Destiny (Steven Bonnell II): A video game streamer and political commentator, one of the early pioneers of live streaming and live-streamed political debate. A self-described progressive (left/far-left) known for first-principles argumentation, joined late in the episode by his wife and fellow streamer Melina.
What this episode covers
Lex Fridman talks with Destiny, often called 'the Ben Shapiro of the left,' about how he approaches difficult conversations and whether to push back or empathize. They spend a long stretch debating Destiny's past and present use of offensive language (the n-word, slurs, and especially the r-word), with Lex pressing him on the harm to third parties. The conversation ranges across the war in Ukraine and nuclear risk, free speech and platform moderation, trust in institutions and government, misogyny in gaming and streaming, and the red pill / manosphere. In the final third, Destiny's wife Melina joins to discuss their relationship, their open/non-monogamous arrangement, jealousy, and the dangers of getting addicted to streaming metrics.
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Final Fantasy
Square Enix
“so in your like Final Fantasy games you've got characters um there a lot of like classical tropes of like a character”— Destiny
Minecraft
Mojang Studios
“it was easier to see in Minecraft cuz in Minecraft when there was a challenging conversation if you watch me play I'm literally just running around”— Destiny
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Valve
“we're going to grind CS go and I'm like okay this is awesome let's do it uh CS go Counter Strike global offensive shooter game”— Destiny
StarCraft II
Blizzard Entertainment
“I'll be like playing Starcraft when I first started get into streaming and I'll be calling up customers”— Destiny
Men in Black
Barry Sonnenfeld
“have you ever seen Men In Black yes when KJ are on the bench and he says a person is smart but people are stupid”— Destiny
Django Unchained
Quentin Tarantino
“like say like in a movie like in Jango people use the nword should that be censored in that movie or in the context of that movie”— Destiny
The Aristocrats
Paul Provenza
“have you ever heard of something called The Aristocrats that it's like a joke the joke oh yeah the joke yeah there's a movie on it”— Destiny
Big reveals from this episode
- Destiny says he isn't sure why he was banned from Twitch; they cited hate speech but he says he doesn't use slurs.
- Concedes he had 'insane views on language' a decade ago and would have been 'completely destroyed' learning those lessons today.
- Lex directly calls Destiny out over the casual use of the r-word, saying 'you're betraying your gift' and 'you're better than this.'
- Destiny says one conservative's question flipped him '180' on lobbying and government responsiveness, moving him away from his 2016 Bernie stance.
- States he has 'zero respect' for fellow streamer Hasan as a political thinker, accusing him of shallow, ideologically-driven engagement.
- Admits his first Twitter account was banned for 'wildly inappropriate' tweets and that he has been ban-evading on Twitter ever since.
- Reveals he and Melina are in an open relationship and that it 'explodes every six months on itself.'
- Melina says nearly every successful streamer they met at TwitchCon wants to quit and is 'extremely unhappy.'
Worth remembering
- Destiny takes notes during streams in plain Notepad.exe, not even Notepad++.
- He was fired from a casino job after emailing a VP and unknowingly throwing his manager under the bus; he believes he was then 'papered out the door.'
- At his lowest point he was carpet cleaning, sometimes earning ~$30 for a 10-11 hour day after a huge pay cut from the casino.
- He credits a naturally high mental baseline, attributing it to biology, for staying upbeat even while cold-calling carpet-cleaning customers between StarCraft games.
- Argues a white straight man is the hardest demographic to write cutting insults for because there's less 'otherizing' material.
- Cites a study claiming ~98% of famines happen under authoritarian regimes because free press makes democracies more responsive.
- Explains how poll wording dramatically shifts support, e.g. 'free healthcare access' (~74%) vs 'government as sole provider' (~26%).
- Lex says after a 3-day fast a single chicken breast was the most delicious food he'd ever eaten, used as a metaphor for scarcity and meaning.
- Destiny jokingly weighs whether he loves the game Factorio or his wife more, calling Factorio the 'cleanest code base.'