It is abusive & tyrannical to suspend & punish accounts without explanation while also denying opportunity to repent & be contrite.
šA BAD relationship. Leave.
President Trump told me I would eventually come around to his tariff strategy. I didn't think it was possible. Today, I admit: he was right. Let me explain what changed my mind.
On Scott Adams.
A man finds, to his astonishment, that he exists. After the elation of childhood wears off, he asks, who am I, why am I here, how does this work? These are hard questions, so after a brief struggle, he selects a readymade answer and goes about the motions of life.
Scott Adams was not such a man. He was a live player, ever curious, intent on figuring out this simulation that he found himself in. From first principles, Scott unraveled, understood, and ultimately controlled his own reality. He hacked himself with affirmations, others with persuasion, the world with simultaneous sips. He explained people as moist robots, two movies happening on one screen, his world as Godsā debris. He carved a personal mission to ābe useful,ā and made us all better writers, public speakers, and persuaders. He preached the footwear theory of motivation, the Adams Law of slow-moving disasters, the skill stack, systems over goals, and of course, the Dilbert Principle.
Besides cartooning, philosophizing, and teaching, Scott rose to the occasion and displayed, āthe one virtue that cannot be fakedā - courage. Scott had the courage to speak honestly as he saw it - about Trump, about his nation, and about his time, even though it cost him friends, audience, money, and his ticket to polite society. Scott had true courage, the kind that makes you unpopular, the kind that is always and everywhere in short supply,
At the end, as any hacker of reality, Scott covered all of his bases - he left as a Buddhist, a Christian, and a player in the Simulation.
Scott, we didnāt get enough time with you, but you were a mentor and a marvel. You were useful and you were courageous. You were incompressible and indivisible. One of a kind, and generous with your drawing, writing, and speaking. Unlike your squealing critics in the chattering class, you will be read generations from now.
On this earth there are many long-lived hells but no lasting heaven. Each heaven must be created and nurtured, ex-nihilo, from mind and from mud. Scott, you created a small heaven for us all, and to a larger heaven you go.
A man finds, to his astonishment, that he no longer exists. He asks why, what it was for, and how will the new reality work? When the rest of us get there, weāll find Scott, ever useful, ready to explain, having figured it all out.
Notes:
⢠First line paraphrasing Schopenhauer.
⢠Courage quote via Taleb.
Scott Adams, facing death, shows us how to live.
Someone recommended āHow to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Bigā by Scott Adams. I had burned out on mainstream books, but picked it up, and was hooked. He had put into words a way of living, similar to one I had found, except his approach was systemic and analytical. Better than my own slapdash notes. Outside of religious texts, Adams was and is as close to a āguide to life,ā as youāll ever find. And even if youāre religious, you still live in this world, and would be wise to learn how to navigate it.
Scott is closing in on the end of his life, and even now he is creating new beginnings.
Iād better write this now, I wonāt be able to when itās too late.
After losing Charlie Kirk, a lot of us are wondering how we can possibly write another obituary. While thereās much to complain about the internet and social media, those mediums expanded the sizes of our communities, our influences, and indeed our families. Too often we find new ways to hate people, instead of finding new people to love.
Scott Adams comes up in conversation at every social event I host. āHow is Scott Adams doing? Will he make it?ā We all talk about streams we watched and lessons learned. Itās a memorial except heās still alive. Scott would love to hear that, which is why I have said so repeatedly. Iāve lost too many people, via death or fallings-out, to leave feeling unexpressed.
Heās been a surrogate father figure and mentor to millions of people.
Scott Adams is not liked, he is loved.
People donāt ālikeā Scott Adams, they arenāt āa fan of his.ā They love this man. And I do as well. Iām still living in denial of his fate. We all are.
Weād been making a film about the meaning of life, and while Scott Adams had been in both of our other films, we hadnāt booked him for Meaning yet. Then we found out he was going to take the ride of assisted suicide. Foolishly, we had assumed heād always be around. Nobody ever dies, right? Your dad will be there to take your call the next time you phone home. Your friends arenāt going anywhere. Thatās how we too often live. We could book Scott later.
We reached out and he graciously agreed to be interviewed. We all knew it was going to be our last interview together. Scott and I are both efficient with our time. When a moment is over, itās time to go do something else. Obligations call. The crew pushed this one as long as we could.
After the interview wrapped up and the gear was packed and it was time to go, there was an awkward pause. I broke it.
āScott, we love you.ā He said thank you. āNo, Scott, we love you, I mean it, we all do. We love you.ā
None of us broke down crying, not that there would have been any shame in that, but we no doubt all soon will.
Well then, what is the lesson of Scott Adams?
On a practical level, the lesson of Scott Adams is the power of showing up. Nobody works harder and on a more regular schedule. You can set your clock to Scottās show. Too many of us wait for the muse of inspiration or the jolt of information to force us into action. Work, everyday, maybe in obscuring and without tangible benefits for years. Eventually youāll hit your mark and go beyond.
Scott plugged away with his streams from a small account (after a huge career via Dilbert) and soon became must-watch, and then transcended his role to becoming something much more.
On a spiritual level, we might ask, why do we love Scott? Itās not because heās so smart (he is). There are not shortage of intelligent, clever, Machiavellian, and rich people with podcasts. When one of them dies, what is lost? All of that Ego and desire for adoration, and does anybody even care? When those people fall while living, who will be there?
Scott is loved because heās devoted his life to service to humanity. āWhat is the meaning of life,ā is the question we ask every interviewee, and Scottās answer, āBe useful to humanity.ā
Despite pain, sickness, and inevitable death, Scott is doing his daily streams, serving his country and all of humankind until his end.
Heās a light to the world and a mirror for all of us.
What exactly are we doing with the gift of life given to us by God. (Scott believes in the Simulation, but I believe God evens this all out in the Judgment.) Are we doing enough for others? Are we doing anything for others?
Like everyone else, Iām capable of throwing myself a pity party. Sometimes when life is going too well, and I donāt have real problems, I invent some. Thatās where the Ego brings you, recursively worshipping itself, and when that fails, tormenting itself, as each path leads to its own attention.
May all of us live more like Scott Adams, and may God bless his immortal soul when he passes.
P.S. I ran this article through Grok for typos. The original version had āimmoralā soul where I meant it to read āimmortal.ā I think Scott would have had a great laugh had that typo been left in.
Did u know that Vincent Van Gogh's painting were worthless at one time?? Nobody wanted themānot even after his death. They were headed to rot forgotten in storage... Shocking, but check this out, it really brought me to tears and explains everything! š¤Æ
šØšØ BREAKING: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has just released HUNDREDS OF BOMBSHELL RUSSIAGATE DOCUMENTS proving that Barack Obama personally ordered CIA agents to manufacture false intelligence on President Trump and was actively āworking with the enemyā to undermine and erode Americansā confidence in our democracy and President Trumpās LANDSLIDE 2016 VICTORY. This was a coup attempt by Barack Hussein Obama and his cronies⦠As Jesse Watters said āWhatever happens to these guys is not revenge⦠itās accountability. And itās time for people to pay the price.ā ARREST OBAMA NOW!
@DameScorpio You need to ponder your own self if your spidey senses were NOT screaming āthere is no way VDH talks at this constant level this longā AND āHOW exactly was he in-the-room as all these specialists were added to said investigation?ā
VDH is good. But not this level of flawless.