What is happening here? Have the merchants of death gathered at the water for one long, last draft at the trough? Is the water without limit? How long can we survive having our financial stability sucked away?
Tag: world
Selfish Reasons for Civilized Behavior
The nihilist in me isn’t too interested in moralizing to my children about right and wrong. Yes, I believe in ethics and morality, but no, I do not believe that we are obligated to anyone but ourselves to be good and moral people. If we aren’t obligated to anyone but ourselves, then any reason why find to be good and moral must necessarily be selfish. Right? I think so. And after polling some friends on what they considered “civilized behavior,” here are some actions and the selfish reasons to perform them.
On Property and Aggression
Rights are not metaphysical entities. No pathologist finds them during an autopsy. In a sense, they are conventions, but by that, I do not mean they are arbitrary. They are conventions much in the same way that David Hume saw the virtue of justice, which he equated with respect for property.
Get Your Ass Out There
You can’t sit behind a walled garden becoming an expert before you reveal your stuff to the world. No one hides for a decade, refining and refining, then releases a completed magnum opus to the world. It will suck.
The 4 Keys to Learning Anything
OK, so we all want to learn skills — new languages, programming skills, physical skills, history, math, writing, games, so much more. But these four problems stand in our way. Let’s take them on. We’re going to discover four keys to overcoming these four problems so that we can tackle anything we want to learn.
How Not to Change the World
Don’t run for class president. Don’t go to HOA meetings. Don’t join a committee. Don’t get involved in political campaigns. All of these activities are about reform. Get into the institution, play by its rules, and try to make it behave differently than it wants to. Forget this approach. It sucks. Here are four reasons why.
Meaningful Learning Is Just-in-Time, Not Just-in-Case
Average people learn what they need to avoid pain. Elite people learn what they need to get the grade, ace the test, win the award, gain certification, impress people, and obtain honors. Ascendant people don’t care about accolades or awards or tests or stickers or stars. They learn exactly what’s needed to solve a problem that matters to them, exactly when it’s needed. No more, no less. No sooner, no later.
How I Changed My Mind on Intellectual Property
I’d been solidly libertarian for many years the first time I gave thought to “intellectual property” (copyrights and patents) at all. Someone mentioned the protection of property, including intellectual property, as the root of prosperity and freedom. I agreed without hesitation. It just seemed to make sense.
History–An Obsession with Drama Queens
I noticed something about “history” a long time ago. History is focused on the drama queens, not the quiet, mature people who made up most of the world’s population. And I suppose this is natural.
My Kid Learned More from Mario Maker than I Did from a Marketing Major
So my son builds these levels on the WiiU game Mario Maker. He’s posted some of his favorites to the network so others can play them and, if they like them, give them a star. He checked in the other night only to find two of his favorite creations had been removed from the network because they did not get enough stars in a given time span. Here comes the pain. And the learning.