How the system works - Naval Ravikant

These are addictive: twitter, facebook, instagram: they are weaponised. You have social statisticians and scientists and researchers and people in lab coats literally best minds of our generations figuring out how to addict you to the news. And if you fall for it, if you get addicted, your brain will get destroyed. This is the modern struggle. 

The ancient struggle used to be the tribal struggle: you had your tribe of friends and family, you had your religion, you had your country, you had your loyalty and your nationality. At least you had meaning and support. 

Modern life was so free that everything became atomised: you stand alone, you live in our apartment alone, you live in your house alone, your parents don't live nearby, your friends don't live nearby, you dont have any tribal meaning, you don't believe in religion anymore, you don't believe in country anymore. it's fine, you got a lot of freedom. 

But now, when they come to attack you, you're alone and you can't resist. How do they attack you? It's all well-meaning. I don't fault capitalism, I love capitalism but look how it happens: social media they've massaged all the mechanisms too addictive like a skinner pigeon or a rat who's just goona click click: can't put the phone down. 

Food: they've taken sugar and they've weaponised it, they've put it into all these different forms and varieties that you can't resist eating. 

Drugs: they've taken pharmaceuticals and plants and they've synthesised them, they've grown them in such a way that you get addicted, you can't put them down.

Porn: if you are a young male you wonder around the internet and it will zap away your libido, becuse you're not going out in real life society anymore because you've got this incerdibly stimulating stuff coming at you. 

Video games are another way to addict people.

So you have this entire large factories of people that are working to addict you to these things and you stand alone. So the modern struggle as an individual is learning how to resist these things in the first place drawing your own boundaries and there is no one there to help you.