Unlike the squealing critics of the chattering class, his work will be read for generations

His life felt too short; he was both mentor and marvel. Useful and courageous, incompressible and indivisible — one of a kind, generous with drawing, writing, and speaking.

That was courage of the kind that breeds unpopularity and is everywhere scarce In the end, like any hacker of reality, he covered his bases — leaving as a Buddhist, a Christian, and a player in the Simulation

— courage. He spoke honestly as he saw it — about Trump, about his country, and about his time — even when that honesty cost friends, audience, income, and admission to polite society.

the one virtue that cannot be faked

He taught the footwear theory of motivation, the Adams Law of slow-moving disasters, the skill stack, systems over goals, and, of course, the Dilbert Principle In addition to cartooning, philosophizing,

and helped countless people become better writers, public speakers, and persuaders.

He carved a personal mission to be useful

He hacked himself with affirmations, influenced others with persuasion, and sampled the world with simultaneous sips. He described people as moist robots, life as two films on one screen, and the world

Scott Adams was different. A live player, perpetually curious and intent on probing the simulation he inhabited. From first principles he unraveled, understood, and ultimately shaped his own reality.

A man discovers, to his surprise, that he exists. When the elation of childhood fades, questions follow — who is one, why is one here, how does it work? Many accept a ready-made answer after a brief struggle

On Scott Adams

Deferral regimes raise costs and introduce risk, since tax may be owed for years on assets that subsequently decline in value

Married couples face a marriage penalty plus inclusion of a non-resident spouse's assets, and a divorce settlement could require tax to be paid on assets obligated to an ex-spouse

Poorly drafted anti-avoidance provisions can overtax transfers, reach assets already in trusts, and tax both an asset and its sale price for sales deemed below fair market value

Severe penalties for understatement of tax, which apply to taxpayers and their appraisers alike, encourage padded valuations and chill challenges to the state's aggressive default assumptions

Assessment rules for privately held businesses can lead to massive overvaluations, with valuation floors that ignore economic distress and rules preventing adjustments that reflect actual value

Founders with Class B or other super-voting shares may be taxed on their share of voting interests when those exceed their actual economic stake in the company

The proposed California wealth tax is far higher than 5% Intentional and inadvertent drafting choices inflate taxpayers' net worth—potentially many times over. Six such factors include:

The proposal is structured to punish rather than extract revenue