It's the answer I came up with, but that's the whole point I'm trying to make, that it isn't like there's a right answer that you can put in a philosophy testing machine and get a green light or a red light.
Spent a long time looking. Nearly killed me, but at the end of the day the physical world is just a physical world. You need to rely on your inherent humanity to find any real answers to questions like that. Or at least I did.
The problem is that the universe is by itself without any inherent value, meaning, or sense. There's no difference between any path you take written into the stars. All such determinations are derived from the metaphysics that are separate from the physics. Therefore, any measurement of "the best" is inherently coming from a certain metaphysical viewpoint.
You can measure the physical effects of utilizing a certain metaphysical property, but the meaning, value, and sense of those physical effects aren't part of the physical.
One good example is slavery. 2,000 years ago slavery was totally accepted and it wasn't considered morally wrong to have slaves. It could even be said that it was beneficial to have slaves since you could focus on things other than tilling the fields. The greeks wrote the philosophy they did because they had slaves to do the day to day work. The romans built the largest empire for 1000 years and today still have an imprint upon the world on the basis of slavery. However; Around 200 years ago the process began to end slavery worldwide, considering the practice barbaric. Whereas 2000 years ago having a lot of slaves would paint you as an important man, today it would paint you as an irredeemable monster. The physical is the same, but the metaphysical view of that reality shifted. Which is right? Which is wrong? Is there even an answer?
You can measure the physical effects of utilizing a certain metaphysical property, but the meaning, value, and sense of those physical effects aren't part of the physical.
One good example is slavery. 2,000 years ago slavery was totally accepted and it wasn't considered morally wrong to have slaves. It could even be said that it was beneficial to have slaves since you could focus on things other than tilling the fields. The greeks wrote the philosophy they did because they had slaves to do the day to day work. The romans built the largest empire for 1000 years and today still have an imprint upon the world on the basis of slavery. However; Around 200 years ago the process began to end slavery worldwide, considering the practice barbaric. Whereas 2000 years ago having a lot of slaves would paint you as an important man, today it would paint you as an irredeemable monster. The physical is the same, but the metaphysical view of that reality shifted. Which is right? Which is wrong? Is there even an answer?
To me a few things are clear.
Physics exist inside the universe
Metaphysics exist outside of the universe, whether in the abstract places in our minds or in a literal "outside of the universe" where some divine construct might reside
Something in physics can be tested because it resides in the world and thus can be measured.
Something in metaphysics may not be able to be tested because it resides outside the world and likely can't be directly measured using physics.
I sort of diverge at that point. If you're dealing with the divine, then it seems like the trail stops there because you can't use tests inside a system to measure outside of that system at all. On the other hand, if you're dealing with the philosophical then you could over time make inferences about the success of certain philosophies based on the outcomes of the people or societies that follow those philosophies. On the other hand, pure success may not be a realistic measure of a philosophy. What if the most literally true philosophy inevitably leads to a tragic end? What if the best way to live is one that appears to be a total failure to the outside world?
Physics exist inside the universe
Metaphysics exist outside of the universe, whether in the abstract places in our minds or in a literal "outside of the universe" where some divine construct might reside
Something in physics can be tested because it resides in the world and thus can be measured.
Something in metaphysics may not be able to be tested because it resides outside the world and likely can't be directly measured using physics.
I sort of diverge at that point. If you're dealing with the divine, then it seems like the trail stops there because you can't use tests inside a system to measure outside of that system at all. On the other hand, if you're dealing with the philosophical then you could over time make inferences about the success of certain philosophies based on the outcomes of the people or societies that follow those philosophies. On the other hand, pure success may not be a realistic measure of a philosophy. What if the most literally true philosophy inevitably leads to a tragic end? What if the best way to live is one that appears to be a total failure to the outside world?
"We called it the Fourth Reich, but we're just chill guys, we don't really want to take over the world, we just want to take over the railcar and be comfy."
exactly what someone who wants to take over the world might say!
exactly what someone who wants to take over the world might say!
I was going to be all smug like "why do you have an image of linkara?" and then it turned out to actually be linkara and now I'm sad.
Liberal values (in the sense of liberty) *are* unreasonable. You mean to tell me that people who are in charge would give a bunch of powers to people who aren't even elites? But the elites have all the money, and they employ all the soldiers, and they control all the material, and they largely have all the weapons! It's patently unreasonable to expect the powerful to give power to the powerless like that! It's patently unreasonable to ask!
