The challenge was to write these forty
things in eighty minutes. I was interrupted, so it was written in ninety
minutes over two days. Also, I can not claim to actually 'know' any of these,
they are just a brain dump of things that I'm pretty sure are true. I hope to
be able to laugh (or cry) at them when I'm eighty. Also, I absolutely admit these are almost certainly not my own ideas, but in 90 minutes I have not had time to hunt around for attribution.
1. Everyone is due empathy, and
forgiveness, at some point in their lives.
2. Happiness is more likely realised
than attained.
3. No one needs you to be rich, but
they do need you to be there. The
continuation of society, family, friends, and loving relationships does not
require for you to be wealthy, but it does require that you help in some way.
4. Playing music with other people is one of life's sincerest joys.
5. For fearful things, the
anticipation is most often worse than the reality.
6. Know which of your friends would
help you move a body BEFORE you have to move a body.
7. The most powerful thing the
rulers have is the consent of those they rule. The most powerful thing the
ruled have is their ability to withdraw their consent, but only if they do so
en masse.
8. The second most powerful thing the
rulers have is their ability to contextualise violence as either right or
wrong.
9. Poverty is really, really bad,
but having wealth does not equal success.
10. No matter how bad off you've
been, and how far you've come; there's always someone else who started out
worse off and has done better than you.
11. One thing most people have in
common is that they think they are different.
12. Numbers are an idea we invented
and impose upon the world. They do not exist in the world independently of our
thought.
13. The two things the world really
should learn this century are: We must not take from the forest at a rate
greater than the forest can itself replenish regardless of the size of the forest. And: We must
get off this planet. We can not allow this planet to be the sole site of
consciousness in the whole of known existence. We know this planet will
eventually be destroyed by the sun. We simply must find somewhere else for consciousness
to exist, and send at least some of it there.
14. Growing your own food, engaging
in the food cycle, is a kind of love.
15. It is actually less hassle to do
the dishes, cleaning, washing and other chores than it is to have a dirty house.
16. People are incredibly good at
justifying their actions when those actions result in some kind of benefit to
themselves.
17. One can not be intelligent,
knowledgeable, informed and ethical; and at the same time support the Liberals.
Anyone who supports the Liberals lacks at least one of these attributes.
18. Philosophy/Science is just as
often about proving we don't know something as it is about proving we do know
something. Both achievements are worthy.
19. Love does not conquer all, and is not some kind of all powerful nicey-thing all the time. Someday someone you love will betray you. That's part of life. Love is sometimes hard, sometimes wonderful.
20. The past and the future do not
literally exist in the same way as the present. It's all just one big NOW. It's
just that it's a somewhat changeable NOW. We live in the same changing NOW as
all our ancestors and all our descendants.
21. Happiness is not contingent on having an ownership relation to a material
thing, except perhaps a house, or a musical instrument.
22. People are not rational beings,
and this is especially so when encountered in groups.
23. There is no god, people who
believe in god are deluded, this delusion can be dangerous because it vacates
believers of a need for independently ethical standards. All their ethical
standards are dependent on the word of their god, and the word of their god is
absolutely malleable to their own desires. In effect, they do not have an
independently justifiable ethics. So beware of them.
24. The loss felt at the death of a
loved one does not go away. You just have to grow around it.
25. Children are joyous and make us happy.
26. The decision to have a child is
not an abrogation of any other responsibility, like having a career or
whatever. We are meant to have children. Having a child is our greatest
responsibility. The world does not care if you have a career. If no one has
children we all disappear really quickly.
27. In the normal course of events
your parents will die before you, and you will have children, and then you will
die on them. That is the best you can hope for.
28. The best days in your life are
those when you set out to do something you thought was probably beyond your
reach, but through hard work, inspiration and luck you actually achieve it.
29. If you're hungry, a buttered
piece of toast is absolutely amazingly delicious.
30. It is simply not true that
someone who is the best at something will be the most rewarded. Access to
networks of powerful people and self-promotion will almost always beat
knowledge and skill. Perhaps sport is an exception, and maybe that's why people
like to watch sport.
31. Simplicity is harder than
complexity. Beware of those people though, who will urge a shortcut to
simplicity with a lie.
32. People really can destroy the
thing they love.
33. Liberty is not necessarily the
same thing as democracy.
34. Beware of domain creators. People
often use one word as a supposed symbol for the combined meanings of a lot of
other ideas. It is seldom a true reflection of the world, and especially untrue
when applied to supposed categories of people. For example, when someone says:
'Business thinks lower taxes are good,' don't believe them. There is no such
thing as 'Business' that can think that. Likewise, 'Technology' can not
'advance'. 'Government' can not 'believe'.
35. It is not important, nor even
best, to be the smartest guy in the room. It is usually far better to be the
second smartest guy in the room. It is dangerous to be the third smartest.
36. We tend to think that the
consciousness we all experience is the same sort of consciousness, but that we
as individuals have a unique consciousness. We are somehow uniquely different
emanations of the same kind of thing, and that consciousness is both
universally uniform and yet not fungible.
37. Ruling groups believe they have
their power because they deserve it, and that subordinate groups don't.
38. Integrity costs something. If you
have not had to forgo something it is not integrity. Also, contrary to popular
belief, no one is born with integrity, it has to be earned.
39. 80% of people don't care about
your problems, and 19% of people are glad you have them.
40. Doing the best you can at
whatever it is you are doing brings its own satisfaction.
