Updates

Nothing especially prominent coming to mind this evening, so I'll satisfy myself with making a general if incomplete report on what's been going on around me, with a bit of what's been going on in my head.

On second thought, that's not really what I want to say. Nothing going on around me is very interesting at the moment, but what I'm doing might be.

I'm thinking about taking on a big project, entirely outside of school. I probably don't have time for it, but I think it's well within my abilities to at least undertake part of it. Basically, I'm going to try to change the culture from the bottom up.

My thinking is this: people choose to be irrational because it's what they're raised with. Most people are smart enough to see the truth, but they've no experience with anything except the irrational. There are no dissenting voices. There's plenty of people working to combat the effects of an irrational culture, but little going into fixing the cause itself. My idea is to create an organization, a foundation (I hate to use such words, but my brain is a little out of sorts) that actively confronts irrationality throughout all of society, primarily trying to change the culture of irrationality. The working title is the The Rational Society.

We'll see how that works out. One of the means for that project would be a "Philosophy in Five Minutes" video blog on YouTube. I finally took 45 seconds to figure out the camera on my laptop (surprisingly easy, compared to 75% of the software you come across) and recorded myself talking for awhile. Given practice, I think I could pull off a series of short videos covering a variety of philosophical topics. I did a speech for AcaDec summarizing the whole of philosophy in four minutes, so covering a simple topic like the Law of Identity in five shouldn't be too much of a challenge.

In more mundane matters, school continues to be its usual bore. Running the marathon except we're doing in on a track in the stadium, and everyone else is either too dumb to notice or can't figure out why we're not getting anywhere. Hopefully, they're just not expressing the same thoughts as I, but I can't count on other minds. If I did, I'd spend all my days being disappointed.

The job search, or lack thereof. Putting in the applications, and hoping for the best. I'll most likely spend the summer doing something mundane, if I can secure a job at all, which, to be realistic, I probably won't. If that's the case, however, I'll work on something (such as the aforementioned) that I can still put on a resume.

Residence halls put on a rave Friday night. Probably a shoddy imitation of the real thing, not that I have any interest in either. Another one of those well-intentioned but halfhearted attempts to keep the kids from doing drugs and testing the contraceptive limits of latex. At most it kept a few of the meeker ones from passing out later, because the vast majority who would have partied still went out and partied afterwards. You can't just stop people from indulging their vices. I'll probably put up a post in a few weeks about why D.A.R.E. and similar programs don't work. Hint: the irrational culture (it's really a terribly convenient idea, I'll hate to abandon it when and if something better comes up).

My hair is a fright, strange as that is to type. I got it cut last around the 20th of December, and here we are nearly into March. I don't think it's been this long since that one time back in middle school, and I didn't shower last night to boot. Not to mention I never really stop having bedhead these days. Sleeping till noon anytime its permitted, regardless of bedtime, has that effect.

I think that's all for tonight. It's technically Monday now, but it's still a Sunday Night rant. All two bots out there enjoy!

On the Non-Aggression Principle

Technically, I was attacked this evening.

Most people wouldn't say I was attacked. They would say that an certain someone in my dorm (whom has not been referenced in previous posts) gave me a surprise bear hug.

But  I was not warned, my consent was not asked, and I would not have given it. Technically, it was an act of aggression against my person. I reacted accordingly, and now the individual is question is acting all hurt and angry.

Irrationality is unalive and kicking.

The non-aggression principle, the fundamental law of human interaction, is unheard of in our society. Humans do not initiate the use of force against others in a civilized setting. Conversely, if one does initiate the use of force, they must be free to retaliate as necessary to prevent future attacks.

No one understands this. Self-defense is all but illegal in the United States, and soon will be entirely absent in the Western World. It's socially tolerable to invade the personal space of another individual for no reason (and I believe I have made it sufficiently clear that I do not want to be touched). Before too long, I wouldn't be surprised if assault is the preferred method of settling conflicts.

Our culture is irrational. If we're going to survive, we're going to have to change it. Will you?