Post: #1

I'm resurrecting the old lounge thread for this sub-forum, which was an abbreviation and thus too cryptic anyway.
Backlink: /thread-31097.html

This evening I got into some real deep philosophizing, to the extent that I felt exhausted and just more confused. My inability to answer the questions I was asking drew my attention to how clueless we really are. For all we think we know in the sciences, we know almost nothing, especially in the social sciences. There is just so far to go, and I'd say that it's actually places like this forum that are leading modern social science research. I'd love to be able to take a peak at the body of knowledge we'll have in 1000 years, it'd be truly amazing.

I was trying to answer some questions on the nature of humanity, specifically pertaining to the interplay between genetics, 'the elite', and leftism. A hypothesis I came up with is that our understanding of genetic selection is far too simplistic, especially for a species as social as humans. It is possible that rather than being as simple as 'all individuals fighting for sex and survival', i.e. merely an 'individual and family' level of natural and sexual selection, it exists in multiple orders above that too.

My working hypothesis was that the 'tail' of the bell-curve of genetic endowment, exists in a symbiotic relationship with the conflict it creates in the rest of the bell. It catalyses conflicts between components of the rest of the bell, not just due to the first order of genetic selection of 'benefits of the tail-end individuals involved', but in the conflicts it creates naturally boosting selection in the rest of the bell (in a manner polynomial in time), which produces new tail-end individuals, thereby completing the circle. But I'm going to put this down now before I hurt my brain.

So come one and all, and post your latest deep thoughts.

Post: #2

Time & Death.

Calros Castenada once wrote, "A warrior should live life with death as his advisor." For him, the warrior is one who's in search of self-knowledge.

The idea is that no one really believes they are going to die. If they did they would live their life in a very different way. Most think they are going to live forever. Now intellectually they would disagree and say, "Of course I know I'm going to die someday, don't be ridiculous.", but deep down they don't believe it, or believe there is a very real chance today is their last day.

How to prove it?

Well, it's been documented people take their lives much more seriously when they find out they only have 3 months to live. It's also been said, "With age comes wisdom". We might attribute that to all the experiences one gathers in 75 years vs 30. While that makes sense, I also think it's because death becomes much more of a reality to the 75 year old. The heat of it makes them see and question life and themsevles in ways they hadn't before.

I once drew a time-line along the entire width of a piece of paper and then sectioned it off into pieces from 5,000 BC to today to see how much 90 years takes up of that.......well it's quite the sliver. It kind of jarred me.

I remember soon after I was on a train in NYC and their was a young 2 year old in a stroller. At first I jealously thought how lucky that kid is who has his whole life in front of him, and then it dawned on my that even if he, at best, has 88 more years it will just be a hop, skip, and jump into the grave.

Interestingly, seeing that gave me a liberating laugh. Though I'm more aware of my finitude now then before, I still believe and act like I've got all the time in the world.

Post: #3

Indeed, which is why the 'life is to be enjoyed' attitude must always bow to the 'life is to be won' one.

Sometimes I meet guys who have a real issue with aging and death. They wish they could live forever, and be 'forever young'. But I don't share their sentiment. It's an immature attitude, one that dwells in the escapism of everlasting, pointless and care free 'fun'.

We're all here just as links in a chain, subject to the laws of biology and selection just like every other species. We are a mere iteration following those thousands of iterations who came before us. And I don't think this is a sad thing or a belittling thing. In fact it's quite conforting. Your purpose is already given, your time is allotted, and it's merely left to you to make the best effort you can. Embracing and accepting this, is the path to a successful life. Covering one's eyes is the path to failure, loneliness, sadness and bitterness.

