Super Daygame Turbo: Champion Edition
By Bernardo Filipe / December 23, 2025
A couple of hours ago, I finally mustered up the courage to do my first cold approach on the street, after months of thinking about doing it. After all, I wrote about wanting to cold approach random girls on the street on my I Will Never See Her Again post, back in early July, and we’re already nearing the year 2026. It took me, therefore, several months to finally do it, if not in fact years, really, since I first heard about the concept of “cold approach” back in 2013, and it always stayed somewhat on my mind since that time. But back then I still had pretty healthy social circles, so I could meet new girls while socializing with friends in bars, university parties, and so on. Last July, though, I was certain that I had to start cold approaching, not merely thinking about it, so we can agree that it took me some months to get over the fabled approach anxiety.
And I gotta tell you, it went very well! She responded very positively to my approach and nearly melted in front of me. I was sitting in a kiosk and noticed her at a table next to me. I instantly thought she was cute, and I decided I was going to chat with her a bit. As soon as I finished my coffee, I got up, dropped my cup on the counter, as I always do, turned my back and faced again the tables and went to her specific table. “Excuse me”, I said. “How are you?”. She replied that she was fine and then I said, “You are very pretty”. She instantly smiled, almost in disbelief, and then I asked her name and we chatted a little bit. I was about to ask her out for a future coffee date, but then she told me she had a boyfriend. I said, “Okay. It’s better we don’t go drink a coffee together, then”, and smiled. A second or two later, I told her to have a good evening, wished her happy holidays, and left. It wasn’t therefore a resounding success, but it FELT like one, especially for a guy who had been finding excuses not to do this kind of stuff for MONTHS. Her reaction was so positive that the idea of me ever feeling approach anxiety in the past seems comical. And now I can’t wait for my next approach!
I have been getting contacts from girls these past months, but always in a social setting, so I am indeed getting more proactive about dating (I’m sure my testosterone getting fixed helps, too…), but haven’t had any real success, and it only happened a handful of times, anyway. If I start cold approaching regularly, I should be able to get more prospects faster.
Indeed, there’s this girl I asked out last week that I want to write about. I was only able to feel comfortable enough to ask her out after I entered the shop she worked at six or seven times and after I chatted with her those six or seven times. Right on our first interaction I complimented her hair and asked her name, and she became visibly happy. She seemed very happy to see me every time I went there the following days and was interested enough to ask me questions about myself. So this explains why I felt comfortable asking her out. She agreed to go on a coffee date with me, we exchanged contacts, and then we started texting each other. Everything was going great, until… the topic changed to university degrees and studies, and she found out I have no bachelor’s degree and indeed dropped out of an engineering degree after only completing the first year of studies. After I told her that piece of info about me, she asked me what my job was, to which I replied, “I invest in the stock market”. But it was already too late. She didn’t even bother reading my reply and ghosted me. I mean, I get it, she knows practically nothing about me, and stuff like bachelor’s degrees are good indicators of the intelligence, determination, and ambition of a person, not to mention the incredible status such degrees give to a person in my country, so I understand perfectly fine her sudden 180. After all, she has no idea that I wrote a 500-page philosophical book (in my opinion, the best philosophical book ever written in my country, by any of my countrymen, in the entire history of the country) and that I am therefore intellectual, well-read, focused and determined. The book is a double-edged sword, though, because some of my book’s entries can seem too radical for the average person. Which is why I don’t talk about it too soon.
That is all to say that her behaviour, i.e. the fact that she ghosted me for not having a university degree, gave me the final motivation I needed to go back to university, step on campus, go back to class and pay attention this time. After all, back in early July, around the day I published the post I mentioned above in the first paragraph, I also posted my The Limits of My Abilities entry. I was already seriously thinking about going back to university and getting a goddamn degree back in July, and this girl, it turns out, was the final motivation I needed to make the decision.
