 like a particular date, right, in a particular year, and that year is for a variety of reasons. We can talk about 1776. Anybody know what happened in 1776? Three things happened in 1776. One of which you know, and the others do you have no clue. What is the one thing you know? What happened in 1776? The Declaration of Independence of the United States was written. Now, why do we care? You live in Singapore and you care about the Declaration of Independence of the United States. What relevance does that have? It has huge relevance. Because the Declaration of Independence represents a set of ideas that have made us rich. Without the ideas articulated in the Declaration of Independence, we are still, 250 years ago, good poor. What are the ideas that the Declaration of Independence articulates? The idea that as an individual, you have an illegal right. Inalienable means what? Means nobody can take it away from you. It's part of who you are. Not even a majority. Not even a majority. It cannot be taken away from you. And you have a right to what? To your life, to your liberty. You all pursue happiness. The Declaration of Independence is a declaration of the individual's right to his life. It's a declaration that the individual has a right to the free, to be free. To be free of coercion, free of authority, free of people telling what he cannot do. Free to live his life as he see fit in pursuit of the rational values he needs in order to live. And it's that freedom that the Declaration of Independence articulates, which is what made us rich. That same year, a famous book was written. Now it was published. Anybody know where the book was published in 1777? Well, that was Nation's. Well, that was Nation's by Adam Smith. It's not an accident that the theory around economic freedom, the theory around capitalism is coming out at the same time as people articulating their ideas of individual liberty and individual freedom. Because the two go together, capitalism is the system of individual liberty and individual freedom. It's the system in which individuals are left free to live their lives as they see fit. To pursue their values, to pursue their own happiness. The third thing that happens in 1776 is consistent with both of those. The steam engine, which had been discovered many years earlier, but really way back, the steam engine is first commercialized in 1776. So now somebody using his own judgment, using his own mind, not asking for permission in terms of starting a company and innovating and building something, but just doing it, starts a company using the steam engine to produce stuff. And that sets off the industrial revolution and it sets off the complete change in the world in which we live. For the first time, for the first time, when people are asked who is your life belong to, they don't answer. Well, what do people answer in the past? Who does your life belong to? The king. What's that? The king, right? That's one answer. What else? His life belongs to his wife, but you know, some people have those kind of relationships. Who does your life belong to? The god. It's sorry, the god, right? God dictates what she's doing, tells you to kill your eldest son. Cool. I'm going to do it right away. Yes, sir. Your life belongs to him. He gets to tell you what to do. Who else does your life belong to? What's that? The general, the army. The general, the leader, the tribe, the community, the group. Somebody. Your life belongs to somebody. And he's just waiting for this. The parliamentarian. Maybe your life belongs to the parliamentarian if you're a good office. Okay? If you're a good Nazi, your life belongs to the army and race. And to the leader who dictates what it's going to be. Psychically, your life as an individual never belonged to you. It belonged to the tribe, the group, the state, the king, god. 1776 declared, no, my life is mine. My life is mine for the first time in human history. And the consequence of that have been astounding. The consequence of that are the skyscrapers in Singapore. The consequence of that is all the wealth that surrounds you here and globally all over the world. It is individual human freedom. It is our willingness to stand out and declare that our life belongs to us as individuals. That it's changed the world in such a dramatic heroic fashion. Your life is yours to live as you see fit. That idea is what generated the wealth and the prosperity that we see all around us.