Happyness

The only way to evaluate the meaning of life is to have a value by which to judge it. However, what is a 'value'? Why, a value is something which is important. What is important? Well, it's what I seek of course! And I seek happiness. But what is happiness? Happiness comes in many forms. Satisfaction with your accomplishments, pure pleasure of owning things, or experiencing sensations. It is different for each person.
Why? Why is each person different. Because we are all variants of the previous model. Why? Because a group as an organism is most effective (able to consume resources) when it produces variations which may be dominantly successful and improve (be able to consume even more resources) the group through speciation.

It is the non-random selection of random variations. Thats what evolution is. And it makes us all very similar, but also different. And out of that chaos, comes many orders, many species, many types of calculators. But one calculator is different in some way. The 'x' factor of yet one more variable into the mental process. That is the human species. We have a consciousness. One which asks 'why?' and one which requires an answer.
We fight wars. We kill one another; all trying to figure out 'why'. But 'why' is often just another way to ask 'what' and the 'what' is clear. The 'what', is happiness.
Happiness is the only point, and it is only achieved one way. Happiness is a trait evolved to reward and encourage. And like the species which beholds it, it is always similar, but every one a unique variation.
The key to happiness is to express the natural desires that derive from your genetic predisposition. The key to happiness is to follow your values. This is why coercion is wrong, because it is by definition again against your wishes, and is therefor against your happiness. It must be. Its all circular. Coercion is the definition of unhappiness, and unhappiness is the definition of coercion. Joy is the only true consent, and we all must be allowed to pursue our own joy and happiness. Each life is of infinite value, and all that matters is its ability to express its desires; and all that allows that is consent, and the only thing which can stop it, is coercion.
And this is why, I beg for peace, I beg for freedom. I beg for joy, for happiness, for every one. Every. Single. Individual.

Kareem Abdul and Cliven

As a white, straight, man, I don't get, really ever, to play the "race" "gender" or "sexuality" card. Ever. My whole life I've been told "its terrible to have prejudices based on on race, gender or sexuality!" and I've also been told "because you are a white straight man you are going to oppress women, hold back blacks, and belittle the gays!"

....

you see that, don't you? read it again, if it doesn't seem obvious at first glance

....

the glaring contradiction may not equal, at all, even close to, what its like being told to go sit in the back of the bus... but at some point, telling me that my role in the struggle for "minority" rights is to practice tolerance so bad it hurts, (women are the statistical majority btw, never understood how they got considered part of minority rights...), it just gets... tiresome; and I do in fact, feel like I am the one trying to let the issue go, and treat people reciprocally to how it is they treat me. If that's not what not being a racist looks like, treating each person THE SAME, then I do not know.

It would appear, that as long as my gender, sex, and orientation of people statistically has more than the "minority" class, I should be bending backwards to.. what? Give an upper hand to "them" until "we" no longer are at a statistical disadvantage? I really, really, really don't get what I ought to be doing here; because I have thought long and hard about "right" and "wrong", and work my balls of to be the best, most moral mother-fucking sonovabitch that has ever been.

I assure you, in my case, that if you are a woman and I hate you, or if you are black and I hate you, or if you are gay and I hate you, it has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that you are a bad person.

The Folly of Intent

Stop trying to assign meaning or intent to every action you see.



If you wish to attack the credibility of another, it is important that you yourself remain credible. Using logical fallacies is the quickest way to lose that credibility. I too think AJ is a DB, but only those agreeing with me already will appreciate such a comment, and those who do not, will only find themselves disagreeing with me more in the future.

It truly is important to stop thinking of others as your 'opponents', or viewing the grasp for knowledge as a conflict.

Competition is not necessarily conflict. My opposing views do not necessitate that we are enemies. This is the crux of the problem. Our natural human tendency is to view everything as a tribe mentality. This is why we have such a natural clumping factor built into our genes.

On the Illusion of the State

Consider for a moment; that the 'State' is not a real thing. Not real like your table, or your hat, or your house. It is just an idea. It is an agreement, between individual actors to act in a certain way, or according to certain rules. But this agreement, these rules, they also do not exist.

Perhaps they are written down somewhere, they exist as ink or as digital numbers, but really, that ink isn't anything serious either. It does not serve a function by its self. It requires thoughts. It requires understanding. It requires a concious, active, aware human brain to make a decision.

This human brain, makes mistakes, and more importantly, has its own aspirations and desires acting only for the purpose of furthering its own interests.