I was leaning more towards an engineering degree because I have some STEM knowledge already (stuff like calculus, linear algebra, physics, etc.), and I do want to challenge myself. But I changed universities and entered a humanities degree back in 2022, which means that the bureaucratic process of returning to university will be simpler if I just stick to this humanities university. The degree I enrolled in was European Studies, by the way. Unfortunately, I got some health problems right at the start of the first semester and had to spend three months in bed (that’s how I got belly fat for the first time in my life, incidentally). My neurologist wanted me to do a lumbar puncture, and I got insane migraines as a side effect. I literally could not stand on my feet, walk, or sit for more than twenty minutes at a time, and the migraines only stopped when I was lying in bed. All of this means that my first semester went to waste. On top of that, there were two or three courses on that degree that especially annoyed me, the most annoying of all being the law course. The Portuguese used in Portuguese law is atrocious! It’s as though it’s written so the fewest people possible can decipher it. So, I decided to “drop out” again, and forgot about getting a degree for a few more years. Thanks to this decision, I did get my philosophical book massively expanded and complexified, so it all turned out for the best.
But me not having a university degree never really left my mind. I come from an environment where everyone has advanced degrees. My mother had a PhD and was a renowned academic and university professor. My father has a master’s degree and was also at some point a university teacher. My brother has a master’s degree, too. My uncles have university degrees. Most of my cousins, too. I am the black sheep of the family that spent a decade reading philosophy books in his room and didn’t care about university degrees at all. But most people do care about degrees, and now that I’m actively trying to get a nice girlfriend, it’s time I do my family some justice and go get a degree.
Since I am already registered in the faculty of that humanities university, and since I looked up their available degrees and found an amazing one, the courses of which all seem interesting, mixing both exact sciences courses and humanities courses, I will try to enroll there. The degree has a very general curriculum, which is not something that I am against (philosophers are generalists, ultimately). When the time for me to specialize and to get a master’s degree comes, I’ll see what I want to do, but let’s take one step at a time.
And that’s it for this little update on my love and dating life (and future goals). I finally started playing this Super Daygame Turbo: Champion Edition and not only is it indeed fun, but it’s also already motivating me to “improve” myself and test the limits of my abilities. If I play this right and consistently, I should have a cool girlfriend in the next months and who knows, eventually children, and so on.
The Endgame of Capitalism
By Bernardo Filipe / December 14, 2025
Every smart and educated person knows communism sucks for everyone other than the communist leaders, and that common people defending and glorifying communism are stupid. Communists hate capitalists because they supposedly “exploit” workers, but the truth is that were it not for the job-creating capitalists, communist sympathizers would be far worse. Just take a good look at North Korea and see for yourself. Or open a history book, for that matter. The fierce competition of capitalistic societies and the rising inequality this competition gives rise to, however, might come full circle, and end right back in communism. Or what do you think the useless masses will contribute to society when AI, robots, and automation are in full swing? The majority of people will become truly economically obsolete in the long run. We are already seeing this happening in real-time. In the short term, physical jobs might survive, but not for long. All you need to do to realize this is to go to Youtube and check the state of robotics and see how some of these robots are literal gymnasts. You think they won’t be able to do your plumbing, or be your electrician, or carry some bricks and do your construction work? For a far cheaper price than you? The capitalistic quest for profit is creating machines that will render all of you obsolete, whether your job is intellectual (powerful LLMs are already replacing workers as I type this) or physical. So the communist “utopia” is coming, and you are all going to become “equal” in the end—even if that means you’ll all be equally useless. But work won’t be a problem when AI, robots, and automation dominate and control our societies’ production. Since you won’t be capable of contributing anything, anyway, some form of pension will likely be distributed among the population. Musk says this technological revolution will bring inordinate amounts of wealth to societies and there will be no lack of services and products for everyone. Whether you need medical treatment, entertainment, or healthy food, the machines will give it all to you for free, and of much higher quality than what we can currently provide. This is the optimistic scenario. In the pessimistic scenario, the elites/state/government will see no point in keeping the masses alive and will genocide them, leaving perhaps a few of them in some sort of zoo or protected area, kind of like we currently do with the Amish or the American Indian communities. After all, those precious resources would probably be better allocated to military purposes, since any opposing elites/state/government using the same kind of AI and robots could turn malignant and go on the offensive. So the inequality chasm between the elites and the masses will become bigger with the coming technological progress, as the elites use AI, robotics, and automation to cybernetically enhance themselves. The advances in the biological fields will further contribute to increasing this inequality and will render the masses even more useless, as designer babies, cloning, artificial wombs, and genetic engineering come to the fore and turn the governing elites into genuine superhumans, with super strength and super cognitive powers. If Baudrillard was already writing that “the mass is dumb like beasts”, imagine what the coming cyborgs and AI will think of the masses.
