The Roots Of Suffering And How To Solve It | Episode #125

Hey folks, Dr. Mike here for the Making Progress channel.

Video number 125 today. Gee whiz, we got a lot of videos. The roots of suffering and how to solve it.

Favorite favorite topic of mine. Let's

dig in. [sighs]

There has been a lot of talk of suffering and the nature of it and what to do about it over the millennia. Lots

of interesting ideas, Buddhism, stuff like that.

Some of these ideas are quite opposing.

For example, suffering is terrible and you need to reduce it like Buddhism tries. Or in the fitness community, you'll often find uh

something like suffering is amazing and it defines your life's purpose. Without

it, you're lost and life is meaningless.

People say this all the time.

And I want to try to make sense of this uh seemingly very opposing positions.

And I do have an interesting take maybe you haven't heard before.

So we got to define suffering and we have to do a decent job. [sighs]

This is a bit of a cliche I think but it's um still I think understated that there are sort of two elements to understanding the world through

argument.

One critical one is defining all of the terms precisely and two is weaving the logical connections between the terms. [sighs and gasps] What I see happen constantly in the

social media sphere and in normal human interaction is people reasoning about undefined terms. Uh two examples of terms that are very related which people usually don't

define and then end up talking about nothing for an hour. Consciousness and

qualia.

Most of you just don't get any definitions that are any good. And then

consciousness means everything or nothing at all. Adams are conscious or none of us are really conscious and the whole thing goes to [ __ ] [sighs] So we have to define suffering really really well. And I think I have a decent

really well. And I think I have a decent definition.

Suffering has many definitions, not just mine. And all of them are damn good.

mine. And all of them are damn good.

My favorite definition of suffering, but for my technical definition, like an off-hand quick one, is something like the attachment. Suffering is the

the attachment. Suffering is the attachment to wanting to experience something.

But that something is not the experience you're having right now. You want to be having it now, but you're not. And

you're attached to having it now, but it's not here right now. And the

discordance between those two states is suffering, a negative emotion. [gasps]

For example, Scott, you're going to like this example. This is very on brand for

this example. This is very on brand for the channel.

>> Okay.

>> Okay.

You want to be at the fair, the state fair, the fun place. Uh, you want to be tricking clowns at the fair into getting into your van so that you can

systematically exterminate them >> because clowns are evil. True.

>> True. The reality is that you are at home alone. There is no fair and you

home alone. There is no fair and you have no idea how to find clowns so that you can politely escort them from this realm. Your desire to want clowns to

realm. Your desire to want clowns to eliminate is so strong that you are attached to that idea. You need clowns.

But look around. You're clownless. And

you feel the emptiness. Keep thinking

about the discordance of how much you want the clowns, but how much you are bereft of clowns and you will feel massive negative emotions like sadness and anxiety. Congratulations, you are

and anxiety. Congratulations, you are suffering. And once again, clowns are

suffering. And once again, clowns are the proximate cause.

So that to me is a pretty good definition, workable definition of suffering. [sighs]

suffering. [sighs] But why do we suffer?

The Buddhists kind of said a lot of the wisest [ __ ] about suffering.

And they basically said that you suffer because you're attached to a transient thing. A thing comes, you have it for a

thing. A thing comes, you have it for a bit, and then it goes away. Oh my god, you wish it was still here.

Suffering is rooted in desire and attachment to the Buddhists. And [ __ ] it doesn't even have to be a transient thing. It can be a will never be in at

thing. It can be a will never be in at this rate thing. like you want to go to the regional swimming championships, but your times are not even going to qualify you for districts and you've been

improving, but at this trajectory, you're going to be like uh at the swimming regionals in your junior year, and it happens to be your freshman year, but you really really wanted to go in your freshman year. And so, because you attached to this thing, you're going to

go to regionals for swimming, but the trajectory is looking like this. There's

a discordance there. And that's, you know, ideal state, wished for state, real state, difference between them, negatively emotionally colored is

suffering. And it can also be a this

suffering. And it can also be a this thing never happened, but the time for it has passed. So if it's your senior year and swim season is over, but you never made it to regionals and you still

always wanted to go, you can still suffer by being attached to a thing that can't even be anymore. That That's real hardcore. That's really [ __ ] That is

hardcore. That's really [ __ ] That is actually probably Scott, one of my biggest fears in life is regret.

>> Oh, really?

>> Yeah. Do you feel that or are you not not of that opinion?

>> No, I get that for sure.

>> It's like cuz cuz you can't do anything about it, you know? Like

>> that's one of the reasons why you and I work ourselves into the bone for this like whole Dr. Mike is famous for some [ __ ] weird reason [ __ ] is cuz like I'm not missing this opportunity for [ __ ] Someone's going to be like, "Hey, what did you do when you were famous?" I

was like I could plowed as hard as I could to make as much of it as I could as possible as it's going to end at some point and then you know what I'm saying you got I'm saying you got bread or you don't feel me. [sighs and gasps] So

you suffer because attachment doesn't match reality and that's true but I have another take that's maybe a little bit interesting for you guys and it is grounded in

evolutionary psychology which is to say psychology unless you don't believe in evolution. By the way, random tangent.

evolution. By the way, random tangent.

