Why are people SHOCKED by the obvious consequences of their actions? We print money and act surprised at inflation. We pursue godless lives and wonder why we feel empty. I've spent years asking the most accomplished people I know—CEOs, politicians, artists—how to live happily as a young man, and received NO satisfying answers. This episode identifies the 12 toxic cultural assumptions driving our collective misery and offers the only path forward: shattering these illusions completely.

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RECOMMENDED PODCAST:

Check out Modern Relationships, where Erik Torenberg interviews tech power couples and leading thinkers to explore how ambitious people actually make partnerships work. Founders Fund's Delian Asparouhov and researcher Nadia Asparouhova kick off the series with an unfiltered conversation about their relationship evolution.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1786227593

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5hJzs0gDg6lRT6r10mdpVg

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModernRelationshipsPod

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LINKS:

Link to HIstory 102: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0NCSdGglnmdWg-qHALhu1w

Link to my cancellation insurance: https://becomepluribus.com/creators/20

Link to my Twitter - https://x.com/whatifalthist

Link to my Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rudyardwlynch/?hl=en

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Bibliography:

Lost Connections by Johann Hari

A Secular Age by Charles Taylor

The Myth of Disenchantment by Storm

A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

The Master and His Emissary by McGhilChrist

The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jon Haidt

Maps of Meaning by Jordan Peterson

A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell

Envy by Helmut Schoeck

Cynical Theories by James Lindsay

Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell

The Righteous Mind by Jon Haidt

How to Know a Person by David Brooks

The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate

The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler

Culture of Narcissism by Lasch

The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

The Body Keeps the Score by Van Der Kolk

Dominion by Tom Holland