Logic, Selfishness and Relativism

I'm currently writing this at a cybercafe, so I'm not sure if I'll get everything I want to say written out here today - but I'm going to try. :)

On Saturday I ended up having a bit of a debate with a friend about the nature of humanity - I've touched on this a couple of times here about how I feel human nature works, which I will attempt to cover at another point. But what got me most was how my friend said that he had thought about it alot and logic had led him to conclude that all humans are inherently selfish and everything they do is dictated by that selfish nature.

Now I have a couple of issues with such Randian Objectivism. Firstly, logic is not evidence. While the argument is a valid one, it makes a big assumption - you need to prove that all humans are selfish and that every single action they take is driven by selfish need.

But we know that there are altruistic people out there - how can that be explained in selfish terms. My friend argued that they do it to feel good - which is a selfish thing, apparently. Again, Ayn Rand's ideas seep forward in the form of enlightened self-interest.

The problem is that Ayn Rand was conflating the meaning of selfishness to the point of it being a meaningless word that would shift meaning to suit her needs.

I feel that the same applies here.

Because if human's act purely out of selfish need then they would do things to look out for themselves. Self-sacrifice is not an action that benefits the person. Those men and women who go to war and die without expectation of reward, Red Cross volunteers who leave their families without telling them to help protect and save victims of conflict - these people exist and are not getting any identifiable self-benefit.

Saying "they get to feel good about themselves" confuses self-confidence with selfishness. Selfishness has a very specific meaning, and muddying the waters to suit a negative world view does not make something logical - it makes an argument that is flawed suffer from shifting goals so that it can't be refuted.

However it doesn't need to be refuted - it is a valid argument, just not a sound argument. There is not enough solid evidence to base it on. Instead there is a lot of evidence that contradicts it. Furthermore it remains the height of arrogance to assume that you know the intentions behind someone else's actions - something that Logic actually can't deal with. Logic does not deal with emotions and humans can be very very illogical at times.

Relativism

Now I don't have a lot of time to talk on this subject again today. The goal is to start a little discussion on it. See the problem with relativism - and I'm talking pretty much about all relativism - is that it holds that all truths have equal weight. The problem is that this applies to contradictory truths as well. It takes a concept like the Law of Equipollence and enforces it on everything.

But wait, that is an absurd notion - and Relativists do try to argue logic to select truths. Yet this then exposes the flaw in the theory - if all truths are relative and equal how do you choose a truth? What can give one truth a weight over another? What authority forces me to accept your truth and not my own?

Relativists try to have their cake and eat it too. Relativism is much like Objectivism - it intially sounds seductively logical. Because it initially presents a valid sounding argument. Unfortunately further analysis reveals some glaring flaws in the viewpoint. Like Objectivism it doesn't hold up to critical analysis - which is why you tend to find both views being popular mostly with people who don't think about the implications.

Both Objectivism and Relativism have been taken up by people who tend to argue for inaction and take great efforts to not take responsibility for their actions.

Objectivists are classics at this - they word their case to try and sound like they take responsibility, and yet how can you really be taking responsibility if you've just argued that you have no choice but to be selfish and self-serving?

Relativists use their arguments to avoid challenging others to take responsibility for their choices by saying "well it makes sense to them, so we can't really judge them." The problem is that this means that we have no obligation to follow society's rules. My truth is no better or worse than anyone else in New Zealand.

The thing is that while the perspectives are different all cultures seek the same core things. Both Relativists and Objectivists allow themselves to be blinded by the flashy exteriors of the world - they don't actually notice the underlying drives and needs.

Take the West and the East for example. Relativists are the kind of people who will argue that the two sides are totally different. They will argue that Eastern cultures are about the collective, not the individual.

This is not entirely true. Individualist and Collectivist societies have different approaches - but they both value the individual. In Individualist societies we define ourselves and enforce that view on the people around us. But in a Collectivist society, an individual is defined by how the society reacts to that individual's actions. The Individual is still free to define him or herself - but part of their definition is formed from how people react to them.

When forming a philosophy of the world, it is sedutive to just follow the most basic theories that appeal. Yet views like Objectivism and Relativism are not simple theories - they rely on a lot of deceptive dancing to reach their conclusions.

While the solution is likely to have a simple series of arguments at the base - they must be both sound and valid. Neither Relativism nor Objectivism have been able to prove themselves sound theories.

