Sam Harris is an American neuroscientist, philosopher, and author. He is the founder and CEO of Project Reason, a non-profit organization that promotes science and secularism. Harris is known for his critiques of religious faith and his promotion of scientific rationality and secular humanism. He has written several books, including "The End of Faith," "Letter to a Christian Nation," "The Moral Landscape," "Free Will," and "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion." Harris is also a frequent speaker and commentator on neuroscience, philosophy, and religion issues.
Sam Harris hosts a podcast called "Making Sense," produced by his non-profit organization, Project Reason. The podcast features Harris having in-depth conversations with various guests, including scientists, scholars, authors, and other public figures. Topics of discussion on the podcast include science, philosophy, politics, and current events. The podcast is released weekly, and episodes can be found on various platforms such as iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube. The podcast has been running since 2013 and has been well-received by listeners for its in-depth and thought-provoking conversations.
Harris has written extensively on neuroscience and its implications for understanding the nature of consciousness, free will, and morality. In addition, he is known for his work on the neural basis of belief and emotion and his critiques of traditional religious and spiritual beliefs.
Project Reason is a non-profit organization that promotes scientific understanding and critical thinking on issues related to religion, morality, and politics. It provides a forum for open and rational discussion of these topics and works to combat the influence of dogmatism and superstition in public life. Some of the activities of Project Reason include public lectures, debates, discussions with experts in various fields, and the production of multimedia content such as podcasts, videos, and articles. Harris' organization also provides educational resources and materials for educators and students.

Chris Anderson is the Head of TED, a non-profit organization devoted to spreading ideas through short, powerful talks. He is also the founder of TEDx, a program that allows communities and organizations to host TED-like events.
Anderson has been involved with TED since 2001 and took over as Head of TED in 2002. Under his leadership, TED has grown into a global phenomenon, with talks being viewed by millions of people in more than 100 languages. He has also been instrumental in expanding the reach of TED by making the words available for free online and by launching the TEDx program.
In addition to his work with TED, Anderson is also an entrepreneur and author. He is the founder of several successful companies. In addition, he has written several books, including "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More" and "TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking."
Anderson is a firm believer in the power of ideas to change the world, and he has dedicated his career to promoting this idea through TED. He is a charismatic and dynamic speaker and has been praised for his ability to bring together diverse groups of people to share their thoughts and inspire change.
Anderson is also known for his innovative approach to curation, which has helped to make TED one of the most respected and widely-watched platforms for ideas. He has a keen eye for identifying new and emerging trends and is always looking for ways to bring fresh perspectives and voices to the TED stage.
He has also been a champion of using technology to democratize knowledge and ideas, making them more accessible to people worldwide. In addition, he has been an early adopter of new technologies, such as online video and social media, to help spread TED's message and reach new audiences.
Various organizations and publications have also recognized Anderson's work with TED. He has been honored with numerous awards for his contributions to the field of communications and education and has been named one of the most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.
In addition to his role at TED, Anderson is a sought-after speaker and advisor and has been invited to speak at conferences and events worldwide. In addition, he is a regular contributor to various publications, where he shares his insights on the future of technology, business, and culture.
Overall, Chris Anderson is a respected leader and a thought leader in the field of ideas and education, and he continues to inspire and innovate in his role as Head of TED. His work has helped make TED one of the most critical and influential platforms for sharing knowledge and ideas, and his contributions to the field will continue to be felt for years.

Chris

Daniel Pink is an award-winning author and speaker whose books on business and professional success have sold millions of copies in dozens of countries and been translated into over 35 languages. His latest book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, is a deep dive into the science of timing.
Pink has written six books, including four New York Times bestsellers. His first book, Free Agent Nation, set off a national debate on the changing nature of work and was praised by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. His second book, A Whole New Mind, predicted the rise of right-brain thinking in the workplace and spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list.&nbsp;
His third book, Drive, a No. 1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, explored the science of motivation and revealed the surprising truth about what really drives us to succeed. His fourth book, To Sell is Human, looked at the changing nature of sales, and was named one of the best books of the year by Amazon, Apple, and the Financial Times. His fifth book, When, is a deep dive into the science of timing.&nbsp;
As well as writing books, Pink is a leading business speaker and consultant. He has been described by the American Management Association as “one of the most influential business thinkers in the world,” and millions of people around the world have watched his talks. He has advised a range of leading organizations, including the United States and British governments, Microsoft, Pixar, and the NFL.&nbsp;
Pink has also been a contributing editor at Wired, a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph, and a frequent commentator on National Public Radio. He was a top-ranking student at Northwestern University, where he won a Goldman Sachs Global Leadership Award, and he holds a degree in philosophy from Yale University.&nbsp;
Pink’s books have been praised by a wide range of business, academic, and political leaders. Former U.S. President Barack Obama said of Pink’s book Drive, “It’s a book that every leader in America should read.”&nbsp;
Daniel Pink’s books, talks, and consulting services have inspired millions of people around the world. He is widely recognized as one of the leading authorities on business, motivation, and success.

