Better Future

Doesn't it just refer to the fact that virtuous women are very rare? Maybe virtuous men are also unicorns.

What the dead don't know, can't hurt them.

This man bad, he commit crime, lock in cage. This man bad too, he commit crime, kill him. What is bad? What is crime? How can we actually reduce suffering?

Ideally your child wouldn't be running wild, intentionally breaking things. If that is occurring regularly then you are not doing your job properly. Such events do occur though, even if you are doing your job properly. Sit them down and explain why they should not have done it. (correct) Ask them why they did it. (correct) Ask them not to do it again. (incorrect) I think an appropriate punishment. (incorrect) Pay for what they broke. (correct) Don't just ask the child not to do it again. The child needs to understand why they should not behave in that manner. Paying for what they broke is not punishment, it is just rational morality, something that all children should understand. Also, don't just do this once and hope it doesn't happen again. This is red flag behaviour and you need to address it every day to ensure that it does not occur again.

I do vote, but only to troll my government with this guy. Maybe when the state collapses, people will remember that weird guy who warned us about what was going to happen.

I don't see how punishments such as time out are any different from putting an electric shock collar on a child and pushing the button each time he or she does something you don't like. I don't like this behaviour, you need to stop it. Here, have some pain, hopefully you wont do it again because you don't like pain do you. It is control through fear. Sure, it may change behaviour, but you are just turning the child into your own personal unthinking puppet.

How many times do I have to tell people? Don't date robots!

I would say that we are all victims of circumstance. Some are also victims of circumcision. We all make choices, but the choices we make are determined by all previous experiences that we have had up to that point. Brain structure is determined by genetics, parenting/caregivers, peer group, teachers and the wider culture. It explains why ignorance, poverty, drug abuse and violence occur in cycles and why ideologies continue through time. Shouldn't we expect a more random distribution of human behaviour if people really were completely free to make their own choices? But instead we see cycles of behaviour that change gradually over time. I call it cultural momentum. So I believe that punishment is irrational and immoral. Isolate people to reduce harm, sure, but don't do it to get revenge. We should analyse events that result in harm so that we can minimize their occurrence in the future.

You should scream for joy. The universe has become conscious in the form of you. Enjoy it. A smiling man is rich. A frowning man is poor.

Would you make a distinction between a hungry man killing something to eat and a man killing something for dinner, to celebrate his birthday?

In the sense that most people do not respond to rational discussion. Most people respond to their own emotions. Which was the intention of this event. It may not achieve the desired outcome but I can see the logic behind it.

I think he made a valid point and I think he made it well. He could have explained how humans make arbitrary value judgements about different species, but I doubt that would have had much of an impact. I would be interested to see the conversations that this event has provoked.

I intended my statement to be simultaneously funny and true. Humour always seems to find a way into my posts. I see society as a tangled web of indoctrination. I see criminals as victims who victimize. Most people see themselves as good but end up victimizing others every day. Some happen to do it to a much greater degree. We draw an arbitrary line in the sand and put people in cages when they cross it. Yes, I think restitution is rational, although I also see the perpetrator as a victim. The justice system generally focuses on two people. The perpetrator (second from left) and the victim (far left). Imagine a child who has been indoctrinated by religious extremists. He is indoctrinated to believe that causing damage to the property of others is a good thing. He then destroys a building worth millions of dollars. Should he be made to pay that off for the rest of his life? Should his parents also pay? And his grandparents? This is an extreme case that is easy to understand, but I actually see all people as being indoctrinated in the same way. Ideally we would shift our resources toward prevention of harm. We would ensure that all parents were up to the same standard as Stefan Molyneux. Parents and teachers would be able to detect red flag behavior in children and problems would be dealt with immediately. Can you imagine a world that would result from that? Interpersonal harm would be greatly reduced but would still occur of course. We would then analyse the events that led up to the harmful events in order to minimize the occurrance of them in the future.

Exactly. Everything humans do can be traced back to reproduction. Try it for yourself next time you see a human and see if you can trace the behaviour back to reproduction.

If she is to be punished for defrauding government then government should be punished for defrauding taxpayers and taxpayers should be punished for defrauding their neighbours by voting. I don't support punishment at all. I think it is an irrational concept.

