Pavel Durov

I get to experience the difference between a society with freedom and a society without freedom pretty early in life.

I was four years old when my family moved from the Soviet Union to northern Italy.

And I could see that a society without freedom cannot enjoy the abundance of opinions, of ideas, of goods and services.

Even for a four or five-year-old kid, it was obvious.

You can't experience all the toys, the ice cream of sorts, the cartoons in the Soviet Union that you can access in Italy.

And then I got to realize something even more important.

You don't get to contribute to this abundance without freedom.

And at this point, it was pretty obvious to me.

Well, the biggest enemies of freedom are fear and greed.

So you make sure that they don't stand in your way.

If you imagine the worst thing that can happen to you and then make yourself be comfortable with it, there's nothing more left to be afraid of.

So you stand your ground and you remember that it's worth living your life according to the principles that you believe in, even though this life can end up being shorter.

then a longer life, but lived in slavery.

Do you contemplate your mortality?

Anything about your death?

Oh, yes.

Are you afraid of it?

In a way, you have to go against your instinct of self-preservation.

And it's not easy.

We are all biological beings hard-coded to be afraid of death.