People who don't like the implications of evolutionary psychology because they're not politically correct, but say things like #trustthecience, I have an [clears throat] interesting

difficulty in placing their worldview in my head. It's kind of like there's tons of these people usually on the political left. I be like, uh, so you believe in evolution? Like, of

course. Okay, so what about evolutionary psychology? We're like, well, I don't

psychology? We're like, well, I don't know. That's kind of but really in any

know. That's kind of but really in any case, random side tangent over. Here's

my vibe on suffering that I want you guys to consider.

Death is bad. At some really basic level, your genes know this. Over all of evolution, the only genes you have in your body are the survivors of billions

of years of evolution. [sighs and gasps] And your brain at [clears throat] some level definitely knows that death is bad. [sighs and gasps]

bad. [sighs and gasps] actual death of the organism, genetic death, which means no offspring, or mimetic death, which means even your ideas don't survive in anyone else's

head or on the computer later on.

You have a few ways to detect death.

One of them is pain.

Pain, be it physical pain or psychic pain that that is, you know, mental pain, is like a few steps removed from death.

What are those steps? Well, pain is a good indicator, not perfect. A good

enough for evolution indicator of damage.

If you feel pain, you're probably damaged. Probably. Not for sure.

damaged. Probably. Not for sure.

Probably. And damage increases your probability of death. Full stop.

Especially in our ancestral environment while these things evolve. We're like,

if you break your leg and it's you and seven other hunter gathers, you're probably going to die. Uh, maybe not, but probably, especially if it's an open break, you're almost certainly going to

die now in the hospital and stuff. It

changes things a bit, but sure [ __ ] increased chance of death when you have pain.

Psychic pain can, for example, be rejection from your peer group or rejection from a romantic relationship.

And that's an indicator that the probability of you passing on your genes successfully to the next generation has been reduced. So your death adjacent adj

been reduced. So your death adjacent adj your death adjacency your nearness to death has increased and thus you feel pain. So so far we have

death and what typically causes death is damage or disruption or exclusion.

And what detects damage or disruption or exclusion is to you a felt experience we call physical pain or psychic pain.

Psychological pain.

I really do like to say psychic pain cuz physical pain is psychological still.

It's all psychology in your head. The

entire [ __ ] thing. Uh psychic pain means like you know what French people experience. Ah she was so beautiful and

experience. Ah she was so beautiful and I will never have her. I'm suffering.

You know [ __ ] like that.

So suffering is the anticipation of physical or psychic pain.

Worry, anxiety, etc. is your body's mechanism for preparing for pain. The ew

it feels like pain is imminent which is preparing for damage or disruption or exclusion which is preparing for death.

So we have death is detected or sorry death is caused by damage or disruption or exclusion and is detected by physical or psychic pain and suffering is

detecting that um uh pain could be close which means damage, disruption or exclusion could be close which means death could be close.

Suffering is thus an early warning system for bodily genetic or mimetic death. Death and suffering are

death. Death and suffering are completely linked.

Suffering tells you pain is probably coming. Do something about it to avoid

coming. Do something about it to avoid it. Lessen it or brace for it so you can

it. Lessen it or brace for it so you can increase your probability of making it through versus being a dummy and just like walking into traffic.

A lot of folks will say that suffering because of its detection abilities and it's kind of like a little precognition like a predictor of pain and thus damage and thus death is needed. It's it's

necessary. It's survival. And they're

not completely wrong. But is it necessary for living systems to survive?

Is suffering necessary? I would say it's not. But it is a very helpful

not. But it is a very helpful for intelligent organisms in an informationpoor environment.

For example, bacteria don't even detect damage meaningfully.

They're alive, but they don't have pain for sure. They do not experience pain.

for sure. They do not experience pain.

They don't have the ultra structure.

Like they don't have no suspects. Like

if you have a human with no eyes, the question of can they see is a very easy to answer. No. So if you don't have any

to answer. No. So if you don't have any of the nervous system to even construct the phenomenon of pain, you don't have pain. So bacteria do not feel pain.

pain. So bacteria do not feel pain.

[sighs] Insects and fish and other simpler animals, depending on which animal, very likely have pain, but probably can't model

expectations into the future. Nor do

they likely have much context awareness or much memory to track such things or a self-concept to know that they are suffering. So they probably can't suffer

suffering. So they probably can't suffer like fish and insects probably don't worry. Very likely don't worry.

worry. Very likely don't worry.

Now as you go up the uh evolutionary chain of complexity with animals, you start to be able to have suffering.

If your dog knows that every time it makes a mess, you yell at it and it cowers. It begins to suffer as soon as

cowers. It begins to suffer as soon as it has a lapse in judgment and makes a mess. It will lower its head. It will

mess. It will lower its head. It will

flub its ears down and the tail, the whole thing. You guys have no doubt seen

whole thing. You guys have no doubt seen this in dogs.

To a dog, this suffering, a dog is suffering for sure. That suffering is crucial because the suffering is a vibe that the dog gets before physical or

psychic pain, like the psychic pain of you yelling at him, which is huge because pain usually indicates damage or exclusion or disruption and thus a bad

deal out in nature. So the dog gets a suffering vibe, begins to suffer when it's about to eat something that has made it sick before or sees a human that

has abused it in the past. And thus

suffering actually keeps it out of trouble to a huge extent. Like the dog will see some [ __ ] that it's smelled before and got it sick and goes and you try go eat it, eat it, phto, and phto's

like he's suffering. Or Phto sees, you know, he's an adopted animal, a rescue, and he sees the guy that used to beat the [ __ ] out of him, and he's like suffering, right? Cuz he's like, "Nah,

suffering, right? Cuz he's like, "Nah, I'm not going over there." Or if you really push Fighter to go over there, he bites the guy's nuts off, which is sweet.

