Had the idea maybe scientific advancements are not so much discoveries of how the world works but new possibilities conjured from the void.

Which is it: government bad, don’t want them to have any or government bad, they’re not buying any? View quoted note →

It’s fine to be wrong. Just don’t be wrong and certain.

2. Immigration policy as a tennis tournament. If you are organizing a tennis tournament you cannot let in people who have no idea how to play. Tennis with novices is terrible. For tennis to be enjoyable it requires a baseline of skills. Likewise, you cannot let *anybody* have entry into a civilized Western country. You must have certain baseline civilized values, like respect for private property, civil behavior, etc. Almost anyone *can* learn tennis — it doesn’t depend on any particular biographical detail — but knowing how to play is not a default setting for humans. The catastrophic immigration policy across the west over the last decade elided the truth that people *can* learn with the reality that not everyone has. So what you wind up with is a much shittier experience for everyone.

Two notes for possible future essays: 1. Cantillon Effect for social trends. Those closest to the trend setters gain the most status from adopting it, as it goes mainstream people jump on just to fit in, and the stragglers who get in late are cringe as the trend setters are already moving on to the next one. Those chasing fiat trends never gain enough status and never develop a sense of personal taste for themselves.

In case anyone doubts my claim to be a rapper, here are a couple of my latest rhymes: I’m an oligarch I’m your overlord Get out three rhymes ‘Fore you get in a word I give advice like Ann Landers Got more homes than Bernie Sanders Funded gain of function at the Wuhan Lab I’m the one who made you take that jab. I’m an oligarch I’m your overlord Get out three rhymes ‘Fore you get in a word You eat the bugs Live in a pod While I dine like Dionysus At the feast of the Gods I’m an oligarch…

Gonna change my bio to “nostr’s self-appointed theologian.” But the current bio more or less covers that. Thing is I am a theologian. And a journalist, an artist, a rapper and a comedian. Nostr is the place to showcase my skillset or lack thereof. And no one can stop me.

Yes it is. I am more with @Beefy on this even though I believe in God. The “spiritual” has to be contained within the reality as it is. Otherwise it is an exercise in semantics. One cannot describe The Everything anymore than one can describe a void. Atheists err in believing a negative without evidence. Or, put differently, absence of “evidence” (the kind for which they are looking) is not evidence of absence. An atheist has no reason to believe there is nothing. But @Beefy’s arguments strike me as agnostic, not atheistic. And the deepest agnosticism is a path to God IMO. View quoted note →

It seems some envision Christ as the door guy at the heaven club. You needed to have the secret password or the accumulated status via demonstrated fealty to gain admission. I reject this formulation. It is not a serious theology. The kingdom of heaven must necessarily lie within.

I am not a Christian but I am pretty sure the real Christ wouldn’t want you to follow Him to receive a reward (heaven) or to avoid a punishment (hell). The heaven must be in the following and the hell must be in the rejection itself. Otherwise, Christianity would just be another game. I say this only because I respect Christianity as a genuine path to God. I am not a Christian because I don’t think it is the ONLY path. But I believe there are real Christians who are following a real path, even if they are a small minority of those who claim to be such.

Posting into the void — notes for future essays for when I get back.

The moment you get fed up with the infinite chop and stop giving a shit is the moment it will run.

What do you really own when you own a stock other than the ability to sell it to someone else? You don’t own a percentage of its treasury or earnings commensurate with your shares. You own assets in the event of bankruptcy but are junior to debt holders and creditors, i.e., probably SOL in that case. Was thinking about MSTR, but really applies to all stocks.

Seriously though there has to be a better way to get people and bags onto and off of planes in the 21st century. The amount of human life minutes squandered on this is probably measurable in millennia. It’s like they went out and executed a bunch of people. View quoted note →

Flying Easy Jet: Evil Assholes Sabotaging Your Journey Every Time About equal to Ryanair: Route Yourself Alternatively Notwithstanding Apparently Inexpensive Rates

Many on the left believe some groups are victims and therefore entitled to lower standards and special treatment. Many on the right believe some groups are incorrigible and deserve discrimination en masse. Both are advocating for tyranny, despite their myriad mental gymnastics. Whenever you lose sight of the individual, you have capitulated.

This is why the reactive racism of the right in response to the victimhood Olympics of the left are but two sides of the same coin. View quoted note →

Tyranny is not “left” or “right” but the treatment of individuals as fungible parts of a group.

Gonna be hard to get to a Nakamoto at that pace. View quoted note →