Intellectual Property is not something I think about much as it is one of those topics that does not interest me. But I did have a slightly new idea against copyright laws that I never heard anyone use before.
People usually say that copyright protects the incentive of businesses to innovate more and since their innovation is important their needs to be intellectual property laws that prohibit other people from using the works of someone else.
However, as with almost everything, this goal (a benefit) to protect innovation comes at a cost. There is a cost imposed upon us with intellectual property in place. Not just the cost of having to pay more, rather than just downloading stuff, but a much more fundamental cost, a non-monetary cost. The internet is at the risk of more control whenever there is an intellectual monopoly created. Because now it means that websites can be shut down for copyright violations.
If a website is illegally posting content which is copyrighted then it can be shut down by the state. And I understand that this is not a free speech violation, because the website is not being shut down for what it said but for completely different violations. However, it is still problematic. Consider a website which features an open discussion for ideas, but it ran into copyright issues as some of the members posted copyrighted material there. This website is now at risk of being shut down or at least controlled.
And this is a problem, as such a law does inadvertently destroy the speech of the internet. What is more important? A free internet where people can post ideas without fear of being shut down, or an internet where people are constantly second guessing themselves if whether or not they crossed over the copyright line?
Over the years these copyright laws are getting worse and the internet is at most risk of being censored for potential copyright violations. I would imagine that most people would agree with me. I am sure people would say that some of these laws are getting out of place. However, they would mostly likely tell you that these laws need to be reformed. I do not buy this. As with almost every law put into place it has grown to exponential sizes of pages of regulations. Convince me that these internet copyright laws are not going to grow like a disease and seriously damage the internet? It is foolish not to assume this will happen. So I would say that the internet needs to be protected against copyright laws even though technically such laws are not violations of free speech.
If you want to support copyright laws then at least support copyright with regard for profit. Leave non-profit, as most places on the internet, alone. That way websites are not at risk of being shut down just because of some trivial copyright violations.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Humans are Repulsive
Who is the most beautiful person you ever seen? What celebrity or what famous porn actress amazes you with their beauty? But that beauty that you see is only an external beauty, an illusion over what people really are.
How do people look inside? You should watch (or perform if you ever get this chance) an autopsy. Autopsy is such a humbling experience. It is a revelation for any person of how we really look on the inside. Our outside bodies which is only a covering of what we look on the inside. If we remove this cover then we really see how we look like.
We are pathetic meatbags on the inside. Every single one of us. Among the most beautiful people to the most ugly people we are all equally hideous on the inside. Our organs are a horror sight. Blood pouring all around us bones shattering within us. We are all the same.
Civilizations worship the human body for its amazing beauty. But they never consider what the human body really looks like. An ultimate form of repulsion and disgust. And that is how we all end. This is how we die. We can be the most beautiful people in the world but in the end we are blood and worms. In the end we are all a horror sight. We focus on the outside beauty to ignore the repulsion that lies within ourselves. An ultimate reminder of how worthless we are and how terribly unimportant we are in comparison to the universe.
How do people look inside? You should watch (or perform if you ever get this chance) an autopsy. Autopsy is such a humbling experience. It is a revelation for any person of how we really look on the inside. Our outside bodies which is only a covering of what we look on the inside. If we remove this cover then we really see how we look like.
We are pathetic meatbags on the inside. Every single one of us. Among the most beautiful people to the most ugly people we are all equally hideous on the inside. Our organs are a horror sight. Blood pouring all around us bones shattering within us. We are all the same.
Civilizations worship the human body for its amazing beauty. But they never consider what the human body really looks like. An ultimate form of repulsion and disgust. And that is how we all end. This is how we die. We can be the most beautiful people in the world but in the end we are blood and worms. In the end we are all a horror sight. We focus on the outside beauty to ignore the repulsion that lies within ourselves. An ultimate reminder of how worthless we are and how terribly unimportant we are in comparison to the universe.
Dick Sucking Morality
Something been really bothering me. I have asked some people online (as I am a loser with no friends in real life, which is why I write online because other losers get to read me) if I paid them a lot of money in the condition they suck a dick. And like all of them tell me that they will never do that.
