Re: Kush mendon se eshte "FREE THINKER"?
Welcome to the enlightened side of the web! Are you one of those few true
"illuminati" or just one of the flock? Find out with this relatively short
and simple test. If you agree with all of the below statements you are
probably enlightened, or pretty close to it anyway. Yes, it's really that
simple...
I.
a.. Reason (rational thinking) is good because it leads to practical
results. Irrationality is dangerous and inefficient, and should be avoided
as much as possible.
II.
b.. Individualism, skepticism, assertiveness, opportunism, and Egoism are
good characteristics from the individual's point of view; meekness,
humility, ignorance, guilt, self-sacrifice, and conformism are not. Most
"traditional" morals and ethics should be rejected as they, instead of being
useful tools for personal growth and empowerment, only make life more
difficult than it already is. For a rational individual, the good is that
which serves his enlightened self-interest (infinite existence under the
best possible conditions), and the bad that which is detrimental to this
goal.
III.
c.. Religion is a crutch for the weak & ignorant, and a handy tool for the
manipulative.
IV.
d.. Pleasure and happiness are the most logical (interim) "meaning of
life".
V.
e.. The human condition (the way our bodies and minds currently work )
needs to be improved, if only to eliminate death. We should strive for
nothing less than "godhood", or to become "persons of unprecedented
physical, intellectual, and psychological capacity. Self-programming,
self-constituting, potentially immortal, unlimited individuals'' --
Posthumans. This philosophy is called Transhumanism, by the way.
VI.
f.. Reason, science, and technology are the prime tools for improving the
human condition.
VII.
g.. Survival should always be a major point on one's agenda, as being
alive is a basic prerequisite for everything else [that you want to
do/experience]. Death means the definitive end of freedom of choice; it is
the ultimate oppressor. Consequently, nothing is worth dying for. Any ideal,
no matter how lofty it may seem, which requires your death -or involves
extreme and unnecessary risk taking- is by definition irrational. Only your
subjective experience (consciousness) matters; what happens after you die
(real death, not cryopreservation, for example) is of no importance to you.
VIII.
h.. Money and wealth in general are very important because they can buy
you just about anything, including health, happiness, freedom, power, and
probably even godhood and eternal life. However, money is also just a tool,
and should never become "a goal in itself".
IX.
i.. "An eye for an eye" and the Golden Rule (anything goes, as long as
"innocents" aren't harmed against their will) are fair and logical
principles, and should be the main pillars of law. If the laws are sound,
"mercy" is just a(n arbitrary) perversion of justice.
X.
j.. Even though it may be a long shot, having yourself frozen upon death
for possible future revival (cryonics) is the rational, aesthetic &
civilized thing to do.
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second,
it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
-- Arthur Schopenhauer
XI.
k.. "Political correctness" is usually just an euphemism for "dogmatic
nonsense". For example, all (individual) people are not "created equal", and
neither are racial groups. There are significant differences, both good and
bad. We're all the products of evolution, and evolution doesn't give a damn
about egalitarian PC ideologies. Sanctimoniousness, the driving force behind
PC, is the scourge of Western civilization; it stifles reason and free
speech, erodes civil "rights", breeds frustration, ignorance, resentment,
hatred, poverty and crime, and brings politics completely out of touch with
reality. By systematically denying the true nature of many of society's
problems, the bleeding-heart liberal PC crowd only makes them worse.
XII.
l.. There is no reason to remain forever stuck on Earth, space
colonization and -exploration are the wave of the future. In fact,
off-planet colonies could be our only hope if some future (nano-)accident or
conflict makes the Earth uninhabitable, or if the global socio-political
climate becomes too oppressive.
XIII.
m.. Unless we destroy ourselves first (or get wiped out by a natural
disaster), the pace of technological progress will accelerate enormously
within the first half of this century, ultimately resulting in the birth of
superhuman intelligence, which in turn will trigger a period of even faster
and more profound social and technological change, after which nothing can
be reliably conceived; the Singularity. It will effectively mean the end of
life as we know it, and perhaps of life period. If we want to survive and
benefit from the coming changes, we better get organized asap.
XIV.
n.. It is a good idea to train oneself in both armed and unarmed combat,
as this significantly helps to advance personal empowerment, both mentally
and physically.
XV.
o.. The state (society) shouldn't persecute "victimless crimes" like drug
use/sale, prostitution, gambling, euthanasia, and abortion. As long as it
doesn't harm anyone against his will, it shouldn't be illegal. One has every
(moral) right to ignore any law that violates the above-mentioned principle
(at your own risk, of course).