I never said that. My hope is that we can keep the country relatively stable until anarchic groups can lead a peaceful transition. If it starts to implode then I will vote to speed the process up. Yes. Less rape is better than more rape and no rape is better than less rape. $48,167,794,362.67 But seriously, the party I voted for is the only party that does not bribe for votes. It bribes people with freedom. Lower taxes, personal freedom etc. It also keeps consistent pressure on government as it is part of the coalition. I don't see how that follows. Government would probably just conclude that people are happy and don't feel the need to vote. The guy I voted for spreads the message of freedom from government every day in parliament and in the media. There is only one of him but his voice is loud and clear for all to hear. It may be inevitable that all democracies will collapse, but in the meantime it is still fun to troll parliament with this guy.

The power of the leviathan was actually greatly reduced in the 1980's by the founder of the political party that I currently vote for. He saved the country from bankruptcy and is the reason for New Zealand's relative prosperity today. It is in his interest to speak out against the government. That is how he gets his votes. He does it consistently. http://www.act.org.nz/posts/national-looks-after-everyone-but-taxpayers http://www.act.org.nz/posts/national-needs-to-stop-acting-casual-about-rma-reform http://www.act.org.nz/posts/national%E2%80%99s-budget-ignores-elephant-in-the-room http://www.act.org.nz/posts/budget-could-have-cut-company-tax I would rather not have my country turn into Greece any time soon. If I can vote to maintain and increase prosperity then I will do so. We are going to. I don't encourage people to vote. I convince them to vote Libertarian if they must.

Did Harry Browne make it into congress? Did your government rely on him in order to have the numbers to form a government? Was he able to get his message out regularly in the media? The guy I voted for is doing all of these things.

Correct. The anarchist group I'm a part of is also in favour of existing peacefully alongside the state. Nothing wrong with a state if people can choose not to be governed by it. It may be that the state will expand and then collapse but I don't see why it has to. The party that I voted for is a very strong advocate for freedom of choice. It is currently in coalition with government. Yeah, I don't see why that couldn't work. Then if that fails I may change my tactic and vote for extreme socialists lol. I was only a toddler at the time. So I wasn't discussing anarchy with people. I don't actively try to convert people, I just talk about the benefits of freedom and the failures and immorality of the state. The things I say are relevant to the persons life at the time, so I get strong agreement a lot of the time.

You said that you would not forgive an extremist who kills in the name of Allah. I asked you if you would forgive a child extremist. You said that children are a different matter. I then asked at what point your forgiveness cuts off. At what point do extremist children become adults that can be held accountable because of their reasoning ability? I don't hold anyone to any standard. Should I blame a Muslim extremist for not supporting marriage equality? Of course not, he can only act in accordance with his pre-existing brain structure. Please note that I am not excusing acts of terror. I am only stating that blame and punishment are irrational, immoral and often counter-productive. 90% of parents hit their children. Not a very good decision I think.

Have you seen Lazytown? The superhero is an Olympic gymnast The main character is just a normal girl who sings songs about teamwork and doing your best. Best kids show I've ever seen.

Here in NZ we will get to vote for a new flag. Unfortunately they don't have my preferred option: No Flag. It seems strange to me that you want to put a symbol of freedom on top of a statist flag. I can understand it though, as a way to indicate your location on the planet. It could actually be a really good way to get people talking too. Personally I don't like flags. To me they represent collectivism. Tribalism. Statism. I think they create an "us vs them" mentality. I think your flag suggestion looks like shit. It's just horrible in every way. The AnCap flag is shit too. You should do whatever the f*** you want though. You're an Anarchist.

Yes, I would say that is true. I have convinced many of my family and friends to vote for a party that intends to reduce government. Many would otherwise have voted for socialists. Although I have thought that maybe we should all vote for extreme socialists in order to collapse the system and speed the process up. If people want government then maybe we should really let them have it, until they can take no more. I vote to reduce government but I'm also a member of an Anarchist group that works to eliminate it completely. Win-win? Yes. My country (New Zealand) almost went bankrupt in the 80's due to extreme statist/socialist policies. The country had been declining for 30 years due to over-regulation. The population then voted for a new direction and now the country is one of the most economically free in the world. I'm quite sure that a similar process has occurred in Poland and Chile. Even China, the communist dictatorship has gone capitalist. The truth has just become that clear over time. I never said it would happen overnight. I'm just thinking that the species will eventually learn over time as places like Greece continue to implode and places like Switzerland continue to enjoy relatively higher living standards. It is entirely possible that Americans will vote for an even more socialist police state after the coming collapse. The country may even split in two. One socialist part and one capitalist part. Kind of like North and South Korea. After a few generations, the socialist Americans will be trying to get into the capitalist part of course.

Ok, so you forgive extremist children. At what age does your forgiveness cut off?

Would you forgive an indoctrinated child bomber? Are the adults more responsible because they can contemplate the consequences of their actions in a rational manner?