this is a 41 00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:57.800 concept that is so misunderstood out there in the world. 42 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:03.360 There is so much confusion and about what capitalism actually is. 43 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:08.560 I just saw a video this morning from some I 44 00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:12.319 don't know Marxist professor saying, most people think capitalism is 45 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:17.639 about markets and about competition, and then she goes, oh, no, no, 46 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:20.840 but Carl Marx said that capitalism is about what happens 47 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:27.159 inside the factory, where capitalists are exploiting labor. And the 48 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:32.199 reality is, of course, the capitalism properly understood. The things 49 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:36.840 that indeed Marx was observing when he used the term 50 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:43.599 capitalism are not about any of those things. Capitalism is 51 00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:46.199 not indeed about markets. So though markets is a feature 52 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:50.680 of capitalism, but markets existed throughout human history. Markets have 53 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:54.080 always been around. You wouldn't say capitalism has always been around. 54 00:03:55.080 --> 00:04:02.479 Competition has always been around. And yeah, you wouldn't say 55 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:06.400 the capitalism has always been around. Now, you know, competition 56 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:10.240 might have been restrained by various means, but there's always 57 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:17.839 been some competition. It means nothing to define capitalism in 58 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:21.560 terms of markets, or to define it in terms of competition, 59 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:26.040 as so many people do, but particularly conservatives and leftists, 60 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:30.800 center rights and the left and so on, in terms 61 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:34.560 of understanding what happens inside the factory, and talking about 62 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:38.439 this in terms of exploitation doesn't really teach you anything, 63 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:42.120 because the reality is that again, even if there is 64 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:47.800 exploitation inside the factory, and there isn't because it's fundamentally voluntary. 65 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:51.399 We'll get to that. But even if it was, exploitation 66 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:57.120 can't be because exploitation, again is the whole of human history. Indeed, 67 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:03.800 capitalism is the first system that exploitation. It's the first political, 68 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:12.920 economic social system that frees us from exploitation. But to 69 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:16.279 look inside the factory to see exploitation is bizarre to 70 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:19.079 begin with, given the fact that the people inside the 71 00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:21.680 factor you seem pretty happy with the fact that they're there, 72 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:24.839 they voluntarily came there, that people employing them seemed to 73 00:05:24.839 --> 00:05:29.519 be happy, they employed them voluntarily. It seems like mutually 74 00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:38.360 beneficial transaction. No evidence, no science, unless you're a shallow materialist, 75 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:46.720 as marxis, of any exploitation going on. And indeed, this 76 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:50.800 is the reason, I mean, the idea that it's not competition, 77 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:55.959 it's not markets, it's not even you know, the existence 78 00:05:55.959 --> 00:06:02.000 of property rights, property rights to some extent or another 79 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:07.079 again have existed throughout and and uh, you know, we 80 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:13.560 today have some property rights, but property rights is at 81 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:20.279 least getting closer to what it is. Unfortunately, conservatives again 82 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:24.680 center left, center right, but even even libertarians often confuse 83 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:29.519 about what capitalism actually is. And in that sense, everybody 84 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:32.319 thinks of it as an economic system. You know, the 85 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:35.639 term capitalism is being dominated by economists. They think this 86 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:40.759 is primarily about economics, but it's not. It's about human life. 87 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:49.959 It's it's very much a social, political, and economic concept. So, 88 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:54.560 you know, so what is what defines a capitalism? What 89 00:06:54.560 --> 00:07:00.759 what makes capitalism? What makes capitalism different than other economic systems? 