Why the fuck not? How stupid can you possibly be? Okay, maybe not money, maybe something else. How about immortality? Or how about a perfect healthy life? Or a perfect happy life? Whatever, some sort of reward for sucking on a dick.
Why the fuck would you not suck on a dick if you have a chance to make yourself so much better off now than you been before? It makes no sense at all. Think about this. If I offered you 100,000 dollars to suck on a cucumber you would do it. You have no sexual attraction to the cucumber but you would still do it. You just stick it in your mouth, suck, and done, finished. Now you are 100,000 dollars richer. That was it. Big deal. For such a trivial action you had an amazing amount of compensation.
You know what I think of you if you tell me, "I will not do it". I think you are retarded. You seriously need to be stupid not to accept such a deal like that. Think about it, a dick in your mouth feels almost like a cucumber in your mouth. All you got to do is shut your eyes and pretend you got a cucumber in your mouth. Finished. It is over. You need to have a terrible intelligence not to accept this.
I call this the "dick sucking morality". So many guys think it is moral to not suck dicks. They think there is something virtuous or profound about refusing to suck a dick for a reward. Virtuous? It is dumb. There is nothing moral in it. I can understand you refusing to kill someone for money because in that case you can at least come up with some sort of argument to why you should not do it. But a dick? Come on. What is wrong with you? What is holding you back?
I will tell you what is holding you back. Morality. The invented concept of morality whose function is to control people. Any amoral rational person will realize that a dick suck is the most efficient means to maximize his utility. You are being controlled by an external force. And for that you are weak. But you do not think of yourself as weak. You think you are strong as you refuse a reward. But this is not true. You are weak, as you cannot overcome your fabricated morals against homosexual practices, you cannot overcome the social fabrication that homosexuality is repulsive. The fact that you cannot overcome that means you are the weak one.
Why the fuck not? How stupid can you possibly be? Okay, maybe not money, maybe something else. How about immortality? Or how about a perfect healthy life? Or a perfect happy life? Whatever, some sort of reward for sucking on a dick.
Why the fuck would you not suck on a dick if you have a chance to make yourself so much better off now than you been before? It makes no sense at all. Think about this. If I offered you 100,000 dollars to suck on a cucumber you would do it. You have no sexual attraction to the cucumber but you would still do it. You just stick it in your mouth, suck, and done, finished. Now you are 100,000 dollars richer. That was it. Big deal. For such a trivial action you had an amazing amount of compensation.
You know what I think of you if you tell me, "I will not do it". I think you are retarded. You seriously need to be stupid not to accept such a deal like that. Think about it, a dick in your mouth feels almost like a cucumber in your mouth. All you got to do is shut your eyes and pretend you got a cucumber in your mouth. Finished. It is over. You need to have a terrible intelligence not to accept this.
I call this the "dick sucking morality". So many guys think it is moral to not suck dicks. They think there is something virtuous or profound about refusing to suck a dick for a reward. Virtuous? It is dumb. There is nothing moral in it. I can understand you refusing to kill someone for money because in that case you can at least come up with some sort of argument to why you should not do it. But a dick? Come on. What is wrong with you? What is holding you back?
I will tell you what is holding you back. Morality. The invented concept of morality whose function is to control people. Any amoral rational person will realize that a dick suck is the most efficient means to maximize his utility. You are being controlled by an external force. And for that you are weak. But you do not think of yourself as weak. You think you are strong as you refuse a reward. But this is not true. You are weak, as you cannot overcome your fabricated morals against homosexual practices, you cannot overcome the social fabrication that homosexuality is repulsive. The fact that you cannot overcome that means you are the weak one.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Torah im Derech Eretz vs Yeshivish
As much as I have my issues with Judaism one good thing to say about it was the approach of Rav Hirsch to influence the idea that Orthodox Jews can involve themselves like normal people in the secular world. You come across a lot of Orthodox Jews in many top universities who work in science or mathematics or medicine.
