 All right, we've got somebody on the phone, 917 aviacode. If you want to ask a question, I'm going to unmute you. Hi, who's this? Hi, this is Andrew. Hey, Andrew. Ask away. Hey, you're on. So I wanted to get your take on what a rationally egoistic approach to empathy in this situation is. Personally, I've gone from religious altruism to objectivism. And that transition in philosophy has required me to substantially rework my empathy response. I really had a long struggle with kind of feeling bad for other people's problems that weren't my fault. Now we have this situation with corona. And these issues kind of garner my attention for obvious reasons. And somebody on Twitter said something about Trump, of how he has resentment towards people suffering, like he sees it as weakness per se. And I agree with that observation. I think he is desensitized from his humanity. And I think that trait is shown in a lot of alt-right type people. There are actual people in this situation, health care workers, for example, who I think it's good to identify with their struggle not being able to see their kids for two weeks and that kind of thing. It brings you in touch with your humanity. On the other side is I'm seeing a lot of these calls for kindness, kind of limitless kindness and compassion. And maybe it's because I see this from the former religious altruism that I read too much into it. But some of it, I think, is guilt-tripping. And this kind of attempt to limitlessly drain the positive energy of somebody for something that's not their fault. So I wanted to get your take on what you think is kind of a rational approach where you're still in touch with their humanity. But if you're being moral under objectivism, you can't exist in this permanent state of sadness because you've got to survive and you want to be happy. So I just wanted to get your take on that. No, I think you've got it. I think you're absolutely right. So I think it's completely legitimate to feel empathy towards somebody who's suffering of no fault of their own, whether it's just somebody who got the corona flu and is now in a hospital bed and life is at stake. And that's a legitimate reason to be upset or saddened because there are a lot of people like that. And they might be people you know, they might not be people they might be people you don't know, but partially you don't know because there's so many of them right now. And it's sad that people are going through this. Suddenly, the health care professionals that are putting their effort on the line here and really exerting themselves and exhibiting real values and real, you know, real pro-human life values of working hard to and being productive and saving somebody's life and values that we want them to have because our lives might one day be in their hands. So, you know, we certainly want to, it should sympathize with their struggle. But there has to be a limit to that, right? It's them, us. Empathy doesn't mean you are them. It means you understand their plight. You understand their suffering. And I think it's legitimate to understand, to feel, but you can't let your feelings overwhelm you in any situation, right? You're not dominated by your feelings. So you have to recognize that people are suffering and that is sad and feel that. And yet still be able to use your mind and focus your attention and focus your mind on the things you need to do to improve your life, to survive in this mess and to guide your life towards a better outcome. So, you know, I think being human means, part of being human is to recognize suffering that is not somebody's fault and the difficulties they're going through and to appreciate that. And at the same time, be able to fully orient oneself towards one's own life and towards one's own success and make sure that the one doesn't need to feel with the other. And, you know, feel enough and be aware enough of what's going on in the world to help you deal with what you have to deal with in the world and to make it possible for you to feel a part of the world, right? To feel part of what is going on in the world. So it's difficult. It's very easy in times like this and I feel under myself because I, unfortunately, I read the news a lot, right? And I don't watch television news, so that's a good thing. That keeps me sane, I think. But I read a lot and it's depressing. And when you watch the market do what the market does and when you think your livelihood is dependent on this crap and you think that, like David was before, you think your livelihood is dependent on decisions made at City Hall in Austin or decisions made in City Hall in Chicago, one of the most corrupt places in the planet, right? And yet they are determining your business's fate. Everything, all the blood, sweat and tears and money and capital that you have put into it is now completely at the hands of some bureaucrat. So it's very difficult to stay positive, engaged and focused on success in life when there are people suffering all around you and to some extent not for their own fault but because of bad government, bad agency. And to stay sane through all of this, so I find it difficult and I think a lot of people find it difficult. What we need today, what I call the new intellectual would be any man or woman who is willing to think. Meaning any man or woman who knows that man's life must be guided by reason, by the intellect, not by feelings, wishes, whims or mystic revelations. Any man or woman who values his life and who does not want to give in to today's cult of the stare, cynicism and impotence and does not intend to give up the world to the dark ages and to the role of the collectivist broad. Using the super chat and I noticed yesterday when I appealed for support for the show, many of you stepped forward and actually supported the show for the first time. So I'll do it again. Maybe we'll get some more today. If you like what you're hearing, if you appreciate what I'm doing, then I appreciate your support. Those of you who don't yet support the show, please take this opportunity, go to uranbrookshow.com slash support or go to subscribestar.com uranbrookshow and make a kind of a monthly contribution to keep this going. I'm not sure when the next.