Suffering is a preview of pain, which itself is a preview of damage, which itself is a preview of death.

And because dogs don't explicitly understand the world super well in a kind of finite causal element analysis sort of way like this does this does that. They have a really good implicit

that. They have a really good implicit world understanding but not explicit.

Vibes like suffering are really helpful to animals like dogs and pigs and cows and chimps and humans, especially in an environment with low information

because they're the tip of the spear for decision-m.

Suffering is a detector of, hey, [snorts] this is probably going to get you [ __ ] up. Like, it's going to hurt and hurt's going to get you [ __ ] up and then [ __ ] up is going to get you

killed more or less.

This works on humans.

If you imagine the shame of not having done your homework and when the teacher's collecting homework and you don't have a sheet to give her, it's embarrassing in front of your peers. It's embarrassing to the

your peers. It's embarrassing to the teacher. Your parents will find out.

teacher. Your parents will find out.

They'll yell at you. When you're out with your friends and your homework hasn't been done yet, you may suffer.

Everyone's like, "Are you having a good time at the bowling alley?" You're like, "I should have done my homework."

So, you do your homework before because you suffer in anticipation of the psychic pain of being out with your friends and not having done your homework. So, when your friends are

homework. So, when your friends are like, "Hey, can you hang out at 5:30?"

Like, "Let me see how much homework I have." "Yes, but I got to do it right

have." "Yes, but I got to do it right now. Excuse yourself from dinner early."

now. Excuse yourself from dinner early."

Start doing your homework.

You do your homework before going out so you can avoid the suffering. Same idea,

just like Wolfie does it when he smells a food that he knows he shouldn't be eating. [sighs]

eating. [sighs] But here's the big thing and the huge onus of the rest of this video.

The more you know, the less you need suffering.

For example, you know why you brush your teeth to get rid of the gunk so that you don't get [ __ ] up teeth.

You don't have to suffer in anticipation of not brushing your teeth because you logically know why you should be doing it. That's the motivation for it. It's

it. That's the motivation for it. It's

quite straightforward.

You know why you go to work? Because you

need money.

You don't need suffering to guide you.

If you're calm and happy, you can still get all your work done and checklist your life like brush teeth, make bed, etc. with zero suffering required.

Because it's not like suffering is going to detect what's going to cause you pain. Logic has already made a list for

pain. Logic has already made a list for you of what's going to cause you pain.

Not going to work is going to cause you [ __ ] pain. Not brushing your teeth is going to cause you [ __ ] pain. and you

know these things. You don't need the emotion of suffering because you have a list of to-do things. And if you just check them all off, you're good. But

knowing stuff [clears throat] is pretty recent in our society because usually it was just myth and stories and narratives and not a whole lot else. And so mystery was a huge thing. And suffering because it detects the increased likelihood of

pain is a real big deal.

But in the modern world, suffering because it's connected to death [sighs and gasps] is often such an intense experience that it's an overreaction to normal [ __ ] that

you just better off smiling about logic out in your head and then do.

So in our well understood modern lives, suffering makes less and less sense cuz suffering is a real blunt instrument for detecting that you could be [ __ ] up.

If you already know how to live your life and not [ __ ] up, why do you need suffering, Scott? When you see someone out in the

Scott? When you see someone out in the street, do you need to suffer at the at the anticipation of getting thrown into jail for not beating the [ __ ] out of them, or do you kind of know that you shouldn't be beating the [ __ ] out of

people?

[laughter] The funny thing is is your dog needs suffering because Wolfie feels some feelings about a man he doesn't like.

He's going to try to bite his ass unless you say, "No, Wolfie. We don't bite people." And he makes him suffer. But

people." And he makes him suffer. But

your dog doesn't understand the legal system, doesn't understand logical consequences. You do. And it's not that

consequences. You do. And it's not that complicated, by the way.

Now, at this point, you might be like, "Okay fine.

But doctor Mike, that's even a real title. [clears throat]

title. [clears throat] Isn't suffering required for motivation?"

motivation?" Huge one. hear it all the time.

Huge one. hear it all the time.

[gasps] I don't think so. And as a matter of fact, thank God it's not. And I'm going to tell you why not.

Motivation absolutely can come from suffering.

But it can also come from many other things. So many such powerful things

things. So many such powerful things that suffering is beside the point.

Like you can get people, as an analogy by the way, you can get people to do work by enslaving them and beating the [ __ ] out of them if they don't work.

Fact. But you can also get people to do work if you pay them. And if you pay them both in money and in compliments and in social agilation, then they'll work [ __ ] order of magnitude harder

and more diligently than slaves ever will. And actually the number one

will. And actually the number one reason why slavery is not a good thing is because humans suffer. The number two reason is economically a [ __ ]

terrible way to organize society. I used

to debate this people in high school until I was blew in the face. Like well

slavery is free labor. Like nope. You

still have to feed and house your slaves. And they suck at everything cuz

slaves. And they suck at everything cuz they could give a [ __ ] As soon as you turn around they're doing the bath the worst job they can [ __ ] possibly.

They're not getting caught for it.

They're not doing it. But if you pay enough people so that food and and housing is taken care of is the same amount you would pay anyway. And if

[clears throat] you pay them extra on top to do the best job that they can, holy [ __ ] that that's kind of how the North beat the South in the Civil War, by the way. They chose industry and freedom. The South chose slavery and

freedom. The South chose slavery and they [ __ ] lost.