A truly alien perspective on this, would to ask why so much pomp and frills around the replication of DNA?

The answers of course lie within a mistaken belief that these illusions keep us safe some how, or that without them we would lose our humanity.

I'm not sure; I'm really not.

When I look at shit like this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/video-watch-judge-jail-teenager-1589558

I mean, really, a judge is just a man who wears a dress and bangs a wooden mallet. Even worse, the so-called law-enforcers doing his bidding are just psychotic apes that have devices capable of lethally throwing metal around... for what?

For an idea in their head.

Perhaps in the days of the Khans, with roving barbarians, when war-fare was fought with steel, blood, and sweat, maybe then the State was an idea worth holding onto.

As I see it now, in this modern age with modern communicative abilities, it is a way to rob us of our humanity; the only apparatus capable of creating terrible, pointless weapons of mass destruction, and even worse, capable of senselessly unleashing those weapons upon human beings. Not for reasons of a single rational mind, but rather because of the kind of hodge podge decisions and outcomes that come naturally from group decision making.

What Science Doesn't Do

Science does not tell us why. It is not a value judgement tool. It's really not either a tool for helping to describe what reality is, only does it tell you what reality does.

Science is a tool for giving us useful information. Science is not necessarily in competition with other information sources.

Science only needs to do one thing; produce reliable and measurable results. Nothing more, nothing less.

Its important to understand this. Gravity might as well be caused by invisible, weightless, scentless, ethereal gremlens who have very strict mathematical guidelines for their actions. Science does not care about that which is non-predictive and that which does not leave detectable evidence.

Those who work to "undermine" Science, really must not understand it; for viewed through the lens of those who understand what it is; all a science denier is really doing is screaming at a trendline on a graph.

Unless you have some radical new set of points to place onto that graph; no amount of pleading, begging, or snide remarks will change that trend line.

Simply because you can find collaborative evidence for what you beleive is true; does not mean that it is true. What is true must be determined by a natural repeatable occurrence upon the trend line. Anything else is called Cherry Picking.

Starting with a single idea, and building like a tree upwards and outwards in several branches is not the way your knowledge should be; but rather it should be the conclusion of reoccurring, predicatable, likley activities, which survive the null hypothesis as well.

Money Buys Me SO Much Happiness

Unhappy? Unsatisfied? Feeling like... something is missing?

It is.

Its money. You need more of it. Well, not just that specifically I guess.

If you want to be happy, it's not difficult, I can tell you how to gain a moderate level of happiness. It's really not that complicated, although it may be very difficult to accomplish. You need two things:

1. Discipline. If you want to be happy, it is going to take hard fucking work. You need to make money. Lots and lots of money. And then you need to save as much of that money as possible. Don't go to the bar; you always get pissy there anyways. Don't eat fancy meals, it all turns into shit in the end anyways.

CREATE A POWERFUL SAVINGS.

Don't stop there though. Money, as in cold-hard-cash, really isn't very useful on its own. You need something more important that liquid currency. You need assets.

Land is a good place to start.

But really, any kind of capital investment which is guaranteed to provide you with independent revenue streams or opportunities to leverage (see also; the taking out of a loan against equity in an asset and re-investment of that loan into more capital).

If you are serious about doing this; about building a capital asset structure, and then using that to become independently weathly, then you are close to be happy. Because then. Then my friend. You are powerful. Once you are powerful, truly powerful, then the time-consuming part is over. Next all that is required is the difficult part.
2. Self-Awareness. You need to do some very deep self-discovery. Learn what it is that makes you happy.

Wait, did I just say, 'to be happy, learn what makes you happy'?!

Too obvious? Perhaps. However, you cannot discount the extent to which you may believe that which makes you happy is something people have told you makes you happy, as opposed to what actually makes you happy. True self-awareness is a devastatingly difficult and taxing task. While you are out making your money, spend some very serious time thinking through what drives you; and most of all, DO NOT FEAR THE RESULTS.

My main point here is to say that the reason you are unhappy, is because there is some external situation or possession that will make you happy, and you probably just aren't powerful enough to sustain possession of that thing/situation.

What I want you to think about, is themes, not specific items.

Humans have evolved to be unhappy. Think about it. Contentment stops progress. The savanna ape that is most malcontent achieve's the most, which is best for his genes. But there are certain triggers that can bring you pleasure. I assure you, it works in principles/themes.