I live in an Orthodox Jewish community. So many of these Jews have achieved great things in their lives. Many of them are enterpreneurs, capitalists, work in business, or make a lot of money, and just in general know how to navigate around in the world. I personally know several millionaires some of whom I am friends with. I have respect for these people, as they achieved something in their lives. But every single one of these Juden fit into the description of being im Derech Eretz.
In my graduating class there were some yeshivish boys. Who did not go to college, who did not get a job, but instead are still learning in Israel or where ever it is where they are learning. It has been years already and they achieved absolutely nothing in their lives. When they get married they will not need a way to support themselves. Their rich parents, who have achieved success, will simply support them. I have no respect for these kinds of Jews. They have wasted their lives entirely. They consume and do not produce anything of value. They are a waste of a species and any human talent.
Maybe I am wrong on this but it seems as if the idea of Torah im Derech Eretz is losing popularity in Judaism. As the current generation can live off their parents and then move to Lakewood (Israel). This was not something that was possible 50 years ago and hence the popularity of being yeshivish is growing in the Orthodox world. Yeshivishness is a disease that will retard the Orthodox Jewish world back to the bronze-age (at least Hirsch was open-minded enough to consider the theory of evolution as a possibly true theory and he was alive right at the time of Charles Darwin).
However, there are good news. Orthodox kids are leaving Orthodox Judaism at the faster rate than ever before. So maybe the fact that Orthodox Jews are moving back to yeshivish is not a big deal as it is much more likely they will simply leave Orthodoxy.
I live in an Orthodox Jewish community. So many of these Jews have achieved great things in their lives. Many of them are enterpreneurs, capitalists, work in business, or make a lot of money, and just in general know how to navigate around in the world. I personally know several millionaires some of whom I am friends with. I have respect for these people, as they achieved something in their lives. But every single one of these Juden fit into the description of being im Derech Eretz.
In my graduating class there were some yeshivish boys. Who did not go to college, who did not get a job, but instead are still learning in Israel or where ever it is where they are learning. It has been years already and they achieved absolutely nothing in their lives. When they get married they will not need a way to support themselves. Their rich parents, who have achieved success, will simply support them. I have no respect for these kinds of Jews. They have wasted their lives entirely. They consume and do not produce anything of value. They are a waste of a species and any human talent.
Maybe I am wrong on this but it seems as if the idea of Torah im Derech Eretz is losing popularity in Judaism. As the current generation can live off their parents and then move to Lakewood (Israel). This was not something that was possible 50 years ago and hence the popularity of being yeshivish is growing in the Orthodox world. Yeshivishness is a disease that will retard the Orthodox Jewish world back to the bronze-age (at least Hirsch was open-minded enough to consider the theory of evolution as a possibly true theory and he was alive right at the time of Charles Darwin).
However, there are good news. Orthodox kids are leaving Orthodox Judaism at the faster rate than ever before. So maybe the fact that Orthodox Jews are moving back to yeshivish is not a big deal as it is much more likely they will simply leave Orthodoxy.
Skepticism to War
It seems to me that the very same foolish mistakes that lead to the Iraq, and other Middle-East wars, are recurring again. People need to be extremely skeptical about claims of war. That is sadly what is missing, there is a lack of skepticism with regard to war. Let me begin with the first obvious problem. Whenever somebody says "your cause is just to go to war", I find that statement funny. Can you think of an example where the soldiers are being told to go to war because "your cause is not just to go to war". I cannot think of an example at all. All wars are always called 'just' by the people who initiate the wars. The Soviets call their wars just, the Nazis called their wars just, the United States calls its wars just, what al-Qaeda does it calls just, and the enemies who oppose these call their wars against them to be 'just' also. Somebody got to be wrong. In fact, almost everyone is wrong as they claim to be the right ones. Thus, a simple declaration of that a war is 'just' is just not good enough. Now the basic argument used in favor of more war goes something like this. It is wrong for us not to intervene. The military should go into war to overthrow the dictator so that the people can settle their own problems from there. We have the ability to help a group of people somewhere in the world, it is wrong of us not to help. When the argument is phrased in this manner it sounds appealing. But we need to ask a lot of questions. Is the US really going into war because they want to help some forgeiners overthrow a dicator or is it because they have something else planned? Almost all wars are based on lies so why should we think of any new current war to be different. Does this not sound noble? Another important question that needs to be asked is to question the implied assumption in all of this. That is, that the US will simply go in, make what is right, and then leave. This has not been the case at all with any previous wars. The US has no credibility to achieve what it wants to achieve. In all the previous wars it got held up in what it claimed it was going to do and did not achieve its objective. Why should we assume this is going to be different? Anyone who does advocate for more war must explain all of these important assumptions about war which are often overlooked and it is a given that the war will achieve what it claims to achieve.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Response to Jewish Atheist
JewishAtheist wrote a question asking about whether morality is just an excuse for the selfishness in people, here. I have basically expressed all my views on morality scattered all over this blog so some of this will be repetative.
