<p>@ThatOneWeirdGuy</p>
<p>As far as raising our children, yes, we do play a hand there. I am actually very familiar with this subject from a neuroscience standpoint, with some light psych. From my background there, I would not be investing too much in that being the magic key to change the human condition. Especially if we are teaching them individualism. That is one of the main ideas that will cause problems in making a better society, and I would see that as immediately conflicting. I’ll be honest, a 45 minute video is a bit too much of an investment with no info on why I should want to read the book in the first place. I could go for a 5 minute range video/article if you have a good intro, or more reasons why I should consider the book. To me it just seems like an explanation of one link that is a tiny part of a resulting human mind. I don’t think that single thing is worth so much knowledge on, unless it goes into broader topics. So basically, give me a good summary of the book if you could :)</p>
<p>As far as the free market, I have not read any of those guys in particular, but I don’t feel they have much to say that would change my mind. First off, I’m not against the free market if it comes with smart regulations. Nothing interfering with supply/demand, that’s the solid underlying principle. I would want to regulate the tax system. I have a feeling we aren’t going to be in any sort of agreement there so let’s move on from there. Point being, I have plenty of reading and knowledge about how capitalism works. While I haven’t read the particular guys, I have extensively studied America as the main case, as well as our ideologies.</p>
<p>You are advocating libertarianism/voluntarism (i see now with your profile picture 
), but I think they have the same hit as communism: they don’t work well in practice. You want all human action to be voluntary, but that relies even more than capitalism on “good” people. People who would eliminate the need for intervention by essentially taxing themselves voluntarily. That’s not the world we live in either, and not happening anytime soon. The ideas of individualism promote the exact opposite of voluntarism, yet you advocate both. What’s the rationale there?</p>
<p>I like the idea behind your argument, but the argument you are supporting and the ideas you are using simply don’t match. All that said, if you are familiar with the origins and historical context of american capitalism, I don’t think either of us will be changing our minds on that one, so let’s try to be productive and focus where we are in agreement.</p>
<p>When it comes to raising better humans, one thing is not going to do it. With the recent discoveries in epigenetics, we now know humans are incredibly dynamic, and with so many input sources I am skeptical that parenting is the answer but rather the entire culture would be easier to address. From what I know, I would be inclined to believe ideas shape a human brain much more in the long run than simple childhood events. While events can be impactful, they are static while ideas are dynamic in each person’s head, especially at a young age.</p>
<p>I think the first step would be to stop emphasizing individualism and start teaching more about community. These days most people, myself included, have been raised to think of themselves first and any community effects as an afterthought. If we want to have a good society, we have to start teaching our youth that the community matters as much as them. We can’t exactly work behind a veil of ignorance if we are too tied up in ourselves. That’s the biggest problem I see in people today. Most if not all of our theoretically best societies rely on people being concerned with others, yet most students aren’t even exposed to the idea intellectually and if not until very late in their development.</p>