So the endgame of capitalism is communism. All that’s left to discover is whether the masses will cease to exist or not. In the optimistic case, they will and life will be amazing for them. In the pessimistic case, they won’t, and the ruling classes will engage in perpetual war against each other. Either way, whether the masses survive on the handouts of the ruling class, becoming equally dependent and equally powerless, from the perspective of the ruling class, of course, or whether they go extinct, your communist dream will become reality, not through revolution, but through your very own obsolescence. Congratulations, comrades! Your equality is coming!
95th Percentile
By Bernardo Filipe / December 1, 2025
Someone on X wrote that if you truly dedicate yourself to something you can become 95th percentile. That made me think about the things I’m 95th percentile at or was at some point. And I could come up with only four. The first would be the level I achieved at Devil May Cry. I became world-class at this game, as I have already explained in this blog previously, and I have video proof of it. The second would be boxing, or at the very least throwing punches. This is because I competed as an amateur boxer, and even though I was a beginner, I am sure 95% of people don’t even know how to throw a punch. Grok estimated that approximately only 1% of the world’s population has ever competed in a combat sport, and only 0.4% of the world’s population has competed in boxing at least once. So yeah. Boxing is the combat sport that has the most effective punching techniques, so I am sure I am well-above 95th percentile at throwing punches. Thirdly, I am currently able to do 20 consecutive pullups, after three months of rest from my training, while in July of this year I was doing 30 consecutive pullups. According to Grok, under 0.1% of people can do 20 consecutive pullups and for 30 consecutive pullups that percentage drops even lower to around 0.001%. Finally, I believe my writing and philosophical thinking puts me well-above the 95% percentile, and my book should be proof enough (believe it or not, my book places me at the 99.9th percentile, and in a few decades this assertion will seem obvious). Though, now that I think of it, there are probably more things that I am exceptionally good at. Take juggling. I can easily juggle 4 balls. According to Grok’s estimations, “fewer than 0.01% of the world’s population can juggle 4 balls competently (i.e., for at least 30–100 catches consistently)”. What an interesting exercise. Trying to find the stuff you are the 95th percentile at! Sure boosts your ego! But now that I am done with writing, I am already looking for a new activity to occupy my time and my mind. And, indeed, I have already decided what I’ll be doing. It’s time to start a new, challenging activity and to turn some knobs. In 14 years, I should have my Iron Squid. The last 14 years were for writing words; the next will be for writing melodies. Hopefully, by then, I will be able to claim I am at the 95th percentile of EDM production.