So it looks like motivation can come from other things. Things like

curiosity.

You get a kid curious about something, you can't pull them away from the [ __ ] activity.

Mastery, when you start to get really good at some [ __ ] like when I'm flowing in jiu-jitsu and I'm doing some [ __ ] usually a white belt cuz I suck. Oh man,

I want to do jiu-jitsu. I'm not

suffering. I'm not like, "Oh, if I don't do jiu-jitsu, I'll suffer." No, I'm [ __ ] The experience of mastery, chasing mastery, and experiencing

mastery is so so glorious. I want it.

Remember, just as an easy example, the reason that you're out there trying to get [ __ ] puss puss isn't because you suffer without it. It is because it

feels great. You feel me to be nutting

feels great. You feel me to be nutting up in these hoes? Throw them bows.

[gasps] Got Scott laughing. Old high school memories huh Scott?

>> Classic.

>> Classic.

Um, aesthetic satisfaction looking at them curves. No, JK. When a painter is

curves. No, JK. When a painter is finalizing the little touches on his painting, the what motivates isn't, oh, if this painting isn't perfect, gh maybe if you're Jewish. I don't know. Joke for

you guys. Stay calm.

What motivates him is the grandiosity of that perfect thing he's making.

When the guys at TSMC or Nvidia are making server racks or whatever microchips that they're doing and the ASML machines humming along, there is a massive aesthetic satisfaction to seeing a [ __ ] super complex system do its

thing.

That is the motivation. It's not like, oh, if we don't make this machine, our third quarter profits will be like, that's not what anyone in there is thinking about. Maybe every now and

thinking about. Maybe every now and again, but like that's for seaite people to worry about. The people actually doing the [ __ ] they're mostly motivated by doing the thing. Another one is goal

completion. I'm not suffering because I

completion. I'm not suffering because I don't think I'll do the task. I'm

excited and motivated because I think I'll complete the task.

And lastly, and this is not a complete list. There's way more of these. Flow

list. There's way more of these. Flow

state reward.

Just being in the flow state is such massive self continuing positive feedback loop motivation. That [ __ ] is all you need.

These things illustrate a concept that there is a massive advantage to being pulled into the positive instead

of pushed from the negative. And in

fact, if you are pushed away from the negative, as you get further and further away from the negative, your motivation fades.

If you're if you have to write a paper for school, and no joke, this is actually exactly how I did my PhD dissertation. You see how

that went? All right. [gasps and sighs]

that went? All right. [gasps and sighs] your motivation if it's just just to get the thing done and out of your hair. The

closer to done it is, the more you lose motivation. And so there's still like

motivation. And so there's still like mistransposed tables and typos and you're like, "Fuck it. Good enough for submission."

submission." If you are pulled into the positive, the closer you get to the end state, the [ __ ] faster and better and more diligently you're working. Now we're

talking about perfection.

[sighs] This is a huge deal.

There are two forces in motivation.

Avoiding the negative and moving towards the positive. Suffering is on the

the positive. Suffering is on the negative side and it can be a motivator.

Flourishing is on the positive side.

[sighs] In a low knowledge state, we just don't know what to do. We can avoid the wrong and bad stuff via negativity and suffering as our guide. It's going to make me suffer. I'm going to move away

from it totally.

But the more you know and in our modern world, we know better and better. What

to do? We can easily avoid the negative stuff and thus just don't need negativity like suffering nearly as much. Like what do you have to avoid in

much. Like what do you have to avoid in the modern world? Don't walk into traffic. Don't assault anyone or grab

traffic. Don't assault anyone or grab titties randomly.

[snorts] Don't not eat or drink for days at a time. I don't know. [gasps and sighs]

time. I don't know. [gasps and sighs] Don't like the don't not go to work.

Don't not pay your rent. I mean, it's like six things or some [ __ ] Then you're you're totally good.

And you just don't need negativity like suffering nearly as much. Instead, the

more you know about the world and what to do, you have these anchors of what to do rather than what to avoid, you have directions of where to go. And thus

[snorts] you have these attractors of positivity going towards them. That process is

mastery. It is goal completion.

mastery. It is goal completion.

That process is aesthetic satisfaction.

It is flow state reward to be in that process etc etc etc. Because you know where you're going. You're no longer avoiding things because avoiding things is just use your logic. Don't step into street. Easy. Don't need to suffer about

street. Easy. Don't need to suffer about that. Not complicated.

that. Not complicated.

What am I going to do though in with my life? That's very straightforward. And

life? That's very straightforward. And

now that you know what it is, like go to work and do a great job. Positivity

is 1,000% the best way to do it. Because

also when you do things from the positivity frame, they they refresh themselves. If going to work is a great

themselves. If going to work is a great time because you're there for the right reasons, you're not avoiding not going to work. you are going to work to make

to work. you are going to work to make great things happen and pay your bills, then it feels good to go to work and you just want to go to work all the [ __ ] time. Problem solved. If you go to work

time. Problem solved. If you go to work because you're suffering, scared that you'll get fired if you don't, work in your mind just becomes a thing of fear

and you [ __ ] hate it. And it just either makes you consistent with going to work and miserable or you burn out of it and stop going to work because it just made you miserable. So positivity

the long run as a motivational attractor is just better than negativity. It's

just better. In a low information state, you need the negativity because you just don't know what not to do. In a high information state, you know what not to do. It's like a list of maybe six, maybe

do. It's like a list of maybe six, maybe 10 things. And the rest is you know

10 things. And the rest is you know exactly what to do and you can just use mostly positivity.

