David vs. Goliath

My Wife envies my intellectual ability sometimes. She knows I see things she does not, she knows I understand policies she does not, and she knows I craft strategies she cannot.

Even more, she fears not keeping my interest. She's not an intellectual person. She's a "here's my day!" kind of person.

She asked how she might ramp up her intellectual ability, quickly. I suggested Malcolm Gladwell books, and after struggling through 50 pages of "Blink," she opted for "David vs. Goliath" on audio CD. Which her mom already read, and boy do I have comments on that later!

First, though, I want you to watch Gladwell's TED talk, where he recounts David Vs. Goliath. Or if not, skip the link, and see the quick summation.

http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_the_unheard_story_of_david_and_goliath?language=en

Gladwell says we understand David and Goliath all wrong. Goliath is at a severe handicap: he's practically blind, he's heavy infantry. David is the ancient equivalent of field artillery, a dedicated slinger.

Skip to 3:30 below to see a slingshot compared to a variety of weapons. The metal ball hits with more force than a modern handgun.




So, why are surprised Goliath lost?

Gladwell's book addresses all sorts of apparent underdogs who persevere over more superior foes, and a major advantage of the underdogs often possess is desperation.

Desperation isn't always good, but people with nothing to lose can often become quite innovative. While most new ideas are terrible, desperate people with the right set of skills and the right amount of luck often develop entirely new strategies, that dominante over less advanced, stiffer strategies.

This is actually the case for World War II: France and Britain outnumbered the Germans substantially. Superior German tactics led the accidental invention of Blitzkrieg, which dominated the static Allied defenses. But make no mistake, Germany was desperate. Hitler, the little emo-art student he was, practically had daily breakdowns during the Phony War period, because the terrified Furher could not imagine possibly prevailing against the combined British-French forces.

So, what the hell, go for broke.

It worked.

Now take a look at some of YaReally's post at the Rational Male, regarding Pick-Up:

I can do shit that people who meet me or see me don’t expect me to be able to do and, unless they’ve studied a shitload of game, can’t wrap their heads around. I’m not floating on water, even Tyler Julien etc constantly remind their students that they’re not gods (despite the marketing lol), they’re just guys who know how to execute very specific steps and strategies to create specific reactions in people and play the chessboard optimally. That’s it. ANYONE can do it. We’re all just fucking NERDS who were supposed to be weeded out of evolution except we decided going out and talking to girls a few nights a week was more fun than playing xbox or jumping off a building or dying a virgin lol

One of the big differences between a PUA and a Natural is that when a Natural isn’t “in state” as we call it (your flowy state), we have conscious steps we can take to get ourselves INTO that state whereas a Natural is kind of at the mercy of luck with it which can be frustrating at times.

we had a “Tactics & Techniques” section on the old boards where you weren’t allowed to post a technique till you’ve personally tried it successfully at least 3 times, and then guys would go out and pressure test that shit and discuss what was going on and narrow down the results and figure out how the data fit into or changed what we understood about social dynamics.

The guys over at TRM really like YaReally. Maybe he's lying, but they regard him as a pretty talented PUA. He didn't start that way. He started out at as a 24 year old nerd who couldn't get laid. But, as he said, he had no ego left at 24.

I'm not surprised. I was a 24 year old virgin, too, along with a close friend of mind, the NASA Scientist. The NASA Scientist dated a religious Lutheran girl who denied him sex and then put out for another guy on the first night.  We both agreed that if we actually made it to 25 and were still virgins, we should probably kill ourselves. That's about the amount of ego you have left as a 24 year old virgin.

Doubly-so for him, who, even with a girlfriend, could not get laid. A girlfriend who was quite willing to fuck the correct guy under the correct situation. "The Correct Guy" did not include "NASA Scientist," which I guess says a lot about how religious girls who are virgins at 25 value men.

And, yes, that's why I say "Even the Shy Girls" do not meet quality standards.

But whereas my NASA Scientist friend entered a self-destructive loop of social anxiety and shyness that has resulted in him losing his job and getting mental treatment (and did I mention he's still a third-wave feminist?), YaReally joined the pick-up community and practiced.

Hard.

He went out most nights, as part of a community solely focused on grabbing girls and doing a good job of it.

He's become pretty damn good at getting girls.

He's a David, but he owned a lot of unique strengths. He had no ego left, which was good: it opened him up to new ideas. A lot of nerdy guys hold on to their social egos, which actually holds them back. He was smart, and he had a willingness to work hard, and he found the right community that he could teach him the right things.

David's have a lot of advantages, if only they put them to use.

Unfortunately, that means correcting a lot of misguided internal beliefs. Which is why the Red Pill exists more broadly than the PUA movement, and why we talk about defying the Matrix: we are trying to liberate young men's minds from toxic narratives that dominate society, and poison young men's minds.


In totally related news, the Architect visited Sunday night. He brought some leftover blueberry pie.

"I'm happy he's so Betty Crocker," my Wife said. "I mean, so designer, and baking-"

"You mean, he's a girl."

"I didn't want to put it that way, but yeah."