Daniel

Winston Churchill was a British statesman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, leading Britain through its darkest hour during World War II.
Churchill was born in 1874 and was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. He began his career in the British Army and later transitioned into politics, serving as a Member of Parliament for over 60 years. He held several government positions throughout his career, including as the First Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of Munitions, and Secretary of State for War.
During World War II, Churchill served as Prime Minister and played a key role in leading Britain through the war. He made powerful speeches that rallied the nation and inspired the British people to keep fighting, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. His speeches are widely considered to be some of the greatest in history, with phrases such as "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never" and "We shall fight on the beaches" becoming famous.
One of Churchill's greatest achievements as Prime Minister was his strong alliance with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Together, they led the Allied powers to victory over Nazi Germany.
After World War II, Churchill served as Prime Minister again from 1951 to 1955 but was defeated in the general election. He remained an active Member of Parliament until 1964 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his six-volume memoir of the war. He died in 1965 at the age of 90.
Churchill's legacy continues to this day, with many seeing him as a symbol of leadership, courage, and determination in the face of adversity. He is often ranked as one of the greatest British Prime Ministers, and his speeches are still studied and admired by people all over the world.
Winston Churchill was a prolific writer throughout his life, publishing books on a wide range of subjects. One of his most notable literary achievements is his six-volume memoir, The Second World War, which he wrote during and after the war. The work, which was published between 1948 and 1954, provides a detailed and personal account of the war from Churchill's perspective, including his thoughts and decisions as Prime Minister. The memoirs were international bestsellers and were praised for their historical accuracy and Churchill's literary skill.
In addition to his memoirs, Churchill also wrote several other books throughout his life. Some of his most notable works include:
<ul>
<li>"The World Crisis" (1923-1931): A five-volume work that covers the period of Churchill's life from 1911 to 1928 and includes his thoughts on World War I and its aftermath.</li>
<li>"My Early Life" (1930): An autobiographical work that covers Churchill's childhood and early career.</li>
<li>"A History of the English-Speaking Peoples" (1956-1958): A four-volume work that covers the history of the English-speaking peoples from the Anglo-Saxon period to the end of the 19th century.</li>
<li>"Painting as a Pastime" (1948): A book in which Churchill reflects on his hobby of painting and its therapeutic effects.</li>
</ul>
Churchill's books have been widely read and praised for their historical accuracy and literary merit. They provide valuable insights into the mind of one of the most important figures of the 20th century and continue to be studied and admired today.

Winston

Richard D. Wolff is a Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City.\
Earlier, he taught economics at Yale University (1967-1969) and at the City College of the City University of New York (1969-1973). In 1994, he was a Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of Paris (France), I (Sorbonne). Wolff was also a regular lecturer at the Brecht Forum in New York City. Prof Wolff is the co-founder of Democracy at Work and host of their nationally syndicated show Economic Update.&nbsp;
Richard Wolff founded Democracy at Work (d@w) in 2012 as a means to promote the idea of moving beyond capitalism through the transformation of the workplace. With d@w, Prof Wolff Produces the weekly show Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff, the bi-monthly Global Capitalism lecture, the short-answer Ask Prof Wolff web series, multiple books, and more.&nbsp;
Over the last twenty-five years, in collaboration with his colleague, Stephen Resnick, he has developed a new approach to political economy. While it retains and systematically elaborates the Marxist notion of class as surplus labor, it rejects the economic determinism typical of most schools of economics. It is usually associated with Marxism as well.
This new approach appears in several books co-authored by Resnick and Wolff and numerous articles by them separately and together. Common to all of Professor Wolff’s work are two central components. The first is the introduction of class, in its elaborated surplus labor definition, as a new "entry point" of social analysis. The second is the concept of overdetermination as the logic of an analytic project that is consistently non-determinist. Professor Wolff was also among the founders in 1988 of the new academic association, Association of Economic and Social Analysis (AESA), and its quarterly journal Rethinking Marxism.
Since 2005, Professor Wolff has written many shorter analytical pieces focused chiefly, although not only, on the emerging and then exploding global capitalist crisis. He regularly published such shorter analytical pieces with the Monthly Review magazine, the Independent Media Institute, and occasionally in many other publications, both print and electronic. The wide circulation of the shorter pieces, coupled with the deepening crisis, brought many invitations to present work in public forums.
Professor Wolff is also the author of books including Understanding Marxism, Understanding Socialism, The Sickness is the System, found at Democracy at Work.&nbsp;

