TIKhistory

As I've just said in the latest video on the conference (released a minute or so ago), I’m taking a full break from YouTube in order to overcome the burnout I’ve been suffering from for the past 5 years. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t even concentrate for 5 minutes, and I’m fed up with it all. I’ve sacrificed myself for too long in order to produce this content, but I’m now miserable and not enjoying life. Having gone to the conference in Berlin, and having met so many happy and intelligent people there, I’ve realised that I need to sort this out once and for all, and so that’s what I’m going to do.

My intention is to take some time off, rest, recover, and then decide what I’m doing. The “spark” has gone out, as someone said, and I’ve realised that I can’t overcome this burnout without stopping the car completely and taking apart the engine.

I hope you all understand, I’m sorry for disappointing you, and I wish you guys well.

1 month ago | [YT] | 4,038

TIKhistory

As many of you know, over the past year or two I’ve been looking into Ayn Rand’s Objectivism, and have found it extremely helpful for both personal and professional reasons.

After failing to save the Subjective Theory of History, I’ve adapted Objectivist metaphysics and epistemology to create an Objective Theory of History (see my video “But how do you know you’re right?”); I’ve learnt a substantial amount about the philosophies and philosophers throughout history, allowing me to trace the origins of the modern ideologies (see my “Where do our modern ideologies come from?”); and have been able to grasp concepts about National Socialism and Fascism that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do had I not looked into Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff’s writings (the “blood = spirit” concept, for example).

I’m still studying this philosophy and still have a long way to go, but it’s a relief to finally be able to read works written by people who prioritize reality over their emotions.

Well, recently I got talking to the folks over at the Ayn Rand Institute, and I’ve been invited to the AynRandCon Berlin next month (March 14th to 16th).

For those of you who are already familiar with Ayn Rand’s works, this event may be of interest to you. I’ll be part of a special panel titled: "Understanding Nazism and Communism: A Discussion with TIKhistory", where I’ll be joining Dr. Nikos Sotirakopoulos for an in-depth conversation on the allure of socialism - both Marxist and National Socialist. We’ll break down the key similarities and differences between these two collectivist ideologies and why they continue to shape politics today.

I’ll be there for the full three days and I would love to meet some of you there. So if you're interested in Ayn Rand's ideas and already have some familiarity with her writings, as part of my audience, you get 10% off your ticket with my coupon code: TIK10. Go to events.aynrand.org/arceu, enter the code at checkout, and secure your spot.

2 months ago | [YT] | 1,157

TIKhistory

Liquid Zulu has just posted a high quality video which responds to me (and others) over the definition and viability of Anarcho-Capitalism. He's been working on this a while, so it's definitely worth checking out. Unfortunately, I tried linking to it in a previous post, but YouTube doesn't promote posts with video links (why!?!), so you'll have to search for it yourself.

For context, Liquid Zulu wants to integrate Anarcho-Capitalism with Objectivism. My disagreement with him stemmed from my video titled "Am I an Ancap? And what is Anarcho-Capitalism?" and it largely centred on the definitions of what anarchy, the state, and capitalism were.

To keep things organised, I've created a playlist with all the relevant videos in this debate so they're easier to find. Again, you'll have to find that playlist on my channel.

2 months ago | [YT] | 965

TIKhistory

Liquid Zulu has just posted a high quality video which responds to me (and others) over the definition and viability of Anarcho-Capitalism. He's been working on this a while, so it's definitely worth checking out.

For context, Liquid Zulu wants to integrate Anarcho-Capitalism with Objectivism. My disagreement with him stemmed from my video titled "Am I an Ancap? And what is Anarcho-Capitalism?" and it largely centred on the definitions of what anarchy, the state, and capitalism were.

To keep things organised, I've created a playlist with all the relevant videos in this debate so they're easier to find. Here's the playlist www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

2 months ago | [YT] | 229

TIKhistory

I posted this image a few days ago on X, and I thought I’d post it here too. This was the word-count for the next Battlestorm, which is on the First Battle of El Alamein. (It’s actually slightly longer now!) I’m nowhere near finished with the research, let alone the script, yet it’s already longer than Gazala was. I suspect that this video will end up being over 3 hours long. So it’s going to take a while to make (even with the reduced animations)…

Someone said on X: “bro literally writes books as scripts for youtube videos”.

