Mentally Unscripted

In today’s episode, we explore some exciting topics. We start off by talking about the muddied world of tribal thinking and then discuss how tribal thought often overrides the concepts of authority and credibility.

That line of thought then carries us into the concept of financialization. Here we ask how a focus on stock price maximization has turned many American companies from global innovators into financial zombies. Then we revisit the idea of meritocracy and explore a new way of thinking about the concept of privilege. We close the episode with more talk about value and the NFT space.

This episode is an exciting ride where we started with a topic and saw where it takes us. Sit back and enjoy it.

As always, we want to build a community around Mentally Unscripted. So share this episode with your friends and interact with us at MentallyUnscripted.com.

And remember, the process you follow to reach a conclusion is more important than the conclusion itself.

Resources

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

Elizabeth Warren Oil Company Tweet

Modern Monetary Theory

Here’s What You Need to Know About The Deficit Myth

MMT #2 - Has MMT Won the Fiscal Policy Debate?

Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt

Basic Economics: ACitizen'ss Guide to the Economy, by Thomas Sowell

Joe Biden accused of falling asleep during Cop26 climate summit speeches

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, by Seth Godin

Vampires at the Gate?

No, We Shouldn't Bail Out Boeing

Inside the $2.5 Trillion Debt Binge That Has Taken S&P Titans Including Boeing and AT&T from Blue Chips to Near Junk

The 2021 Forbes 400 List Of Richest Americans: Facts And Figures

Mental Models

Second-Order Consequences

Appeal to authority

Authority & Credibility

The concept of two realities

First, do no harm

Incentives matter

Top Takeaways

Tribalism has led us to judge credibility based on who the person is and what team they’re on. This leads to appeals to authority and forgetting to ask the critical question of how much credibility the authority has. Does each tribe live in its own reality and have those realities reach a point where they can’t mix? And do we give authorities a pass when they’re members of our tribe?

It’s a fallacy to think that the policies of the U.S. Government, the most significant, most powerful government in history, don’t impact our economy.

We’ve become more focused on financial incentives rather than creating value to improve the world.

We think about success in terms of a single generation, and doing so raises many questions about privilege. But what is privilege exactly, and how much do we need to think about. And does our view of privilege change if we look at success as a slow and steady multi-generational process rather than a meteoric, single-generation rise from rags to riches?

NFTs are a new product many in the crypto world think is the next big thing. But is there any value in NFTs, and from where does the value come?

Engage with Scott and Paul on the Twitter thought control machine.

We’re also on Odysee (full episodes and clips).

Follow Scott at Strength and Reason and on DESO.

How to have thrilling conversations on blistering hot topics without fighting…

It’s easier than you think.

Download How to Never Argue Again (Unless you Want To) at Mentally Unscripted and discover the secret “Go Meta” approach that makes any topic fair game.

It’s totally FREE (for now) and worth hundreds in therapy.

Cheers!

Subscribe at www.mentallyunscripted.com

Today’s guest is Sara Causey, the owner of Causey Consulting LLC and host of the Causey Consulting podcast. Sara’s experience consulting with firms of all sizes on their recruiting and staffing needs puts her in the unique position to see how COVID and our response to it are changing the nature of how we work.  

Sara has excellent insights into our changing attitude towards work, from our desire to escape cubicle zombie nation to organizational insecurities that lead to micromanaging employees. Her advice will help you shape a career that will take you to the upper levels of your field with confidence, integrity, and nobility.  

If 2020 and 2021 have you questioning the nature of how you earn a living, this is a must-listen episode.  

Sara is friendly, engaging, and blunt, so we had an excellent time talking to her. 