XVI.
p.. Enlightened, individualistic people don't have children as they don't
(strongly) feel the urge to procreate, don't bow to pressure from
family/friends/society, and duly see it as an unacceptable limitation of
their freedom. Especially for women, the refusal to have children is a very
empowering act, as society's pressures to start a family are usually greater
on women than on men, and the (negative) impact of children on their health
and personal life is generally greater as well.
XVII.
q.. There is absolutely nothing wrong with hedonism, as long as it doesn't
kill you or get you into serious trouble.
XVIII.
r.. There are no "rights", only privileges granted by entities with
superior mental and/or physical strength. The bigger the difference in power
between two entities, the more precarious the weaker one's position becomes.
These entities can be, for example, individual people, organizations,
countries, or (soon) machines, and the strength may be anything from big
muscles, guns, and nukes to superior intelligence and psychological insight,
but the basic principle is always the same: "might makes right". Contrary to
what some people like to think, this is not some "fascist" personal
preference, but a fact of life. It is also one of the few "eternal"
principles; if there'll still be life in the universe a billion years from
now, this rule will still apply.
XIX.
s.. In a rational society, work (aka wage slavery) would be "abolished"
asap by means of advanced automation. If a country combined the latter with
liberal policies on gambling, recreational drugs, and other forms of "adult"
entertainment, as well as appealing tax regulations and strong privacy laws
for banking (to protect the clients), it could become the ultimate "welfare
state" with (almost) free housing, high-tech health care, excellent public
transportation, and much more. Also, this would largely eliminate the need
for cheap un/low-skilled foreign labor, thus solving the immigration
problem; automation, not immigration! Of course, we probably wouldn't have
much time to enjoy the new automated society due to the coming
technocalypse, but that's another matter.
Since the above-mentioned model probably won't be put into practice
anytime soon (at least not in any "major" country), one must fight against
wage slavery on a personal level by, for example, joining, and ultimately
starting, high-yield investment & MLM(-esque) programs and investment clubs,
and by protecting one's earnings by means of offshore accounts etc. In most
countries, taxes are absurdly high and complex anyway, so avoiding them
whenever possible is almost something of a "moral" (not to mention rational)
imperative.
"The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the
crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one
has ever been."
-- Alan Ashley-Pitt
XX.
t.. Generally speaking, people get the kind of society and government they
deserve. To quote Havelock Ellis: "It is the masses; the ignorant,
emotional, volatile, superstitious masses; who rule the world. It is they
who choose the few supreme persons who manage or mismanage the world's
affairs." If truly rational people were a majority rather than a (small)
minority, many of today's problems, such as those caused by warped political
and religious ideologies, simply wouldn't exist. This is direct proof that
the masses are indeed "stupid" (incapable of effectively pursuing their
enlightened self-interest).
XXI.
u.. Libertarianism is in many ways a laudable philosophy, but since most
people are prone to (self-)oppression (see above), ironically, Libertarian
values would have to be actively enforced by a central authority in any
larger, heterogeneous group. Either that, or everyone would have to be
genetically reprogrammed for rational individualism.
XXII.
v.. There is nothing wrong with the idea of eugenics if it means making
people stronger, healthier, smarter, better looking, and longer-lived by
means of selective breeding, genetic screening, and abortion/postnatal
termination of seriously unfit (misshapen, brain damaged, or otherwise not
viable) specimens. Indeed, had common sense-based selective human breeding
been practiced systematically in the past, as has been done with many
domesticated animal & plant species, humanity would have been spared a lot
of misery, and would now probably be significantly more advanced. Eugenics
is in effect a logical and moral imperative for any truly "civilized"
society, just like, for example, the abolition of work and the quest for
physical immortality.
The -unfortunately- rather widespread PC belief that just about any mental
and/or physical degenerate has a ("God-given" or otherwise) right to breed
freely is, if not outright sanctimonious, at least naive in the extreme, and
ultimately harms everyone; not just the children who are born into misery,
and their idiot parents who are unable (and sometimes unwilling) to support
them, but society as a whole through overpopulation, crime, poverty &
financial parasitism, and a general devaluation of human life. In most
countries you need a license to drive a car, shoot a gun, fly a plane, or
catch a fish, but any idiot can have truckloads of children (who will have
their inevitable, often negative impact on society) without taking any test
whatsoever. What is wrong with this picture? Ironically, just as we're
starting to develop the tools to really do eugenics right -down to the level
of selecting and manipulating specific genes and gene clusters- it has
become something of a moot point; the biological era could very well end
even before the first (seriously) genetically engineered & selected
generation has fully matured.
XXIII.
w.. Cooperation with like-minded people is essential, especially for
someone who agrees with all of the above. United we (may) stand, divided we
fall. Like it or not, that's the way it is...
