Optimization is only possible on a single metric. In our economy, that metric is money. There is a certain amount of money that a product, produced in a certain way in a specific place, costs to create. There is some specific set of ways and places for which that amount is minimal. To produce that … Continue reading Optimization →

I find this article really provoking.​The first reason it jumped out at me is because it provides a powerful and important example of Quinn’s mother culture exerting a force on society by creating a myth: one’s value is what they can produce. This myth arises naturally out of our need to be more productive, year … Continue reading The Laziness Lie →

In morality, I began with the definition: “any question about morality is asking ‘what is the right way to live?’”.  I went on to argue that there are no universally derivable rules or morals—no action is inherently right or wrong.  I argue elsewhere that no one has a duty to do anything.  And yet I feel a strong … Continue reading morality is wrong →

YOU, THE READER, CAN HELP WRITE AND EDIT THIS POST UNTIL THE END OF FEBRUARY!Our actions’ effectiveness can only be measured against what the world would have been otherwise.  So before one considers acting on the world, to change its state, one should first consider where its current state will lead.  This is a strange … Continue reading Predictions →

We built this world.  We built the cities, the forests, and the fields.  We built every car, boat, plane, and train in the world. We invented computers, clothes, instruments, and bombs.  We spread our mark throughout the skies and the seas.  We built this world brick by brick—mining, forging, threading, shipping, and screwing in every … Continue reading worldBuilding →

We live in a world governed by the universal necessity of survival. While this means vastly different things within the colossal scope that our world encompasses, a basic definition might be this—continuing to exist. It is misleading to state that nature strives to survive, this trend is simply a logical accompaniment to time. That which exists in … Continue reading Survival of the Fittest →

What to do.  Why to do it.  I could easily get away without doing this—should I do it?  I’ve struggled with motivation a lot, coming up with dozens of systems that would always work for a week or two and fizzle out, leaving me behind again with nothing to guide my life.  It’s never hurt … Continue reading Motivation →

Identity is a difficult problem.  I want to address it first from the perspective of personal identity.  I found a few videos really helpful for representing how we can try to define and use identity, and the philosophical and ethical problems that can arise from poor definitions.  I recommend you watch these before reading my … Continue reading Identity →

We live chained down by oughts.  We see morality as what we ought to do, as the price we must pay for the reward of living in this world.  We live as if we must do the right thing, because it is the right thing to do.  Because otherwise we would be breaking the contract … Continue reading Oughtlessness →

The history of the world, as Daniel Quinn often likes to point out, is often told by our culture as if modern humanity were the sole product of all creation.  Such a narrative is propaganda that hinders our actions in many ways.  Yet this problematic understanding of the universe carries with it one unavoidable justification: … Continue reading Existence →

For billions of years, the Earth and its life survived through thick and thin, hot and cold, astroids and volcanoes, ever bouncing back into abundance.  Humans emerged from the diversity, organizing themselves into tribes.  For millions of years we not only survived but spread like wildfire, bringing growth wherever we traveled: we created dogs and … Continue reading Pro Tribes →

Humans evolved in tribes.  For millions of years we fought, lived played, and mated in these groups.  As tools and technology advanced, these tribes became larger, more powerful, and more dominant.  Specialization, which had existed in nearly all successful tribes to some degree, expanded.  With it came a need to track the different work that … Continue reading Con Tribes →

At its core, any question about morality is asking “what is the right way to live?”.  For millennia, this question has driven our philosophy, our policies, our religions, and our wars.  A culture’s answer informs its entire structure; if there is a right way to live, people should live in that way.  It is an … Continue reading Morality →

What is reality?  Such a question may initially seem simple, pedantic, and unnecessary.  It’s the world we all live in.  It’s what everyone agrees that it is.  It’s not something to be overly concerned about.  I would disagree.​Not only do I have history on my side—this is a question philosophers have struggled with since we … Continue reading Define Reality →

I broke my wrist a few weeks ago.  The whole process, especially since I got a cast, has been surprisingly non-debilitating.  Typically I don’t even notice until people ask me something about it.  But occasionally, tasks are just annoyingly difficult.  Some are just about normal.  Most are just slow.  Some are impossible; I give up … Continue reading Silent Perfection →

Language is perhaps the most important of humanity’s inventions; any effort to argue would only reinforce my point.  It not only bestows the ability to communicate thoughts—even ideas or objects foreign to the audience, speaker, or our universe—with ease, but also allows the thoughts we share to form in the first place.  One of my favorite … Continue reading Meaning →

TLDR: Free will exists only if we live in a deterministic universe (FW=>DU). One of the scariest ideas one encounters is that free will is an illusion.  The seemingly easiest way to counter this is with the idea of a soul.  However, for me this quickly raises many questions, such as, “why?” “what is it?” “how … Continue reading Free Will →

This post will focus mainly on the relationship between four words: information, entropy, order, and chaos.  Typically—at least I used to think this way—chaos is thought of as the scientific enemy of life, order, and information.  Entropy’s inevitable rise spells death for individuals and doom for our civilizations and information.  I picture a world torn … Continue reading Define Information →

Our culture has an extremely narrow view of success, one that I hope to prove here not only makes no sense, but is actually one of our culture’s fundamental problems.  Further, there are simple, rational measures of success which are sustainable. Dictionaries, and, I would think, most people, define success (aside from the rather reflexive: “achieving one’s … Continue reading Define Success →

*This is part of a double post.  I will probably do this fairly frequently.* Imagine beaming down to Earth as an alien and landing in a computer factory.  As this is your first discovery, and you are patient and confident in your own safety, you take a few of the computers back to your ship … Continue reading Con Models →

*This is part of a double post.  I will probably do this fairly frequently.* All we have is models. Once we are born, we simply accumulate data—nearly infinite amounts of it.  For a while, we cannot make heads nor tails of it.  And our lives are largely pain.  And occasional pleasure. Then, as our development follows … Continue reading Pro Models →

At their core, my beliefs are simple, consistent, and agree with my experiences.  I endure very little of the paradoxes and dilemmas that other sets of beliefs seem to be drowning in, especially since the recent surge in information and science.  However, that is not to imply that I haven’t thought about these issues a … Continue reading An Outline →