“Is censorship ever justified in the name of protecting social values, or does it inherently stifle free expression?”
My answer:
The political establishment is the nominal guardian of social values at any given time. It guards them because it defines them (or does it?) and reserves the unilateral right to do so. Whatever the establishment wishes to subvert or cast in a bad light will be made to seem problematic. How do you as a citizen react to what your culture tells you is good or bad, moral or immoral? Are you at odds with your culture as it is presented to you by corporate media? Just consider those questions ...
A Quora user asks:
“What are the advantages of being an "individual" or "individualistic person" in today's society?
My answer:
You are burdened with the responsibility of thinking and acting on your own behalf, alone, if need be. The consequences of your thoughts, words, and actions are rightfully yours, however injurious they may be to you.
09/28/23
A Quora user asks:
“Is our era empowering the people that will join the the worst of mankind in human history?”
My answer:
Yes, although every era has its own particular “worst of mankind in human history” at that particular time. Also, it is always those with the power and influence to write history in such a way as to cast “the worst of mankind” in the worst possible light for the purpose of posterity. History may be nothing more than agreed-upon lies for all we know. Who will write history and have their version stick? Our present is currently being codified into what will become our descendants’ worldview. 10/15/23
A Facebook commenter asked:
"Is it possible to control what others believe?"
My answer:
You can indeed control what others believe, with or without their knowledge. The mass media which we consume in order to construct our perception of reality does exactly this, with our full consent.
10/16/23
One day, the smartphone will join them in their unquiet obsolescence. Transhumanism is darkening our door right this very minute, breathing heavily with anticipation. Technology is a crazy djinn freed from a lamp, cackling as it grants its own wishes.
11/01/23
What are some examples of the most serious problems in society today? Are there any solutions to these problems? Why do you think this way?
~Quora user
For any serious problem in society there is someone quietly (or not so quietly) benefitting from it in some way while loudly complaining about it. Racism, obesity, drug addiction, crime, homelessness, climate change, even terrorism! There are no solutions to any of these problems because, believe it or not, they each represent a gravy train for someone, somewhere. And all gravy trains have a scheduled cargo of gravy to deliver, you see.
11/03/23
A Facebook commenter asked:
A Facebook commenter asked:
Why have we let different views in politics turn into what seems like a "holy war" between good and evil?
Because a few layers underneath absurdities like man-spreading and micro-aggressions is a spiritual war, the spiritual war.
Our first premises since before we were born. The spiritual
11/06/23
A Quora comment with literary quote:
Don’t be either of those guys. Be the guy who is at peace with what little he knows and isn’t trying to put all the puzzle pieces together out of pure need. Don’t be the psychotic, either. Be calm despite what you know. Illusions of control are what lead heroic individuals to ruin. Madness follows those who know too much.
11/06/23--B
Quora asked:
Do people secretly want someone to give up?
Yes, I imagine many Quora contributors have considered suicide at one time in their lives. Depression can be mild or severe. I have struggled with severe depression, mental illness, and thoughts of “giving up” although I have told doctors and mental health professionals about it. Your psychiatrist —if you have one— absolutely needs to know if you are experiencing what they call “suicidal ideation” to treat you and possibly save your life. Thoughts of suicide can eventually become a plan, and a plan … well, you know. Get help if you have terminal despair. Talk to someone, even if they’re not a professional.
11/06/23--C
02/15/24
The mastery of self is our mammoth-hunt now. We go to war against ourselves now to perfect ourselves.
02/15/24--B
Is Generative AI about to scam us all?
3 minute read
Spirits of pure intellect used to be thought of as formless and supernatural, but now they have a very literal man-made technological basis. We've rubbed the lamp and released the jinn, and now the jinn and his brothers have designs on our hidebound existence.
03/11/24
"The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breed reptiles of the mind."
~William Blake,The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Reptiles are by no means the foulest thing in the stagnant pond of the mind. There's black muck, loathsome parasitic worms, and unspeakable devouring things invisible except through the lens of a powerful microscope. With no inlets or outlets, a man's mind is a swamp.
May 6th, 2024
Taking off his helmet would only make things worse if the first thing you want to do as a time-travelling astronaut is to convince the locals that you are **not** a demon. It would blow their minds even more!
May 8th, 2024
And yet they will always insist that all birds (cultures) are free to fly and give their unique melodies to the air!
May 20 2024
June 12 2024
07/20/24
I believe we have all some deep subconscious idea of what the real work is, because of how good we are at avoiding it without realizing what we're doing or why. Coming to the trailhead of the real journey, we say to ourselves, "I always knew this was the way. I will deny it no longer. I will waste no more time."
9/13/24
Many do not weep for the memory of light because, like the Mexican eyeless cavefish, they know only darkness, ignorant of their ignorance, born without eyes. What is darkness? Due to their eyelessness, they do not know that, either.
11/15/2024
A person's quality of character is eminently measured by watching how they react to not getting their way when they usually do.
Sept. 9, 2016 And what of the souls who are perfectly content in this dark, fallen world? They are the ones who revel in what this place is, and fight to defend it from those of us who labour to make life on Earth as it is in Heaven. For we happy few, there is a primordial sense of setting right what once went wrong. The Holy Spirit poured out onto the eleven apostles at Pentecost is with us now. The Great Commission still vibrates in the blood of Christ by which we are all knit together as one mystical body, transcendent of space and time. So is this the secret to lasting happiness in a dark, fallen world-- escaping into transcendence? There is a sprawling pharmacopeia of substances which can deny the sorrowful realities of life and ease unrelenting physical pain. Transhumanists ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism ) hope for a day when the frailty and limitations of the human condition ultimately give way to di...
9/18/24 His kind was not was meant to live in a cage, no matter how gilded. Thomas Jefferson famously wrote, "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery." What holds true for men holds true for beasts, especially this king of beasts.
June 19 2024 Why did Donne say "Europe" and not "England?" This poem was written long before the European Union was a thing. Also, "send not" seems to suggest someone wealthy and in the habit of sending servants off on errands to do this and that, as in : "Don't bother sending a servant to investigate for whom the funeral mass is being conducted, because **it is you** in that casket no matter who the decedent may have been in life. Every time, the corpse has your face inside the casket. It is you who has died. 06/29/24 Such a man has a conscience that won't let him enjoy what his base nature wants and at the same time forces him to endure what is "good for him." Yeah, that sounds about right. .
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