Richard

Ryan Holiday is an American author, marketer, media strategist, and entrepreneur. He is the author of several bestselling books, including his most recent, Perennial Seller, as well as popular titles such as The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, Conspiracy, and Growth Hacker Marketing. Holiday has written for the New York Times, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He has also been featured in Time, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post.
Holiday is the founder of Brass Check, a creative consulting agency that specializes in marketing, media strategy, and creative consulting. He has worked with some of the world’s most successful authors, entrepreneurs, and public figures, including Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, Robert Greene, and Tucker Max. His clients also include media companies such as VICE, MTV, and Complex. He has also served as a consultant to brands such as American Apparel, Google, and Gillette.
As an author, Holiday has written nine books, three of which have become New York Times bestsellers. His books focus on topics such as personal and professional development, marketing, and media strategy. His most recent book, Perennial Seller, is a guide to creating and sustaining success in business, publishing, and life.
As a media strategist and consultant, Holiday has helped launch and reinvigorate several brands and campaigns. His work spans from creating marketing campaigns for startups and Fortune 500 companies to working as a creative consultant for media companies and major brands.
Holiday's work has been featured in major publications, including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and The Washington Post. He has also appeared on television shows such as the Colbert Report, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, and podcasts such as the Tim Ferriss Show and the Joe Rogan Experience.&nbsp;
In addition to his work as an author, media strategist, and consultant, Holiday is a frequent public speaker. He has been a keynote speaker at events such as SXSW, the World Business Forum, and the Inc. 5000 Conference. He also teaches marketing and media strategy classes at the University of California, Berkeley.
Holiday is passionate about helping others achieve their goals and dreams. He has created several online courses and resources to help entrepreneurs, creatives, and marketers better understand the media landscape, marketing, and creative strategies. He also serves as the Managing Director of the media startup, Contently and is an adviser to several startups and companies. He is also a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs and creators.

Ryan

Neil Richard Gaiman was born on November 10, 1960, in Portchester, England. He originated from a family of Eastern European Jewish descent. His father, David Bernard Gaiman, worked at their family chain of stores, while his mother, Sheila Gaiman, was a pharmacist. In 1965 the family moved to East Grinstead, West Sussex, where Neil grew up with a profound love for reading, beginning as early as age 4.&nbsp;
Some of his favorite childhood books include J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Batman, and other comics. Gaiman received early education at various church schools, including Fonthill School in East Grinstead, Ardingly College, and Whitgift School in Croydon.
When Gaiman began to outgrow comic books in his teenage years, he realized the lack of comic books for an older mature audience. He, therefore, decided to fill the gap himself. Although he wanted to write comic books, Gaiman had little idea how to go about it. Following his graduation from high school in 1977, Gaiman became a journalist writing articles for a number of renowned publications such as the Sunday Times, the Observer, Knave, and Time Out.&nbsp;
In March 1985, Gaiman married McGrath after the birth of their son Michael in 1983. The couple had two more children, Holly and Madeleine. In 1984, Gaiman wrote his first book, a biography of the band Duran Duran. He continued writing articles and interviews in magazines under pseudonyms. However, in 1987, Gaiman waved goodbye to journalism, stating, “British newspapers can make up anything they want and publish it as fact.”&nbsp;
Also, in the late 1980s, Gaiman published Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion. Gaiman started writing comic books, continuing the series of Marvelman after its original creator and Gaiman’s friend Alan Moore abandoned it. After his impressive work on Marvelman, Gaiman was offered to write the limited series of Black Orchard and also to re-write an old character, The Sandman. From December 1988 to March 1966, Gaiman produced work on The Sandman, which was later collected in 12 volumes.&nbsp;
More significant comic works by Neil Gaiman include The Books of Magic (1989), Lady Justice, and Mr. Hero. The Newmatic Man, Teknophage, Tales of the White Wolf, Whatever happened to the Caper Crusader, as well as contributions to Wednesday Comics.