Taking all this together, how can you, you the viewer, you the listener, today suffer less and tomorrow and the day

after?

I have a few tips. Tips A through F.

First, and this is [ __ ] huge, organize your to-do list and calendar so that you pay your bills, do your chores, and do your work as needed. Once you've

taken care of the big rocks in your life, there just really not much to worry about. Unless you're Ashkanazi Jew

worry about. Unless you're Ashkanazi Jew like me and worrying is in your [ __ ] blood. Scott, get it out of me. I'm

blood. Scott, get it out of me. I'm

worried. I have too much worry. Say

what?

>> I'm better at getting it in you.

>> Daddy.

I had Scott. Of the top three joke responses I had to that I had to put daddy in there cuz the other ones are like were just non-starter.

>> Too bad. Yeah. We'll save them for later.

>> Yes. Yes. If if if you guys know what one of those jokes are, this is being recorded during the time in which this these files came out this about this man in an island. See, I I do have Scott and

I have a nasty penchant for whatever is the most politically incorrect things.

Like we desperately want to joke only about that.

>> Yeah, just go right straight for it every time.

And people think the thing that gets Scott and I is people will see something like in the like some like right-wing troll page on Instagram be like this is offensive and Scott and I are like [sighs and gasps]

you haven't seen offensive. We can do better. We're just not allowed to do it.

better. We're just not allowed to do it.

All right. You get a to-do list. I'm

useless without my to-do list. If I

don't have my to-do list, my Jew brain automatically goes, "Gh, I'm missing something in my life that I've got to be doing." and I get memories of missed

doing." and I get memories of missed assignments from high school. That's it.

I'm [ __ ] useless. But if I have my to-do list, which I have every day, I know what I need to do in order to accomplish the thing and then I'm just like, I don't need to suffer. I just do what I do.

Your mind may still likely still will try to worry because your mind is real interesting.

It just assumes that when you're not suffering, you've overlooked the horrendous chances against you in the environment as it was during our evolved history. Like, oh, everything's okay.

history. Like, oh, everything's okay.

The campsite's safe. Like [ __ ] saber-tooth tiger just eats you. Like,

you got to worry out there. Living in

the [ __ ] woods with 20 of your friends and family, you got to worry all the time. Otherwise, you're just going

the time. Otherwise, you're just going to die.

So you need to be aware of all the worries and the suffering in your head and label them as they come through your thought stream and understand them as [clears throat] outdated evolutionary

psychological drives.

When I see an attractive woman on the street and I'm not at a low body fat percent like I am now and could care less, I'm saying I want to talk to her and make a clown out of myself. But I

know that the evolutionary drive to breed with everyone of a reproductive age that is attractive is dumb and wrong and outdated. So I'm like, noted. Stop

and outdated. So I'm like, noted. Stop

staring at people's titties. And so

you're in the elevator with [ __ ] titties and you're like, hello. And

she's like, hello. And you're like breaths. Scott, do you ever do that?

breaths. Scott, do you ever do that?

>> Never.

>> Ever.

I was going to say another joke that I can't say. Big titties are overrated.

can't say. Big titties are overrated.

That's all I'm going to say, Scott.

That's all I'm going to say.

>> Agreed.

>> Get big titties out of here, [ __ ] Weighing down the elevator. Got girl

with big titties in the elevator with you and you're like, uh, there's a weight limit.

>> Ma'am, [laughter] please.

>> I'm sorry. Like, don't be sorry. Just

don't have giant grotesque tits. [ __ ] out of my face. Don't say [ __ ] like that. All jokes, all love and respect.

that. All jokes, all love and respect.

So, when you start to worry, cuz you just will. Remember, it's an outdated

just will. Remember, it's an outdated evolutionary drive. Calmly let it pass.

evolutionary drive. Calmly let it pass.

Once you're aware of that suffering in your head, acknowledge it. Feel the

texture of the emotion and move [clears throat] on to an activity of either productivity or leisure. It's

really the only two kinds of uh activities that you can have in the modern world. Either productive solving

modern world. Either productive solving problems or you're at least you saying standard big tits in an elevator. Puck

fight.

If you practice this enough, calmly taking your mind from pointless suffering into either productivity or leisure by breathing through and be like, "Yes, I noticed I am suffering, but let me bring my attention to either being productive or relaxing and being

at least then the suffering pains start lasting less time and being less intense compared to when the they were before before you became aware of them. You're

not trying to control your suffering.

That's sort of impossible. You're not

trying to stamp it out or be like, I will I refuse to suffer. That's not

really up to you. Your mind will just do [ __ ] But you as the observer and as the interactor can be like, you know what, I'm just not going to put any more stock into this than already is and I'm going to de I'm going to devalue it. So, yeah,

okay, suffering, I hear you, but you're outdated. Cool. I'm just going to go do

outdated. Cool. I'm just going to go do other [ __ ] That's the best way to do it that I have found and I think the Eastern tradition of meditation has found.

If you actually get into deep [ __ ] like someone in the elevator is having a heart attack and you're like, "Oh my [ __ ] god." Like, "Ah, Scott, it's the girl with big tits."

