This week I’ve got something a little different for you. My team and I have been thinking up new bonus features for our paying subscribers, and we decided to return to an idea we’ve tried out a couple times before. Either Mark (my editor) or Nikita (my creative director) will put together material on a topic that I know little about and have me react to it. These episodes will feature looser, more exploratory conversations than a typical TGS installment. We’re making this one available to everyone on Friday, but subsequent episodes will be behind a paywall.
I also thought of the dystopian fiction of JG Ballard--books like 'High Rise' or 'Super-Cannes'--which depict, even without a nuclear exchange, societies of perfectly comfortable or even very wealthy and skilled people giving in to weird hierarchies, violence, and perversion. Particularly the idea of a Pacific island bought up and peopled with billionaire effective altruists. Many Ballardian possibilities there. Anyway, enjoyed the discussion very much--thanks gents.
Glenn, regarding the question of who's calling the shots and actually running the country behind the scenes, I think we should seriously contemplate the possibility that it's her.
Sleep with a calm conscience, it wasn't your fault that SBF face planted 😂
As someone who was just outside of the inner circle of SBF's political operations, I can say that the island national idea wasn't ever something they actually planned to do, more a thought experiment of the kind that EA people are prone to that ended up being treated seriously by the press.
This was a debate of historic proportions why in the blazes would the conversation get cut off to talk about bunkers???? As interesting as that is for a separate conversation... Based on the scant time spent then abruptly cut off comments you all were making about the debates that content is woefully insufficient. Please ask Glen to devote appropriate time to the most important election among the the last 5 elections represented by this debate
I'm saying we both read the comments here, but if there's any housekeeping to do, I do it. If there's a potential issue (which there rarely is) I'll bring it to Glenn's attention, just to make sure he saw it.
Got it Thank you ..I followed through listening to your conversation with Glen on giving where he explains he's experimenting with bonus content which you clearly participate in... I like to know who the author of any content I listen to is so thanks for clarifying... ugh
I guess this particular episode came into my inbox as if from Glen Loury. But it's your podcast... you being Mark Sussman. I'm confused. What I listened initially with Glen featured in the video clip opened with billionaire's scrambling for bunkers to hide in...while this one starts off with commentary on the debate?? Are there two episodes featuring Glen in the opening video where one begins with commentary on the debate and later gets into bunkers. I apologize I happen to get the bunker story when it dropped then it seemed more commentary about the debate... but Glenn opened with "this is going to be a different kind of content" launching then into the bunkers. So this isn't a Glen Loury piece?? Sorry for the confusion in my part.
No, this is an episode of The Glenn Show. It's just formatted a little differently. Going forward, episodes like this one will be released as bonuses, behind the paywall. I don't have a podcast of my own.
Hey Mark You or Glenn’s book people need to send Joe the audio version of Glenn’s book then get Glenn on Joe Rogan for one of Joe’s 3 hour tours. Joe’s a great guy and I don’t have any doubt once he hears Glenn’s book he’ll put him on. You gotta do it!!!!
I have a friend who knows some of these people and has heard them talk about people they judge to be "below" them - even though they - unthinkingly - rely on these people for the maintenance of their standard of living - or even to live, period. Their attitude is the same as that of the French nobility in 1789 - "Your Majesty, the peasants have no bread... Marie Antoinette: Then let them eat cake." They're absolutely clueless about those who are "under the radar". They could not begin to fix a toilet - and they pride themselves on never having done any sort of manual labor, indeed they are proud of their ignorance and lack of skills. Not only do they have this ignorance, they express cold contempt for those they consider below them, they ridicule them. "Thinking themselves to be wise, they have become fools" applies exactly to them. In a survival situation, once people figured out who they were, they'd be hunted down and killed, bunker or no bunker. They might be wise to inscribe a grave marker on their bunkers - "Here Lies One Of The Elite And His Family Who Brought About The Ruin Of Civilized Society - May They Rot In Peace" and giving of course their names and dates...
As for gold, during the Siege of Vicksburg a loaf of bread went for one ounce of gold... and the existence of billionaires and their ownership of resources only lasts so long as civilized society with the rule of law and the notion of property rights exists. When those go away, then it comes down to a question of ability to project force, and lone wolf billionaires will not long survive the communities who oppose them - and perhaps desire to bring them to some sort of rough justice.
The concrete example - have any of you actually laid concrete? Even in small 80 pound bags, maybe enough for a cubic foot - 27 cubic feet in a yard of concrete, btw - it's hard work to deal with it. Get it on you, and you'd better have lots of water - it burns. And then you have to have water to keep it moist while it cures - and you're looking at 28 days for a good cure to make strong concrete which doesn't crack or spall - and then there has to be rebar in it, and you'd better not have any cracks next to the rebar, because that will destroy whatever you've built. I put in two concrete walks five years ago, and I can tell you it's not simple to do a good job - and it's damned hard work.
