Almost exactly 5 years ago I lamented about pop-morality It was essentially a call for: -not making morality a fashion accessory -starting to take seriously morality by first quietly doing the right thing in one’s own life, rather than running one’s mouth about it and parading it to the world, like a fashion accessory indeed …
Category: World
You Misattribute What “The OBVIOUS” Is (And Therefore Fail The Debate Before It Even Started)
In any matter there’s the: BASELINE / CONSENSUS / PARADIGM Sometimes it’s simple to gauge, sometimes not Sometimes the consensus of the mass is obviously the reflection of the current state of the technology/culture/economy/politics, e.g. that cars are the default means of transportation. No secret knowledge on the matter that disrupts the consensus Sometimes …
UNLUCKY Overstate The Role Of Luck — LUCKY Understate The Role Of Luck
The unlucky overstate the role of luck The lucky understate the role of luck It boils down to incentives, and even to epistemology (theory of knowledge) On the extreme — the extremely lucky has NO DATA invalidating the role of HIMSELF, and something SPECIAL about himself — in his exceptional outcomes He is, …
You Don’t Know “The World” — You Only Know It’s Subset
World is really just different groups, sets Including sets with only one entity in it = an individual And the set with every individual in it = the world So really when you say “the world” — it could mean a number of things And typically NOT the set containing all individuals in the …
To Lie Without Lying You Must First Lie To Yourself
There’s a way to LIE, without committing the sin of lying All you have to do is convince yourself that you’re not really lying It’s not so difficult, actually: E.g. you could say: -“It wasn’t clear” -“THE TRUTH is IN THE MIDDLE” -“That’s not what I meant” -“I was taken out of context” -“You …
The Dreaded Societal Expectations
Societal expectations are great Societal expectations are underrated Let’s bifurcate societal expectations into a 2×2 grid of categories: –positive, desirable values, qualities –negative, stifling dogmas -clear, explicit, known, indisputable –tacit, hidden, Chesterton’s fence In a thriving society — you can expect it’s MOSTLY positive That’s why it outperforms other societies And that’s why …
AI is Intelligent AND Makes Us Super-Intelligent
AI is of course intelligence — “artificial” intelligence It’s not human intelligence yet, of course It exceeds us at some domains — and is utterly helpless in others (it exceeds either when: -there are clear rules — it can then “play with itself” and figure out optimal strategy (e.g. chess) -or when there’s mountains …
You’re Not Courageous
Being stubborn is not courage Having strong opinions about something is not courage Having contrarian opinions, saying “what you believe”, is definitely not yet courage Believing is not courage NOT fearing something is not courage Courage is plain and simple, ACCEPTING the risk What is the risk? It’s the risk …
Patriotism Is an Outdated And Dangerous Meme
Patriotism is but religion And religion is but delusion Useful delusion, mind you If it was completely useless — we would have evolved it away Question is — how useful? Or rather — is it still the most USEFUL mental model to hold, around those matters? It’s probably not, is it Because …
Social Media Is a Profoundly Unnatural Form of Communication
Let’s say you’re actually using social media with purpose, for instance: -to stay in touch with people in your life -to stay in touch with people that interest you -to stay informed this is probably not so bad, right? Better than mindlessly stimulating yourself with vacuous nonsense and filth But it’s still bad, …