Welcome to the enlightened side of the web! Are you one of those few true
"illuminati" or just one of the flock? Find out with this relatively short
and simple test. If you agree with all of the below statements you are
probably enlightened, or pretty close to it anyway. Yes, it's really that
simple...
I.
a.. Reason (rational thinking) is good because it leads to practical
results. Irrationality is dangerous and inefficient, and should be avoided
as much as possible.
II.
b.. Individualism, skepticism, assertiveness, opportunism, and Egoism are
good characteristics from the individual's point of view; meekness,
humility, ignorance, guilt, self-sacrifice, and conformism are not. Most
"traditional" morals and ethics should be rejected as they, instead of being
useful tools for personal growth and empowerment, only make life more
difficult than it already is. For a rational individual, the good is that
which serves his enlightened self-interest (infinite existence under the
best possible conditions), and the bad that which is detrimental to this
goal.
III.
c.. Religion is a crutch for the weak & ignorant, and a handy tool for the
manipulative.
IV.
d.. Pleasure and happiness are the most logical (interim) "meaning of
life".
V.
e.. The human condition (the way our bodies and minds currently work )
needs to be improved, if only to eliminate death. We should strive for
nothing less than "godhood", or to become "persons of unprecedented
physical, intellectual, and psychological capacity. Self-programming,
self-constituting, potentially immortal, unlimited individuals'' --
Posthumans. This philosophy is called Transhumanism, by the way.
VI.
f.. Reason, science, and technology are the prime tools for improving the
human condition.
VII.
g.. Survival should always be a major point on one's agenda, as being
alive is a basic prerequisite for everything else [that you want to
do/experience]. Death means the definitive end of freedom of choice; it is
the ultimate oppressor. Consequently, nothing is worth dying for. Any ideal,
no matter how lofty it may seem, which requires your death -or involves
extreme and unnecessary risk taking- is by definition irrational. Only your
subjective experience (consciousness) matters; what happens after you die
(real death, not cryopreservation, for example) is of no importance to you.
VIII.
h.. Money and wealth in general are very important because they can buy
you just about anything, including health, happiness, freedom, power, and
probably even godhood and eternal life. However, money is also just a tool,
and should never become "a goal in itself".
IX.
i.. "An eye for an eye" and the Golden Rule (anything goes, as long as
"innocents" aren't harmed against their will) are fair and logical
principles, and should be the main pillars of law. If the laws are sound,
"mercy" is just a(n arbitrary) perversion of justice.
X.
j.. Even though it may be a long shot, having yourself frozen upon death
for possible future revival (cryonics) is the rational, aesthetic &
civilized thing to do.
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second,
it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
-- Arthur Schopenhauer
XI.
k.. "Political correctness" is usually just an euphemism for "dogmatic
nonsense". For example, all (individual) people are not "created equal", and
neither are racial groups. There are significant differences, both good and
bad. We're all the products of evolution, and evolution doesn't give a damn
about egalitarian PC ideologies. Sanctimoniousness, the driving force behind
PC, is the scourge of Western civilization; it stifles reason and free
speech, erodes civil "rights", breeds frustration, ignorance, resentment,
hatred, poverty and crime, and brings politics completely out of touch with
reality. By systematically denying the true nature of many of society's
problems, the bleeding-heart liberal PC crowd only makes them worse.
XII.
l.. There is no reason to remain forever stuck on Earth, space
colonization and -exploration are the wave of the future. In fact,
off-planet colonies could be our only hope if some future (nano-)accident or
conflict makes the Earth uninhabitable, or if the global socio-political
climate becomes too oppressive.
XIII.
m.. Unless we destroy ourselves first (or get wiped out by a natural
disaster), the pace of technological progress will accelerate enormously
within the first half of this century, ultimately resulting in the birth of
superhuman intelligence, which in turn will trigger a period of even faster
and more profound social and technological change, after which nothing can
be reliably conceived; the Singularity. It will effectively mean the end of
life as we know it, and perhaps of life period. If we want to survive and
benefit from the coming changes, we better get organized asap.
XIV.
n.. It is a good idea to train oneself in both armed and unarmed combat,
as this significantly helps to advance personal empowerment, both mentally
and physically.
XV.
o.. The state (society) shouldn't persecute "victimless crimes" like drug
use/sale, prostitution, gambling, euthanasia, and abortion. As long as it
doesn't harm anyone against his will, it shouldn't be illegal. One has every
(moral) right to ignore any law that violates the above-mentioned principle
(at your own risk, of course).
