yuanqufucius

That is on my reading list, a friend recommended me to read that. This makes me question how applicable is the fight or flight in the modern battlefield. You would think that in an actual combat engagement, the participants would be overloaded with fight or flight responses, or full of hate from being shot at. But the battlefield data suggest other wise. In the modern battle field no one sees face to face. Other than the hollywood explosions, the actual casualty is very low.

Strictly in the context of military conflict. Came across this youtube video on killing The basic premise is that, majority of soldiers cannot shoot to kill, not only so they purposefully shoot to miss. So in actuallaity, the majority of the dead people are killed by only a minority of people. The military honor such as Victorian Cross and Medal of Honor are not awarded to those who had the most kill count but rather to people who put them selves in harms way to save their buddies. Che Guevera in all his sadism did not dare to stare into his victim's eyes when he executed them. This behaviour has evolutionary basis as it is safer to let a defeated man go as opposed to make him fight to his last breath. This brings a total different understanding that "Killing splits a person's soul" from Harry Potter. Thoughts?

Excellent read, I will most definitely apply this tactics. There needs to be a training camp for this. Putting forth logical consistent argument is so much work. Bernie Sanders -> B.S. -> "I don't support B.S." I see what you did there.

So here is the piece: http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/outkick-the-coverage/mizzou-protests-lead-to-plunge-in-freshmen-massive-budget-deficits-030916 Assuming it's real TLDR: the narrative is that financial record shows that student freshmen enrollment drop of 1000+ and low retention rate is being linked to Mizzou's spineless handling of the protest. Budget short fall in range of $30 million. Well I for one would like that to be the case, but I'd like to see more philosophical rigor than just to take in the narrative, no matter how much I like it. I think there is without a doubt a strong correlation between Mizzou protest being in the media spot light, and the reduced enrollment. However that is just that. I don't think a conclusion can be drawn that it is specifically the "spineless" capitulation is what lead to the reduced enrollment and retention. If Mizzou handled it the other way, there would still be a reduced enrollment and retention. The fact that a racially charged protest took place, and is in the media spot light would bring enough negativity, such that no matter how it was handled (meaning how the media portrayed it) it would still lead to reduced enrollments. The basic premise is that if we bring down the "ideal human image" from the pedestal, that most people don't really care, for all are part of the too-long-didn't-read generation. A spotlight level negative mention would shun the masses away from the subject. Vast majority of college bound students will have at least two schools in their minds to choose from. Mizzou's emergence in the negative spot light just made their choice a lot simpler. "This is now off the list, time to consider the remaining choices." It is just as simple as that. To tout this as some how a victory of "common sense", "rationality", or "this is what happens if you capitulate", assumes too much about the good human quality that I just don't think it's there. Any thoughts?

Came by this video about Industry 4.0 concept and wanted to share. Unlike the stock videos from commercial videos, the speaker popularized the idea really well and made them relevant to us regular folks, especially if you are entrepreneurial and are interested in future trends. Some key ideas Internet of things on industrial settings, TCP/IP might be obsolete Smart manufacturing, consumer preference will decide the manufacturing process, instead of manufacturing process dictating the product availability Cloud manufacturing, production facility operating at high capacity 24/7, opening up opportunity for entrepreneurs who have grand ideas but no capital to invest on equipment Transboundary, big data analysis uniting auto, insurance, and banking industry creating a new value chain. This time around, good driving record actually means something. Knowledge automation, forget blue collar and white collar jobs. The future gold collar jobs will deal with automation of the process of extracting useful knowledge from sea of raw data. The original video is in Chinese, I did the translation the best I could… alright not the best. But pursuing perfection without asking for criticism is a lame effort. So please criticise! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3lKQBKc9rY - Introduction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpJ9QnV_RzA - Smart Manufacturing and Cloud Manufacturing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I1HESJc-m4 - Transboundary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9JYr_RntbU - Automation of knowledge production

Yes, it does not come directly from the book. In fact Dawkins specifically said in the begging, that he has no intention to lay out any ethical frame work, he us just explaining the "how" as it is. To me that "how" offers a whole new way to look at the current problems. If we treat "good" and "evil" just as a thing (syntax) and not attaching any semantics feelings to them, like the poor chump in the "Chinese Room Experienc", and purely look at current state of affairs from a cause and effect perspective, everything becomes clearer, and the solution becomes very simple. Of course that is not to say it's easy. Just like how water dissolves salt and sugar, it's only natural, there is nothing evil (with emotion) about it. But the existence that was know as the collection of all salt and sugar crystals in the form of a grain was no longer there. Since an unit, or instance of existence has been erased, something evil (without emotion) has occurred. Cause and effect In human terms, those without conscious will prey on those with too much conscious. As Stefan has pointed out continuously, self criticism is healthy around other people who self reflect/criticize, but among those who do not self reflect/critize (*cough primitives), it is extremely toxic, like sugar you will be dissolved. Your guilt button will be continually pushed. Those with a good heart who likes to do things for others, will continually be taken advantage of by those who simply do not reciprocate. I think this is foundation to the evil in society, not enough of those with too much consciousness say no. However this gets really complicated because people aren't just static. There isn't a line you can draw that says to the left are all those without conscious, and to the right are those with too much conscious. The reality is that for the vast majority, each person has a percentage of times or certain situation where he/she will behave in a unconscious way, vice versa. The evil manifests from the collective result of each individual behaving in a unconscious way.