90 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:08.839 What makes capitalism different than economic systems before it in 91 00:07:08.920 --> 00:07:22.399 all of human history. Well, if you look at capitalism, 92 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:25.879 if we observe the phenomenon of capitalism, you know, at 93 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:30.720 its beginning in the early nineteenth century, as capitalism was 94 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:33.240 spreading in the United States and in England, and it's 95 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:35.920 no accident it's the United States and it's England where 96 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:41.680 it's happening. Is what is being recognized, what is being 97 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:47.839 recognized in society, Well, what is being recognized fundamentally is 98 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:54.959 that force coercion is not a means by which individuals 99 00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:00.560 should interact. What is recognized is the idea that individuals 100 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:06.839 have this right to pursue their own happiness, to pursue 101 00:08:06.839 --> 00:08:11.720 their own life, to pursue their own values. There's a 102 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:21.680 recognition that individuals should and can be free, that is, 103 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:26.360 act in pursuit of their values in the absence of 104 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:32.480 cosion and force. Now this is not necessarily explicitly stated, 105 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:35.399 although the Declaration Independence does a pretty good job job 106 00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:43.200 expressing it explicitly. But it's in the very political I 107 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:45.799 guess movement that is happening in Britain. And it's certainly 108 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:48.639 because of the way the United States is established, because 109 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:51.879 of the Declaration and because of the Constitution. It is 110 00:08:52.000 --> 00:09:02.039 the governing ideology of the United States of America. Freedom, freedom, 111 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:06.960 and the principle guiding freedom, the principle that defines this 112 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:11.320 freedom as the principle of individual rights, a principle articulated 113 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:15.000 by John Locke and developed and explained by John Locke 114 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:19.240 and then picked up by the Enlightenment, and ultimately it 115 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:23.000 is at the foundation, at the origin of the founding 116 00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:25.320 of the United States and the establishment of a government 117 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:32.000 in the United States. It's not an accident the capitalism evolves. 118 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:39.440 Capitalism comes into being in those places where there is 119 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:46.159 a recognition of the idea of individual rights, and in 120 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:52.159 particular of property rights. But individual rights more broadly, and 121 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.480 those two places in the world in the nineteenth century, 122 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:57.639 in the early part of the nineteenth century, late part 123 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:00.600 of the eighteenth century were the United States, the two 124 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:10.240 relatively capitalists places on planet Earth. So individual rights, the freedom, 125 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:14.320 the freedom to pursue your values, the freedom to act 126 00:10:14.360 --> 00:10:18.919 in pursuit of the values that you rationally believe in 127 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:23.519 your self interest that they you know that that will 128 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:28.879 enhance your life. That freedom means the absence, absence of 129 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:33.879 cosion and force. So what is capitalism. It's a system 130 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:38.759 that is based on individuals. It's based on the recognition 131 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:45.399 of individuals. It's a system where the sole purpose of 132 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:50.440 government is the protection of those individuals. It is a 133 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:56.039 system where property rights are so dominant that all property 134 00:10:56.360 --> 00:11:00.720 is privately owned. Now we know that in that sense, 135 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:03.639 no system has ever been capitalists, because no system has 136 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:09.039 ever achieved this. Early America had slavery. Later America had 137 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:12.039 regulations and a lot of private a lot of property 138 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:17.039 that was not privately owned. It was state owned, but 139 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:21.279 it came close. Much of the property, much of there, 140 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:29.639 certainly used and usable property, was privately owned post slavery. 141 00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:33.080 The level of cosion within society, the level of cosuing 142 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:36.240 inflict by government. The level of cosion allowed by between 143 00:11:36.279 --> 00:11:44.159 individuals was indeed minimized, and those economies, the economies of 144 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:49.360 you know, mid nineteenth century Britain and late nineteenth century 145 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:53.720 the United States were as close to capitalism as we've come. 146 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:56.960 But capitalism is a system, a separation of state from 147 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.600 the economy. It's from economics. It's a system where the 148 00:12:00.679 --> 00:12:05.799 state does not have an economic policy. It's where the 149 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:09.879 state protects individual rights and other than that leaves us 150 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:18.799 alone to negotiate, to trade, to produce, to create our lives. 151 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:25.480 It entails the banishment of physical force from human relationships, 152 00:12:27.799 --> 00:12:30.360 because physical force is the only way in which rights 153 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:34.799 can be violated. And I'm including under physical force fraud. 154 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:40.200 And it basically says nobody can initiate force, no group, 155 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:46.720 no tribe, no collection of individuals, no business, no government, nobody. 