Neil

Jordan Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. He first gained widespread recognition in 2016 with the publication of his book "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos," which became a best-seller and sparked a global conversation about personal responsibility, masculinity, and the nature of meaning in life.
Peterson's ideas and teachings center around the idea of personal responsibility and self-improvement. He encourages individuals to take responsibility for their own lives and to strive for self-actualization rather than relying on external factors to create meaning and purpose in life. He is known for his critiques of political correctness and what he views as a lack of individual responsibility in society. He is also known for his views on masculinity and the role of men in society.
Peterson is a practicing clinical psychologist who has written extensively on personality and the psychological foundations of human behavior. He has also written about the intersection of psychology and religion and has been critical of postmodernism and Marxism.
Peterson has been a controversial figure, with some seeing him as a champion of free speech and individual rights, while others see him as promoting regressive and harmful ideas. He has faced criticism for his views on gender and race and for his opposition to certain government policies related to these issues.
In addition to his writing and speaking engagements, Peterson has also conducted research on the role of personality in mental health and has been involved in a number of clinical studies. He is also a popular lecturer and has given many public talks on a wide range of topics related to psychology, philosophy, and culture.
Peterson is a well-known figure in the cultural and intellectual landscape, known for his ideas on personal responsibility, self-improvement, and the nature of meaning in life, as well as his critiques of political correctness and certain government policies. Despite his critics, his impact is undeniable. His books and lectures have helped many people to improve themselves and their lives.
In addition to his books and lectures, Jordan Peterson also has a popular YouTube channel where he posts videos on a variety of topics, including psychology, philosophy, and cultural criticism. He is also active on social media, where he engages with his followers and shares his thoughts and ideas.
Peterson's influence extends beyond the academic and intellectual spheres. His ideas have resonated with a wide range of people, from young men seeking guidance on how to navigate the complexities of modern life to professionals looking for ways to improve their personal and professional lives. He has also been a vocal advocate for fathers' importance and encouraged men to take responsibility for their families and communities.
In 2019, Peterson announced that he was suffering from an addiction to benzodiazepines and that he would be taking a leave of absence from his work to focus on his recovery. In 2020, he announced that he was also suffering from a serious case of pneumonia and had to undergo chemotherapy, which left him with many health complications. Despite this, Peterson continues to publish new content, write and speak in interviews, showing great resilience and determination.
In summary, Jordan Peterson is a well-known figure in the cultural and intellectual landscape, known for his ideas on personal responsibility, self-improvement, and the nature of meaning in life. His books and lectures have helped many people to improve themselves and their lives. He is also active on YouTube and social media and continues to publish new content and speak in interviews despite his health issues.

Jordan

Warren Buffett is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational conglomerate holding company. Buffett began his career as a stockbroker and later formed his investment partnership, which eventually became Berkshire Hathaway. He is widely considered one of the most successful investors in history, and many have studied and emulated his investment strategies and philosophies. He is often referred to as the "Oracle of Omaha" due to his successful investment decisions.
Buffett is considered one of the wealthiest people in the world. According to Forbes, as of 2021, he is the 4th richest person in the world, with a net worth of over $100 billion. He has consistently been among the top 10 wealthiest people worldwide for many years. Much of his wealth comes from his controlling stake in Berkshire Hathaway and his successful investment decisions. He is also known for his philanthropy, having pledged to give away the majority of his wealth to charitable causes through the Giving Pledge.
Warren Buffett is also a well-known philanthropist. He has pledged to give away the majority of his wealth to charitable causes through the Giving Pledge, an initiative he started with Bill and Melinda Gates in 2010. Through the pledge, Buffett and other billionaires commit to giving away at least half their wealth to charitable causes during their lifetime or in their will.
Buffett has also made significant donations to various charitable organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (named after his late wife), and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, named after his father. He has also contributed to education, healthcare, and poverty-reduction initiatives.

