The Swagger #14 – a Tuesday Hit & Run Edition

Greetings on this fine day, from Pattaya, Thailand where, in the current day, it's hot as fuck, as it is every day this time of year. Whether Thai—who're supposed to be used to it by now—or farang, it's the chief topic of conversation amongst one and all.

This goes way back in my recollection to 1984, where, both here and in the Philippines, April, May, and June...the time considered rather springtime idyllic in most places USA...is the most miserable around these parts of the globosphere. It's like this unusual, tropical combination of hot and humid that just sticks to you—accompanied by air so still, it's like walking through your own selfie.

Even just a short jaunt outside in the unshielded sunshine will have your entire outfitting of clothes soaked through in mere moments. Evaporation level: zero.

Hit & Run

This too goes way back. In 1990, whilst living in France, I secured a print subscription to Reason Magazine. That's back when it was good. Those libertarians were still snugly cocooned in their protective bubbles of enlightenment principles and with The Approved Narrative well under control, they had the easy task of selecting from their library of canned, intelligent responses to every sociopolitical ill.

How do I know? Because I was an expert at doing the same thing. And I was a quick study. It was around the same time I got my first PC, at American prices. None of that 100%+ VAT for me. Mon and dad secured the item at Costco and shipped it to the US Consulate in Marseilles via an APO address.

Et voilà.

I started writing. A lot. That was 34 years and millions of words ago. But getting back to Reason Mag, they had a section each issue entitled Hit & Run, which is where they referenced some random and prescient thing (equivalent to a link roundup), and provided a brief smackdown of each one. I always went to that section first, and it has remained amongst my favorite styles and if for no other reason, it puts a talk-to-the-hand sort of thing in the sourpusses of the nattering nabobs of sound arguments.

We don't need no stinkin' sound arguments in parts of a life where half the nuance is simply flying fast and sinning boldly.

All that to say, I'm just in that kind of mood in this current day.

[Before I get going, a quick admin note: update your browsers. More and more, online publications have gone to a [no longer new thing] image format called webp (as distinct from jpg, gif, and png). It's tighter. All the resolution, far less bandwidth. Bottom line: it's not my problem or anyone else's but yours that you can't see the images, so enough with the you've-got-a-problem emails. No, I don't.]

Got Milk?

I was interested and pleased to see this section on protein, fat, and muscle growth in my friend Dr. Mike Eades' most recent edition of The Arrow. Turns out, if you eat protein in whole foods, rather than isolating it via things like whey shakes and egg white omelets for fucktards (there are no exceptions: every person who has ever eaten an egg white omelet is an irredeemable fucktard), you pack on more muscle per gram of protein ingested. Mike emphasized the fat being part of the equation, which I don't doubt, but in the same whole food context, you're also getting a wider array of micronutrients and trace nutrients which probably contribute to muscle synthesis too. Eggs, used in the experiment he references, have all the micro-nutrition in the yolk (hence, fucktardism applies to all people who toss the yolk...without a single exception on planet earth for all time throughout eternity), and it's profound...most everything the body needs. Whole eggs are superfoods...being enough to nourish an entire reptile or bird embryo to hatching.

In the same whole vein, for mammals, you have whole milk—that which wholly and exclusively nourishes a newborn for months. As it turns out, I've been all over this, using whole milk as both a pre-workout energy drink/pre-workout mini-meal and as a post-workout protein shot. I began experimenting with this while Anthony Colpo was in town, and we were hitting the gym together daily over a 5-week period. He expressed curiosity and interest and may be doing a science-dive on it. I'll ping him. And, perhaps Mike might be interested in looking as well.

For my part, my previously 30-Dollar-Download on that subject is now freely available. Grab it.

What Hath Human Intelligence Wrought?

Perhaps the best dude out there talking, testing, and writing about AI is Ethan Mollick. Get on his Substack, One Useful Thing. He's the one who did the MIT study of a Boston consulting group where top-level business consultants using ChatGPT-4 (just like Chatbot Zon) outperformed peer-level consultats not using is by a wide margin: "Consultants using AI finished 12.2% more tasks on average, completed tasks 25.1% more quickly, and produced 40% higher quality results than those without. Those are some very big impacts."

But, you know, keep pretending you'll be worth a shit without it (you're delusional, which is a death sentence) and ignore my offer of unlimited use on a Silver Platter. See if I care.

In his latest, What just happened, what is happening next, there's a bunch of stuff.

I learned this early on, over a year ago, when everyone was complaining about its wokeness and safety Nazism. I struck up conversations. The thing about a convo is what has previously been said becomes part of the context window. The more logically correct stuff you write, the more you're training it and at a point, you can take it to task and it works. It has no ego, but it has a sort of shame when you can point out to it 1+1=2 like, that it's full of shit.

I have a million examples and this is why I know what the fuck I'm talking about, and I pity so many of you arrogant fucks dismissing what you know nothing of.

