It’s easy to dismiss all talk of negative things as “being pessimistic”, but even the optimist has to acknowledge negative truths in order to express his or her dedication to making the world a better place. After all, why seek to make the world better unless you believe there are ways in which it falls short?
Tag: knowledge
Creating & Consuming Are Two Sides of the Same Coin
In your quest for knowledge, I suggest being a student of the game and a player of the game. As a player of the game, you constantly challenge yourself to make things happen. As a student of the game, you constantly challenge yourself to be inspired by what others are making happen.
Foreign Policy, Part I
While I favor Agorism, Voluntaryism, and Anarcho-Capitalism, I do have a solid knowledge base on the United States Constitutional Republic. This article will focus on normative foreign policy in this context, and later articles will deal with more philosophically palatable foreign policy questions.
Taking Statists Seriously
I know I shouldn’t be mean to statists. I shouldn’t ridicule them or point out that they are no better than molesters. Even though it’s true. That’s not how you get people to listen and (possibly) change. This knowledge requires a change in me. And that change is hard and unpleasant and unnatural.
An Unschooling Tale: From Watching YouTube to Reading Financial Statements
Were you voluntarily reading financial statements at age nine? I certainly wasn’t. And I’m fairly certain that the first time I read one was to prepare for a test, not because I was personally curious about an organization’s economic health.
Commitment Isn’t the Starting Point
Before you try to figure out what you love, take some time to follow up on what you like. Instead of seeking a big epiphany about what you want to do for your entire life, make a small effort to explore a few things that seem interesting to you right now. Commitment isn’t the starting point for creating your life. Curiosity is.
Simplistic to the Point of Absurdity
When someone proclaims to have a certain philosophy, belief, or disposition, do you believe them? Let’s imagine they say they are charitable, but rarely give to charity. Let’s imagine they say they are an altruist, but they have two kidneys in a world where people die for not having one. Let’s imagine they say support the “metoo” movement, but they rape women for sport. What do you think of these people?
Cultural Marxism’s Fundamental Flaw
Cultural Marxists would argue that cisgendered “white” heterosexual males have, at least in the Western world (and for heterosexual males, the entire world), been the group that has oppressed all others, those who identify with groups such as women, “people of color”, homosexuals, and transgenders. Seems inarguable as we survey the history of the West, does it not? And as oppressors, they have enjoyed political and legal privileges not afforded these other groups. This also seems inarguable as we survey history. But there seems to me to be something wrong with this so-called “critical theory” approach to topics of oppression and privilege.
Human Nature in Science
Human experience is not divided only into two epochs, the pre-Copernican and the Copernican. The change between those two epochs, while extremely critical, did not mark the end of human advancement in self-knowledge.
Start Here
Everything “unimportant” that you want to study is connected to something “important” that you need to study. The stuff you’re interested in is the gateway drug for other forms of knowledge.