And I replied: “I know, and people wonder why it takes so long to produce a video. It's no wonder I'm constantly in burn out.”

In addition, this week I’ve been scripting a different video, which I’m aiming to get out on Monday. It’s already over 6,000 words, and I think it will be an interesting one. (It’s not on “tanks”, it’s on National Socialism.)

So even though I may not post every week, just know that I am constantly working on stuff. These videos take time.

2 months ago | [YT] | 1,722

TIKhistory

Hey all, I finished the editing of Battlestorm Mersa Matruh late last night and will start to upload it shortly. Given the timing, I may as well send it out at the usual time later on to please the algorithm.

In my opinion, the video has turned out okay all things considered. Obviously, it would have been much better had I not been let down… And I’ll let you guys decide if the lack of animations is tolerable. I did end up adding in one or two (as well as many camera movements) just because it was necessary to tell the story.

But I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you who commented in the recent video (as well as the 20 or so of you who became Patreons in response). Many of you were saying you could wait for the video, and that I should enjoy my Christmas with my friends and family. However I personally couldn’t wait any longer. Someone said: “If he is anything like me it will be more painful to see the family and friends knowing I could be sorting it out. Not saying it’s a good thing but I think I get why he’s doing it.”

And that’s precisely it. I did work Christmas Day, but it was actually enjoyable for me because I was working towards fixing the problem that had been hanging over me for many weeks. Imagine training for months to run a race, only to fall at the final hurdle because someone else tripped you up. You put in all that work, all that effort, and everyone turned up waiting for you to finish, and you didn’t finish. A complete waste. There’s no way I could even think of anything else until I’d gotten back up and ran that race again, finishing it this time, as outright failure is not an option for me.

I don’t know how else to explain it, but the last thing I want is to be on my deathbed knowing I could have done more with my life, but didn’t. Time is the only thing you cannot get back. And that’s the worst thing about this whole situation - this video could have been out months ago. I could be part-way through the animation process for the First Battle of El Alamein by now. I’m massively behind my potential, and that’s time I will never get back. That's what's so frustrating.

4 months ago | [YT] | 1,943

TIKhistory

Hi guys, there will be a video today (on time this time), but I also wanted to give a bit of an update.

I’ve not published anything for the past few weeks because I’ve been working on the next two Battlestorms behind the scenes. The first is the Battle of Mersa Matruh, which will be out before Christmas. This one has taken a lot longer than I expected… but it will be here soon. The second Battlestorm will be on the First Battle of El Alamein, which is shaping out to be a BIG one and will be out some time next year.

Because I need to get the script done for the First Battle of El Alamein, today’s video and Mersa Matruh will be the only videos this month. I do want to apologise for the delays when it comes to the Battlestorms - I know a lot of you are waiting for them, but they take a long time to make in general and this one hasn’t gone as quickly as I’d hoped.

Hope you guys are okay, and I’ll see you in the comments of today’s video.

4 months ago | [YT] | 1,371

TIKhistory

Hey all, today's video will be out slightly later than usual thanks to a conspiracy of Adobe and YouTube software bugs conspiring against me 🤦‍♂️

I guess they really do want me to Eat Ze Bugz!

5 months ago | [YT] | 1,570

TIKhistory

Hey everyone, I’ve decided last-minute to not publish the original video I was going to publish today. It was a ‘tank’ WW2 video on a sensitive topic, but given our current climate, I don’t think it would be wise to publish it in its current form. So I’m going to ‘sleep on it’ and maybe rewrite it (again) for a release at some point in the future.

Instead, I’m going to publish several very short quick-fire videos this week (and possibly next) on a variety of topics, some Q&A’s, some not. So when you see that today's video is incredibly short, you’ll know why. These may be the shortest videos I’ve ever made!

Hope you guys are well, and I’ll chat to you in the comments later.

EDIT: changed "tanky" to "tanks" to clarify.

6 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 1,753

TIKhistory

There will be a video later today, and this will be the first time I offer a counter-argument to some of the narratives I’ve covered recently. For that reason, it could be controversial for some members of the audience…

But I have also been ill (again) this past week, so I’ve had to make today’s video shorter than usual, and it’s more on the lighter side as well. Still, I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think of the counter-argument I make.

Cheers!

6 months ago | [YT] | 1,475