Forty things I know at forty.

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.