Post: #4

It's funny, I was the biggest left wing Bill Maher type when I started college. However, as I got older and started to see how lazy and entitled my left wing peers were, and how starting to read self help books kept my ass in college (s/o to Cal Newport) and be successful with women (s/o Roosh and John Alexander), This led to the enlightment of me being very in control of my life. However, whenever I tried to tell my peers about working hard and improving, they would just scoff and rather watch reality TV, be on Snapchat, etc.The last straw is when I started to learn about taxes ( as a accounting Major) and this bullshit progressive tax system we have. 'Congratulations on working hard and earning more money, now give us a bigger cut'. It's bullshit, it needs to come to a point where mothafuckas need to get out of that safe space and hustle.A part of me wants to write a book about all of this but in the mean time I will continue to grind for the money unlike 90% of my peers and be on the hunt for my poosy paradise

Post: #5

Quote:Calros Castenada once wrote, "A warrior should live life with death as his advisor." For him, the warrior is one who's in search of self-knowledge. 

When you live under a deadline every second becomes something valuable you no longer consider free to waste. With death being the ultimate deadline for our earthly existence. Give me a timeline of achieve this or else x happens, a determined man will instantly get his shit in order and accomplish that goal. Meanwhile, those who feel no need to succeed will fritter away their time on tv dramas and wonder why they recieved no participation award in life.

Post: #6

Today I was considering the nature of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge (all layers of the same thing, with wisdom being cross-linking of different understandings, and understanding being cross-linking of different knowledge).

But on a universal scale what is such a thing as 'understanding'? It is simply the name of a structural formation: a small arrangement of matter, in the skull of a human, which is merely an extremely grainy reflection of the universe itself. Why would the universe contain grainy reflections of itself?

But aside from that, this would be a good explanation to the 'intelligent design' crew, who can't understand how such complicated things as life and the universe could be created by chance, instead of a 'higher power'. Your belief in such 'complication' could be inverted: the universe considers the structure in your head which comprises your understanding to be simple. Your understanding is merely an extremely grainy image of the real thing, and your idea that a 'higher power' created the universe is merely your understanding's expression of its graininess. 'Deities' and the 'supernatural' are merely the fuzziness around the pixels of an incomplete image.

I was also thinking about the left (and to a lesser extent religion) in relation to entropy. It is possible that the left and the far right (due to war etc) are two sides of an equilibrium that is anathema to the law that 'entropy always increases', and thus no matter how sound and stable a constitution may be, we are always destined towards the chaotic effects of degeneration (leftism) or war.

Coupled with the previous concept, this would create the following juxtaposition: images of the universe matching the universe itself ever more closely would go against the law of entropy. If anything, images of the universe should become ever more grainy. This would coincide with the reality-rejecting nature of both leftism and religion, whereby more detailed reflections of the universe are assailed by grainier ones.

Post: #7

Today I was pondering the massive difference in scale between pre-civilization life and the existence of the human species, in the context of pondering the nature of leftism (social degeneration).

It is amazing to note that humans (homo sapiens) are 200,000 years old. To put that in perspective, Aristotle was born around 2400 years ago. Ancient Egypt was formed around 5000 years ago. Civilization, as a human social organization, is only believed to have come into existence between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago. Actual sedentarization is believed to have started around 14,000 years ago. So that leaves 185,000 years when humans were basically just primitive animals. That is mind boggling.

On top of that, the precursor species to humans, homo erectus came into existence about 2,000,000 years ago.

Post: #8

(12-27-2015 01:16 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  Today I was pondering the massive difference in scale between pre-civilization life and the existence of the human species, in the context of pondering the nature of leftism (social degeneration).

It is amazing to note that humans (homo sapiens) are 200,000 years old. To put that in perspective, Aristotle was born around 2400 years ago. Ancient Egypt was formed around 5000 years ago. Civilization, as a human social organization, is only believed to have come into existence between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago. Actual sedentarization is believed to have started around 14,000 years ago. So that leaves 185,000 years when humans were basically just primitive animals. That is mind boggling.

On top of that, the precursor species to humans, homo erectus came into existence about 2,000,000 years ago.

^ Yes, only a fraction of our existence has existed with any semblance of civilization. Mankind had to get through all of this first:

Post: #9

I had an experience when I was younger than shook me for years but the beauty of the human mind is that it is forgetful and after a long enough period of time everything returns to a state of balance.