The first point, and perhaps the most important point, with regard to morality is the confusion of morality with empathy. This is a scientific error of thinking. The purely scientific way to discuss questions of morality is to ask how did they evolve? And when one asks such questions one is stuck discussing questions of empathy, altruism, compassion, and kindness. This is not equivalent to morality. There have been a myriad of civilizations with their own moral codes. Many of these moral codes did not corellate with these feel-good feelings. There were civilizations that were against helping the weak as they believed the weak are weak as punishment from their past lives so helping them is evil. This kind of moral code went entirely against any evolved sense of empathy. Most of the morals that people have believed in have extremely little to do with any evolved feeling within people. Indeed, most morals are against human natures, and as such if morality was evolved then it would not contradict people's natures. Therefore, the question of morality cannot be studied scientifically. At least not with natural selection.
I myself separate feelings of altruism and compassion from morality. So that I can tell people, "I have no morals". If they were to ask me why I would help another, I will simply say that I do not consider the desire to help others as a "moral". Morals have always meant something more than just empathy. And since I do not hold any higher interpretation of morals I reject all of morality and live without morals. I would encourage all people to take the same approach. Rejecting morals is in a way rejecting God. When one rejects God one loses his belief that reaffirms his life, so one needs to learn to live himself without being able to reaffirm himself. I view morals in a same way. When one rejects morals one has the challenge of not having any reaffirmation of ones actions, so the challenge is to be strong enough to be able to live without needing to reaffirm your actions.
Besides what kind of moral code is, "be nice to those people who deserve it" (which is essentially all I do, it is nice to be nice, and that is it, I need no greater reason than that)? Moral codes are very complex. They involve honor, sanctity, discipline, loyality, holiness, pureness, so on and so forth. The desire to just act nice is not something which I even consider to be a moral.
Then JewishAtheist talks about morality as being used for our selfishness. The truth is that morality, for its history, has always meant the complete opposite. Wanting to do something to yourself, such as pleasuring yourself, is wicked and people must move away from that. Morality has been a rebellion to people's natures. I strongly disagree with that. People acting in their self-interests is a very recent concept. One of the influences Adam Smith brought to the world was the idea that there is nothing wrong about wanting to act for your self-interest - his book Theory of Moral Sentiments was in a way a prelude to his economic theory as a moral defense.
The selfish aspect to morality is extremely recent and through out past history it has meant something entirely different.
So if morality cannot be explained through natural selection, and if morality is a rejection to people's own desires then from whence did it originate from? I have had my own idea to where morality came from. I believe that the function of morality was used as a tool to control the masses. Indeed, morality is authoratarian, it commands people to act in a particular manner. Its original goal was to control masses of people. Today the morals that are present are really mostly remants of dead moral systems that are not used anymore for domination, but that was their original function. If you are interested to the history behind how morals first developed you can read this - which is entirely my own guess, but it does sound reasonable.
The first point, and perhaps the most important point, with regard to morality is the confusion of morality with empathy. This is a scientific error of thinking. The purely scientific way to discuss questions of morality is to ask how did they evolve? And when one asks such questions one is stuck discussing questions of empathy, altruism, compassion, and kindness. This is not equivalent to morality. There have been a myriad of civilizations with their own moral codes. Many of these moral codes did not corellate with these feel-good feelings. There were civilizations that were against helping the weak as they believed the weak are weak as punishment from their past lives so helping them is evil. This kind of moral code went entirely against any evolved sense of empathy. Most of the morals that people have believed in have extremely little to do with any evolved feeling within people. Indeed, most morals are against human natures, and as such if morality was evolved then it would not contradict people's natures. Therefore, the question of morality cannot be studied scientifically. At least not with natural selection.
