Mindcoolness

A Cool Mind for a Full Life

What Does It Mean to Be a Man? (MPC#73 with Timothy Wenger)

In this special episode of the Mindcoolness podcast, I talk with Timothy Wenger (@themaneffect) about the concept of masculinity. He's a great guy with a great project (themaneffect.com), and although our conversation is all over the place because we had too many ideas to talk about, it will give you numerous impulses for thinking about his project's guiding question: What does it mean to be a man? Episode Overview [0:00] Introduction and greetings [1:39] What is The Man Effect? [2:42] … [Read more...]

How to Get on Your Path and Stay on It

Do you sometimes have goals, but not enough drive and motivation to achieve them? Do you sometimes have plans, but not enough grit and perseverance to go through with them? Do you sometimes have dreams, but not enough guts and energy to make them reality? How can you get on your path and stick to it? Know that whenever you quit or even fail to start, you didn't want it badly enough. That's a simple truth. So it seems that all you can do is to fatalistically accept your state of will, whatever … [Read more...]

How to Establish Trust: Be Consistent and Aware of People’s View of Humanity

Trust as Perceived Consistency Whether I trust another person depends on three factors: what I think his goal is, what he says his goal is, and what his actions say his goal is. The more consistency I see between these three things, the more trust I feel for the person. For example, I do not trust a businessman who talks to me about my interests. Since I assume that his goal is profit, what he speaks is inconsistent with what I think his intentions are, and that creates … [Read more...]

Overcoming the Will to Power

Those who see life as a struggle for power divide men into two categories: strong vs. weak, alpha vs. beta, winner vs. loser, predator vs. prey. He who does not get ahead falls behind. He who does not dominate bows down. He who is not a master is a slave. But the Will to Power comes from zero-sum thinking: "Your gain in power is my loss; your loss is my reinforced will." If good is power and one's gain always someone else's loss, then the sum of good in the world is never not zero. Once we … [Read more...]

Is Masculinity a Social Construct?

Homo sapiens is a sexually reproducing species. To reproduce, two members of each sex—one male, one female—must come together and fuck. The biological drive that makes a man and a woman come together is called sexual attraction. A female's attractive qualities are feminine, whereas a male's attractive qualities are masculine. What is feminine and masculine is objectively determined by how well it attracts members of the opposite sex (potential mates). Masculinity can therefore be defined as … [Read more...]