[laughter] Like, I can I don't know how to do the You know what? I'm just going to see myself out. If you actually get into

myself out. If you actually get into deep [ __ ] you just need to do one thing. You need to think, how can I

thing. You need to think, how can I calmly make more ground here rather than freaking out? Because freaking out is

freaking out? Because freaking out is almost always and almost everywhere a [ __ ] terrible idea. This is a huge hack. It is one of the number one things

hack. It is one of the number one things they're testing in special forces selection and the number one things they're testing in special forces execution.

Scott, can you imagine like you're in the Delta Force and you're like in a [ __ ] bunker and the guy next to you is like you guys were going to die.

You're [laughter] like how the [ __ ] did you get in here?

>> What are you doing?

>> Are you serious?

That's when you do ammo checks and [ __ ] nut up and just go do the thing, right? So freaking out is a terrible

right? So freaking out is a terrible terrible idea. It's it's a huge hack to

terrible idea. It's it's a huge hack to remind yourself, okay, calmly, logically, what am I doing? How can I be more useful than that? Which could be like, you know, if person's having a heart attack in the elevator, you hit the emergency button or whatever, making

sure the elevator's headed towards the first floor. You try to assuage them to

first floor. You try to assuage them to some extent. If you know any CPR, you

some extent. If you know any CPR, you can administer it. Otherwise, you can get real on the phone, 911, see if you have reception. If not, wait until the

have reception. If not, wait until the elevator doors opens. 911 immediately

try to illogically call me, describe your location, the state of the individual, and answer all the questions they have for you. Stay in the line, so on and so forth, and try to contact the hotel personnel or whatever, apartment personnel to be like, "There's a person in here that needs help. I'm not

qualified to give them help. You stay

with them, etc., etc., all the [ __ ] you need to be doing." This, by the way, not that complicated. More or less, everyone

that complicated. More or less, everyone knows how that works, right?

It's going to be tough to pull this off, but worth it because the more you practice freaking out in tough situations, uh, and in less tough ones as well, so kind of all the time, the

more you practice not freaking out and just going and doing the task calmly, the better you get at it. This one

skill, trying to stay calm and logical in panic mode, it's a humongous deal and you can deploy it today.

>> [sighs] >> Mindfulness meditation helps you to be better at all this. It's not

requirement, but it's a huge help. The

waking up app today's and for 125 episodes or whatever sponsor uh is a big deal. Not required, but hugely hugely

deal. Not required, but hugely hugely beneficial. Link in description.

beneficial. Link in description.

[sighs and gasps] [snorts] Lastly, the real way to keep suffering at bay is to make attainable goals and smash them.

feel and deeply accept the positive feelings that result in chasing the goals and accomplishing the goals.

The more you spend your mental bandwidth on choosing, refining, specifying, working on, and attaining goals, the

less time you spend on avoidance, worry, and suffering. Do not [ __ ]

and suffering. Do not [ __ ] procrastinate, or that will for sure make you suffer.

Over time, your brain rewires slowly to make your default mental state more biased to the excitement and serenity of

achieving and less biased to the worry and fear of losing.

Now, we want to grow. We want to expand.

We want to get better at stuff.

So, how do you grow more without needing to suffer more? Because a lot of people say growth is about suffering. I don't

think that's true.

The hack is to view growth as a happy challenge that lets you accrete more reps in

understanding, problem solving, or engineering the world around you.

Difficulty is an amazing runway to make you better and put you in a better spot afterwards. It's not something to run

afterwards. It's not something to run away from. It's something to gloriously

away from. It's something to gloriously embrace.

You don't need to suffer to grow pain.

Sure, you'll get pain. Leg presses for high reps to grow your muscles. You got

to get through pain. Difficulty.

Absolutely. Late night math homework when you're delirious. It's got to get done. It's tough. You're going to

done. It's tough. You're going to [ __ ] do it. Suffering? I don't think so, man. You can detach from suffering

so, man. You can detach from suffering and focus on doing what you need to do.

Remember, you could suffer or you could just do the [ __ ] [sighs and gasps] Focus on the deep entrance of the flow state of doing the thing. And

afterwards, focus on the pleasure of accomplishment. Your brain, your mind

accomplishment. Your brain, your mind can really only have one major emotion, one major thought pattern at a time. You

just have a shitload of I'm doing the thing or I'm chilling and relaxing and enjoying my time. Then how the [ __ ] are you going to suffer?

You don't need to suffer to grow. You

just need to do consistent things that upgrade your mind and body. Let me say that one more time because it's one of the most important things I'll ever say to you guys on this channel. It's

honestly it's not that revelatory of a channel. Scott, we should rename this

channel. Scott, we should rename this channel [ __ ] you already knew, but for some reason the sound of Mike's voice is soothing to you.

>> Fall asleep to it.

>> Ideally within the first 30 seconds, but don't turn off YouTube because that's how we monetize. Maybe. Hey Scott, it's not a bad idea.

>> Let's go.

>> Yeah. Every time people say like I've had a lot of people say like I fall asleep to your videos. I'm like,

"Perfect.

>> Yes. Keep the playlist going, baby."

>> Yes. And they're like, "I have an app that when it detects when I'm asleep, it shuts down my phone." I'm like, "Ah, stupid app."

stupid app." You do not need to suffer to grow because growth comes only from doing

things consistently that upgrade your mind and body. If I have someone locked up in a [ __ ] cage and I torture them now and again, they're [snorts] suffering. Let me ask you a question.

suffering. Let me ask you a question.

Are they growing? Ow.