As for psychological trauma in a survival situation, my landlady when I moved to Kansas City in 1992 turned out to be a member of the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance Forces, but also a survivor of Auschwitz - and then the Soviet occupation. Luckily, I spoke fluent German at the time, so when I'd pay rent, she'd serve me milk and cookies and we'd talk - mostly just me listening - to her talk about her experiences. It's too bad the Holocaust Museum people only interviewed her in English - they missed a lot of what happened. Her motivation in the Ghetto was survival and to kill as many Germans as possible, and what got her through Auschwitz was to survive and be a witness to what had happened. There were definitely suicides in both places, too.
And then, so far as I'm concerned, the conversation goes off the rails - any governments left would be hunted down with dogs and dealt with, and their memory would live in infamy. "I'm here from the government ... " would be their last words.
Thank you Nikita for bringing in the words of the Russian woman who describes the mental health of the sociopaths that run Russia, and other countries as well, I would add. A securely attached individual (parenting and environmental factors matter greatly and are not frequently discussed seriously) has a capacity for resilience unlike those who register 'ambivalent' or 'disorganized' attachment histories. These attachment patterns will play out in how humanely, or not, humans respond to doomsday scenarios. Let's continue, with more fervor, to support 0-3 education, and young families, to grow psychologically healthier humans.
And, "When everyone thinks alike, everyone is likely to be wrong." This thought surfaced during today's conversation, and is a favorite quote. For fifteen years I worked as a postpartum doula in Seattle, often in the homes of some of Seattle's most famous tech billionaires, with repeat engagements. Here's what I have learned; they are humans, like the rest of us, who have a tendency to live in a rich person's bubble, and they like to keep up with the billionaire Joneses, kind of like the rest of us too, proportionality moderated. Many of them are quite likable, even lovable, and they are very, very intelligent, but not necessarily about emotions.
What do nuclear launch codes and a turtle head have in common? JOE Biden.
The public has been ghosted for years about Bidens condition, international relations covid, race relations, university management's.
As long as they have progressive white women vote, this will be the direction we will be heading. You can't fix this.
Doomsday bunkers:
Today the average nuclear weapon is about 200 kiloton and a very efficient. No where the amount of radiation produced like the 2 Japanese bombs. Any nuclear exchange will begin in the northern hemisphere, and that is what makes New Zealand look so good for a bunker. Plus they can produce all the food they will need. However, living in those bunkers will be like being a farmer in So.Africa or Zimbabwe. The savages will just wait you out or kidnap one of your group who will be tortured until you open the door. The rule of thumb is, don't live anywhere someone can't hear you scream.
Your greatest asset will be you community and your neighbors. If something horrible does happen the political and police situation will be similar to Hurricane Katrina. No one is coming to help you and the authorities want your guns and food.
Our leaders will want to stay in power and lead people that no longer want to hear a word they have to say.
Gold: gold is like a pistol, you don't pull that out unless things really have gone bad.
Wealth disparity: This will always be with us as long as we let the masses be competitive. This is a 2 edge sword, as this will put a man on the moon and everyone gets a cellphone. If everyone is equal, you'll be lucky to get a few turnips to live off.
Going to another star system:
It's much cheaper to patch up thing here, and besides, why would they take you? You don't know how to do shit.
FTX scam: wealthy people can be stupid also. There is a sucker born every minute.
Proper Idology: Ask John, "The American Kapo" about this one. Here is a self confessed elite, sophisticated, educated, academic, that would stand by, while a mother with a child would thrown into a ditch and shot, if it meant that a certain person would not be the next president.
As to "survival bunkers" - what happens when something breaks? Suppose you don't have a spare part and you have to make one? From what? How? These people don't think about the systems which keep things going - and the information, knowledge, and skills needed... As to "internet access", the person talking about that is ***not*** serious. Just think about the effects of nuclear weapons on the ionosphere, the effects of massive overvoltages on electrical components - let alone silicon, the limitations of optoelectronic couplers - and the highly probable Kessler Syndrome. Come on, man.
And no, the US isn't a democracy and hasn't ever really been so - nor a republic, either:“The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.”
― Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time, 1965.
“The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalistic fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the worlds central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence co-operative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world.” Ibid.
This was an enjoyable episode, and I like this idea of occasionally exploring offbeat topics. Thanks group!
Worry about Putin or do u mean Biden???