Then to ask for *more* power, even though the powerful have already given up so much? So very unreasonable!
One can be justified, and a hero, and often that requires being unreasonable.
Then to ask for *more* power, even though the powerful have already given up so much? So very unreasonable!
One can be justified, and a hero, and often that requires being unreasonable.
Unlike most folks, I'm actually happy with my elections.
I voted with a piece of paper and a pencil, and the votes were counted by hand. I've always known who runs the country before morning.
Why is this a problem?
I voted with a piece of paper and a pencil, and the votes were counted by hand. I've always known who runs the country before morning.
Why is this a problem?
People think fediverse is too small to be effective. I don't see it. There's so much hustle and bustle!
I deleted most of my big tech accounts once the fediverse was working for me.
Nothing of value was lost.
Nothing of value was lost.
#twittermigration #twitter #elonmusk #mastodon #feditips
Hi, this seems to be your first day on the actual Internet. Welcome!
Chapter 16 of my book is called "The Internet is not your friend". You have probably been spending a long time on big tech, which pretends it is your friend, and that you can trust it, and that you're safe on it. They're lying so they can steal your wallet. They either want to sell you something or they want to know all about you so they can sell you to someone else.
This is the real Internet, like it used to be. We're not selling any ads. We're not loss leading into some other big moneymaker. You're not doing any of us any favors by trying to put yourself into a bunch of little marketable boxes. Most admins just want a comfy place to have fun, and virtually nobody here is breaking even, let alone turning a profit. There are thousands of servers. There's all different kinds of servers, and all different kinds of people. People you'll like, and people you'll hate. You through your actions will tend to decide who you're seeing in front of you (and using kick me sign hashtags does count, btw)
You should not trust the Internet. You are not safe here. You don't need to tell us your real name. We don't need to know your home address. You don't need to tell us your job. You don't need to tell us that you're an albino Sasquatch. You don't need to tell us that you're romantically involved with the planet Neptune. That's all stuff the big tech Internet really wants to know about you so they can sell to you or sell you to someone.
Talking as if "trust and safety" is possible on a libre Internet (which this inevitably must be due to the open nature of the fediverse) comes off as helplessly naive. It's naive on big tech as well of course, but they want you to think they can do it.
And if you want to reveal something about yourself, go ahead. There's lots of people who coexist just fine despite having much different attributes and knowing it. Just remember my advice as you do so.
Hi, this seems to be your first day on the actual Internet. Welcome!
Chapter 16 of my book is called "The Internet is not your friend". You have probably been spending a long time on big tech, which pretends it is your friend, and that you can trust it, and that you're safe on it. They're lying so they can steal your wallet. They either want to sell you something or they want to know all about you so they can sell you to someone else.
This is the real Internet, like it used to be. We're not selling any ads. We're not loss leading into some other big moneymaker. You're not doing any of us any favors by trying to put yourself into a bunch of little marketable boxes. Most admins just want a comfy place to have fun, and virtually nobody here is breaking even, let alone turning a profit. There are thousands of servers. There's all different kinds of servers, and all different kinds of people. People you'll like, and people you'll hate. You through your actions will tend to decide who you're seeing in front of you (and using kick me sign hashtags does count, btw)
You should not trust the Internet. You are not safe here. You don't need to tell us your real name. We don't need to know your home address. You don't need to tell us your job. You don't need to tell us that you're an albino Sasquatch. You don't need to tell us that you're romantically involved with the planet Neptune. That's all stuff the big tech Internet really wants to know about you so they can sell to you or sell you to someone.
Talking as if "trust and safety" is possible on a libre Internet (which this inevitably must be due to the open nature of the fediverse) comes off as helplessly naive. It's naive on big tech as well of course, but they want you to think they can do it.
And if you want to reveal something about yourself, go ahead. There's lots of people who coexist just fine despite having much different attributes and knowing it. Just remember my advice as you do so.
Elon's best skill is what hackers call "Social Engineering", but normal people call "Lying". I'm excited to see what absolute bollocks he comes up with to pump his new company. Maybe he'll claim they will use algorithms to post for you so you don't even need to be on twitter anymore? Or He'll force neuralink through the keyboards of everyone and beam advertising directly into our brains?
Oh! He'll claim he's using SpaceX technology to put solar roof powered twitter farms on the moon!
Oh! He'll claim he's using SpaceX technology to put solar roof powered twitter farms on the moon!
Sorta seems like platos allegory of the cave, except instead of seeing the sun for the first time once you escape your chains, you see shitposting.