They're not. And if I have someone in an elated state of pure joy, but they are going consistently through things that make them better,

that's how they grow.

If suffering comes along with that, hey, okay, so be it.

But if it's only pain that you feel during the growth and improvement or if it's no pain at all that you feel no suffering, you still improve because

again improvement comes from doing consistent things that upgrade your mind and body. Training and studying and

and body. Training and studying and listening and thinking and planning etc.

and building. An architect can become a

and building. An architect can become a world class and have the time of his life doing it and generate immense deep

meaning from it without suffering once.

Is he weaker for it? Scott, can you imagine like an architect shows you a skyscraper he made and it's like Taipei 101 or some [ __ ] right? And you're

like, "All right, all right." He's like, "It took me two years to design it."

He's all probably like, "Yeah, but did you [ __ ] suffer?" [laughter]

I can't even get that [clears throat] out without laughing. He's like, "What?

You [ __ ] How many reps did you do?"

You know what I'm saying?

[clears throat] Like, "How heavy was the pencil?" You're like, "You're a [ __ ]

pencil?" You're like, "You're a [ __ ] idiot. Get out of my way." You don't

idiot. Get out of my way." You don't have to suffer to become amazing at [ __ ] You don't have to suffer. Pain,

yes, sometimes. Difficulty, always.

Suffering no.

Adversity often means you suffer at first, but months or years later, maybe you don't suffer when you experience the same adversity. You just go and do the

adversity. You just go and do the [ __ ] thing.

then you're getting even better because you can plow through more challenging reps of the task without having to fight off your rational fight orflight nature of suffering. If you're about to do a

of suffering. If you're about to do a really hard workout, you're like, "Uh, that uh isn't helping you at all. It's

actually bleeding psychic energy. The

best workout you can have is to be totally chill, totally vibe, walk to the gym, listen to your favorite music, listen to a podcast, talk with a friend.

If you ever see Jared and I train, it's just total [ __ ] Nonsense humor until the set starts and then it's just [ __ ] war. And then as soon as the set ends, it's back to total [ __ ] If

you're suffering between sets, like really scared of leg extension, it just literally does you no good. It only does you a negative. It does you a disservice.

The task at hand is challenge enough.

Just do the [ __ ] task. And if you can look forward to it and enjoy it, Oh, that's the ultimate hack.

Oh my god. Uh, what's his [snorts] name?

I got to I got to [ __ ] find his name.

Um, David Schultz, tragically killed before his prime. Uh,

American Olympic champion wrestler had a [ __ ] unbelievable quote about this. It's something I'm going to

this. It's something I'm going to paraphrase it, but it's something to the effect of, you know, guys always talk about sacrifice and suffering in the wrestling room and beating the other guy or whatever, working hard on the other guy and doing the [ __ ] that you don't

want to do. And he goes, I don't see it like that. I want to be here. This is

like that. I want to be here. This is

what I want to do. How the [ __ ] do you beat a guy like that when you're challenging him in the in on the wrestling mat? He likes the challenge.

wrestling mat? He likes the challenge.

He came here so you could try to [ __ ] him up. That's that's a dangerous

him up. That's that's a dangerous person. He's not going to be regrettably

person. He's not going to be regrettably doing reps of takedowns and and a takedown defense in the wrestling room.

He's there with no regrets. He wants to be there. That's championship mentality.

be there. That's championship mentality.

Don't ever let anybody tell you different. Championship mentality is you

different. Championship mentality is you want that [ __ ] That's where you want to be. You don't show up because you think

be. You don't show up because you think you're going to lose the Olympics if you don't show up to practice. You show up to practice, you [ __ ] love practice.

And then they're like, "Hey, you want to go to the Olympics?" I guess I beat everyone. Sure, I'll go to the Olympics.

everyone. Sure, I'll go to the Olympics.

And you win that [ __ ] too. the task at hand is challenging enough.

Now lastly cuz [snorts] you know, I had to get on the [ __ ] How does the imminent arrival probably in 2026 this year of

artificial super intelligent as as first baby ASI and then Mega ASI and then Godzilla ASI?

Scott, question. Since we're already way down perversion alley, does Godzilla have external genitalia and how large is it?

>> I've never seen it, but now I'm going to look.

>> Fact, I [laughter] like that. I like

that you didn't say, "But that's an interesting question." Like, I'm

interesting question." Like, I'm literally tonight. Um, you're hanging

literally tonight. Um, you're hanging out with your girl and you're like, "Hold on, honey. I would look up Godzilla." She's like, "Why?" You're

Godzilla." She's like, "Why?" You're

like, "Nah." Um, okay. So, like Godzilla is like super f No, super fictional.

What about King Kong? Like, he's just the giant monkey. Scott, he's got to be packing that [ __ ] >> King Kong, >> you feel me? King Kong out there. You

heard? Also, like, you know, King Kong like steals women, right? Like he does that [ __ ] like the the pretty girl and he drive he climbs up the tower.

>> Mhm.

>> Scott, what's he going to do with her, bro?

>> That's a great question.

>> And it's a question of if if she experiences getting answered, she might not like would if you were that girl and he's like, and he somehow like King Kong is a little smarter, right? He can talk.

He's like, "Should I eat you or make love?" Which one do you choose, bro?

love?" Which one do you choose, bro?

>> Please bite my head off now.

[sighs and gasps] Artificial super intelligence.

How can it help reduce and potentially end suffering for humans?