Warren

Ben Shapiro is an American conservative political commentator, public speaker, author, and radio host. Born in 1984 in Los Angeles, California, Shapiro began writing at a young age, eventually becoming editor-in-chief of the UCLA student newspaper. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Shapiro worked as a lawyer. Then in 2007, he began writing a column for Creators Syndicate and eventually began hosting a daily political talk radio show.
Shapiro is known for his controversial opinions, especially on issues such as abortion, gun control, and same-sex marriage. He has been a vocal critic of President Barack Obama and accused of sexism and racism. Shapiro has also written several books, including Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth, which criticizes the left-leaning atmosphere in higher education, and Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV, which examines the influence of Hollywood on American culture.
Shapiro's views have earned him both praise and criticism. He has been called an "intellectual powerhouse" by some, while others have criticized him for being too harsh and making inflammatory remarks. He is an outspoken supporter of Israel and has been criticized for his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Shapiro has argued that the Palestinian Authority has created a culture of hate and incitement and that the Palestinian leadership should be held responsible for the violence in the region.
Shapiro has appeared on many television and radio programs, including The O'Reilly Factor, Fox &amp; Friends, and his show, The Ben Shapiro Show. He has also written for various publications, including The Daily Wire, National Review, and Breitbart News. In addition, he is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and other venues.
Shapiro has also been the subject of much controversy. In 2019, he was criticized for comments he made about transgender individuals. He also received backlash for calling for a boycott of the National Football League for their decision to allow players to kneel during the national anthem in protest of police brutality. Another controversy occurred when Shapiro was invited to speak at the University of California, Berkeley. His speech was met with protests, with some students and faculty arguing that his views were too extreme.
Shapiro's views and opinions on various topics have made him a polarizing figure. While some laud him for his intelligence, wit, and courage to stand up for his beliefs, others see him as a divisive figure who espouses extremist views. Whatever one's opinion of him, it is clear that Shapiro has had an impact on America's political and cultural landscape.

Paul Lawrence Berman (born 1949) is an American writer on politics and literature. His books include Terror and Liberalism (a New York Times best-seller in 2003), The Flight of the Intellectuals, A Tale of Two Utopias, Power and the Idealists, and an illustrated children's book, Make-Believe Empire. He edited, among other anthologies, Carl Sandburg: Selected Poems for the American Poets Project of the Library of America.
Born to a Jewish family, Berman attended Columbia University, receiving an M.A. in American history in 1973. Berman was a longtime contributor to The Village Voice, then The New Republic. He is a critic-at-large at Tablet, a member of the editorial board of Dissent, and an Advisory Editor at Fathom. He has been awarded fellowships from the MacArthur and Guggenheim foundations and the Cullman Center for Scholars &amp; Writers at the New York Public Library. He was a Regents' Lecturer at the University of California, Irvine, and a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.
In Terror and Liberalism, Berman offers a theory of totalitarianism. In his interpretation, totalitarian movements of the right and the left arose in Europe in the aftermath of the First World War as a reaction to the successes and failures of liberal civilization. The ideologies promoted mythologies of world events that were paranoid, apocalyptic, utopian, obsessed with purity, and ultimately nihilist. In Berman's account, the totalitarian movements were mass mobilizations for unattainable aims.
Berman traces these European movements' influence on the modern Muslim world. He identifies two principal totalitarian tendencies in Muslim countries, Baathism and radical Islamism – mutually hostile movements whose doctrines, in his interpretation, overlap and have allowed for alliances. Berman regards suicide terror and the cult of martyrdom as a re-emergence of totalitarianism's nihilist strand.
Berman draws a distinction between the religion of Islam, founded in the 7th century, and the political movement of radical Islamism. In July 2010, he wrote in the Wall Street Journal that "Islamism is a modern, instead of an ancient, political tendency, which arose in a spirit of fraternal harmony with the fascists of Europe in the 1930s and '40s."
In Berman's interpretation, observers relying on modern liberal values have sometimes found it difficult to identify the anti-liberal and anti-rational quality of totalitarian movements. Berman proposed this argument and offered an explanation based on the "rationalist naiveté" concept in Terror and Liberalism. He developed the argument further in The Flight of the Intellectuals.
Berman's ideas have influenced writers such as Martin Amis and Bernard-Henri Lévy, helping to shape debates about the concept of the "post-left" in Britain. Amis invokes Berman's argument in the opening paragraph of his book on 9/11, The Second Plane (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), p. ix. Regarding Lévy, see p. 269 of his book American Vertigo (NY: Random House, 2006) and an article in The American Interest. In explaining his switch to support for the wider war on terror, British journalist Nick Cohen cited Terror and Liberalism as a major influence: "The only time I realized I was charging up a blind alley was when I read Paul Berman's Terror and Liberalism.&nbsp;
I didn't see a blinding light or hear a thunder clap or cry 'Eureka!' If I were going to cry anything, it would have been 'Oh bloody hell!' ... I would have to turn it around and see the world afresh. The labor would involve reconsidering everything I'd written since 11 September, arguing with people I took to be friends, and finding myself on the same side as people I took to be enemies. All because of Berman."
Berman's approach has not been without its critics. A writer in The Nation magazine, Anatol Lieven, labeled Berman a "Philosopher king" of the liberal hawks and criticized him for "[promoting] and [justifying] the most dangerous aspect of the Bush Administration's approach to the war on terrorism: the lumping together of radically different elements in the Muslim world into one homogeneous enemy camp." Berman has also been criticized in books by the liberal sociologist Alan Wolfe and the neo-Marxist political theorist Robert Meister.