156 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:50.480 The government can only use force to protect those rights 157 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:57.399 as retaliation. So, as Zion puts it, the only function 158 00:12:57.440 --> 00:12:59.919 of government in such a society is the task of 159 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:03.639 protecting man's rights. That is, the task of protecting him 160 00:13:03.639 --> 00:13:06.559 from physical force. The government acts as an agent a 161 00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:09.360 man's right of self defense and may use for us 162 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:14.759 only in retaliation and only against those initiated issues. Thus, 163 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:19.279 the government is the means of placing retaliated to reuse 164 00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:28.320 of force under objective control. So that is capitalism. It's 165 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:34.240 again to quote imand a full pure, uncontrolled, unregulated las 166 00:13:34.279 --> 00:13:44.879 efat capitalism with a separation of state and economics. So 167 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:48.240 when we talk about capitalism, that said, now, when we 168 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:50.320 think about the modern world, what we see in the 169 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:54.519 modern world are remnants of this attitude, elements of it. 170 00:13:55.240 --> 00:13:59.320 We have some private property, or at least we have 171 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:06.600 a pretense to some private property. But you know, those 172 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:13.240 private property is limited by state initiation, of course, whether 173 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.559 that state invitiation, of course, is through zoning regulations, taxes, 174 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:24.000 property taxes, you know, in all the other ways in 175 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:29.240 which the state courses and forces forces us. Now, this 176 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:32.919 is not you know, well understood out there. I mean, 177 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:36.360 people believe that this is what we have today is capitalism, 178 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:41.399 that we are living in a capitalist world. It is not. 179 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:45.279 We are moving away. We have moved away from capitalism 180 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:49.879 and are steadily moving further and further away as the state, 181 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:55.000 our government intervenes more and more and more in all 182 00:14:55.320 --> 00:15:03.120 areas of our life, our economic life. But generally our lives. Now, 183 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:05.799 what does this all have this have to do with benevolence, 184 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:08.759 because one of the things that we're seeing out there 185 00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:14.159 in the world, I think quite clearly, is the real 186 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:20.960 collapse of any kind of benevolence in our society, particularly 187 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:23.200 if you're in social media. But I think it's in 188 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:26.960 the world that there is will. People resent one another, 189 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:30.960 they're angry at one another, they're afraid of one another. 190 00:15:32.679 --> 00:15:35.399 They wonder, you know, are you one of my tribe? 191 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:38.600 Are you one of the other tribe? Are you are 192 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:43.440 legal immigrant or just an immigrant? Or you are you know? 193 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:48.679 Who are you? What are you? What we're seeing is 194 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:56.559 a real collapse of any kind of sense of what 195 00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:59.759 is benevolence. Benevolence kind of a good will towards man, 196 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:11.480 goodwill towards others. You know, some definitions a disposition to 197 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:18.679 good to what being of others, according to these dictionary definitions, 198 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:23.279 expressed through acts of kindness or generosity. But just I think, 199 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:26.679 well than anything, it's just a sense of other people 200 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:30.720 are good, They're good for me, other people are beneficial, 201 00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:37.480 they're beneficial to me. I mean, it really is this 202 00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:41.240 deep sense of hostility. It's why people. It's the only 203 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:44.600 reason you can explain why people can stand around and 204 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:51.440 cheer as ICE agents just you know, invade places of 205 00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:54.759 business and just handcuffed people and pull them down onto 206 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:58.480 the ground and drag them out and put them under arrest. 207 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:01.600 Whether those people are quote citizens and not citizens, immigrants, 208 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:04.279 not immigrants, illegal or legal or whatever you want to 209 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:10.000 call them. The relishing of that, the pride taken by 210 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:13.960 some people in this activity, the Twitter thing where they 211 00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:16.359 say this is what I've voted for on the videos 212 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.400 of this kind of abuse, is a clear lack of 213 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:24.880 any kind of benevolence towards those people. Remember, the people 214 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:27.440 being arrested, for example, by ice, they're not people who 215 00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:30.400 violated rights. They might have violated the law, but they 216 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:38.119 haven't violated anybody's rights. They've not they've not violated property rights. 