I took some MDMA and acid with a friend and we sat outside in the park for the night. The basis of the discussion was how can a person truly accept that their is no meaning to our lives. Each person hopefully finds a way to give their life meaning but the reality is that their is no meaning. Many people accept the meaning that other people give them and take that to be their meaning: advertisements/shopping, religion, political issues. After an evening discussing these topics with a friend under a heavy dose of mind altering drugs I felt that I had truly internalized the idea that life had no meaning.

The result was a kind of religious ecstasy. In the morning I took a walk with my friend and we went to have breakfast at a local place we often went to. I felt a kind of inner joy that is impossible to describe. When looking at people I felt as if I could understand their thoughts and worries. Usually when I took drugs they would eventually stop working but after this experience and talk I felt this joy for 3 days. I didn't need sleep and didn't want to sleep. I walked around and chatted with people, going to some 24 hour places where I knew some people that worked. Each person I talked to I felt I could see their desires and hopes, their pains and suffering.

It went away, that feeling and understanding, but I still remember the experience. I can only imagine what monks who meditate for their entire lives feel like, but I think it must be something like what I experienced. This causes a little sadness because I think all humans are able to reach a higher level of consciousness but don't because we waste our lives with smaller pleasures than enlightenment.

Post: #10

I'm getting a little tired of reading dry mathematical texts, so I was looking through my goodreads profile to see if anybody was recommending anything.

One book I came across was Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club". I was wondering if anybody here has read it. I know that I've come across a short story of hers and was probably unimpressed.

The only reason I'm considering reading it now is that I happened upon a few reviews on goodreads (they trash on the book) saying how it's racist and sexist and terribly unpopular in leftist academia.

This rule doesn't hold every time, but oftentimes racist and sexist is code for 'red pill' and oftentimes 'pretty good'. Has anybody here read it and can confirm either way?

Post: #11

I want to ask what seems to be an obvious, superficial question, but I think there may be something deeper lurking underneath. Maybe it's been addressed somewhere else, but I can't remember a good break-down.

What is the significance of the economical influence of Silicon Valley, the epicenter of homosexuality in the United States, on the transgendered agenda? Who are the people pumping money into this madness? What is next?

Silicon Valley is a ridiculous concentration of wealth, being one of the most expensive cities in the country. It is also well known to locate next to San Francisco, known for its homosexuality. Has anyone ever given a breakdown of what is known about political donations towards degenerate causes? What is so special about this area? Is it a natural peculiarity of geography, politics, or is it something else that is causing influence from this region?

Tim Cook, who now heads apple, which has one of the biggest purses in the world and is located in the region, is also a homosexual. Is this simply a marketing move, or is something else going on?

Everything about the transgender faggotry that has extended deep into the whitehouse, facebook, and other organizations smells fishier than a wharf at noon.

Post: #12

I have no idea where to post this, but I'm trying to install linux on an old netbook and it's being a pain in the ass. Before any of the nerds on the forum start talking shit or whatever, yeah, I've been using linux since about 2005 or thereabouts, I had it installed on some ghetto old laptop I got from a thrift store - it was how I did homework at home. That was basically when my podunk town got internet and computers started getting cheap enough for any broke-ass redneck to own.

I've googled and solved more or less every problem I ever had, since somebody has had that problem before and why not? However this issue has me and the internet completely stumped. Either the bootloader won't install, or there is a hangup randomly. I simply don't get it. The only thing I have close to being installed is Crunchbang, and even that is being shitty.

If anybody could hit me up with a PM or reply and help me out, that would be great. This unit would fly with something light like Lubuntu. I'd even go so far as to put Slitaz on it (a fun distro). Cheers - Hades.

Edit: I'm donating this computer to a good cause, as it's doing nobody any favors collecting dust in my shelf.

Post: #13

^You'd be better off posting in the Forum Lounge.

Post: #14

Hades I once had a very difficult issue with a bootloader. Unfortunately, I can't remember too much about the specifics.

