4. Why Philosophy Beats Trading Techniques in Capitalism

Introduction: Why You Must Understand ‘Capitalism’ Before Looking for Ways to Make $10 Million

“In the past, I willingly threw my life into hell, telling myself, ‘To have $10 million in the future, I obviously have to live like this.'”

However, when you deeply contemplate the essence of capitalism, you realize this premise is a massive illusion. Everything that constitutes the world is constantly changing.

Capitalism is not something designed by a specific individual; it is a civilization that naturally and inevitably emerged as medieval society collapsed. The bourgeoisie born from the breakdown of social classes, the mechanization of the Industrial Revolution, and human desire to protect property and seek greater profits—these three pillars built modern capitalism.

The world we live in today is identical to the Industrial Revolution era 200 years ago: ① Rapid generation of wealth, ② Profit distribution systems driven by productivity explosions, ③ Human desire for greater profit. To survive within this system, you must clearly grasp its true essence.

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1. The Greatest Winners and Losers in the History of Capitalism

If this is an unstoppable trend anyway, we must look at who succeeded and who failed in history. The most successful were the capitalists and system designers, while the most tragically defeated were simple wage laborers with no assets and the ruled class reduced to raw materials.

It is impossible to accurately predict the future or mother nature. In the face of uncertainty called the future, what the establishment can do is not much different from us. All we can do is learn from the past (reading) and live the present fiercely.

The moment you treasure past experiences and shift your perspective, the meaning of past events becomes completely new. Like Nietzsche’s ‘Amor Fati’ (Love of Fate), only those who warmly love their past and live the present autonomously become the true helmsmen of life, capable of embracing the rough storms of the future.

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2. The Real Difference Between the Establishment and Us: It’s ‘Philosophy,’ Not Trading Techniques

You might think the establishment starts from a different line because they already possess massive wealth. That is half right and half wrong. Wealth itself becomes another risk.

Imagine living as a person with $100 million and losing all your assets overnight. Would a normal life even be possible? At least I am not worried. Even if all my assets disappear again tomorrow, I can calmly rise and live on.

“What truly separates the establishment from us is that they possess ‘philosophical insight’ built while creating their wealth.”

Aren’t they different from us simply because of ‘systems and trading methods’? Spend just one hour researching how to get rich, and you’ll hear that response more than a hundred times.

In the face of overwhelming forces like natural disasters, human-made systems and techniques get shattered every single year. Philosophy is not a airy-fairy study trying to grasp an uncertain future with open hands. It is simply the strength to warmly embrace whatever lands in your outstretched hands right now.

Look at key figures who can be called ‘philosophers’ beyond simple investors: Warren Buffett, Peter Thiel, George Soros, Steve Jobs. Think about what was caught in their open hands. If they lost all their assets one day, would their lives collapse? I believe they, too, would calmly move forward. To them, assets are not a risk to carry, but merely a tool wielded through the inner strength of philosophical insight.

If you’ve been living recklessly just because you have no assets and thus no risk of losing them, wake up. Living in a world this cold and ruthless without a single philosophy of your own—that is the single greatest risk in life. Philosophy is the ‘compass’ of life, and insight gained by realizing the essence within changing circumstances becomes the ‘map’ that illuminates your path.

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3. Will You Become a Disposable Part of the System, or a Slave to Dopamine?

The core nature of those who fail in capitalism comes down to three things:

• Those who sell their time strictly through linear addition rather than compounding
  
• Those who fail to read the true meaning of things and consume illusions created by others
  
• Those who do not learn from the past and act with arrogance toward the future

The survival method in this ruthless system is to spend the time given equally to everyone and grow your life through exponential ‘multiplication (compounding).’ My core tools are workout, reading, and investing.

Among these, what I guard against the most is ‘investing,’ where human ‘desire’ is deeply involved. The brain does not release a burst of dopamine when it achieves pleasure, but when it predicts that ‘a reward is coming soon.’ Dopamine is the hormone of ‘pursuit and craving,’ and the moment it spikes, it forcefully triggers the next action.

In reading and working out, dopamine is elevated into compounding returns called ‘health’ and ‘insight.’ This is because you don’t fall into the absurd fantasy that reading will instantly turn you into Einstein.

Investing, however, is different. A single windfall and a grand illusion completely shatter your sense of reality. Dopamine from investing paralyzes the brain’s receptors responsible for normal emotions and flips off the prefrontal cortex switch. It makes honest labor and a warm family life feel horribly boring and worthless. Without administering actual chemicals, this follows the exact same mechanism as drugs destroying the brain.

I, too, have had the agonizing experience of failing in investments after falling into dopamine-driven illusions, and this is still an all-too-common occurrence around us. The moment you become a slave to dopamine and your prefrontal cortex shuts down, capitalism swallows you whole—not as a master of compounding, but as a disposable part of the system.

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Conclusion: How to Live as the Autonomous Helmsman of Your Life

In the face of the typhoon called capitalism, the moment you are blinded by an uncontrollable future and fall into dopamine illusions sprayed by your brain, you degenerate into a disposable piece destroying itself on the capitalist’s chessboard.

In investments where desire fluctuates amid the rise and fall of capitalism, you can never survive without a compass called philosophy. Read the essence through the past (reading), warmly nurture your present life (workout and labor), and face the waves holding your compass (philosophy) before an uncertain future.

When you clear away the illusion of dopamine and grasp the law of multiplication that turns time to your side, capitalism will finally become a massive engine that grows your life exponentially.

“Now, join me and begin a story of investing where dopamine does not exist.”