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: Nothing at the moment
Currently Playing: The Grand Experiment; World of Darkness: The University Club
Mood: Still thinking about the world in general...

The Problem with Violence...

I have been thinking a lot this week about how to express my feelings over the latest series of events on the world stage - namely the war in Lebanon, and terrorism in general. It has been a difficult prospect namely because while the problem itself is very cut and dry, the reasons behind the problem are numerous and involve several distinct issues and arguments.

One of the things I have wanted to avoid is the relativists trap. It is very much in vogue amongst intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals to argue in favour of relativism when dealing with moral issues - and war is an moral issue as much as it is economic and political - which is frustrating when you realise that as a position, relativism is really a way of absolving oneself of any responsibility.

You may remember a while back someone tried to challenge me to be willing to give up some of my values as a form of counter argument to my spiel over people hiding behind culture. This is a common realitivist stance - that we cannot judge other cultures using our own cultural values.

Which, to a degree, is reasonable. However, the flaw lies in that we are all human - and despite cultural differences, we all actually want the same things. We just communicate it in different ways. That's the illusion of culture - it makes everything look different. But it really isn't that different.

But I'm getting sidetracked from what I really wanted to say today. Suffice to say, Collectivist and Individualist cultures have more in common than they would like to admit. Do some research, and you may be in for a surprise. I will discuss the topic more at a later date.

The Problem with Violence

The Dominion Post has been particularly lucid and interesting to read this week. A couple of days ago the Editorial made an excellent argument about how the only way that the war in Lebanon can have a satisfactory conclusion is if the International community literally steps in and calls an immediate ceasefire. This was lost in the morass of bitching about a rather biting cartoon which made a harsh jab at Israel via the Torah - not a smart move.

This was followed up by an opinion/political column on the front of the World section yesterday where a commentator pointed out that violence has rarely led to long-term improvement, and that particularly in this circumstance it will end up further dividing the Middle East rather than helping it.

A further opinion column pointed out, wisely, how Israel was forced into a situation where they had to act - that Hizbollah laid a careful trap that they walked right into.

Now hundreds of innocent Lebanese are dead because of people who think that violence leads to getting what they want.

Yet, as the column yesterday pointed out, Israel could have gone directly to the International community and received aid in striking Hizbollah in a far more efficient and likely less bloody conflict which would have not seen them being condemned by the world.

Because it is true - Israel has committed a truly immoral and heinous act. Prettying it up with "self-defence" is hard to swallow when you're dealing with the fact that most of the "enemy" killed are innocents caught in the cross-fire.

Hizbollah are equally bad for setting off these events in the first place - trying to take advantage of Israel's situation with Gaza and the Palestinians (remember that poor soldier who was captured initially and was the centre of so much diplomatic attention to save?) knowing precisely what Israel would do in response, they are just as bad for baiting a war.

This is what violence gets you.

Condolezza Rice is living in a dream world if she genuinely thinks that this conflict can end in a happy disney-like democratic Middle East. It has undone years of diplomatic effort. The irony is that America's support of Israel in this event is handing a major victory over to the terrorists they have declared war on. As was pointed out by some, handing blankets and food to the Lebanese while you are also providing the missiles to Israel so that they can continue bombing those very same people is not just clumsy, but the height of poor politics. The Bush Administration continues to clomp around in the international scene without seeming to have a clue what they are doing.

Sadly I can see why the US is unable to condemn Israel - to do so would make them seem hypocrites. After all, Israel needs only point to Afghanistan and Iraq - showing that the US set the precedent for pre-emptive defence. Of course the US invasion of Iraq was not the same as carpet bombing a country into the stone-age, but unfortunately that kind of detail will be lost.

While it is easy to stand and point fingers at various nations for their implication in recent events - I think that the best course of action lies in stopping and taking a breather.

Violent action is spurred by the moment. It is a rash action that leads to further violence. Until there is a ceasefire, there is no hope of resolution. This is a conflict that will go on for a long time - Hizbollah are clearly well ensconced from Israeli bombing, they have Iran's support - so they could keep this up for years. Israel has America behind them and will fight until either Hizbollah stops or is completely wiped out. Worst of all, Lebanon is likely to be taken out in the process before this will happen.

On the bright side, I doubt the International community would stand by and do nothing forever - something will have to give. Unfortunately it is likely to further destabilise things further, and we could soon be seeing an even greater increase in terrorist activity across the globe.