Create a portfolio of possessions/situations that keep you in a constant level of extacy and joy.

Below is a list of common things that make people happy, that having more power will help you secure:

• Women
• Friends
• High Quality Luxury Items
• Social Superiority
• Sexual Experiences
• Lack of Accountability
• Health
• Collections
• Security
• Social Superiority
• Admiration

Of course these items are available on the cheap. But, word to the wise, you generally get what you pay for. The quality of the items from these categories purchased with large sums of money, is sufficiently higher to warrant the expenses.

Trust me my friend. If you want to be happy. What you really need to do is gain more power, and get a better understanding of what you want to do with that power.

So quit surfing the internet. Quit trying to 'get rich quick'.  Quit dicking around and playing video games. Go get a second job. Get a third job.

Cut down on your expenses, save up, and capitally invest. Purchase some real-estate, invest in a hotel or some super-stable company with decent dividends.

The only person to blame for your economic situtation is you. Buck up, get a job(s), and quit being a whiney little bitch.


TLDR;

Quick Explanation on the Meaning of Life

So, real quick here.

A loong loong loong ass time ago, there was this chemical reaction, right? And it was really special, because it kind of had a sort of avalanche effect wherein it would just keep repeating itself. A sort of resonance if you will.

Then. Then something amazing happened. That resonance gained the ability to sort of like, infect, the area around it. Think like how a crystal grows, how it starts small, and then just spreads and spreads.

Or like a fire. And like a fire, this chemical reaction consume's the energy around it.

Eventually, a most important thing happened; the resources to consume became limited. The fire began to die out. What was once a thriving mass of the first organisms ever ate up all the energy sources it had, and then promptly came to the edge of extinction.

Until, and no one perhaps will ever know for sure exactly how, one of those self-replicating avalanche fires, through some kind of accident perhaps in its replication, discovered that it now had an ability new to its species. Totally randomly, and without reason, the thing, this creature, this life now could move. It was mobile.

And this was a big deal, because now this fire could jump across distances that did not contain the energy resources it needed to grow, and could move to a new area where, in fact, it could grow and spread and replicate.

This kind of competition for resources, over millions and billions of years, has lead to a most fascinating arms race that is the amazing display of life you see before your eyes today. The hardware and the drivers and software used to run it has changed, has become dramatically complex; but the game itself has not changed. and here is my conclusion, right at the end, after the tldr; :

tldr;

Life is merely the self-sustaining consumption of available resources. It has no meaning beyond that; and every action taken outside of consumption and replication, are to the interests of successfully achieving consumption or replication in a most effective way.

Even simpler, if it wasn't obvious; everything thing you do is to achieve your own interests, and those interests are limited to securing as much safety, sex, and food as possible for your DNA.

Even even simpler; safety (lack of unhibition of the replication), sex (replication), and food (energy for replication) as possible for your DNA, is really just... you know... replication of your DNA.

The simple point is that you work to further your DNA's interests in every action as you perceive it. That's all; no more complex than that.

The simple simple simple point is replication.

The point is to replicate.

That's it. That's why you are here. Game over. No more searching.

Done.

Knowledge

Knowledge is a very funny thing. Theory of knowledge, sometimes called 'Epistemology' is a complicated topic.

I feel, however, it is also an extremely important topic.

I believe in Truth. With a capital mother-fucking 'T'. There is one singular Truth, and it is knowable.

But there is something the post-modernist nihilist self-important pretentious assholes DID get right. You don't know the Truth. You know, next to nothing.

In fact, I would argue that you know nothing but what you have experienced.

However, even your experiences are ultimately incongruous. Therefor internal assumptions must be made. That which provides the greatest amount of consistency with your knowledge is likely to be true. What you do not know you must assess a likelihood. Your whole world view is a tower of likelihoods on top of likelihoods.

Beliefs are a set of ideas or concepts that you burn into your mind; an anchor for which all likelihoods are to be judged against. Beliefs are an outdated technology. Science has replaced the natural belief software we come with. Beliefs are what cause human beings to start with a conclusion and work backwards.

Perfect for a hominid on the savanna, needing to make snap life and death decisions, without the time, understanding, or benefits of group collaboration. Beliefs are fantastic heuristics which help you maintain control in the heat of the moment. Not that I could convince you to have no beliefs at all, as it is your own natural human predilection to do so. But here is what I would suggest to you:

Examine your beliefs, examine the hell out of them. Keep them only to topics which are of importance at times when you do not have the time, temper, or patience to be reasonable.