Resources 

Causey Consulting 

Causey Consulting Blog and Podcast 

Toxic Positivity 

Toxic Positivity, Part 2 

Breaking Toxic Patterns 

“I Just Couldn’t Get Over It…” (Sara discussed toxic positivity a bit more in this episode) 

Toxic Optimism & #Blessed 

The Myth of Sisyphus, by Albert Camus 

Mental Models 

The Observer Effect 

Results oriented vs process oriented 

Toxic positivity & toxic optimism 

Probabilistic thinking  

Top Takeaways 

The workforce today is more empowered than it has been in years. Our response to COVID-19 has made employers and employees realize that everyone doesn’t need to be packed into an office to work effectively. One of the downsides for the employer, and arguably an advantage for the employee, is the employer has to learn to trust its employees. 

Some employers don’t want to give up micromanaging their employees. As a result, they try to construct a digital panopticon to control their employees no matter where they are working. But good employees are savvy and won’t tolerate such monitoring. 

The observer effect can cause employees to underperform because of the anxiety of thinking their being watched. 

Freelancing websites can offer benefits for people who are just getting started in a freelancing career, but they lose their advantages as people gain experience. 

Don’t be afraid to fire a bad client. Establish the rules of engagement upfront, and don’t be scared to cut ties with any client who doesn’t respect them. 

We must accept that life won’t turn out the way we want. Toxic positivity and toxic optimism can prevent us from preparing for the inevitable bad day. We can’t “cheat the system.” 

Engage with Scott and Paul on the Twitter thought control machine. 

We’re also on Odysee (full episodes and clips). 

Follow Scott at Strength and Reason and on DESO. 

How to have thrilling conversations on blistering hot topics without fighting… 

It’s easier than you think. 

Download How to Never Argue Again (Unless you Want To) at Mentally Unscripted and discover the secret “Go Meta” approach that makes any topic fair game. 

It’s totally free (for now) and worth hundreds in therapy.  

Cheers!

Subscribe at www.mentallyunscripted.com

Listen now | There’s a lot of talk about President Joe Biden’s announced COVID-19 vaccination requirements for employees of private businesses but there’s been little talk of whether he has the authority to do so. In this episode of Mentally Unscripted, Paul and Scott welcome Patrick MacFarlane of Liberty Weekly and the Libertarian Institute to discuss the legal issues of Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Subscribe at www.mentallyunscripted.com

Our intention at Mentally Unscripted is to bring you better tools to improve your engagement with others. It’s not an easy task in 2021, where Tribalism and media-driven polarization make having productive conversations even harder. 

That’s why we’ve put together How to Never Argue Again (Unless You Want To), a free guide to help you have better conversations that don’t end with hurt feelings and lost relationships. To get it, go to Mentally Unscripted and sign up for our email list. 

Resources 

How to Stop Fearing the Decentralized Tomorrow (crossover with Mental Supermodels) 

How Confirmation Bias and COVID Divided the World 

A Conversation with George Silverman (MindSkills Creator) 

Go Meta or Go Home (George Silverman Medium article) 

The Mentally Unscripted Origin Story: Why Paul lacks a soul and Scott hates the man 

Mental Models 

False Consensus Effect: Our tendency to overestimate how much others share our opinions. 

Top Takeaways  

Having a passion for something is good, but we can’t let it push us into having angry arguments. 

Good arguments are reasoned discussions that help you share and learn new ideas. They don’t start with a conclusion then seek out facts. They seek out facts then make a judgment. 

We all have blind spots (confirmation bias). By being aware of them, we can improve our discourse. 

Go meta to help manage discussions and improve them. 

Engage with Scott and Paul on the Twitter thought control machine. 

We’re also on Odysee (full episodes and clips). 

Follow Scott at Strength and Reason and on DESO. 

How to have thrilling conversations on blistering hot topics without fighting… 

It’s easier than you think. 

Download How to Never Argue Again (Unless you Want To) at Mentally Unscripted and discover the secret “Go Meta” approach that makes any topic fair game. 

It’s totally free (for now) and worth hundreds in therapy.  

Cheers!

Subscribe at www.mentallyunscripted.com

Myron and Jeremy from Mental Supermodels join Scott and Paul to discuss decentralization and the big questions facing us in the future. What is decentralization? Will we continue moving toward a decentralized world and what will that world look like? What are the factors holding back our move to decentralization and how we can drive mass adoption of the decentralized tomorrow?