Paul

Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed the "Maverick Marine," was a senior United States Marine Corps officer who fought in the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Mexican Revolution, and World War I. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, Central America, and the Caribbean during the Banana Wars and in France in World War I. Butler was, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history.&nbsp;
By the end of his career, Butler had received 16 medals, five for heroism. He is one of 19 men to receive the Medal of Honor twice, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal (along with Wendell Neville and David Porter) and the Medal of Honor, and the only Marine to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.
In 1933, he became involved in a controversy known as the Business Plot, when he told a congressional committee that a group of wealthy industrialists were planning a military coup to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Butler selected to lead a march of veterans to become dictator, similar to fascist regimes at that time.&nbsp;
The individuals involved all denied the existence of a plot, and the media ridiculed the allegations. Still, a final report by a special House of Representatives Committee confirmed some of Butler's testimony.
Butler later became an outspoken critic of American wars and their consequences. In 1935, Butler wrote a book titled War Is a Racket, where he describes and criticizes the workings of the United States in its foreign actions and wars, such as those in which he had been involved, including large American corporations and other imperialist motivations behind U.S. wars (thus predating US President Dwight Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex" speech by at least 25 years).&nbsp;
After retiring from service, he became a popular advocate, speaking at meetings organized by veterans, pacifists, and church groups in the 1930s.

Smedley

Paul Graham is an entrepreneur, programmer, and essayist. He is the co-founder of Y Combinator, a startup accelerator that has funded over 2,000 companies including Dropbox, Airbnb, and Reddit. His career has been focused on technology and startups. He began his career as a programmer and software developer, working on various projects and startups. In 1995, he co-founded Viaweb, one of the first web-based companies that allowed users to create their own online stores. The company was later sold to Yahoo in 1998 for $49 million.
After the sale of Viaweb, Graham turned his attention to startup investing and mentoring. In 2005, he co-founded Y Combinator, a startup accelerator that provides funding, resources, and mentorship to early-stage startups. Y Combinator has since funded over 2,000 companies, many of which have gone on to become successful and valuable companies, such as Dropbox, Airbnb, and Reddit.
Paul Graham has several notable achievements in his career, including:
<ul>
<li>Co-founding Viaweb: Viaweb was one of the first web-based companies that allowed users to create their own online stores. The company was later sold to Yahoo in 1998 for $49 million.</li>
<li>Fellowship at Harvard's Society of Fellows: Graham is a Fellow at Harvard's Society of Fellows, a prestigious group of scholars who receive funding and support to pursue their research.</li>
<li>Helping launch successful startups: Graham has helped launch many successful startups through Y Combinator and has mentored many entrepreneurs. Some of the successful companies that came out of Y Combinator include Dropbox, Airbnb, and Reddit.</li>
</ul>
In addition to his work with Y Combinator, Graham is also known for his essays on technology and startups. He has written extensively on the startup ecosystem, the role of technology in society, and the future of the internet. His essays have been collected in two books, "Hackers &amp; Painters" and "Ansi Common Lisp." He continues to share his thoughts and insights on his website, paulgraham.com.