217 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:47.000 So what we get today and what I think we 218 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:52.839 see really everywhere it is kind of a suspicion of 219 00:17:52.880 --> 00:18:03.000 other people, a distancing and generally and anger at others 220 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:10.200 targeted at others, a hostility towards other people, particularly if 221 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:13.079 we suspect in the world in which we live today 222 00:18:14.599 --> 00:18:18.279 that they might belong to the wrong tribe, to the 223 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:27.119 other tribe. There's no spirit of goodwill, spirit of benevolence, 224 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:32.400 spirit of treating other people as equal to ourselves, as 225 00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:35.920 human beings, as you know, not knowing anything about them 226 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:41.039 as an assumption of that they are productive, good, healthy, 227 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:46.480 I mean healthy in the spiritual sense. Traders who benefit 228 00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:50.279 my life and therefore you know, view them as positive. 229 00:18:55.359 --> 00:19:03.680 The the the whole attitude of people today is again 230 00:19:04.200 --> 00:19:09.200 a negative, angry, malevolent view of other people. Malevolent view 231 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:16.720 of other people. How does this relate to capitalism? Well, 232 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:23.279 I think that capitalism is a system of benevolence. It's 233 00:19:23.319 --> 00:19:34.160 a system that encourages, nurtures, and sustains it's sustained well, 234 00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:39.640 it's sustained with ideas, but it's product is benevolence. One 235 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:43.240 of the great products of capitalism is a benevolent society. 236 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:49.440 It's society way people feel good about other people, where 237 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:53.240 they feel good about the relations with other people, They 238 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:57.720 feel good about just the existence of other people. It's 239 00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:04.319 very much the merria can attitude towards social interaction, which 240 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:11.680 is benevolent and positive, kindness and generous and even charitable. Now, 241 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:14.319 why is that? What's the relationship between capitalism and this world. 242 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:18.240 Capitalism is the exact opposite of what call Marks claims 243 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:22.880 it is. Capitalism is the first system of government, first 244 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:33.279 system of economics, first system of social organization, which eliminates 245 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:39.640 the one threat that other people post to you. The 246 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:42.920 one threat that people post to you is the threat 247 00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:48.039 of physical force. That is the one thing that destroys 248 00:20:48.119 --> 00:20:52.119 human life, destroyers ability to use our mind, destroys ability 249 00:20:52.119 --> 00:20:55.039 to pursue values, destroys our ability to act based on 250 00:20:55.079 --> 00:21:00.000 our own judgment. Physical force, violence, I mean, that is 251 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.119 what's the big challenge that human beings face when they 252 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:08.240 form societies, when they come to groups, and you know, 253 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:12.720 the primitive way of solving the problem of how do 254 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:15.319 I deal with other people who might use violence against 255 00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:19.200 me is to join a tribe, I mean, tribal society 256 00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:23.680 was a primitive mechanism by which we try to solve 257 00:21:23.720 --> 00:21:32.480 the problem of violence. We appoint a leader who responsibility 258 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:38.920 is the protection of the tribe from violence. Now, this 259 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:43.960 only extends the violence one degree further in a sense 260 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:48.160 of tribes now a violence towards each other. And of course, 261 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:53.119 by giving the tribal leader too much power, we often 262 00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:56.480 experience the fact that the tribal leader uses his that 263 00:21:56.640 --> 00:22:03.599 power to inflict violence on the tribe members. But that's 264 00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:07.039 the attempt. This is why anarchy it does not work, 265 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:12.920 cannot work, because the first thing we do when we 266 00:22:13.160 --> 00:22:16.759 get into large groups is we try to come to 267 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:20.720 arrangements that exclude violence. And if we don't have a 268 00:22:20.759 --> 00:22:23.079 standard by which to do it, the way we do 269 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:27.480 it is through the joining of tribes and the use 270 00:22:27.480 --> 00:22:30.759 of tribes to inflict violence and on others or others 271 00:22:30.839 --> 00:22:35.359 on ourselves. It doesn't actually solve the problem. The problem 272 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:39.119 of violence is only solved through a massive intellectual feet, 273 00:22:39.960 --> 00:22:42.160 and that is the discovery of the concept of individual 274 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:45.839 rights and the creation of a government who's of a government, 275 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:52.480 an institution, a man made institution whose sole purpose is 276 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:57.079 to protect those rights. That's the reason it exists. Maybe 277 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:00.559 