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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • Check out Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harrari. It’s my pick for the best non-fiction book and after reading it I found A Short History of Nearly Everything suggested as a similar read.

    It’s a bit more dry than Bill Bryson’s work but a lot more informative. I listened to the audio book which was brilliant but would probably find it a lot harder to read.

    It goes over the history of humans from around 70,000 years ago until current day. I would recommend everyone read this book to give them perspective on the things we find important and the rules we collectively chose to follow.















  • There is nuance to rule following. If you’re following blindly and never question why the rule is in place, then you’re a chump. If you question the rule and conclude that it’s there for a good reason and follow it, you’re a champ.

    Some rules are arbitrary but society expects them to be followed. Going outside the bounds of these rules can cause upset, so following them is generally the safer bet. However if there’s a rule in place that prevents your happiness, and breaking it has no negative consequences, just fucking do it.






  • Imagine 2 boxes. One has an armed mouse trap inside and one has a chocolate bar. There are signs on the box explaining what is inside. You and an infant must each put your hand inside one of the boxes and retrieve its contents . In your understanding of “equal”, both you and the infant are considered equal in this scenario when you, an adult capable of reading and reasoning, have a clear advantage on determining the outcome of the box test.

    The thought that humans and non humans are equal too broad of a statement. We of course have advantages over non humans. What should be said instead is: humans and non humans have an equal right to live.

    There’s nothing special about us in the grand scheme of things that puts our lives above the life of anything else. Of course humans consider human life as the most important just as an ant would consider ant life the most important, but there’s no universal accountant keeping a list here.

    But, as far as we know we’re the only creatures with morals, ethics and empathy. We understand that pain is felt by any creature with a nervous system. We understand emotions can be felt by many creatures with brains. We can’t truly call ourselves equals but we must be obliged to reduce the amount of pain we inflict on others because we’re the only beings who can.

    We’ve reached a point in our understanding of the environment and dietary needs where we can sustain ourselves without needing to enslave other species. The fleeting joy one experiences from eating a Big Mac is not worth the torture of the cow the meat came from.