You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength - Marcus Aurelius.

The dichotomy of control is a Stoic practice that, in essence, states that some things are within our control, while others are not. What is in our control is extremely limited compared to that which is out of our control. These are our mental faculties, desires, and our actions, among a few others. Outside of our control is our health, wealth, and how others see us in the world. While we can have influence over the aforementioned uncontrollable things, we in no way have complete control over them. 

This may sound incredibly easy, but it is profoundly difficult to put into practice, as you must accept how little is truly within your control, and practice the dichotomy of control almost religiously in your daily life, but it gets easier.

Modern Stoic writers have attempted to make the dichotomy of control into a trichotomy of control, but this is falling into the exact disease of the mind Epictetus warned us about through his Discourses, saying:

‘Your desires are inflamed, your aversions are low, your purposes are inconsistent, your motives are out of harmony with nature, your opinions are ill-considered and mistaken’ 

This is the disease of modernity, wherein we desire instant gratification out of everything else, especially if we can do it with minimal effort, rather than taking control of our own psychological angst, leading to a state of equanimity.

Benjamin Franklin in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy in 1789 once wrote "Our new constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." This wasn't the first time the idiom was spoken, nor would it be the last, with the unwavering tax continuing since that time, both in the United States and abroad, providing funds for the governance of the lands. 

Today we are going to explore the concepts that work or don't work, disproportionate taxing, some of the craziest tax schemes of all time, and then jump into current happenings such as the giant information leak, the hiring of new IRS officers, stock piling of weapons, Shakira, and much much more...

Franklin D Roosavelt famously said , the only thing we have to fear , is fear itself … the context of which , was in ref to the great depression facing the American people at the time, and that the hardship ahead was tenable if each individual would do their part to weather the storm ..  one may then ask the question what fear actually is .. , has its function changed over course of human evolution , why are we born with some innate  fears that are  biological traits  and others we acquire through exposure or learning , both it seems  serving as a function in our  growth and development and changing culture and traditions.

The Dead Internet Theory posits, as the name would suggest, a dead internet, by which it means the internet has been nearly entirely taken over by artificial intelligence. The so-called theory got a lot of traction after a post appeared on Agora Road’s Macintosh Cafe, by one IlluminatiPirate, in which he outlines, at great length, the idea that the internet is basically devoid of much humanity compared to the internet of 2007. He even gave a TLDR in which he states “Large proportions of the supposedly human-produced content on the internet are actually generated by artificial intelligence networks in conjunction with paid secret media influencers in order to manufacture consumers for an increasing range of newly-normalized cultural products.” Is this just glorified solipsism or is there something more going on? This theory is so obscure that there isn’t even a Wikipedia page for it, but we’re going to explore it today.