Aleksey

Hi st434u, Sorry for not answering. For some reason I don't receive notifications from this thread. I'd consider this as a weird suicide attempt Some people say that it's incredibly easy to start a business in Russia, because the market is relatively empty and service in general is low. Others say that it's very hard because of bureaucracy and bribes. I don't have any experience on that topic, so can't give you more details, sorry. Inflation is pretty big. USD/RUB rate increased from 33 to 40 roubles since July. Fuel prices go up, groceries are getting more expensive due to the sanctions. What amazes me is that I don't see any panic around this. Nobody seems to care… I've been a victim of a crime only once in my life (pickpocketing). But there are no-go neighborhoods and occasional murders in my city. In general, things are slowly getting better. Great! I'm in! I think we can start with small conversations, maybe 3 persons or even 1-on-1, that'd be easier to schedule. I filled in my contact information, please fill free to write and call me. Hi VParkh! Nice to meet you. I agree, RTR is much more challenging than economics and politics.

I guess that makes sense. Thanks for your reply. But again, doesn't it sound like a contract? Vows are terms of a contract, and community, i.e family and friends are third parties who make sure that the terms are obeyed. I had a girlfriend that I loved and she loved me back (well, at least she said so). I knew I would do anything for her and I assumed she would do anything for me, too. I never needed for her to say, that she will be helping me when I'm sick or something. That was implied, I guess. And I myself never said anything like this. In fact, that'd be as ridiculous to say as 'I will never hit you'. Who would want to hit the most important person in his life? Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, do you really need vows, when you love each other? And, talking about community, does my family or my friends need to wait till we get married to be able to say that there's something wrong with the relationship? I mean, assuming that community cares about the relationship, wouldn't they intervene and help regardless of the status?

Hi there! In the podcast 'Paid to Not Masturbate - Sunday Call In Show December 15th, 2013' Stefan said that such thing as a contract is needed when there is no trust between parties. And if there is trust in people's relationship, contract is not necessary. I totally agree with that. Indeed, I do not have a contract with my English teacher, for example. I know him very well, I want to study English and therefore I do not miss the lessons and pay for them on time. He also knows me, loves teaching and shows up at work every day. The contract is redundant. This led me to think about marriage, since it is a social contract where two people promise to be together, love each other, etc. Let's assume that we live in a stateless atheistic society. Would we still have marriage? Obviously, romantic relationships are the strongest and most important relationships in our life. If the less important relationship between a student and a teacher does not need a contract, why would a couple need it? What would change when I get married? I will be able to call my girlfriend my wife, she will have my last name and… that's probably it. Is the purpose of marriage to only change names and make the family tree easier to follow? What do you think? Am I missing something? I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Hi aleles, thank you! Actually, bitcoin helped me to discover FDR. Someone in my twitter feed posted a speech made by Stefan a few month ago. Here it is http://youtu.be/joITmEr4SjY?list=PLMNj_r5bccUzhGeXF4EThVrc_iW9PcApr To be honest, I didn't quite like Stef at the beginning, probably because of his humor that I couldn't get at first… Be the things he talked about made me curious, i thought "wow, that guy has some explanations". At around the same time, my girlfriend had left me. We had been dating for a bit more than two years. I proposed to her and she said "yes", but a few month after she basically took off. That was a big shock to me, and I promised myself to figure out what happened, what did I do wrong and what can I do to not let it happen again. I did try therapy, which helped a little. But what helped the most were Stef's podcasts. So, that's how I got here. I think that I'm only at the beginning right now. I educate myself, absorb the information, but do not talk about it with the people around me yet. Probably because I already know that I'll stay alone if I start to. And that is scary. Well, that's about it Hi st434u! Russia is the same police state as the US today. Life is cheaper here, but the level of life is much lower as well.

Hey there! My name is Aleksey, I'm 27 and I live right in the middle of Russia, in siberian city Krasnoyarsk. FDR significantly changed my views and approach to life. Suddenly many things became clear to me. I often want to discuss this stuff with likeminded people, but I'm not sure if anyone has ever heard of FDR in my hometown. That's why I'm here.