Why do people think authoritarianism and communism are the same thing? There are endless permutations to authoritarianism, the vast majority of which aren't "communism".

— i/o (@eyeslasho) February 14, 2025

It’s funny that the guy whose best writing is on IQ has to ask this question.

Because people are lazy, sloppy, careless, with rusty, unexercized brains that enjoy nothing as much as repeating the same slogan memorized decades ago.

Communism, by the way, by definition can’t be authoritarian because there’s no government, police, army, or any coercive apparatus in communism. That’s precisely why communism never existed and never can.

To celebrate the day of lovers, here is a great quote from Zygmunt Bauman:

‘Creating a family’ is like jumping headlong into uncharted waters of unfathomed depth. Having children means weighing the welfare of another, weaker and dependent, being against one’s own comfort. The autonomy of one’s own preferences is bound to be compromised, and ever anew: year by year; daily. One may become, horror of horrors, ‘dependent.’ Having children may mean the need to lower one’s professional ambitions, to ‘sacrifice a career’. . . Most painfully, having children means accepting such loyalty-dividing dependence for an indefinite time, entering an open-ended and irrevocable commitment with no ‘until further notice’ clause attached; the kind of obligation that goes against the grain of liquid modern life politics. Awakening to such a commitment may be a traumatic experience. Post-natal depression and post-childbirth marital crises look like specifically ‘liquid modern’ ailments, in the same way as anorexia, bulimia, and countless varieties of allergy.

Liquid Love

This is the origin of the Western fertility crisis right there. The idea that you can throw money at the problem and buy greater fertility is a neoliberal solution to a problem that neoliberalism creates. It won’t work.

I recognize that I have not read the constitution of Israel. Or whatever foundational document they have. I don’t even know whether there is a constitution or what stands in its place. I became a citizen of Canada and then of the US, so obviously I had to get very familiar with the Charter and the US Constitution. Another country whose constitution I know almost by heart is Spain. And I know the history of all Spanish constitutions, how they were created, argued, destroyed, etc. All the other foundational documents of other countries are a mystery to me.

For instance, I wouldn’t be able to say what Germany or Poland have. I’m sure there’s a document but I never laid my eyes on it. In what concerns Israel, a reader shared that they even have a different system of legal rights for illegitimate children. I had no idea about that. So I wouldn’t venture to make any guesses about any documents I haven’t studied.

So much information is coming in that it’s impossible to track everything. Please give a link where Hegseth said this because I need to know what I’m responding to. In the video posted earlier, I discussed what Hegseth said yesterday. Then today he backtracked on that but from your comment it sounds like he went much further since today’s NATO presser? I looked but I’m not finding anything.

Please, whoever knows what this question is in reference to, leave links or, ideally, quotes.

While we wait, I can say that I’m grateful for everything Hegseth said yesterday and confused as to why he decided to backtrack today.

Except for my haircut. That’s completely my own.

I have such severe issues with recognizing people that nobody believes it’s possible. For instance, you know that guy who interviews me every week? I talked to him for an hour today. And not only am I completely unable to imagine his face, I can’t even say if he has facial hair or what color eyes he has or does he wear eyeglasses. Which I assume he does because everybody does at this age. Bit I don’t have a specific memory of it.

On the other hand, I remember by heart large portions of texts that I read 20 years ago. And I remember where in the book they were located. And where on a page.

It takes me years to remember the faces of my lab workers. Every time I discover what I think is a complete stranger at the front desk, and people have to tell me, “It’s Pedro. You didn’t recognize Pedro? He’s been with us for 3 years.” And to me, he’s a complete stranger.

Do English-speaking readers have a way to understand my videos? Is there a technology somebody is using? I spoke for 50 minutes on tomorrow’s video about Trump and Ukraine. I have a new haircut, by the way, and I look ferociously good. But in any case, will anybody be able to understand it? Or should I repeat it here in writing? Or in video form in English?

I don’t know about “everything” because that’s a little grandiose but this is the perfect writing strategy. As I always say, don’t sit down to write a book. Sit down to write one sentence about a very specific thing.

US and Canada have the same obligations to all their citizens and vice versa. It would be bizarre to assign any moral value to groups of citizens based on how their ancestors ended up in the area where the nation-state eventually formed.

So the answer is, if they are citizens and enjoy the rights of citizenship, then that’s it. Nothing else is due.

I’m kind of surprised by the question because it’s hard to imagine an alternative position.

Today I found out that N and I will both probably lose our jobs soon and I also dropped a tray with 30 cupcakes, so you can imagine the mess, but I don’t care because my kid turned 9 today, and nothing matters if you have a kid.

Absolutely nothing but joy have I gotten from this child. She’s everything that’s good in life.

As for jobs, neoliberalism, fluidity, we all know how it goes. Only people who are completely out of the loop expect something different.