Everything else, try to stop thinking in terms of 'knowledge'. A simple change in the terminology can be very helpful. Try instead of 'I know JFK never landed the twin towers on the moon' saying 'I find it unlikely that JFK landed the twin towers on the moon'.

See how much more credible you sound?

TLDR; Nothing is known for certain, but many things are likely. Beliefs are dangerous, but can be useful when limited to situations you do not always have time to assess likelihoods. Stop assuming you know how things are, and start discussing how likely certain facts and assessments are.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

To me, Respect is being honest. Respect is not holding back. Respect is treating others as though they have the integrity and capacity to discuss issues and ideas like rational adults. I respect you. Not in the way you want me to, but in the way that allows me to continue to see you as a person capable of good.
Maybe you don't deserve my respect. Maybe, just maybe, you are too much of a child to discuss real and important issues using words and ideas. Maybe you want to run away scared and helpless; but I WILL NEVER FACILITATE IN YOUR LOSS OF INTEGRITY. and THAT, is the kindest thing I know.

When I die; its true, I may have burned so many bridges, offended so many people that very few people will show up to my funeral. But what do I care? I'll be fucking dead. I won't know either way.

Meanwhile, in my life, I am surrounded by people who are good, honest, and true; and as I die, I will know that I lived my life honestly and with integrity.

I respect myself and have built a belief system through hard work, study, and constant inquiry. I am comfortable with myself and who and what I am and have become. Its a good thing.

I wish for peace people. And I am willing to defend it (intellectually of course; I don't believe in violence :p), even if that means you are going to run away from me screaming about my lunacy.

RE:Objective vs Subjective Morality PART I (the importance of functional definitions)

This is going to be a multi parter

This post is in response to a post made by Steven Novella at Neurologica Blog entitled 'Objective vs Subject Morality'

Steven Novella is one of my long time heroes. The work that his colleagues and he at  The Skeptic's guide to the Universe has done is beyond compare. I have nothing but love and respect for the man, and the work he does.

Writing a blog post on his coat tails is really an act of hubris on my part, and done more for my own edification more than anything else.

So here goes:

On a recent blog post Steven Novella explains why he thinks objective morality is not only unworkable, it’s a fiction.

Steven is kind enough to define morality for us. He defines it as "a code of behavior that aspires to some goal that is perceived as good."

Unfortunately he has not defined what he considers to be the definition of 'objective' and 'subjective'. And here is the reason this blog post will have to be a multi parter.

sub·jec·tive

  [suh b-jek-tiv]  Show IPA

adjective

1.

existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought ( opposedto objective ).

2.

pertaining to or characteristic of an individual; personal; individual: a subjective evaluation.

3.

placing excessive emphasis on one's own moods, attitudes, opinions, etc.; unduly egocentric.

4.

Philosophy . relating to or of the nature of an object as it is known in the mind as distinct from athing in itself.

5.

relating to properties or specific conditions of the mind as distinguished from general or universalexperience.

ob·jec·tive

  [uh b-jek-tiv]  Show IPA

[...]

adjective

4.

being the object or goal of one's efforts or actions.

5.

not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased: anobjective opinion.

6.

intent upon or dealing with things external to the mind rather than with thoughts or feelings, as aperson or a book.

7.

being the object of perception or thought; belonging to the object of thought rather than to thethinking subject ( opposed to subjective ).

8.

of or pertaining to something that can be known, or to something that is an object or a part of anobject; existing independent of thought or an observer as part of reality.

If you take the time to read these definitions, and then read Steven's definition, and then read the dictionary.com definitions a couple of times, you may come across the same problem that I have.

When Steven defines morality as part of a perception, it is de facto subjective, seeing as how objectivity deals with pure factuality as OPPOSED to your own thoughts (read: perceptions) and feelings.

I'm sorry Steven, but it would appear to me that the rest of your post is a lot of long-winded hand waving as you have clearly already tipped the game in your favor by setting the definitions to your personal world view.

If things which are subjective are non-facts which are part of perception, and morality is a code to achieve perceived goods, then ipso facto these perceived goods are subjective therefor the code itself becomes based upon subjectivity, making the whole mess complex, with some subjective aspects and some objective aspects.

There is a very real, very important, and very long conversation to be had on whether or not morality is objective or subjective; but that conversation needs to start in a place where definitions are not rigged.