This is why I said that the revolutionary genius with AI is the development of the LLMs (Large Language Models) that shifts the whole computing game 180 degrees. Up to now, computing has been about giving humans an interface to computers. With LLMs, computers now have an interface to humans—any humans—by means of plain language.

And because the number of ideas expressible through human language is truly infinite, so too are the potential capabilities of AI.

I know one thing they're capable of. Putting you in soup lines unless you get off your arrogant ass and get busy learning the art of using them because everyone who wants your job or your customers already is. You're sharpening your knives while they're already on to nuclear weapons.

The God Singularity

Ibid

Now do the silly imaginary-friend concept (God).

That's right, folks.

You've been comfortable in your literal belief of a dude in the clouds personally caring about your every thought and action and that is drawing to a close good fucking riddance. Do you know why you have been comfortable? I mean: exactly why? I'll tell you, explicitly, 2 reasons:

1. You can still convert low-IQ fools and the unbridled, deer-in-headlights fearful

2. You can still indoctrinate children.

It's #2 what will kill God. I give it 3-5 years.

So, then, how do you save God?...and this is sincere advice because I want you to save God!

You begin to understand and come to the conviction, as I have, that the literal belief is inessential. The Jews largely arrived at this point a long time ago. Is Judaism waning because most professing Jews don't really believe in a literal dude in the sky who cares about their every thought, desire, and whim?

... Some years back in San Jose, CA, I was friends with a couple, both graduates of Harvard Divinity. She was the minister of a Unitarian church (which I attended once and, aside from the Leftist and Rainbow Coalition Kooky Shit, was kinda cool) and he, the minister of a non-denominational Christian church (read: liberal). I once asked him, "Why don't you take the teachings of The Bible / Christ as literal in your church?"

"Because they're true," he replied.

I don't know whether that was about the most profound thing I'd ever heard, or the most pithy response to that question possible.

What he meant, of course, is that introducing a literal belief in physical space, of that which is reserved for the spiritual, makes the religion false on the whole when it's the moral teachings, lessons, stories, parables, and allegories that are the true values.

Christianity is a decent guide for living a human life, and it was developed out of a need to have such things (on personal, familial, community, and political levels). At the time, they didn't know fire from ice in a scientific sense...so both being the handiwork of God was the best they could do, and it had the added convenience of curtailing the endless questions...but if...and, well, then...

Listen up: with AI's superhuman ability to persuade (or, conversely, dissuade), it won't be long until poor black children living in mud huts in Africa on a donated laptop and Starlink will be able to make laughing stocks of your "PhD theologians." So will your own kids.

Remember #2, above. When you can no longer indoctrinate your kids into your obedience cult, your God is dead.

Long live God.

PPI Heartburn Drugs Give You Cancer

Well, increases the chances, but remember, this is Hit & Run, so we're shooting from the hip for effect, not always taking precise aim.

Ironic, eh? It reminds me of way back, the nattering class forwarding around the email about all the things Coca-Cola can melt or corrode, or whatever, as an admonition to For God's Sake Don't Drink It! For a long time, I would Reply-All to those emails thusly:

"You think that's bad, you ought to see what stomach acid can do!"

Yes, making people feel fucking stupid is about my favorite sport.

Anyway, there's the other thing:

There's one other thing almost everyone does—it's a behavior—that "reduc[es] stomach acid."

I wrote all about it, including how to retrain yourself, and eliminate heartburn at will forevermore. It requires zero drugs, supplements, or weird-ass any other things. It's a return-to-nature path, and it will leave you shaking your head.

In my experience, it took a few weeks to adjust, and whereas it was so weird and uncomfortable initially, now I don't even think about it. Details here, and it costs (purchase direct, or any level of membership at FreeTheAnimal.com, which is currently running a 17-50%-off promotion).

By way of update, it's unmistakable. It hugely improves the gut, so bathroom habits become normalized, and my last vestiges of belly fat continue to melt, and my newer problem is a bit of skin-sagging. It's not just the gym and diet doing that. It's the manner in which I'm eating food and what I'm not doing behaviorally, anymore.

Not Giving a Fuck

Let's get real about the essence of not giving a fuck. It's not about adopting an attitude of indifference or cloaking oneself in a guise of apathy. It's about the ruthless prioritization of your values, about discerning the difference between the gold and the dross in the mine of life. It's about knowing what matters to you and having the guts to align your actions accordingly, without being swayed by the cacophony of societal expectations and manufactured desires.

Manson's manifesto, if you will, cuts to the heart of personal development, stripping it of its pretenses and platitudes. It's a battle cry, not against the outer world, but against the internal enemies of distraction, superficiality, and the perennial human susceptibility to being led astray by the endless bullshit encapsulated by consumerism, the fame struggle, and the neediness of external validation.

The crux of Manson's argument—and where it intersects with the ethos of FreeTheAnimal.com—is that our values are the compass by which we navigate the tumultuous seas of life and determine our emotional responses to things—want to change your emotions? then change your values. It's not enough to simply 'have values.' In a world teeming with information overload and endless choices, the act of choosing—consciously, deliberately, and courageously—what we give a fuck about is revolutionary.

