Ask Lemmy

Learn the difference between a necessary risk and an unnecessary one, and whenever possible, decide with intent when to deploy the latter.

Other than that, leave things better than you found them. That goes a long way.

Hmm...let's put this in perspective. We live in a tiny dot flying around a cosmic sized flushing toilet bowl that is it self flying around a larger flushing toilet bowl... Both have centers that either melt everything and or stretch it til the atoms break apart...or both. We are direct descendants of life forms...not animals perhaps but life forms who appeared from random motion and electric volts and radiation in and around a primordial mix of random liquid shit. And we are the 1 second before midnight if the entire earth had been around for an entire day. In short we are nothing. Who cares if some guy wants tariffs on China while raping someone during a celebration for a new pope. However...if you lived here, your entire puny life trapped inside a calcium basket full of your own meat and guts with 8 other billion people in the same conditions, I would much rather it be a happy blip than a blip filled with and torture. And lots and lots of sex. If you're 21, my recommendation as a working professional who designs and builds really freaking cool gadgets is to go find someone to fuck pronto. And fuck. A lot. Use protection, don't have kids unless you want to. But just make love day and night. Once you turn 35 make some goals for the rest of your blip. Then spend the rest of your blip. Thru all, make your self happy and make others happy. Just help each other. It serves no one if you live the tiny puny piece of time pissed off and you piss off others.

I'm going to die.

That's it. There's not much I'm really certain of, but I'm pretty damn certain that I'm going to die.

So I ask myself - how do I want to live my life in light of this fact?

Drink enough coffee to shit before leaving the house.

If you want to judge the character of a person:

Observe how they treat those they have power over, usually in terms of social hirarchy or economic position.

Edit: Read the question wrong. Be nice to the service workers you rely on to get things done, like janitors, servers, cleaners, basically the bottom ranks of the totem pole.

If you have to ask why and need a selfish reason:

These people often are in positions where they can sabotage you, make your life difficult or slow you down. You really dont want to scream at the people who handle your importent paperwork, which can easily "get lost in the administration"...

It's right if it brings happiness to yourself and the world, it's wrong if it brings pain to yourself and the world.

It is also right to follow rules if you don't have a clear understanding of the situation, because (hopefully) those rules were made with an expertise that you don't posses.

Dont break the weekend safety brief.

• Do not add to the population
• Do not subtract from the population
• Do not end up in the newspaper, hospital or jail. -- If you do end up in jail, establish dominance quickly.

Obviosuly this a a comedic response but it covers most of the bases.

Some of my moral principles

• Treat others how you think they would want to be treated, but not at all costs.

• You don't have to like everyone, and not everyone has to like you. Although, being liked by others generally leads to having a better life.

• Avoid lying or "distorting the truth". But, sometimes lying is necessary, like to keep a friend's secret.

Some of my existential thoughts

• There are no permanent consequences other than death (I do not believe in an afterlife, although I find the concept interesting). There are no rules to follow, just temporary consequences you may have to deal with. You can make up your own rules and follow them, or not follow them.

• Perception is just a tool used by your brain (a small part of the universe) to process the chaos that is the universe. A similar universe could be described by a very complex particle simulation. That's really cool.

I have a set of values:

• Be social
• Seek autonomy
• Give solidarity
• Live in community
• Be healthy
• Have a clean home
• Work is to support other values, it's not a value itself

And so on...

The choice i make is the one that aligns best with my values. If i have time to think that is. Otherwise my subconscious picks it's own weights.

There's a hierarchy to the values but they change in substance and position over time. That's by design. Humans grow and change.

Circularity and contradiction? That's fine. As long as it's aligned with my values I know I'm unlikely to regret it.

Don't be a dick. Try to stay out of the kinds of trouble that cause extra paperwork.

if there is meaning to your choices, except that which you assign to it, you cannot know it. do as you please, do what feels right or don't. accepting everything may not lead to happiness, but, other than the necessary mental faculties, it is the only requirement for contentment.

Love deeply

My standard for "good" practise is: if everyone adapt said practice, then the world would be better off.

Even though the effort of a single person can be futile; if I cannot chance my behavior for a cause I believe in, how can I expect the rest of the world to do the same?

Pay your taxes, use your blinker, and don't preach at people. As long as you follow those guidelines have a fucking field day with your life.

your*

Don't be a cunt to...

... Yourself ... Others ... people in need

But...

... Not bring yourself in danger ... Not Bring Others in danger ... Not let people bully, use, hurt etc. you.

A lot of it is just Kant's categorical imperative: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

Also leave the camp better than you found it, because small improvements add up.

Don't attract too much attention to yourself and you can get way with a lot of shit.

What are you most basic principles for life?

Spell check

1. Accept the things you can't change, and improve the things you can change. I disagree with the classical stoics on their emphasis on individual action and think that these principles can and should be applied on a societal level.

2. Mind your own business. If someone is doing something that doesn't have any real impact on your life or the lives of people you care about, ignore it. If someone is gay or trans that doesn't impact you at all. If someone has weird religious beliefs, let them believe them as long as they're not hurting anyone.

3. The supernatural should be ignored for society level decisions because it cannot be proven and hasn't been demonstrated. If someone wants to go to a psychic or astrologer for personal decisions I disagree with that but that's on them.

4. Everyone has a god they worship. It may not be Jesus or Allah, but it may be money, a sport team, or maybe a musical band. Ritual and community are things that make us feel good. Coming together with a group of people for a common cause to enjoy something together is built into our psychology. The problem of replacing religion with bands and sports teams is that it comes with the fun parts of religion without the discussion of morality or urging to do good that religion can bring. You don't see Kansas City Chiefs fans giving 10% of their income to the poor, for example. My ideal world would have secular temples to Reason where people come together to sing and discuss philosophy and work together for a common good. This one is weirder than the others and I won't be mad if anyone thinks this is absurd. I just think that we have rejected religion without having a satisfactory replacement for the good things it provides.

1. Human rights as a consensual starting pooint of what is good.
2. Rational skepticism, ranking knowledge/belief based on the proximity to an international scientific consensus.
3. Expressing my opinions and questioning others opinions in a polite and nuanced way that allows civilized discussion. It increases the chance of common progress rather than strengthening tribal bubbles.

Do what you think is right, but spend some time considering if it's right or not first.

Recognizing when you're not considering and just going by intuition or emotional response would probably already put you ahead of most of us.

Empathy seems to be necessary (but I'm not sure if sufficient) for logical moral consideration because you cannot justify your position if you purposefully ignore another's, and considering someone else's perspective without prejudice is empathy.

In the immortal words of J.

"Don't start nothin', won't be nothin'."

I think the basis of morality should be if it helps, it's good, if it hurts, it's bad. I realize there are still a lot of situations without easy answers but that's a good starting point. Better than it's good or bad because the rules say so.