My Love Poems
By Bernardo Filipe / October 20, 2025
I was no doubt possessed by the spirit of the Provençal troubadours when I first started writing my little love poems. But also, specifically in my last poem, I think the spirit of Eminem possessed me, too. Internal rhymes, multisyllabic rhymes, proper use of repetition of words and sounds in a meaningful and rythmic manner, the use of orthographically similar words that are different semantically, and even a significant dosage of emotion in the form of the sadness of loss, in an almost tragic manner. I also like how in the first stanza I contrapose “minto” with “verdadeiro” and do a play on opposites, on the concepts of lies and truth. On the third stanza I seemingly do this again with “ilusão” and “desilusão” but only seemingly so, as I’ve explained in my previous entry, since these words are not opposites. Rather, their orthography merely gives the illusion that they are opposites. I think that’s my best poem, and neatly ends that small series of six little love poems. My poems are direct, explicit, and communicate to the woman I love what I feel about her. What started in the first poem with boundless enthusiastic love, right from the very first stanza, ends with the sad realization of loss in the final poem. What was written in between marks what I felt trying to navigate the ebb and flow of my feelings as I progressively came to accept her rejection. And it’s all true, there’s no fiction and no fantasy in these verses: they are my true crystallized feelings.
I have practically written no poetry before this experiment, and have barely read any poetry, either. I merely applied the writing skills I developed during my philosophical study and journey and did my best to rhyme meaningfully. So I am happy with these little poems of mine. Incidentally, Meu Amor will be published on Chiado Books’ anthology Entre o Sono e o Sonho – Vol XVII. I have therefore another 5 poems to submit to this anthology for the next 5 years. (Only one poem can be submitted per poet in this yearly anthology.)
New Page on the Website
By Bernardo Filipe / October 14, 2025
I’ve added a link to a page with my love poems to the top of The Stillest. I also wrote a new, perhaps final, poem, titled O Teu Cheiro.
As regards this last poem, I am happy with the result. It rhymes a lot, not only on the final words of each verse, but also internally. It is a more dramatic and less humourous poem, compared with some of my previous ones, but I think it’s my best.
I was told the verses with the end rhyme “ilusão” and “desilusão” should be changed because they look forced. But I like this rhyme. The words are similar but their meanings are significantly different and even though the prefix “des” implies the negation of the word “ilusão”, in reality the meaning of “desilusão” is not an opposite of “ilusão”, i.e. it’s not its antonym. I.e. ortographically these words are similar, but semantically they are very different. The point is that my love was an illusion, it was all in my head, and it got nowhere and I became disappointed (to feel “desilusão” in Portuguese is to feel desiludido=desapontado=disappointed).
So I decided to keep this rhyme in this poem. That these two words are ortographically similar but semantically very diferent is a cool touch, in my view.
By the way, the plan with this “Life Updates” page is to give some sporadic updates about my life and what I’m up to. I don’t plan, however, to update this page very often. Maybe once every three months, or maybe even once every six months. My book is finished and this is merely a page where I will be writing about myself, perhaps drop a few more cool thoughts, too, but always spaced between a few months. That’s the plan at least. If I keep this going for several years, maybe I will have another book to my name, we’ll see.
Outro
By Bernardo Filipe / October 13, 2025
On May 18th, 2024, I went for a run. Jogged a bit, climbed some stairs, and did one incline sprint. The whole thing lasted at most 20 minutes, but it was intensive enough because I hadn’t gone for a run in several months. A couple of hours later, a massive meteor shows up in Portugal and turns night into day for two seconds. Less than a day later, a helicopter carrying the president of Iran crashes. It’s as if this atypical run of mine destabilized the universe and caused these unusual events to unfold. And it was not only the meteor I mentioned above that synchronized with my actions. Shortly after I started writing the draft of my Thoughts, the interstellar interloper Oumuamua was detected. And a month or so before I finished this first draft, the interstellar comet Borisov was observed. And a couple of months after I finished my draft, COVID-19 was released into the wild and caused global lockdowns shortly after. And I already mentioned the Storm of the Century. And the Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet. And of course, right before I finished my book, the crypto market crashed and we witnessed the biggest liquidation event in history. Over 19 billion USD liquidated in a single day. A market bloodbath. I give you cool thoughts and you give me cool signs, and we keep living our lives and the world keeps spinning. After I finished my book, I celebrated with my cousins and friends with a light philosophical supper. Pizza and beer. Going full circle.
Lotte Tuinstra. Photo by Vien Tran.
The Stillest 