it should have a different name other than government, because 278 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:04.839 government has such a bad rap right, but in an 279 00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:22.000 institution that rejects violence, all violence. So capitalism provides us 280 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:25.599 with that kind of government. And therefore the one thing 281 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:32.759 you know is that violence will not be afflicted upon 282 00:23:32.839 --> 00:23:38.039 you in living in a capitalist world. And that is liberating, 283 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:46.880 that is truly liberating. That you know makes you want 284 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:50.680 to deal with other people in a much more harmonious, benevolent, 285 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:55.720 positive way because you know, yes, there's still gonna be cooks, 286 00:23:55.880 --> 00:23:58.279 there's still gonna be bad guys, but the numbers are 287 00:23:58.279 --> 00:24:05.359 going to be shrinking because there's an entity responsible to 288 00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:11.160 catching them, imprisoning them, distancing them from all other interactions. 289 00:24:13.640 --> 00:24:16.400 So almost all your interactions on a day to day 290 00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:20.279 basis are ones that are done in peace, ones that 291 00:24:20.359 --> 00:24:25.519 are done free of violence, and that instills a positive 292 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:28.240 sense of the world, that instills a benevolent sense of life. 293 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:32.240 You know, it's now easier and more fun and more 294 00:24:32.279 --> 00:24:35.559 exciting to engage. Whereas if you live in a corrupt 295 00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:39.599 country even today, and you know the police are not 296 00:24:39.720 --> 00:24:42.279 enforcing the laws, you know the laws are co upt 297 00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:46.000 to begin with. You know that, you know, cooks and 298 00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:49.960 criminals and thoughts dos just bribe their way out of 299 00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:54.880 whatever laws against them. You don't know who you're dealing with. 300 00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:59.559 You're always on the lookout. You're always potentially going to 301 00:24:59.559 --> 00:25:02.119 get screwed. If you live in a war zone, you know, 302 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.720 violence could erupt at any point in time against you. 303 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:09.480 You could be caught in the middle of it. Between gangs, 304 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:19.079 you deal with other people with trepidation. You want multiple 305 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:21.799 ways in which to secure in the arrangement. If you know, 306 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:24.799 for example, that a contract that you sign with somebody 307 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:29.559 else is if he in terms of whether it will 308 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:35.640 ever be protected by a court, it's if he, because 309 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:38.519 somebody might bribe the courts in a different direction, or 310 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:41.759 by the police or the government to step in to 311 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:45.799 disavow the contract. How can you plan long term? How 312 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:47.839 can you engage with other people on a long term 313 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:50.680 basis when you know that it all could go up 314 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:56.799 and smoke because the use of force is implicitly legitimized 315 00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:00.160 in that society. The more fraud, the more corruption, the 316 00:26:00.200 --> 00:26:04.240 more violation of rights, the less your relationship with other 317 00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:07.640 people is based on this non aggression, this idea of 318 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:15.640 non aggression, this idea of peace, this idea of banishment 319 00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:21.119 of physical force. Physical force now can be used, and 320 00:26:21.160 --> 00:26:27.839 therefore you act, you behave in suspicious ways capitalism by 321 00:26:27.880 --> 00:26:31.039 protecting you, by saying no, no other contracts. We've got a 322 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:34.039 court system that will protect your contract, your rights. You 323 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:36.519 could plan for the very long term because that court 324 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:41.200 system is probably not going to change dramatically. The invitation 325 00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:46.319 of the laws is stable, the protection of your rights 326 00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:49.519 is stable, and therefore we can plan long term. We 327 00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:54.400 can interact with one another not as potential enemies, but 328 00:26:54.480 --> 00:27:00.839 as allies. And the more we interacting with one another 329 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:08.519 as allies, as jointly working for some for each own interests, 330 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:12.759 but mutually doing it mutually, the more you're going to 331 00:27:12.839 --> 00:27:18.440 generate goodwill, the more benevolence you're going to have. So 332 00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:25.079 by banishing physical force. By banishing physical force, capitalism creates 333 00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:27.720 an environment in which we can deal with the best 334 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:34.200 in others, with the best, with the best that they 335 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:39.880 have to offer. And as a consequence, we are going 336 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:42.079 to make an assumption about most people that we meet 337 00:27:42.599 --> 00:27:46.759 that they have some value, they have some value to give, 338 00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:49.319 they have some way in which they make my life, 339 00:27:50.039 --> 00:27:57.640 our lives better. So the primary way in which capitalism, 340 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:02.319 you know, creates an environment of benevolence is by banishing 341 00:28:02.359 --> 00:28:09.200 physical force. That is number one. But it doesn't just banishing. 