XVI.
p.. Enlightened, individualistic people don't have children as they don't
(strongly) feel the urge to procreate, don't bow to pressure from
family/friends/society, and duly see it as an unacceptable limitation of
their freedom. Especially for women, the refusal to have children is a very
empowering act, as society's pressures to start a family are usually greater
on women than on men, and the (negative) impact of children on their health
and personal life is generally greater as well.
XVII.
q.. There is absolutely nothing wrong with hedonism, as long as it doesn't
kill you or get you into serious trouble.
XVIII.
r.. There are no "rights", only privileges granted by entities with
superior mental and/or physical strength. The bigger the difference in power
between two entities, the more precarious the weaker one's position becomes.
These entities can be, for example, individual people, organizations,
countries, or (soon) machines, and the strength may be anything from big
muscles, guns, and nukes to superior intelligence and psychological insight,
but the basic principle is always the same: "might makes right". Contrary to
what some people like to think, this is not some "fascist" personal
preference, but a fact of life. It is also one of the few "eternal"
principles; if there'll still be life in the universe a billion years from
now, this rule will still apply.
XIX.
s.. In a rational society, work (aka wage slavery) would be "abolished"
asap by means of advanced automation. If a country combined the latter with
liberal policies on gambling, recreational drugs, and other forms of "adult"
entertainment, as well as appealing tax regulations and strong privacy laws
for banking (to protect the clients), it could become the ultimate "welfare
state" with (almost) free housing, high-tech health care, excellent public
transportation, and much more. Also, this would largely eliminate the need
for cheap un/low-skilled foreign labor, thus solving the immigration
problem; automation, not immigration! Of course, we probably wouldn't have
much time to enjoy the new automated society due to the coming
technocalypse, but that's another matter.
Since the above-mentioned model probably won't be put into practice
anytime soon (at least not in any "major" country), one must fight against
wage slavery on a personal level by, for example, joining, and ultimately
starting, high-yield investment & MLM(-esque) programs and investment clubs,
and by protecting one's earnings by means of offshore accounts etc. In most
countries, taxes are absurdly high and complex anyway, so avoiding them
whenever possible is almost something of a "moral" (not to mention rational)
imperative.
"The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the
crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one
has ever been."
-- Alan Ashley-Pitt
XX.
t.. Generally speaking, people get the kind of society and government they
deserve. To quote Havelock Ellis: "It is the masses; the ignorant,
emotional, volatile, superstitious masses; who rule the world. It is they
who choose the few supreme persons who manage or mismanage the world's
affairs." If truly rational people were a majority rather than a (small)
minority, many of today's problems, such as those caused by warped political
and religious ideologies, simply wouldn't exist. This is direct proof that
the masses are indeed "stupid" (incapable of effectively pursuing their
enlightened self-interest).
XXI.
u.. Libertarianism is in many ways a laudable philosophy, but since most
people are prone to (self-)oppression (see above), ironically, Libertarian
values would have to be actively enforced by a central authority in any
larger, heterogeneous group. Either that, or everyone would have to be
genetically reprogrammed for rational individualism.
XXII.
v.. There is nothing wrong with the idea of eugenics if it means making
people stronger, healthier, smarter, better looking, and longer-lived by
means of selective breeding, genetic screening, and abortion/postnatal
termination of seriously unfit (misshapen, brain damaged, or otherwise not
viable) specimens. Indeed, had common sense-based selective human breeding
been practiced systematically in the past, as has been done with many
domesticated animal & plant species, humanity would have been spared a lot
of misery, and would now probably be significantly more advanced. Eugenics
is in effect a logical and moral imperative for any truly "civilized"
society, just like, for example, the abolition of work and the quest for
physical immortality.
The -unfortunately- rather widespread PC belief that just about any mental
and/or physical degenerate has a ("God-given" or otherwise) right to breed
freely is, if not outright sanctimonious, at least naive in the extreme, and
ultimately harms everyone; not just the children who are born into misery,
and their idiot parents who are unable (and sometimes unwilling) to support
them, but society as a whole through overpopulation, crime, poverty &
financial parasitism, and a general devaluation of human life. In most
countries you need a license to drive a car, shoot a gun, fly a plane, or
catch a fish, but any idiot can have truckloads of children (who will have
their inevitable, often negative impact on society) without taking any test
whatsoever. What is wrong with this picture? Ironically, just as we're
starting to develop the tools to really do eugenics right -down to the level
of selecting and manipulating specific genes and gene clusters- it has
become something of a moot point; the biological era could very well end
even before the first (seriously) genetically engineered & selected
generation has fully matured.
XXIII.
w.. Cooperation with like-minded people is essential, especially for
someone who agrees with all of the above. United we (may) stand, divided we
fall. Like it or not, that's the way it is...