Peter Joseph is an American musician, filmmaker, author, and activist. His most recent media work is the live-action film InterReflections, released on Oct 6th, 2020. Other notable credits included the award-winning “Zeitgeist Film Series,” the Culture in Decline web series, and his book The New Human Rights Movement, published in 2017 by BenBella books.
In 2009, he founded “The Zeitgeist Movement,” a global, nonprofit sustainability advocacy group, and has been on the Advisory Board/Steering Committee for “Project Peace on Earth“ since 2013. He also founded and curated the Annual Zeitgeist Media Festival for the arts and periodically worked with UN working groups, including UNFUCA and The World Academy. He is published in Cadmus Journal and is part of the World Academy of Art and Science.
Joseph has given talks worldwide, including in the UK, Canada, Germany, America, Brazil &amp; Israel. He was a featured speaker at the 2011 Leaders Causing Leaders Conference. His work has been profiled in the New York Times, Vice, The Huffington Post, The Marker, Free Speech TV, The Young Turks, The Examiner, and many other media outlets.
He has participated in multiple TEDx Events, worked with The Global Summit, and is a frequent social critic on Russia Today's news network. In addition, he has appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, Thom Hartmann’s The Big Picture, Watching The Hawks, BoomBust, Redacted Tonight with Lee Camp, The David Pakman show, Christopher Ryans “Tangentially Speaking” podcast, Telesur’s Empire Files with Abby Martin, The Jimmy Dore Show, and others.
In 2013, Peter Joseph was hired to direct the Official Music Video “God is Dead?” by Rock Hall of Fame artist Black Sabbath. The nearly 9-minute video comprised segments from The Zeitgeist Film Series at Ozzy Osborne’s and the band’s request.
As a classical musician, predating his film and activist work, in 2002, Joseph released an album of J.S. Bach transcriptions for Marimba entitled “The Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue.” This album has now been re-released and can be listened to for free online. The title track composition, “The Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue,” originally for harpsichord, is the only known recorded arrangement of the famous work for solo marimba.
Joseph’s work is produced, published, and (mainly) distributed directly through his company, Gentle Machine Productions LLC.

Peter

Jocko Willink is an American retired Navy Seal officer, author, podcaster, and public speaker. He is best known for his involvement in the Battle of Ramadi, his success in the Navy SEALs, and his leadership philosophy, which is based on discipline, hard work, and respect for others.
Willink was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, on September 8, 1971. He joined the Navy in 1990 and, after graduating from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training, was assigned to SEAL Team 3. During his service in the Navy, Willink completed multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and was eventually assigned to Task Unit Bruiser, the most decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War. During the Battle of Ramadi, Willink and his team helped to clear the city of insurgent forces, and their exemplary performance earned them the Navy Cross.
Willink retired from the Navy in 2010 and soon after began to share his leadership philosophy. He has authored several books, including Extreme Ownership, Leadership Strategy and Tactics, and Way of the Warrior Kid, as well as co-hosting the popular podcast Jocko Podcast.
Willink is also a respected public speaker, giving talks all over the world on topics such as leadership, discipline, and team building. He is a sought-after keynote speaker for both corporate and military events.
Willink is an advocate for physical and mental fitness, often speaking about the importance of proper nutrition and exercise. He also encourages people to push themselves and strive to become the best versions of themselves.
Willink is a highly respected figure in the military and business worlds, and his words have been an inspiration to many. His leadership philosophy is one that emphasizes discipline, hard work, and respect for others, and these values are ones that have served him well throughout his career.

Jocko

James C. Scott (born December 2, 1936) is an American political scientist and anthropologist specializing in comparative politics. He is a comparative scholar of agrarian and non-state societies, subaltern politics, and anarchism. His primary research has centered on peasants of Southeast Asia and their strategies of resistance to various forms of domination. The New York Times described his research as "highly influential and idiosyncratic."
Scott received his bachelor's degree from Williams College and his MA and Ph.D. in political science from Yale. He taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison until 1976 and then at Yale, where he is Sterling Professor of Political Science. Since 1991 he has directed Yale's Program in Agrarian Studies. He lives in Durham, Connecticut, where he once raised sheep.
Scott was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey, in 1936. He attended the Moorestown Friends School, a Quaker Day School, and in 1953 matriculated at Williams College in Massachusetts. On the advice of Indonesian scholar William Hollinger, he wrote an honors thesis on the economic development of Burma. Scott received his bachelor's degree from Williams College in 1958 and his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 1967.
Upon graduation, Scott received a Rotary International Fellowship to study in Burma. He was recruited by an American student activist who had become an anti-communist organizer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Scott agreed to do reporting for the agency and, at the end of his fellowship, took a post in the Paris office of the National Student Association, which accepted CIA money and direction in working against communist-controlled global student movements over the next few years.
Scott began graduate study in political science at Yale in 1961. His dissertation on political ideology in Malaysia, which Robert E. Lane supervised, analyzed interviews with Malaysian civil servants. In 1967, he took a position as an assistant professor in political science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. As a Southeast Asia specialist teaching during the Vietnam War, he offered popular courses on the war and peasant revolutions. In 1976, having earned tenure at Madison, Scott returned to Yale and settled with his wife on a farm in Durham, Connecticut. They started with a small farm, then purchased a larger one nearby in the early 1980s and began raising sheep for their wool. Since 2011, the pastures on the farm have been grazed by two Highland cattle named Fife and Dundee.
Scott's first books were based on archival research. He is an influential scholar of ethnographic fieldwork. He is unusual for conducting his primary ethnographic fieldwork only after receiving tenure. To research his third book, Weapons of the Weak, Scott spent fourteen months in a village in Kedah, Malaysia, between 1978 and 1980. When he had finished a draft, he returned for two months to solicit villagers' impressions of his depiction and significantly revised the book based on their criticisms and insight.