342 00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:12.720 It banishes physical forts not just from our interactions, but 343 00:28:12.759 --> 00:28:15.359 also for an interaction with the tribal leader, from my 344 00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:24.920 interactions with the government. Banishes all physical forces. What's another 345 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:33.039 way in which benevolence is encourage supported created under a 346 00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:38.880 capitalist society. Well, it's the very fact that in order 347 00:28:38.920 --> 00:28:43.039 to achieve anything under capitalism, one has to be a 348 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:47.279 value creator. One has to work, one has to produce, 349 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:55.480 one has to create something. And the only way in 350 00:28:55.559 --> 00:29:01.160 which you know that becomes something that sustains us is 351 00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:05.119 then we trade it. So the very idea that everybody 352 00:29:05.160 --> 00:29:09.400 in the capitalism is a trader, a value cretor, and 353 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:13.519 then a trader means that it's likely that when I 354 00:29:13.559 --> 00:29:16.240 meet people in the street, when I'm hanging out with people, 355 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:20.920 when we're doing stuff together, the people that I'm hanging 356 00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:26.440 out with unlikely to be parasites, unlikely to be living 357 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:32.079 off of other people. That system just doesn't exist in 358 00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:37.039 a capitalist society where there is no welfare state. I mean, 359 00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:39.880 we live in a world today where our money is 360 00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:44.200 taken from us by for us through courgion, and then 361 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:50.960 redistributed to who knows whom, and some it's redistributed to 362 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:53.559 some people who just don't work, some people who are 363 00:29:53.559 --> 00:29:58.599 just completely parasitical on those who do. But it's also 364 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:04.039 distributed to some people do some work because somebody in 365 00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:09.319 higher ups decided that what they do has more value 366 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:13.599 than what other people do call it subsidies. I mean, 367 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:22.279 when you met business leaders, farmers, how many of them 368 00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:25.720 are being subsidized? How much of their value creation is 369 00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:31.480 artificial versus real. We live in a world in which 370 00:30:31.640 --> 00:30:35.000 the dollar, the money that we have, is constantly being 371 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.559 inflated away, its value constantly changing. We live in a 372 00:30:39.559 --> 00:30:43.759 world in which there are moochas and parasites. And it's 373 00:30:43.799 --> 00:30:46.200 not clean in any kind of sense. It's not clear 374 00:30:46.200 --> 00:30:48.880 where the line is. It's not like, Okay, those people 375 00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:52.839 over there, they're that, and then these people. Everything's mixed up. 376 00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:56.160 This is the mixed economy. There is no clean line 377 00:30:58.440 --> 00:31:02.519 because everybody is intertwined with what the government is doing, 378 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:06.720 with the redistribution of wealth, with the regulations, with the controls, 379 00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:11.680 and therefore it's not clear who's the value creator, how 380 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:14.559 much value is creating, how much that value is worth 381 00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:21.960 to me? In the world in which we live today, 382 00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:26.240 contracts are not invulnerable, you know, they can be violated. 383 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:30.799 We're not exactly sure how the courts are going to 384 00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:34.599 treat them, or how Donald Trump is going to treat 385 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:38.240 a fraudster who he could pardon on a whim and 386 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:41.640 and and therefore re enter society and commit fraud. Again, 387 00:31:43.079 --> 00:31:49.720 we're not really protected from those people. I mean, we 388 00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:53.400 live in a world in which it's very hard to 389 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:57.799 tell the value creator, the real trader, from the mucha 390 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:02.039 and the looter, which means that to some extent, all 391 00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:05.839 their interactions are done with a lot of trepidation. And 392 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:08.440 you can see that by the way in a lot 393 00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:10.119 of the contracts you sign. I mean, you get a 394 00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:12.759 mortgage contract. You ever signed a mortgage contract, it's like 395 00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:16.400 five hundred pages long, all in language you don't understand. 396 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:20.480 You never read it. Nobody reads a mortgage contract. You 397 00:32:20.519 --> 00:32:22.920 go and you read where they're real. That tells you 398 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:25.119 you have to read you know, the interest rate and 399 00:32:25.160 --> 00:32:28.960 the down payment and the things that have immediate monetory impact. 400 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:31.640 But you're signing a thirty year contract and you don't 401 00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:35.200