You can not ever nuke the human condition. That condition is not going away no matter who comes out of the bunker
This conversation kept bringing 'Dr. Strangelove' to mind. "Mr. President, we must not allow a mine shaft gap!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSzoLCCX-Y
I also thought of the dystopian fiction of JG Ballard--books like 'High Rise' or 'Super-Cannes'--which depict, even without a nuclear exchange, societies of perfectly comfortable or even very wealthy and skilled people giving in to weird hierarchies, violence, and perversion. Particularly the idea of a Pacific island bought up and peopled with billionaire effective altruists. Many Ballardian possibilities there. Anyway, enjoyed the discussion very much--thanks gents.
Glenn, regarding the question of who's calling the shots and actually running the country behind the scenes, I think we should seriously contemplate the possibility that it's her.
https://x.com/FLOTUS/status/1402674407324229637
Mark,
Sleep with a calm conscience, it wasn't your fault that SBF face planted 😂
As someone who was just outside of the inner circle of SBF's political operations, I can say that the island national idea wasn't ever something they actually planned to do, more a thought experiment of the kind that EA people are prone to that ended up being treated seriously by the press.
This was a debate of historic proportions why in the blazes would the conversation get cut off to talk about bunkers???? As interesting as that is for a separate conversation... Based on the scant time spent then abruptly cut off comments you all were making about the debates that content is woefully insufficient. Please ask Glen to devote appropriate time to the most important election among the the last 5 elections represented by this debate
Are you saying you monitor Glen Loury's comments for him or do you have your own separate Substack ?
I'm saying we both read the comments here, but if there's any housekeeping to do, I do it. If there's a potential issue (which there rarely is) I'll bring it to Glenn's attention, just to make sure he saw it.
Got it Thank you ..I followed through listening to your conversation with Glen on giving where he explains he's experimenting with bonus content which you clearly participate in... I like to know who the author of any content I listen to is so thanks for clarifying... ugh
I guess this particular episode came into my inbox as if from Glen Loury. But it's your podcast... you being Mark Sussman. I'm confused. What I listened initially with Glen featured in the video clip opened with billionaire's scrambling for bunkers to hide in...while this one starts off with commentary on the debate?? Are there two episodes featuring Glen in the opening video where one begins with commentary on the debate and later gets into bunkers. I apologize I happen to get the bunker story when it dropped then it seemed more commentary about the debate... but Glenn opened with "this is going to be a different kind of content" launching then into the bunkers. So this isn't a Glen Loury piece?? Sorry for the confusion in my part.
No, this is an episode of The Glenn Show. It's just formatted a little differently. Going forward, episodes like this one will be released as bonuses, behind the paywall. I don't have a podcast of my own.
Glen, do you edit out comments you don’t like?
I monitor the comment section. No one deletes comments just because they're unflattering or critical. Hardly any comments get deleted.
Hey Mark You or Glenn’s book people need to send Joe the audio version of Glenn’s book then get Glenn on Joe Rogan for one of Joe’s 3 hour tours. Joe’s a great guy and I don’t have any doubt once he hears Glenn’s book he’ll put him on. You gotta do it!!!!
I have a friend who knows some of these people and has heard them talk about people they judge to be "below" them - even though they - unthinkingly - rely on these people for the maintenance of their standard of living - or even to live, period. Their attitude is the same as that of the French nobility in 1789 - "Your Majesty, the peasants have no bread... Marie Antoinette: Then let them eat cake." They're absolutely clueless about those who are "under the radar". They could not begin to fix a toilet - and they pride themselves on never having done any sort of manual labor, indeed they are proud of their ignorance and lack of skills. Not only do they have this ignorance, they express cold contempt for those they consider below them, they ridicule them. "Thinking themselves to be wise, they have become fools" applies exactly to them. In a survival situation, once people figured out who they were, they'd be hunted down and killed, bunker or no bunker. They might be wise to inscribe a grave marker on their bunkers - "Here Lies One Of The Elite And His Family Who Brought About The Ruin Of Civilized Society - May They Rot In Peace" and giving of course their names and dates...
As for gold, during the Siege of Vicksburg a loaf of bread went for one ounce of gold... and the existence of billionaires and their ownership of resources only lasts so long as civilized society with the rule of law and the notion of property rights exists. When those go away, then it comes down to a question of ability to project force, and lone wolf billionaires will not long survive the communities who oppose them - and perhaps desire to bring them to some sort of rough justice.
The concrete example - have any of you actually laid concrete? Even in small 80 pound bags, maybe enough for a cubic foot - 27 cubic feet in a yard of concrete, btw - it's hard work to deal with it. Get it on you, and you'd better have lots of water - it burns. And then you have to have water to keep it moist while it cures - and you're looking at 28 days for a good cure to make strong concrete which doesn't crack or spall - and then there has to be rebar in it, and you'd better not have any cracks next to the rebar, because that will destroy whatever you've built. I put in two concrete walks five years ago, and I can tell you it's not simple to do a good job - and it's damned hard work.