So what is needed is as the Dominion Post pointed out - immediate intervention of International forces to help ensure a ceasefire. That will require Israel to agree to back off and allow a coalition force to step in and try to prevent Hizbollah from continuing their attacks. Unfortunately this is likely to lead to further violence.

The way I see it, America and Iran need to sort their crap out - that way with Iran stepping back, Hizbollah will have to also take a step back.

Easier said than done. Remember how I pointed out at the beginning of this post that there is a lot going on. Iran and the US have a less than happy history. Both countries currently have belligerent governments. What we need is a way to give the common people the strength to reign in their governments. But that requires them to be willing to stop thinking the way they have been trained to and start thinking for themselves - and then that is with the hope that they would empathise with the people who suffer.

A lot of hope with little fact.

It is moments like these that I despair for humanity. But I also have hope. People inherently want to be happy. They have just convinced themselves that in order to do this, someone else has to suffer.

But it isn't so black and white. This is something that New Zealand's society has shown me. Sure, we aren't perfect - we have race relation issues, problems with religious factions and so on - but as a nation we still manage to work together. As a majority we care about each other and mostly accept those who are different. Sure, we hear radicals bitching about this, that and the next thing - but the everyday NZer... they don't care about that. Even in Auckland, people are still able to mostly work around their differences.

NZ has often been seen as a microcosm for the world. It is regularly used as a testing ground because for some reason we often pre-empt world trends. Not that many NZers actually realise or hear of this often.

So I am convinced that there is hope for the world. If NZers can work through it, the world should be able to.

And fuck Bob Geldof with his bullshit wanking. He is clearly in the charity business, if he really gave a crap about Africa's woes he'd go off and get a decent education about the political situation and put his money into something more useful to African nations - like aiding the UN into becoming the ruling body it was intended to be rather than the ham-strung mess it currently is.

I am proud of New Zealand as a nation. I still believe that we are a nation of good people who are able to accept people for who they are. We are not a western nation, nor an eastern one. Our "culture" is something that, when it is at its best, combines the best of the world.

As I once said in a writing competition - New Zealand, The World in One Place.

So I'm going to leave out on a positive note. There is hope for Lebanon - if the world community can stop. Take a breather and just look at the problems of the Middle East with fresh eyes and a fresh mindset.

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: World of Darkness: Mysterious Places
Currently Playing: The Grand Experiment; World of Darkness: The University Club
Mood: Let's get things moving!

Me & My Katamari

So for those who didn't already know, I traded in my old Nintendo DS and games etc for...

A PSP. Yes, counter to many people, I have abandoned Nintendo for the superior processor, superior design and just downright superior PSP.

This came after the revelation to myself that Nintendo's line-up of products was seriously limited in interest and playability. Even games like Animal Crossing and Nintendogs had short play-life before they became tiresome and chore-like in quality. Kind of misses the point of gaming.

In contrast, PSP has a superior graphical processor and some damn sexy games.

Me and My Katamari has definitely managed to win me over the most. Despite a god-awful control set-up (the Katamari is the large nubbly thing rolling up buildings there, it is a BITCH to control) it is a game that is insanely addictive. I keep being drawn back to it to play more and just try to out do my previous Katamari success.

The beauty of Me & My is that it manages to have a game that can be played in short bursts or in long sittings. Each challenge is pretty easy to complete in 5-10 minutes, but often I find myself just going back for the next challenge - because the music is great, the imagery is fun and the humour is just spot on. There is something hilarious about seeing your Katamari rolling madly down a hillside sweeping up children and parents in a zoo, while other people flee in terror from what can best be described as an oversized dog's chew toy. :)

Or hearing the yelps as dogs are rolled up onto your Katamari - their legs waggling in the air as they try to free themselves.

It's strangely hilarious.

And due to clever trading, I have barely spent more than I did on my Nintendo for it. :)

In other news...

Well there was a hiccup at the printer, which has meant that a couple of my orders are now a week late in being delivered. The printer has promised that this is a unique situation and he will be doing better in the future... but sometimes I do find myself worrying that I wont be able to keep up with everything that is going on. :)

I have some thoughts to speak about recent events in Lebanon and Israel - but I think I'll save those for a different post.

Catch Y'all later... :)

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: Predators
Currently Playing: The Grand Experiment; Exalted
Mood:Feeling pretty good, really...

Updates and Shadows

Yep, it has been a while since I last posted on here. I have had a very busy and tiring week. Emotionally and spiritually I'm feeling particularly drained - with my body beginning to follow suit.