James

Alastair

Bruce

The Dictator's Handbook is a remarkable achievement, explaining with great clarity how the world really works. It sweeps away the cobwebs of theory and ideology to show that politics is neither mysterious nor boring, but utterly compelling. By understanding how and why autocrats succeed, we can make them fail and build better systems of government in their place — not as some utopian ideal, but as an intelligent response to human nature. This is a book every thinking person should read.

Mark Manson is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life, the mega-bestseller that reached #1 in fourteen different countries. Mark’s books have been translated into more than 50 languages and have sold over 12 million copies worldwide.
Mark runs one of the largest personal growth websites in the world, MarkManson.net, a blog with more than two million monthly readers and half a million subscribers. His writing is often described as ‘self-help for people who hate self-help’ — a no-BS brand of life advice and cultural commentary that has struck a chord with people around the globe. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, Forbes, Vice, CNN, and Vox, among many others. He currently lives in New York City.

Mark

Andrew Chen is a Taiwanese-American venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and writer. He is the founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and is a former partner at the venture capital firm Greylock Partners. He has been active in the startup and venture capital industry for over 15 years and is a well-known figure in the venture capital world.
Andrew is a prolific writer and speaker who has written extensively about startup and venture capital topics. He is the author of The Startup Playbook, which is a compilation of his thoughts, experiences, and insights on the venture capital industry and startups. He is also the author of the blog Startup Product Ideas, which features his insights and advice on startup and venture capital topics.
Andrew is an experienced investor in early-stage startups. He has invested in numerous startups, including Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, Slack, Instacart, and Eventbrite. He has also held advisory and board positions in various startups, such as Medium and Dropbox.
Andrew is a strong believer in the power of technology and innovation to drive economic growth and prosperity. He is an advocate for the importance of education and has spoken at various conferences and universities about the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship. He is also a supporter of various philanthropic causes and has donated his time and money to organizations such as the Asian Art Museum and the KIPP Foundation.
Andrew is a well-known figure in the venture capital world and is highly respected for his expertise and insights into the startup and venture capital industry. He is an important figure in the startup community and is respected for his commitment to helping startups achieve success.

Andrew

Bill Gates

Daron Acemoglu

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In The Dictator's Handbook, Bruce de Mesquita explores the concept of power structures. He explains that leaders, whether in democracies or dictatorships, primarily aim to stay in power. They do this by maintaining a loyal group of supporters, often at the expense of the majority.

Understanding Power Structures

The book digs into the importance of a leader's supporters. It's not about pleasing the masses, but rather keeping a small group of key supporters happy. These are the people who help the leader stay in power, and they often receive a larger share of the 'pie'.

The Role of Supporters

Bruce de Mesquita's research in The Dictator's Handbook shows that leaders use a survival strategy. They balance between keeping their supporters satisfied and not making the rest of the people too unhappy. This delicate balance is crucial for their survival in power.

The Survival Strategy

Money plays a significant role in maintaining power. The book explores how leaders use financial resources to reward their supporters and keep them loyal. This often leads to corruption and inequality, as the wealth is not evenly distributed.

The Power of Money

One of the key takeaways from The Dictator's Handbook is that these rules apply universally, not just to dictators. Even in democracies, leaders must keep their key supporters happy to stay in power. This book encourages readers to look at politics from a different perspective.

The Universality of the Rules

The Dictator's Handbook

Alastair Gibson Smith (1948 – 20 November 2019) was a New Zealand library and information science academic. He retired in 2014 after spending most of his career at the Victoria University of Wellington.
Smith obtained a BSc in physics from the University of Auckland, a Diploma in Teaching from Christchurch Teachers' College, a diploma from the New Zealand Library School, and an MA from Victoria University of Wellington.&nbsp;
He worked at the National Library of New Zealand, BRANZ, and Victoria University of Wellington, where he rose to Senior Lecturer. He was appointed the inaugural general secretary of the Bicycle Association of New Zealand in 1979. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer, in 2001. Smith died in Wellington Hospital on 20 November 2019.

Alastair Smith

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The Dictator's Handbook

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