It had been a windows machine with a dual boot for linux, but something got screwed up. I had to wipe the master boot record (MBR) and from what I remember I couldn't get a linux tool to work. I think what I did was get a windows install ISO or cd that had a boot loader repair tool or something like that. Sorry I don't remember anything more specific. But, once I got the master boot record unfucked, I could reformat and do whatever I wanted. Key was fixing the MBR.

Post: #15

(06-17-2016 07:24 PM)philosophical_recovery Wrote:  Hades I once had a very difficult issue with a bootloader. Unfortunately, I can't remember too much about the specifics.

It had been a windows machine with a dual boot for linux, but something got screwed up. I had to wipe the master boot record (MBR) and from what I remember I couldn't get a linux tool to work. I think what I did was get a windows install ISO or cd that had a boot loader repair tool or something like that. Sorry I don't remember anything more specific. But, once I got the master boot record unfucked, I could reformat and do whatever I wanted. Key was fixing the MBR.

Yeah that's got to be it. I'm a lazy Linux guy and usually just let Ubuntu do it's thing. Path of least resistance, man. I might need to just try to pop the hard drive into a different computer, install it, and worry about driver issues later.

Fixing the MBR looks like it's promising, thanks for the tip. I suppose an external CD/DVD drive would be needed but I'm sure there's a couple old Windows install discs around that can install/fix the MBR. I'm sure the little homeschooled kids I'm donating this to will have a blast learning Linux from scratch. I have a deep personal vendetta against Common Core, all it's corrupted fuckery, and want to see a world where most public schools are converted into apartments for lack of children. That can happen but it's going to take a long time and a lot of people checking out of the system and telling it to fuck itself.

Post: #16

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/speech-acts/

Extremely cryptic to someone not familiar with it, but if one can read and understand this, there's actually a lot of information buried here regarding conversation and social interaction, how social interaction determines who gets what, and how social awkwardness often occurs.

(To someone who isn't familiar with language philosophy though this might read like a physics problem).

Post: #17

   

Post: #18

Oh wow, I wish I'd known about this thread back when I was pondering some other important mysteries of the universe.

Anyway, today I was thinking -- what was the role of daughters back in more traditional times? They would help around the house till puberty, and then be married off and become some man's property. It wasn't really all that important what happened to them, because it wasn't like they were going to be expected to carry on the family name or anything like that. Sons, on the other hand, would be trained in the father's trade and eventually take over the business and become heir to the estate.

Today, we see a role reversal. With stuff like "Take Your Daughters To Work Day," it's the girls who are being trained for the corporate world. Meanwhile, boys are regarded as defective for not being able to sit still in a classroom. They're more likely to get kicked out of school for getting rambunctious or pointing an L-shaped piece of bread at the teacher and saying "Bang, you're dead!" If/when boys reach college, they're subject to being falsely accused of rape and ending up on the sex offender list like Brock Turner. People ask sometimes, "Shouldn't women get concerned about the future their sons will face?"

My theory is that these days, sons are increasingly just serving as exotic pets for women. It's like when someone buys a baby alligator off the black market and says, "Aw, it's so cute!" Their friend might ask, "What are you gonna do when it grows up?" The answer of course is, "When it gets to be too big for the terrarium, I'll just take it down to the creek and release it."

Similarly to how the exotic pet owner gives her alligator inadequate preparation for its future life in the wild, single moms give their sons inadequate preparation for their responsibilities as men. They are just going to be set loose to fend for themselves in a hostile environment, without knowledge of the ways of women or how they're supposed to act as a man. Just like the alligator is going to discover that the wild doesn't have designated feeding times like the terrarium did, the son will discover that other women don't love him unconditionally as his mother did.

But the son will have served his purpose, which was to be a cute, cuddly companion for his mom while he was young. It's just like the alligator: "Aw, look at his wittle teeth! He's so adorable! Let's feed him a crawfish!" It shouldn't be too surprising that, without strong male role models, in many cases there's a failure to launch, and that alligator just has to be taken care of for life.