ESG is at a bit of a speed bump at the moment, and I'm hoping to get over that in the near future - but it is proving a difficult challenge in and of itself. I spent most of the week running around in circles trying to figure out what I need to do so that I can get on track with the business. I realise that I probably underestimated the start-up capital I needed, but it isn't so bad as to give up just yet.

I certainly am not in the position of owing people lots of money - which is a good thing. :)

I bumped into Alex today.

In the state I'm currently in, that was a bit of a shock to the system. I had no idea he was going to be in town. I had actually thought it would be a good few months before I saw him again.

Furthermore, it was a pure "by chance" encounter. The reason I put those words in quotations is because Alex and I have a bit of a history of "by chance" encounters when we are keeping our distance. Serendipity seems to follow us.

This had all the hallmarks of one of those moments. I move a hundred kilometres away and still we accidently bump into each other in the middle of the street.


Previously, we have bumped into each other in cafes, had a misdirected e-mail end up in my letterbox, had a phone call out of the blue, been assigned to the same jury duty on the same day - once or twice it could have been just either myself or him subconsciously working to bring us back into each other's orbits. But it has happened enough times now to make me a tad supersticious about the whole deal.

Now a chance encounter with Stephanie and Taryn on Cuba Mall can be added to the list. I was walking down from Real Groovy and saw Stephanie with some friends - realised it was her and Taryn - I waved and said hi and was about to move on when I realised who the third person was. Alex.

I was stunned and my brain was scrambling to make sense of it all. Stephanie kept on walking pushing for them to go - I barely got to talk to him, to find out what the hell he was doing in Wellington.

No prizes to the people who realised how I felt afterwards. I panicked and tried to figure out what the hell to do - I was feeling like I'd been punched in the gut. It was hard to think of who to go to. I could have walked to work and talked to Emile, I could have called... who? I don't really have that many friends here that I feel comfortable talking about Alex with. So I called my brother and had a talk with someone who didn't need to say nice things to me.

He doesn't particularly think highly of Alex, but he's a pragmatic kind of guy and helped me calm down. I need to be able to rational about these things.

It hurts to realise that these feelings haven't died or gone away.

So I'm sitting at home feeling particularly lonely. I could go to the webcomic party - but Kandallah is such a stretch for me to go to without a plan for how to get home and I have work tomorrow morning, so I can't crash there.

I feel...

Trapped? A failure?

I'm not sure. I don't feel too negative, more melancholy and lonely. I know that I am feeling love lost. I'm also feeling like I am not going to find anyone who will make me feel okay to be who I am. Every guy I have met hasn't seen me for who I am, or accepted that. I'm not going to change who I am for someone else - I am a good guy. I'm not expecting someone to fit into any category for me.

I want to be with a guy that I accept - flaws and all - and hope for that in return.

But shadows draw nearer now. I am getting a feeling that I haven't had in a long time - that something is coming to a culmination. Maybe I'm being paranoid.

Maybe I need to be loved by someone who is willing to show me that I'm right. That love isn't about sex or looks but how you feel for someone.

Maybe there is someone out there who would be happy being with me and who I actually feel the same for in return.

Is there such a thing as fate? Is there such a thing as a soulmate? Or am I living a naive fantasy to protect myself from having to be intimate with anybody?

Conan

Currently Reading: Nothing
Currently Playing: Exalted
Mood:Alone

Websites and planning

I've started working on the ESG website. It's going to be a hard job - just in all the different pages that need to be written out and then I need to go back over it and figure out the changes. Emile has kindly offered to look over it and help out with the design aspects (Colours, use of logos and pictures) while Richard is helping with the technicals.

More costs are piling up though, which is a bit stressful. I need to buy a router at some point today. I still have the cost of the credit card account to consider and then the shipment itself. Unfortunately too many people are being oddly retiscent about coming and asking me for products or ordering. They all seem to want to sit on things.

On the bright side, I am setting up some exciting features on the ESG site including a system to allow people to order P.O.D. books of their PDFs. That is, I can produce perfect bound copies of their PDFs for usually around $20. (Assuming a 200 page book.)

More details will be coming soon. All in all, there is the possibility that ESG is going to expand quite nicely. :D

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: Rules to Cleopatra & the Society of Architects
Currently Playing: The Grand Experiment; Exalted
Mood: Pretty good, actually...

