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Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer

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Re: Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer

#101

Post by unmei »

jurassic wrote: post #22

The bit about having to overcome feelings of guilt about disappointing your advisor in order to live the right life for you really resonated with me. Taking the long-term view to make the right short-term life choices is something that many of my unhappy colleagues still toiling on their doctorates would benefit from. We PhD dropouts have decades of experience meeting and exceeding the expectations of others by the t…

Second. I'd also like to point out that I am a cat person and also feel bad about not being able to spend more time with my cats while I'm in the lab all day!

Re: Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer

#102

Post by cpursley »

flyinRyan wrote: post #91
cpursley wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

U.S. as libertarian paradise? HAHAHAHAHA!!

Of course. If Libertarians ever got their paradise it would quickly devolve to exactly what you have now: a Corporatocracy.

The reason we have a corporatocracy now is due to the opposite of libertarianism: cronyism / crony-capitalism. When you have huge bureaucracy, you get a situation where corporations have to bribe (aka, lobby) for special rights, favors and bailouts. In a libertarian economy, a company would have to stand on it's ability to solve a marketplace demand.

Are you against voluntary society?

Re: Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer

#103

Post by flyinRyan »

drrotmos wrote: post #100
flyinRyan wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Well, since I'm also an opponent of fiat currency, the government couldn't very well print any money :) So you want the gold standard again? Hasn't being in the EU shown you the dangers of having a currency you can't adjust to respond to international conditions? >I'd prefer a night-watchman state, with the government handling police, courts, the military and possibly other services relating to emergency rescue, the…

> So you want the gold standard again? Hasn't being in the EU shown you the dangers of having a currency you can't adjust to respond to international conditions? Being in the EU has shown me the dangers of government meddling in the market. > Donations? Seriously, donations? The police, military and so on will be at the mercy of what people decide to give of their own free will? Why am I not surprised to see such a p…

>Being in the EU has shown me the dangers of government meddling in the market.

Oh ffs. What place has shown you the joys of a completely laissez faire market? I'd be interested to hear about it since no such thing actually exists at any reasonably large scale. It was tried in Chile once and failed so hard that Friedman's own "Chicago boys" had to back it off.

>I'm more than willing to pay a decent amount money for everyone to have access to those services. Aren't you?

Well, no actually. I'm not willing to spend a dollar on those services until I know those getting more value out of them (i.e. the rich) are paying their fair share. In reality, they'll probably be paying nothing so I will join them.

Re: Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer

#105

Post by cpursley »

flyinRyan wrote: post #97
cpursley wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your last paragraph couldn't be more further than the truth. Comparing libertarians to KKK members in not just insane, it's insulting. Libertarianism is a political philosophy more akin to classical liberalism than any modern movement today. Don't confuse the Libertarian party with the libertarian movement. Also, there are many libertarian organizations in the US and world wide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_…

Well yes, I rather intended it to be insulting as I find the fact that in today's world of instant connections to information, the fact that people still see Libertarianism itself as legitimate as insane and insulting. Any movement that considers Ayn Rand anything other then the uninventive, unoriginal hack she was is worthy only of ridicule. And I suspect any international "Libertarian" parties are actually american…

You are mixing things up. Ayn Rand is more associated with the right-conservative movement. Libertarianism (with a lower-case l) is simply the belief in a voluntary society - one without coercion. The problem with most peoples political beliefs is they are ego-centric and are based the individual thinking their way is correct and they are so certain of it, they're willing to force others to comply via the barrel of a gun (or proxy gun - aka, military, police, etc) using property confiscation (non-voluntary taxes) as the primary means.

Ask yourself, are you so certain of your position that you are willing to shoot or imprison me even if I'm causing you no harm? This is the modus operandi for both the left and right.

You have some reading to do. Start here: https://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp

Re: Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer

#106

Post by seclorum »

Afforess wrote: post #31

I like the story, but I feel it's important to mention that the authors stated opinion on Karma is terrifying . Karma is essentially the worst sort of belief, in that superficially it seems to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior. This appeals to a lot of people because of its clear "carrot/stick" mentality and overall simplicity. This is the "Just-World" hypothesis. In reality, this kind of thinking means th…

Karma is not a dialectic, as if there is a synthesis/anti-syntheis position from which to posit the workings of Karmic responses.

At the essence of anyone who wishes to live a better life, is responsibility. Karma is a cultural mechanic by which we humans can discuss the phenomenon of responsibility in a manner which, while it may be broken or incomplete, has indeed - by simple stint of communication - resulted in many an individual, family, group of people, improving their lives.