I myself separate feelings of altruism and compassion from morality. So that I can tell people, "I have no morals". If they were to ask me why I would help another, I will simply say that I do not consider the desire to help others as a "moral". Morals have always meant something more than just empathy. And since I do not hold any higher interpretation of morals I reject all of morality and live without morals. I would encourage all people to take the same approach. Rejecting morals is in a way rejecting God. When one rejects God one loses his belief that reaffirms his life, so one needs to learn to live himself without being able to reaffirm himself. I view morals in a same way. When one rejects morals one has the challenge of not having any reaffirmation of ones actions, so the challenge is to be strong enough to be able to live without needing to reaffirm your actions.
Besides what kind of moral code is, "be nice to those people who deserve it" (which is essentially all I do, it is nice to be nice, and that is it, I need no greater reason than that)? Moral codes are very complex. They involve honor, sanctity, discipline, loyality, holiness, pureness, so on and so forth. The desire to just act nice is not something which I even consider to be a moral.
Then JewishAtheist talks about morality as being used for our selfishness. The truth is that morality, for its history, has always meant the complete opposite. Wanting to do something to yourself, such as pleasuring yourself, is wicked and people must move away from that. Morality has been a rebellion to people's natures. I strongly disagree with that. People acting in their self-interests is a very recent concept. One of the influences Adam Smith brought to the world was the idea that there is nothing wrong about wanting to act for your self-interest - his book Theory of Moral Sentiments was in a way a prelude to his economic theory as a moral defense.
The selfish aspect to morality is extremely recent and through out past history it has meant something entirely different.
So if morality cannot be explained through natural selection, and if morality is a rejection to people's own desires then from whence did it originate from? I have had my own idea to where morality came from. I believe that the function of morality was used as a tool to control the masses. Indeed, morality is authoratarian, it commands people to act in a particular manner. Its original goal was to control masses of people. Today the morals that are present are really mostly remants of dead moral systems that are not used anymore for domination, but that was their original function. If you are interested to the history behind how morals first developed you can read this - which is entirely my own guess, but it does sound reasonable.
Right About Everything
I am sure there are people who would react to my arrogant personality by saying that, "you think you are right about everything". I agree, I do think I am right about everything. In fact, you probably think you are right about everything. Indeed, if I did not think I was correct about a certain position then I will change accordingly. The fact that I am stable and unchanging in this particular moment in time means I am currently satisfied with every single belief that I have. And so I do think I am correct about everything. If you can make me doubt something and change to a new position then in my newly accepted position I will think I am right about everything.
I do not think I will end up being correct about everything. I have noticed a lot of mistakes that I have made in regard to many questions. The overwhelming chances is that I will very soon discover another mistake that I made and have to change accordingly. However, in the time being I do not see any mistakes in anything that I belief, and so because of that do think I am correct about everything. I am not very certain about that position, very little certainty, but as far as what I think, yes, I do think I am correct.
And this kind of attitude is perfectly okay. Each one of us who thinks rationally argues with others as we think we are correct and others are wrong. We are convinced of what we belief, so that is all okay. As long as we are willing to change our beliefs when they start to fall apart then it is completely acceptable to insist that we are correct about everything.
I do not think I will end up being correct about everything. I have noticed a lot of mistakes that I have made in regard to many questions. The overwhelming chances is that I will very soon discover another mistake that I made and have to change accordingly. However, in the time being I do not see any mistakes in anything that I belief, and so because of that do think I am correct about everything. I am not very certain about that position, very little certainty, but as far as what I think, yes, I do think I am correct.
And this kind of attitude is perfectly okay. Each one of us who thinks rationally argues with others as we think we are correct and others are wrong. We are convinced of what we belief, so that is all okay. As long as we are willing to change our beliefs when they start to fall apart then it is completely acceptable to insist that we are correct about everything.
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