Nietzsche said "To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering." From this, we either learn to suffer ill and risk addiction, or suffer well and evade addiction. Having a strong support network is great, but it is not sufficient on its on. On today's podcast, I talk about the importance of the role of suffering in life, and how our ability to deal with suffering determines our future. It's a given that we want to protect our children, and ourselves, but can we go too far? Is it possible that the more we try to protect the things we love, the more we weaken them? I dive into this topic headfirst by presenting a case study involving a boy and his splinter, and discuss how facing this little bit of pain probably changed his life.

As always, you can support this podcast for $1 per month at https://anchor.fm/johnspaldingpodcast ... you can use Apple Pay or a credit card. 

This is a double episode! The first pertains to an exchange I recently had on Twitter, and the other pertains to a recent Twitter persecution I witnessed. 

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Nietzsche was Nihilist-in-Chief of the nineteenth century. He viewed consciousness as "superfluous" and rather overrated. Today I will present a brief reading from The Will to Power. 

What Michael Cohen’s testimony before the US congress tells us about Donald Trump is pretty jarring. But how did humanity even arrive at a point where Donald Trump is its most powerful member? What does that say about us? How do we get ourselves out of this? The discussion begins with this podcast, which I recorded at a Dunkin Donuts in Brooklyn, NY, USA.

Be sure to check out previous episodes of the podcast. You can see the website, support the pod, and get merch at http://www.happynihilistpodcast.com. 

I will be attending Sam Harris' talk with Nobel Prize winning economist Daniel Khaneman tonight in New York City, and will share my thoughts at some point after the event.

This is a short reading from Hume's Treatise on Human Nature. I will discuss the very Buddhist nature of Hume's conception of self, and how it fits into our series of episodes on consciousness. Be sure to also down the episode "Bertrand Russell's Appearance and Reality."

I read an essay about meaning. It's fun, and accidentally filthy. In a nutshell, we cover Bradley's Regression, balls, and why god doesn't. Enjoy.

An excerpted reading and brief discussion of Russell's Appearance and Reality essay from The Problems of Philosophy. Click on the "Support This Podcast" button at https://anchor.fm/happy-nihilist

Is there a way to clean up Twitter? I argue that a paid subscription for tweets is the way to. Some accounts, i.e. verified news organizations could be exempted. Meanwhile those who tweet at people who don't follow them have to pay. This might discourage harassment campaigns. 

Feel free to reach out to me at http://www.happynihilistpodcast.com.