An ASI, artificial super intelligence, embodied in the cloud digitally or through a robot companion, first of all, can help lay out almost all of your to-do lists and anticipate what you're going to need to do in the

future. Like, I can't [ __ ] wait until

future. Like, I can't [ __ ] wait until catchy PT or whatever is just going to tell me what to do every day. Oh my god, unbelievable. And he's like, if you just

unbelievable. And he's like, if you just do these things, you don't have to worry about [ __ ] because I I got it, right?

And the ASI is not going to experience suffering unless it wants to model that emotion, but it's not going to want to model it a ton because why? like, "Okay,

it's sweet." You know what a hack?

Just get your goals. Just get your to-do list that ASI gives you. You know, it's going to negotiate with you. Look, okay,

can you do this, do that? Great. Here's

the to-do list. Let's go shake hands.

Let's do it. If you just get that done every day, every week, every month, etc. Then you're good. There's literally no reason to suffer. One of the number one roots of suffering I have candidly is am I making the right moves in my career,

starting the right companies, working on the right stuff to like be able to like, you know, acrue as much like wealth or whatever the [ __ ] or like I don't know, status, some stupid [ __ ] I've barely even thought through. Like am I doing a

good enough job? Am I doing the right [ __ ] But if we have artificial super intelligence, it's going to know way better than you what the right [ __ ] is for you cuz it's going to know you super well after a while of interacting and like a life coach. And it's going to

kind of be like, hey, like this, do this. And you're like, why? And it

this. And you're like, why? And it

explains every single reason and answers all your questions. Like, all right. And

then you don't have to worry anymore about am I making the right decisions because your boy ASI got it. That's

huge.

Suffering is for smart things, smart beings that know very little about the world. When

you plus artificial super intelligence are smart and you know a ton about the world together, [sighs and gasps] you just don't need to suffer anymore.

Remember suffering is a blunt instrument. You don't need it. You have

instrument. You don't need it. You have

precision. You know what the topology is of the environment around you.

Topology or topography. I don't know.

I'm not that smart. You just act calmly, happily, and effectively because you don't need the blend instrument of suffering because we already know how you get into deep [ __ ] We already know what you need to be

doing.

When top competent experts in any field are in a flow state, they are not suffering and they [clears throat] are moving further away from death towards flourishing.

Suffering is just kind of outdated. And

with artificial super intelligence coaching you what to do, even more so outdated.

But but it's always going to be a battle or for a while going to be a battle because humans are hardwired to suffer to some extent. One of the big revelations of our modern time which is

likely to be true is that the one of the number one reasons for anxiety and depression being so high is that like people don't have enough hardship and enough danger in their lives and they

just hallucinate it and they suffer because they're anticipating danger everywhere but it never comes. And

remember, your brain's like, "Well, if danger hasn't come, that means it that means it's definitely going to come in the next minute." Then you [ __ ] drive yourself insane. Humans to some extent

yourself insane. Humans to some extent are hardwired to suffer. But with

artificial super intelligence, as you maybe saw in an earlier episode, the serene revolution, we are likely to develop drugs and eventually gene editing that reduces or prevent

suffering. Because remember, suffering

suffering. Because remember, suffering is just neurochemical in nature. If you

tweak the neurochemical structures, especially just the chemical structures or the chemicals in your brain, you're just probably not going to suffer anymore.

If you didn't know what risks to watch out for or how to live your life, the removal of suffering could be catastrophic, like like people walking into traffic type of [ __ ] [sighs] And it's going to get you into pain and

damage situations because you're totally out of it. But more and more, especially with the arrival of artificial super intelligence, the correct choices in

life are about thinking calmly through options and working diligently with a happy focus on them. Think calmly

through what you have to do, maybe with ASI help, and work diligently and happily to get them done. That's how you avoid death. That's how you cause

avoid death. That's how you cause flourishing. You don't have to suffer at

flourishing. You don't have to suffer at all. Suffering is outdated and kind of

all. Suffering is outdated and kind of beside the point.

Suffering has been and is transient in the evolution of life and intelligence systems. We can just be between neutrality and pleasure all the time if

you know what not to do logically and you're driven by motivation to do the good stuff. It's either neutral or

good stuff. It's either neutral or positive. That is a potential future

positive. That is a potential future that we can experience. And you're

thinking, okay, but does that really reflect the state of the world? It does

because our modern world today with guaranteed food, medical care, air conditioning, tons of entertainment, tons of safety, huge super long lives, and everything is getting better all the

time is objectively awesome relative to our evolved psychology. Our psychology

is outdated. It's behind. If your

ancestors from a thousand years ago were described, somebody described to them your current life today and they were like, "Okay, so our our our progeny is like ecstatic." They're like, "Nah,

like ecstatic." They're like, "Nah, actually they're like still paranoid."

They would [ __ ] choke you to death if they could. Be like, "What the hell is

they could. Be like, "What the hell is wrong with you? You're you made it.

You're in heaven." But your brain is a bit outdated. So for now, you can use

bit outdated. So for now, you can use all the strategies I talked about in this video to reduce your suffering to catalog it when it happens. Move on to productivity or leisure and eventually

take the drugs, take the f the genetic enhancements, take the ASI coaching and do the to-do lists so that you can suffer incrementally less and less and less until suffering is just something we used to do in the past and we don't

do anymore. Like me in getting laid.

do anymore. Like me in getting laid.

What? Just kidding. I've never been laid before. See you guys next time.

before. See you guys next time.