Don Watkins & Yaron Discuss Effective Egoism | Yaron Interviews
Channel: Yaron Brook
Date: 2023-12-07

Don Watkins' new book -- Effective Egoism: https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Egoism-Individualists-Purpose-Happiness/dp/B0C91MY7MD/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1701722100&refinements=p_27%3ADon+Watkins&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Don+Watkins

00:00 Intro
04:20 Why another book on Egoism?
09:00 Why Effective Egoism?
10:53 Effective Altruism
14:40 Substack https://www.earthlyidealism.com/
17:27 Summary of the book
21:40 Free Will
27:05 Addressing Objections
29:50 Buy the book https://a.co/d/5KuWoPV
31:13 Happiness
38:30 Career
44:07 Fear of Failure
49:28 Self Esteem
54:47 Meaning of Effective Egoism

Live Questions:
58:00 Who is Don's favorite rationally egoistic movie character (besides Howard Roark)?
1:03:49 ​Why have the concept "red pill"? Seems inspired by Plato, Augustine, & Marx. People who accept this concept tend to form a "bitter truth" bias, & look at the world that way. ​The proper perspective is the primacy of existence.
1:07:02 This book could be important - I'd love to hear more about the "behind the scenes" making of the book - how did it change over the process, why go self published, what ​are the promotional plans, things like that.
1:15:24 Audiobooks of your books when?
1:16:47 There's a video going around with Rick Rubin explaining how he creates art for himself knowing that if he loves it the client or consumer will love it. It would be cool if ​you could comment on it and make a short video
1:18:58 Thanks for your work Don. Why do you think Rand described happiness as non-contradictory joy instead of integrated joy or something positive? What are some of the ​contradictions to joy that egoism removes?
1:21:33 Is Rand/egoism useful when you are not in a John Galt moment but going through a bad period like health issue, etc.? And how to use effective egoism on a date when you are evaluating if it’s the right person for life? 😁
1:31:50 Ben Shapiro & YouTuber Alex O'Connor discussed religion & freewill in a video. They discuss Freewill vs Determinism.. Why is it that freewill is often packaged with ​religion? Video may be worth reviewing for content.
1:38:26 I think that a main motive for rejecting free will is a standard of perfection for self esteemr; thus a motive to reject responsibility for one’s faults. The ​opponents seem emotionalistically wedded to determinism. Thoughts?
1:40:33 What do you think of creating fables or short stories with an Objectivist moral? Has any creative writer proposed it? Fables and short stories could go to video ​at low cost, but should be too long for Tik-Tok,
1:42:55 Yaron: Recently you told us not to send our kids to MIT. from my life as an MIT alumnus and a retired professor at Cal State LA, that if not for MIT, it would have taken ​me years more to reach my MIT level. Were you serious?
1:50:07 Don, what are your thoughts on Holland’s Dominion?
1:55:28 How do you make yourself care about money more?
1:57:09 Why should we listen to your career advice when you are not a billionaire? This is a question you might hear.
2:00:00 Specialist versus generalist when pursuing career?
2:03:10 Please explain the idea of “worthy” in Ayn Rand’s definition of self esteem. On reading Don’ book, I understood more fully what she meant when she wrote that it is man’s “inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living.” What exactly is self-worth?
2:05:25 What is the unusual object under Don's copy of Equal is Unfair?
2:06:46 What are your favorite Tool songs/albums? Can u explain what u like about them? What other bands do u like? Great show the energy between u 2 is great
2:09:38 Don, great article on Ayan Hirsi Ali.
2:09:50 Yaron mentioned that if you care more about politics than applying objectivism in your life, you stil hold altruistic morality. This may be happening to me. How to ​change this and why is it ao hard? 😂
2:12:12 How do I keep motivation/focus with 18months kid?
2:16:30 Marketing has come up a couple of times tonight. What is the best way to market Objectivism, beyond Rand's works?
2:19:26 See pinned comment for timestamps of additional questions

2:36:15 Outro

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