May 2013
“in the quiet moments of the morning
only my thoughts keep me from drifting...”
“Normal - the enforced mentality of one that is enslaved.”
Morals and ethical questions are based on societal or religious teachings. They give us the false perception that there is a right or wrong answer to the questions we’re asking. The answers themselves have perceived ethical value, not actual ethical value. Because actual ethical value is a variable intellectual construct. It doesn’t actually exist. I’m not saying there is no...
“If people cannot be trusted, and so need to be governed by laws, how can people...”
on the death penalty...
Friend: I would rather spend resources on raising healthy children and improving life for non-homicidal people than use those resources to reform killers.
Me: "A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its
weakest members." ~ Mahatma Ghandi
Friend: Killers aren't our weakest members, they are the members that...well KILL our weakest members.
Me: Killers are the members of society most deeply affected by 'the system'. By judging their actions and not the cause of their actions, we legitimize the system. And how is it weak to be a victim of murder? The weakness of our time is a weakness of spirit and rational thought. How we treat that weakness, says everything about who we are.
Friend: You think it's more compassionate of society to toss them in prison for life (it's not their fault after all) or leave them to kill others, rather than apply the death penalty? Even if I were to have that mechanical view of humankind, I would still say it serves the greater societal interest and is the most humane to apply the death penalty.
Me: Your genes and your environment combined produce your unique perspective on the world. Within your own reference frame, morality is a rigid concept and your choices can almost never escape the confines of your own world-view. But true morality is an ideological construct, and your perspective of it is completely relative to other perspectives of it. Those who have been surrounded by the conditions that are likely to produce violent individuals, are likely to be violent. Yes there is a choice, but the options are limited by environmental setting. Not accounting for this is what is TRULY inhumane, since being able to fix the problem and not doing so, is tantamount to being the murderers ourselves.
I'm an anarchist idealist, but I'm also a realist. I do not propose tossing people in cells or letting dangerous people run free, but a revolution within the legal and penal systems to start caring for people instead of capitalising on socio-economic conditioning. That would be more humane than simply writing people off and flipping a switch while we sit on moral high horses because our socio-economic conditions did not lead us down a murderous path.
addlerotica asked: okay i have to reply now. my real issue is that i don't humans can have a zero-profit/pure-cost system at all. our current system is built on money that doesn't exist, but it's a number that we can use to track things. can an energy economics account for credit? because while fake money is discomforting, it drives progress and allows me to be a total consumer and buy a bunch of hot...
addlerotica asked: and money is already subjective. living in new york is more expensive than kansas city. so money has different value in different places, even when it's all the dollar in the same country.
addlerotica asked: how do you calculate and understand the true cost of goods? do we have to agree on that calculation? why do you think that money is what dictates cost, instead of perception of value? money is just shorthand for the cost, as far as i can tell.
“the free market relies on the price mechanism to determine and regulate resource...”
“If a community of people all buy the same product, and that product is bought in...”
insurance, like advertising, is as easy to define as any professional con. It is the creation of fear in order to extract the value of property from those who are frightened. if i con you, i convince you that there is value where it doesn’t actually exist by creating a need in your mind by scaring you about something, so that you will invest in that false value, and i can then walk away with...
“Any law that is not a natural law, observed as a fundamental property or process...”
Your genes and your environment combined produce your unique perspective on the world. Within the context of your own reference frame, morality is a set concept and your choices can almost never escape the confines of your own world-view. Those who have been surrounded by the conditions that are likely to produce violent individuals, are likely to be violent. Yes there is a choice, but the options...
On-line activism, has loads of value, but I’ve recently found that a far more effective means of effecting change, is to simply go ahead and DO all the things I advocate…. Produce locally, and encourage local production by buying locally. (In my case there’s not much buying, but there is a lot of local SHARING) Invest personally in science by applying the scientific method to all...
How long can those with influence and resources artificially create a perception of scarcity among masses of un-educated and mis-educated people?…. Until they choose to stop, which we know, categorically, they will never do. And if we wait for collapse, then depending on the type of collapse, we might be up the creek in a burning boat without a paddle or a bucket. If the collapse is...