As for psychological trauma in a survival situation, my landlady when I moved to Kansas City in 1992 turned out to be a member of the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance Forces, but also a survivor of Auschwitz - and then the Soviet occupation. Luckily, I spoke fluent German at the time, so when I'd pay rent, she'd serve me milk and cookies and we'd talk - mostly just me listening - to her talk about her experiences. It's too bad the Holocaust Museum people only interviewed her in English - they missed a lot of what happened. Her motivation in the Ghetto was survival and to kill as many Germans as possible, and what got her through Auschwitz was to survive and be a witness to what had happened. There were definitely suicides in both places, too.
And then, so far as I'm concerned, the conversation goes off the rails - any governments left would be hunted down with dogs and dealt with, and their memory would live in infamy. "I'm here from the government ... " would be their last words.
Thank you Nikita for bringing in the words of the Russian woman who describes the mental health of the sociopaths that run Russia, and other countries as well, I would add. A securely attached individual (parenting and environmental factors matter greatly and are not frequently discussed seriously) has a capacity for resilience unlike those who register 'ambivalent' or 'disorganized' attachment histories. These attachment patterns will play out in how humanely, or not, humans respond to doomsday scenarios. Let's continue, with more fervor, to support 0-3 education, and young families, to grow psychologically healthier humans.
And, "When everyone thinks alike, everyone is likely to be wrong." This thought surfaced during today's conversation, and is a favorite quote. For fifteen years I worked as a postpartum doula in Seattle, often in the homes of some of Seattle's most famous tech billionaires, with repeat engagements. Here's what I have learned; they are humans, like the rest of us, who have a tendency to live in a rich person's bubble, and they like to keep up with the billionaire Joneses, kind of like the rest of us too, proportionality moderated. Many of them are quite likable, even lovable, and they are very, very intelligent, but not necessarily about emotions.
This one is quite a bit to unwind.
What do nuclear launch codes and a turtle head have in common? JOE Biden.
The public has been ghosted for years about Bidens condition, international relations covid, race relations, university management's.
As long as they have progressive white women vote, this will be the direction we will be heading. You can't fix this.
Doomsday bunkers:
Today the average nuclear weapon is about 200 kiloton and a very efficient. No where the amount of radiation produced like the 2 Japanese bombs. Any nuclear exchange will begin in the northern hemisphere, and that is what makes New Zealand look so good for a bunker. Plus they can produce all the food they will need. However, living in those bunkers will be like being a farmer in So.Africa or Zimbabwe. The savages will just wait you out or kidnap one of your group who will be tortured until you open the door. The rule of thumb is, don't live anywhere someone can't hear you scream.
Your greatest asset will be you community and your neighbors. If something horrible does happen the political and police situation will be similar to Hurricane Katrina. No one is coming to help you and the authorities want your guns and food.
Our leaders will want to stay in power and lead people that no longer want to hear a word they have to say.
Gold: gold is like a pistol, you don't pull that out unless things really have gone bad.
Wealth disparity: This will always be with us as long as we let the masses be competitive. This is a 2 edge sword, as this will put a man on the moon and everyone gets a cellphone. If everyone is equal, you'll be lucky to get a few turnips to live off.
Going to another star system:
It's much cheaper to patch up thing here, and besides, why would they take you? You don't know how to do shit.
FTX scam: wealthy people can be stupid also. There is a sucker born every minute.
Proper Idology: Ask John, "The American Kapo" about this one. Here is a self confessed elite, sophisticated, educated, academic, that would stand by, while a mother with a child would thrown into a ditch and shot, if it meant that a certain person would not be the next president.
With Sam Harris yelling, "more cowbell."
As to "survival bunkers" - what happens when something breaks? Suppose you don't have a spare part and you have to make one? From what? How? These people don't think about the systems which keep things going - and the information, knowledge, and skills needed... As to "internet access", the person talking about that is ***not*** serious. Just think about the effects of nuclear weapons on the ionosphere, the effects of massive overvoltages on electrical components - let alone silicon, the limitations of optoelectronic couplers - and the highly probable Kessler Syndrome. Come on, man.
"Who is running the country?" - see https://streamfortyseven.substack.com/p/the-us-administrative-state-and-its and https://www.fff.org/2020/12/11/the-national-security-establishment-is-in-charge/
And no, the US isn't a democracy and hasn't ever really been so - nor a republic, either:“The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.”
― Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time, 1965.
“The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalistic fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the worlds central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence co-operative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world.” Ibid.
Who's running the country? How did this happen? See Gerald Baker in today's WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-democrats-deserve-biden-even-if-the-country-doesnt-2024-presidential-election-a86a9756?st=zmbyrqn7ivkjt38&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Important questions