A little more consciousness of the responsibility of the individual to interact with the wider universe, is all one can truly hope to 'gain' from a Karmic point of view.

Just so its clear, I don't think Karma as you understand it is necessarily complete, or at least you cannot apply the dialectic materialist point of view, if you think you 'get' Karma.. imho, of course.

Re: Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer

#107

Post by drrotmos »

flyinRyan wrote: post #103
drrotmos wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So you want the gold standard again? Hasn't being in the EU shown you the dangers of having a currency you can't adjust to respond to international conditions? Being in the EU has shown me the dangers of government meddling in the market. > Donations? Seriously, donations? The police, military and so on will be at the mercy of what people decide to give of their own free will? Why am I not surprised to see such a p…

>Being in the EU has shown me the dangers of government meddling in the market. Oh ffs. What place has shown you the joys of a completely laissez faire market? I'd be interested to hear about it since no such thing actually exists at any reasonably large scale. It was tried in Chile once and failed so hard that Friedman's own "Chicago boys" had to back it off. >I'm more than willing to pay a decent amount money for e…

> Well, no actually. I'm not willing to spend a dollar on those services until I know those getting more value out of them (i.e. the rich) are paying their fair share. In reality, they'll probably be paying nothing so I will join them.

Okay. That would be your right. Just don't start complaining once the underfunded justice system won't have the resources to handle burglaries in homes which cannot afford private security.

Re: Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer

#108

Post by dschiptsov »

Afforess wrote: post #31

I like the story, but I feel it's important to mention that the authors stated opinion on Karma is terrifying . Karma is essentially the worst sort of belief, in that superficially it seems to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior. This appeals to a lot of people because of its clear "carrot/stick" mentality and overall simplicity. This is the "Just-World" hypothesis. In reality, this kind of thinking means th…

The more general and, perhaps, more correct notion of karma is dependent causation, which means that everything what we are is caused by our actions - thoughts, deeds, desires (including those in past lives.))

This concept, considered broadly, eliminates any kind of external, super-human forces, including deities and gods. It also opens the path for changes in oneself (a way to enlightenment) due to lack of any other obstacles but ones own mind.

Our own actions is only part of the big notion, and of course, according to ancient teachings, "good" and "bad" doesn't exist outside ones mind, there are just actions and the objective reality, which just is.

Re: Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer

#109

Post by flyinRyan »

cpursley wrote: post #105
flyinRyan wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well yes, I rather intended it to be insulting as I find the fact that in today's world of instant connections to information, the fact that people still see Libertarianism itself as legitimate as insane and insulting. Any movement that considers Ayn Rand anything other then the uninventive, unoriginal hack she was is worthy only of ridicule. And I suspect any international "Libertarian" parties are actually american…

You are mixing things up. Ayn Rand is more associated with the right-conservative movement. Libertarianism (with a lower-case l) is simply the belief in a voluntary society - one without coercion. The problem with most peoples political beliefs is they are ego-centric and are based the individual thinking their way is correct and they are so certain of it, they're willing to force others to comply via the barrel of a…

>Ayn Rand is more associated with the right-conservative movement.

Then why was she all over those links you gave me? I think your movement has moved on without you.

>is simply the belief in a voluntary society - one with coercion.

You meant without here, right? Then we're talking anarchism. Since libertarians always talk about free markets, that would make it ancap. Which is an oxymoron.

> they're willing to force others to comply via the barrel of a gun (or proxy gun - aka, military, police, etc) with property confiscation (non-voluntary taxes) as the primary means.

A but this is exactly my issue with libertarianism: it's so much more complex than this but libertarians just hand wave all the problems away. Just a few more incantations of "laissez faire" and Utopia will arrive.

I'm not pro-coercion, I simply recognize that capitalism itself implies a level of coercion no matter how you package it up.

>You have some reading to do.

As do you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism

http://www.reddit.com/r/Anarchy101/comments/rbxjm/an_anarchi...

Re: Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer

#110

Post by sejje »

yardie wrote: post #43
VladRussian2 wrote: post #13

> If you’ve ever owned a dog, you know just how intelligent they actually are (especially larger breeds) yes, some larger breeds rate higher on obedience scale, and we, humans, equate that to the intelligence in animals. There is another bias also is that large breeds are more frequently working breeds, thus a lot of specialized effort is invested into training them, and thus more of the obedience results achieved.

Couldn't obedience be another form of intelligence?

Or symptom, anyway.
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