I only wish I’d disconnected sooner. Not needing something means more freedom, especially not needing something that Good luck maintaining democracy without enforcing the minimum requirements for it. Good luck leaving at peace with yourself violating your values. I take for granted you value living in a democracy, not descending into civic disorder leading to tyranny, civil war (remember last time this nation allowed one group to deprive another of[…] Keep reading →

I’m posting more about artificial intelligence, maybe enough to make a category for it. I posted that I hesitated to post my last one with this explanation: “I held back on posting it because of the question in the last paragraph. I’m finishing the third volume of The Gulag Archipelago and studying the effects of dominance hierarchy, which artificial intelligence is forming. People who criticized Stalin didn’t fare well. Should[…] Keep reading →

Do you want to live in a society where you can deprive others of free speech or freedom of the press? I wouldn’t. I presume you value that your government protects your freedom of speech and the freedom of the press for that media you agree with. Can you imagine living under a government that didn’t? I’m in the middle of The Gulag Archipelago. It gives some of the picture[…] Keep reading →

If someone orders you to do something but you can walk away without risk or loss and they can’t coerce or force you to do what they order, you’re free and their orders are just words. Freedom means you can walk away. What if your life depends on resources others control, so that the only way you can access them is if they let you? Then you can’t walk away.[…] Keep reading →

Regular readers know how I bring my portable solar equipment to my building’s roof or to the nearby park to charge. Since my sole apartment window faces nearly due south, I can charge through my window most of the year, however limited and blocked the view, but near the summer solstice the sun goes too high. Even though the hemisphere sees more direct sunlight for more hours each day, my[…] Keep reading →

George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and Jesus Christ didn’t have kids, but JD Vance said about “people without children,” that “How does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?” I guess Vance isn’t a fan of Washington or Christ, though he was referring at the time to Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, and AOC as leaders of the[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday I posted a passage from Steven Pressfield’s new book The Arcadian about how being induced to act against our values—being corrupted from our values—affects us, in Wounded Warriors, by Steven Pressfield, and Ourselves. Yesterday I quoted a scene from Steven’s book where three warriors share the effects on their minds of their heroism. It began with what happened to their bodies, which seems the visible counterpart of what happens[…] Keep reading →

I finished The Arcadian by podcast guest Steven Pressfield yesterday. I found the whole book gripping, but one passage stood out as relevant to my work and upcoming book. A big part of my upcoming book is what happens to us when we are induced to act against our values—that is, when we are corrupted from our values. We didn’t ask to be born into a culture that makes it[…] Keep reading →

People call my attempt to pollute and deplete less “extreme.” Let’s consider the view behind this defense that to me feels like an attack. It comes from people living in a culture that induces us to act against our values. Most of us can’t eat breakfast without hurting others, for example by funding production that funds fossil fuel extraction for the plastic and transport if you eat packaged food. I[…] Keep reading →