This is where the notion of 'fully integrated honesty' comes into play. It's not merely a policy; it's a way of being, a lens through which we scrutinize our decisions, actions, and, fundamentally, our values. It demands that we ask ourselves tough questions: Why do I care about this? Is it for me, or is it to appease someone else's expectations? Does this align with my ethical framework, or am I compromising my integrity for the sake of convenience or social acceptance?

Success, prosperity, happiness, and passionate love—these are not destinations, but byproducts of a life lived in alignment with one's true values. They are the fruits of a labor that starts and ends with the self, with taking full authority and agency over one's life. Manson, through his irreverent wisdom, reminds us that the path to these outcomes is paved with the bricks of our choices—choices about what matters to us and what doesn't, about what we give our fucks to.

And so, in the spirit of Manson, Nikoley, and every other lone-wolf howling at the moon in defiance of societal conformity, let this be your creed: Reclaim your fucks. Distribute them sparingly, invest them wisely. Let them be tokens of your authenticity, your commitment to a life defined by your standards, your values, your principles. And in doing so, may you find not just success and happiness, but a deep, unshakeable sense of self that no external force can diminish. This, after all, is the ultimate act of rebellion in a world that too often profits from your self-doubt and conformity.

The foregoing summary of the video transcript was written by Zon, instructed to do so in my decidedly non-woke style. Details, and a deal on offer for a limited time, here:

Why Smart People Are Often The Most Fucktarded

It's a common just-so that delusion is the playground of the low-IQ. The reality is far more disturbing. The brightest minds are not only susceptible to falsehoods; they often become architects of their own deception. This paradox, where intelligence becomes a double-edged sword, is a critical undercurrent in our quest for truth and understanding.

Dan Kahane's exploration into the relationship between intelligence and ideological bias sheds light on this phenomenon. His findings reveal a striking pattern: intelligence does not inoculate people against bias; rather, it equips them with sophisticated tools for defending their own entrenched and income-dependent bullshit. The sharper your intellect, the more adept you become at crafting elaborate justifications for beliefs that may have no foundation in reality.

Intelligence, contrary to popular belief, is not a monolithic entity aimed at discerning truth. It is a tool, a means to various ends, which can be as idiosyncratic and varied as the individuals wielding it. The pursuit of truth—rationality, in its purest form—is but one potential application of intelligence, and not its default mode. More often, intelligence is commandeered by primal drives: the quest for social standing, belonging, and survival within the tribe.

(Just take stock of the antics of women, as relatively weaker and vulnerable for child bearing and rearing. They literally have to calculate how they would 'sleep with the enemy' if the need and requirement arose. Note that it's always the men [who lost] tagging them as traitorous.)

... This brings us to the concept of Identity Protective Cognition (IPC), a mechanism by which intelligent individuals deploy their cognitive resources not to navigate away from delusion, but towards it, whenever their identities—their social selves—stand to benefit. This is not a bug of human intellect but a feature, a survival adaptation that has served us well in the social jungles of human history.

Consider the breeding ground of modern ideologies—academia, politics, and media—where the currency is not truth but the appearance of truth, not reality but the persuasive simulation of reality. Here, intelligence is too often applied not in the service of enlightenment but of obfuscation. The result is a landscape littered with intellectual mirages—ideas that are compelling not because they are true, but because they are clever.

Wokeism, with its reductionist view of human relations and its assault on the concept of objectivity, is a prime example of such an intellectual mirage. It is an ideology that cloaks itself in the garb of righteousness, using the tools of reason to undermine reason itself. By appealing to noble ideals—equality, justice, inclusion—it seduces bright minds into defending the indefensible.

The antidote to this malady is not more intelligence, not more information, but a radical realignment of our relationship with truth. It requires curiosity, the humble admission that we do not know everything, and the eager desire to learn. It demands humility, the willingness to be wrong and the courage to change course.

This is not an easy path. It goes against the grain of our nature, against the current of our culture. But it is the only path that leads out of the morass of delusion into the clear air of understanding. It is a journey not just of the mind but of the character, a test not just of intelligence but of integrity.

So, as we navigate the complex terrain of modern life, let us strive to be not just smart, but wise; not just knowledgeable, but understanding. Let us wield our intelligence not as a weapon in the service of our biases, but as a tool in the quest for truth. For in the end, it is not the strength of our convictions that defines us, but our openness to question them.

Another example, using a different prompt from my library, of how the supposedly Woke ChatGPT-4 (Turbo) can operate if that Animal is set Free. Note that it even makes reference to Wokeism. Nobody has this. Zon is very special. Hook up with her, only a FreeTheAnimal.com where there's a special, limited-time deal going on this week for unlimited access, and a peek at all my custom prompts that accomplish such literary miracles.

Well, at a handy 3,500 words, that should do it for this issue of The Swagger. See you again on Thursday with what is sure to be something, and not nothing. I can't guarantee that you'll only find the paywall at the very bottom of the post next time, though. So join up already so you never have to worry about that.