At the moment, people use money as a means of evaluating the world ‘objectively’ and although we understand that it is essentially a false valuation mechanism in its current format, the reality is that without it, most would be entirely unable to evaluate the world in any effective way and the true cost of resource usage and labour will be completely incalculable, meaning that...
What is Profit? Economic Sociopathy
When I generate profit in a transaction, if I am trading fairly in the current system, my profit is limited only by the willingness of the other entity/entities participating in the transaction to reward my service beyond the calculated cost of the transaction. Thus, profit in any given transaction can only result from reciprocal manipulation of perceived resource value. In contemporary society,...
Not voting is not synonymous with inaction. In fact, on the whole, since voters hold their representatives responsible, the implication is that the voters themselves are inactive on social change, and are rather waiting for some elected official to get it done. NO system can work while the profit incentive exists, and no amount of votes will get rid of money, that can only happen through people...
“Democracy is an extremely effective system of division. There will never be a...”
April 2013
Hey followers,
Sorry I’ve been missing without any word. I’ve returned home, and have spent the last few months slowly rebuilding after a succession of storms battered our home. We’re only getting the wind turbines running now, and it’ll be a little while before we have enough energy to rejoin the digital world. In the mean time, I’ll be collecting photo’s for...
March 2013
I'm an economic vegetarian...
Because I can only afford to grow my own vegetables, herbs, legumes, fruits, berries and nuts. Livestock is just too expensive to maintain in the current system. But given a healthy, sustainable and responsible system, that produces naturally raised and hunted meat following naturally balanced permaculture designs and healthy dieting principles, I’d be happy to eat meat again on a...
Within each of us lies a beating heart
Joining us in rhythms to which our lives dance
The drum-beat of flesh and blood
Proving that we all are.
When I generate profit in an economic transaction, my profit is limited only by the willingness of the other entity/ies participating in the transaction to reward my services beyond the calculated cost of the resources used. Thus, profit in any given transaction can only result from reciprocal manipulation of perceived resource value. In contemporary society, these manipulations are influenced by...
What is Profit?
When I generate profit in an economic transaction, my profit is limited only by the willingness of the other entity/ies participating in the transaction to reward my services beyond the calculated cost of the resources used. Thus, profit in any given transaction can only result from reciprocal manipulation of perceived resource value. In contemporary society, these manipulations are influenced by...
February 2013
Velentines day is probably the most effective way of making the masses feel isolated and lonely. It creates a sense of inadequacy within the average person, for whom relationships are a treacherous and generally hazardous social expectation. It’s actually the one day of the year that causes more relationship troubles and self-worth issues than any of the other materialist days.
“there is nothing in life bigger than us, only things bigger than our perception...”
“The scientific method IS an ideological system. But it is not a belief system. A...”
January 2013
faucondesang replied to your post: taco-stand-supreme replied to your post: Evil…
Łobaczewski’s Ponerology, tho.
Ponerology is a very young field of study, and will take a lot of review before it is even properly understood by those studying it, never mind the rest of us.
The fact remains that even if genes exist that result in ‘evil’ behavior, they cannot be activated...
taco-stand-supreme replied to your post: Evil isn’t born, it’s made.
untrue. empathy is a learned behavior, sure. but it can only be
learned if said person is physically capable of producing the
chemical oxytocin. no it’s not really “evil” but and inability to
understand the difference.
Apathy does not encompass ‘evil’, and empathy does not negate the ability to take pleasure in...
Evil isn’t born, it’s made.
Economic crimes such as theft, fraud and corruption , can only exist while socio-economic conditioning provides a mechanism for individual ownership. Thus, by providing a switch from individual ownership, to communal abundance access, individual community members are able to reduce the likelihood of any economic crime being perpetrated against them.
“Society is a veil we’ve thrown over our own heads to escape the...”
“sometimes we feel so separate, that lonely is all we can be, even when we are...”
“we are all mostly nothing, with a small percentage of something made up of...”
“A truth’s initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was...”
– Dresden James
“We assume that because we have refined our laws over centuries of use, they...”
“The current system of law does not address the problem of crime. It addresses...”
“When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I’m...”
– Clarence Darrow 