Resources

Mental Supermodels

Myron Weber LinkedIn

Jeremy Thomas

Northwood Advisors

Mental Models

Economies of Scale

Safety vs. Ease of Use

Regulatory Capture

Top Takeaways 

Twentieth-century technologies were centralizing. Twenty-first century technology is decentralizing. 

Decentralization can take many forms from geography to capital.

We’re accustomed to hierarchical thinking. Decentralization breaks down barriers created by hierarchical systems and pushes control down to the lowest levels of the system. But the entities at the top of the hierarchy may be hesitant to surrender control. At the bottom, people may be fearful of having to take on the additional responsibility of decentralization.

Decentralization can have profound effects on most aspects of our lives from how we work and live to how we communicate to how our morals shape our view of the world.

Engage with Scott and Paul on the Twitter thought control machine.

We’re also on Odysee (full episodes and clips).

Follow Scott at Strength and Reason.

How to have thrilling conversations on blistering hot topics without fighting…

It’s easier than you think.

Download How to Never Argue Again (Unless you Want To) at Mentally Unscripted and discover the secret “Go Meta” approach that makes any topic fair game.

It’s totally free (for now) and worth hundreds in therapy.

Cheers!

Subscribe at www.mentallyunscripted.com

Is a system based on individual ability or achievement ruining society by creating a feeling of hubris in society's winners and resentment in its losers? In Mentally Unscripted episode 41, Paul and Scott review The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel. In that book, the author claims that a merit-based system is destroying the common good. 

Resources 

The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? 

Meritocracy: A system in which advancement is based on individual ability or achievement. 

Does America Hate the "Poorly Educated"? by Matt Taibi 

Mental Models 

Confirmation bias 

Disconfirming evidence 

Error of induction

Inversion

False dichotomy

Top Takeaways  

According to the author, western society is struggling because our culture of meritocracy is destroying the common good. Those who succeed have a sense of hubris and look down on those who are less successful, and the less successful resent those who succeed. Resentment against the elites is causing a rise in populism. 

On the other hand, aristocracies are less prone to hubris and resentment because people understand that their success is attributable to luck. 

The common good requires society to balance justice, goodness, and progress.  

The author's argument is weak because he doesn't take disconfirming evidence into account in his analysis, and he focuses almost exclusively on language from politicians to prove his point.  

Engage with Scott and Paul on the Twitter thought control machine. 

We’re also on Odysee (full episodes and clips). 

Follow Scott at Strength and Reason.

Subscribe at www.mentallyunscripted.com

Paul and Scott welcome Jamie Cain to Mentally Unscripted episode 40. Not only does this episode feature three incredibly manly beards, but it also includes an excellent conversation about anarchism and voluntaryism. And Paul tries to get in touch with his emotions . . . but they were screening their calls.Resources 

Liberty Uninterrupted (podcast) 

Liberty Uninterrupted (Instagram) 

Liberty Uninterrupted (Odysee) 

Liberty Uninterrupted (Youtube) 

No Kings Coalition 

Murray Rothbard 

Lysander Spooner 

Matt Kibbe 

Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff: A Libertarian Manifesto 

The non-aggression principle 

Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole 

Mentally Unscripted Episode 15 - The NYT Approach to Fighting Inaccurate Information is Problematic 

How 'do your own research' hurts America's Covid response 

These four words are helping spread vaccine misinformation  

Top Takeaways  

Most people think of anarchy as Mad Max-style chaos, but anarchy is a state where hierarchies exist without institutional violence forcing people to live under specific rules. Voluntaryism is a term to describe anarchism without negative connotations. Fear of chaos is keeping people from moving toward a voluntaryist/anarchist society.  

Anarchism is a way to keep a group of people from building up into a corrupt power structure that uses violence to increase its power.  

A voluntaryist/anarchist society requires a high level of personal responsibility. Force and coercion are immoral, so all human interactions should be voluntary.  