We are all related...

So according to the Dominion Post on Monday we all share a single ancestor barely 2000 years in our pasts. While many people scoff this, it doesn't seem all that surprising. Considering that every cell in our bodies shares a single beginning cell, it seems somewhat logical.

But what amazes me is the level people will go to deny the greater implication of this discovery. That the concept of "race" is further negated. It is of some small amusement to me that the more humanity tries to classify the world into different things for ease of understanding, the more they are finding that everything is linked together.

The reason we tend to classify things is because it makes it easier to relate and work with them. Yet for some reason a lot of people have trouble then re-integrating those parts back into a cohesive whole.

But I digress. The thing that astounds me is that we treat each other as strangers, that we have systems actually devised to seperate each other and to provide some flawed view of equity that places certain people in positions of greater influence than others.

I'm kind of uncertain how to best describe all this. I've mentioned before about people deliberately looking for ways to dispute even the most rational of views.

My big question really is - why does the idea of everyone being the same scare people so much? We're not talking the Borg here - we are all unique in a way. But we are all equally unique. We are all related to each other and the idea that some people are inherently better than others is a lie.

People lay claim to religion, politics and even science to justify their attitudes. I'm not saying we have to all like each other. But there is no justification that would hold up from the perspective of the Universe itself. Consider this discovery a gentle reminder that humanity needs to get over itself.

Wow - that's a pretty bold thing for me to say. But I'm going to come out and say it again. Because I am sick and tired of reading about people tormenting the unwilling, killing others for all sorts of stupid reasons, and generally making there be all manner of suffering.

It has been said that we will not see sufficient change in a single lifetime. Bollocks. Yes, change is difficult and scary. Yes, it takes a lot of work and effort.

But if you want it, it will happen.

The reason there is pain and suffering in this world is because so many people have convinced themselves that they can't change the world. That they can't have a better life. And because some people who want to keep you down promote that idea. Not in a conspiracy - it doesn't need to be that organised. It has just taken millennia for us to get that complacent.

There is enough pain and suffering in the world due to natural disasters, disease and the like - why do humans need to keep adding to that? They don't.

There is enough killing from those who are mentally unstable and emotionally detached - if we spent less time thinking of ways to deny our equality, less time coming up with news ways to torture and kill, then we'd probably be able to solve many of those other issues with more efficiency.

We could improve education, health and maybe even realise a new economic system. The potential for human endeavour has been consistently proven to be near limitless. But we keep convincing ourselves that it must take generations. But with patience, compassion and a true commitment from humanity to have a better world - we could do it in a single generation. The problem is that some people don't want to believe in such a world because they think in typical slippery slope ideas.

Resources? We have enough resources on earth to tap into the larger levels of resources available in our solar system. We waste those resources on wars and financial competitiveness..

Politics? Much of politics is based on the idea of bloodlines - however all 6.5 billion of us have been shown to all come from the same bloodline. So it becomes pointless to claim that our differences are insurmountable - we choose to accept our culture and differences. No one is saying we have to agree on every little detail. There is room for muslims, christians, atheists and others. There is room for different nations, different social cultures. This is the point that so many people seem to have trouble with - yes, most cultures will need to change their views on some things, but change is not synonymous with destruction.

It is about accepting the common ground and building a world that is in harmony, not dissonance.

The good news is that it isn't too late to start this change, and we all can do our bit to help. Just treating people in our own lives with some respect and tolerance builds the likelihood. One day, maybe, the world as a whole will snap out of it and we'll see change occur much faster...

Here's hoping.

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: nothing
Currently Playing: The Grand Experiment; Exalted
Mood: Feeling muy philosophical...

Deals and Plans

Well it is slow going, but things are still on the up and up with ESG. I'm currently working on a deal that will be quite lucrative if it works out. So everyone with PDFs should keep an eye on this space. :D

I'm still in a bit of a strange place emotionally. I've been haunted by strange dreams involving people I know and have known. A lot of anxiety dreams about gaming and where I'm heading from here. Most concerning is the relationship front.

E. and I were chatting yesterday and he said to me "you really do want to have someone to date, don't you." Which I confirmed. But it is proving to be really difficult. It is frustrating to know that there could be the ideal person out there for me, and I'm just not meeting him.

I'm not really sure where to go or what to do now. *sigh*

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: Nothing
Currently Playing: The Grand Experiment;Exalted
Mood: Kind of lonely and a little worried about business...