Post: #19

Not sure this merits a thread of its won as it was a passing thought:

What are the essentials or the origin of the concept of "mercy"?
How was it developed?
At first it would seem to be a uniquely human feature but animals often seem to display it in some form or another ,as in the cases of human children raised with wolf cubs or when predatorial animals will not eat or kill younger animals (i,e dogs will not usually try to kill kittens though they'd gladly munch their mothers down)

Post: #20

I think mercy is a religious idea that came from christianity. Neitzche considered the type of feeling to be sickness and weakness. I don't think it exists at all in the wild. What might look to us like mercy has another explanation. Weak member if the pack are killed, cubs are killed by the new alpha males in the pride and I can't think of any example where one animal would show 'mercy' to another in the sense that we understand it.

Humans do show mercy on occasion but I think it is uncommon. The entire idea is very christian to me. Would a muzzie show mercy to an infidel or even to their own children who decide the faith is not for them? I think not. Maybe buddhism and some other religions could promote the idea and surely there are men who would naturally develop the feeling with age and experience. It ties in with the idea of a second chance and forgiveness. Only a highly evolved group could have such a thing. Monkeys and apes kill their neighbors and take their land. No mercy there and they are our closest cousins. It takes a developed/decaying civilization and the attendant religious ideas to have mercy on the weak imo.

Post: #21

I would have gone about my life normally but then I came across pictures of recently dead men.
This thought is really bothering me. The thought that men are dying. That men are selflessly dying. I don't understand why they are willing to die for the country. I feel so small compared to them. I feel ashamed to even compare myself to them. I hate my father for things he has done, and he is in the army, that makes things worse.
I'm selfish so I can't be one of those men. I'm constantly working towards being a better person. Is there any man equal to an army man? I have integrity, determination, I'm hardworking, the only difference I see is selflessness. Somebody please enlighten me.

Post: #22

An army uniform does not a hero make

Post: #23

Not sure if this is worth a thread so I aks here.
Suppose once a Brave New World type of utopia -or any other archetype that you may think of- is achieved.
Would it be sustainable? How long would it last? Would it be able to over ride basic biological programming or will this hubris fall to the impious forces of the Id?

Post: #24

(07-01-2017 05:19 AM)El_Gostro Wrote:  Not sure if this is worth a thread so I aks here.
Suppose once a Brave New World type of utopia -or any other archetype that you may think of- is achieved.
Would it be sustainable? How long would it last? Would it be able to over ride basic biological programming or will this hubris fall to the impious forces of the Id?

It would last until the barbarians overran and destroyed it.

Post: #25

(07-01-2017 05:19 AM)El_Gostro Wrote:  Not sure if this is worth a thread so I aks here.
Suppose once a Brave New World type of utopia -or any other archetype that you may think of- is achieved.
Would it be sustainable? How long would it last? Would it be able to over ride basic biological programming or will this hubris fall to the impious forces of the Id?

Brave New World does not override basic biological programming. It redirects it to achieve its own ends.

It doesn't say no sex, it gives you childless pleasure sex, so you get to indulge your programming just enough that you don't revolt.

It doesn't say no pleasure, it lets you take drugs just enough so that your pleasure seeking impulse is satisfied to some degree, and you are distracted from the lack of meaning in your life.

It isn't that much different from internet culture of today. With all these abstract distractions at our fingertips, our Ids are doing just fine thank you.

We are larping it up, playing games or watching porn or donning VR headsets.

I don't think it is the collective Id that is the menace to the Brave New World.

What will mess it up is if there is a widespread awakening from our somnolent degraded pleasure seeking (Hello no fap!) followed by a political awakening, organizing, and true resistance. This would probably not be successful, since the elites have backup plans to their backup plans, but at least it would get us out of the house.

It is also, of course, extremely unlikely, since it is very hard to get large numbers of people on the same page.

The other possibility is that the ruling elites get cocky and push things too far, and there is a mass howling triggering of the spiritually oppressed masses across the globe and everyone destroys everything, taking the elites down with them before they can fly to their underground bunkers in Switzerland.

And speaking of sustainability, there is always the chance that some human activity has unintended consequences that fuck everything up before we know what is happening and what to do about it.

That was a good question.