Drone bombing an innocent family is not an excusable mistake. If it’s wrong for the individual, it’s wrong for the state. In a voluntary society, people are accountable for their actions.  

The non-aggression principle (NAP) is the idea that we shouldn’t hurt people or take their stuff. 

Engage with Scott and Paul on the Twitter thought control machine.

We’re also on Odysee (full episodes and clips).

Follow Scott at Strength and Reason.

Subscribe at www.mentallyunscripted.com

How do you increase your effectiveness as a manager and a leader not only to benefit your organization but to improve your career? Jeremy Thomas, the cohost of Mental Supermodels, joins Paul and Scott to discuss the mental models that will improve your career and personal interactions.

And, yes, there really is a Mortal Kombat mental model.

Resources

Mental Supermodels

Email Jeremy at [email protected] 

Ep32 – More About Mental Models With Myron Weber of the Mental Supermodels Podcast

Ep24 - A Conversation with George Silverman (MindSkills Creator)

Ep35 – Will Bill Gates’ Prescription for Avoiding a Climate Disaster Give Too Much Power to the Government?

Top Takeaways 

Mental models will make a big impact when you use them with intentionality. The goal in using them is to make better decisions more quickly.

 Jeremy’s core mental models for managers and leaders are: 

Communicate with intention, 

Start with the end in mind, and

Seek out value.

Figuring out different ways to use the above 3 mental models in combination will have the biggest impact on your life and career. 

The inverse method is a useful mental model to improve communication with others.

Engage with Scott and Paul on the Twitter thought control machine.

We’re also on Odysee (full episodes and clips).

Follow Scott at Strength and Reason.

Subscribe at www.mentallyunscripted.com

What you don’t see is as important as what you do see. Opportunity costs, costs that you don’t see, lurk in every decision. In this episode of Mentally Unscripted, Paul and Scott explain why missing those costs screws up your decision-making.

Resources

• TK News by Matt Taibi
• Aaron Mate
• How 'do your own research' hurts America's Covid response
• These four words are helping spread vaccine misinformation
• Lex Fridman Podcast #221 – Douglas Lenat
• You’ll Make Better Decisions When You Understand Opportunity Costs
• Confirmation Bias: Why your decisions suck and you fight with your friends
• Tradeoffs: The Currency of Decision Making
• How (Supposedly) Rational People Make Decisions
• America Doesn't Have Enough Hospital Beds To Fight the Coronavirus. Protectionist Health Care Regulations Are One Reason Why.
• How Many Hospital Beds?
• Why Melinda Gates Spends Time ‘Letting My Heart Break’
• “We Hadn’t Really Thought Through the Economic Impacts” ~ Melinda Gates
  
  

Top Takeaways

• Opportunity cost is the benefit we lose by choosing one option over another. It’s a second-order thinking technique that helps gives our decisions more context so we can make better, more informed decisions.
• We often fail to fully account for the costs of our choices because some of the costs are implicit, or unseen, costs. When we make decisions without accounting for those unseen costs, we’re making decisions with limited information.
• We have limited resources. It’s because of this scarcity that every decision we make has tradeoffs. We must somehow reconcile limited resources and unlimited wants.
  
  

Subscribe at www.mentallyunscripted.com

Scott was a guest on a recent episode of Unshackled Liberty where he talked to Q the Abolitionist and Crypto Gumbo about the increasing lack of communication in the world and the divisiveness it's causing.

Unshackled Liberty "is a libertarian variety show where we discuss the value of reducing the role of government in our daily lives. We have interviews and news from various sources and evaluate everything from the perspective of Christian Voluntaryism. We hope you stick around for a few episodes and enjoy the content."

Find Unshackled Liberty here and your favorite podcast app.

Engage with Scott and Paul on the Twitter thought control machine.

We’re also on Odysee (full episodes and clips).

Follow Scott at Strength and Reason.

Subscribe at www.mentallyunscripted.com