The Selfish Gene - By Richard Dawkins http://www.amazon.com/Selfish-Gene-Anniversary----Introduction/dp/0199291152/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453844947&sr=8-1&keywords=selfish+gene The central idea is around evolutionary stable strategy, which lends alot of insight in to r/K selection theory Thought never stated explicitly, what I gathered from it is a genetic based behavior/ethics that is, things wants to perpetuate their existence, there are no evil or righteous in the emotional sense. There are certain gene set that will take advantage of the characteristics of another gene set and increase it's own "existences" at the expense of the existence of that other gene set. However if "righteous" genes begins to dwindle then then entire gene pool suffers and evil genes begins to dwindle. Then "righteous" genes begins to flourish which causes "evil" genes to flourish as well. However this is not a spring back and forth action, but it reaches a equilibrium, with "evil" genes take the smaller percentage and "righteous gene being the majority, until the next evolutionary event occurs which breaks up the entire dynamic. To me this just opened up a whole new way of looking at "evil" of society. Taking emotion out, people are not evil, they are only acting out their genetic instinct to perpetuate their existence. Just like how things falls toward gravity, if there is a way for an individual to live without expending his/her own effort, he/she will walk that way.

The only thing I remember is, the general idea of happiness being high energy, enthusiastic, big smile, highly motivated, etc... is not the only definition of happiness, one doesn't need to hold fast to the delusion that future is all bright, rosy, to be motivated to do things. All the hype induction/overfill treatment is actually poison. I will definitely read it again, might as well do a youtube videos on it too. From my experience I never liked being around high energy people, they seem narcissistic, and sucks the energy out of me. I've been to sales seminar before, and many other pep-talk like events before (mostly church sermons). You leave with the warm and fuzzy feelings, but it fades away quickly. Real go-getters are seldom high energetic and up beat, they don't need motivation, they just do the things. Have I achieved lasting happiness as a result of the lesson in the book? Yes, but also from different other books, I don't think a single book can achieve that kind of thing, but a collection of books, and in my case, recent development in my thought pattern is heavily influenced by, "Anti-Fragile", prevalence of uncertainty, "Out of Control", things are complex, self organizing, and cannot be controlled, "The Selfish Gene", evolutionary stable strategy, genetic based behavior/ethics that is, things wants to perpetuate their existence, there is no evil or righteous. There are certain gene set that will take advantage of the characteristics of another gene set and increase it's own "existences" at the expense of the existence of that other gene set. However if "righteous" genes begins to dwindle then then entire gene pool suffers and evil genes begins to dwindle. Then "righteous" genes begins to flourish which causes "evil" genes to flourish as well. However this is not a spring back and forth, but it reaches a equilibrium, with "evil" genes take the smaller percentage and "righteous gene being the majority, until the next evolutionary event occurs which breaks up the entire dynamic. And of course "r/k selection theory" as presented by Stefan My sense of happiness is that I am more in sync with my genetics, I no longer hold delusions (thanks to Stefan), every step I make, its on solid ground. I have become more selfish, I give energy, I don't let it get sucked out of me. I don't know what future is like, but I have a clearer vision as to what I got to do, and I seldom procrastinate on those stuff that I need to do. I do whatever that is conducive to the perpetuation of my genetic existence, as well as increasing the quality of that existence.

http://www.amazon.com/Antidote-Happiness-People-Positive-Thinking/dp/0865478015/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453765268&sr=8-1&keywords=the+antidote A great book about all the other "Self-Help" books and why they don't work. The central ideas is, "you don't need to feel like doing something, in order to do something". Also got my first dose of stoicism through this book as well.

So the narrative according to this article is that, a left movement has negatively influenced a large corporation. Which calls me to question some of the other narratives that I've held. 1. Big corporation are well connected with the politics, and have big influences on policy. 2. Big corporation interests are immovable and all powerful. 3. Big corporation ..... So what I kind of gather is that, political interests are vastly disconnected, such that I am sure Walmart has some serious connection at the federal level, and they are benefiting from the national/international policies, and yet at this local level the left is not so much in line with the Fed left who were well paid. I am sure Walmart could've called in the Fed left and whipped those local left in line, but that would bring grave inconsistencies in the left's narrative of minimum wage, for the worker and etc, and not to mention even if Walmart had its way it will antagonize a group of population who is not afraid of spending time effort and cause an uproar, which is bad for business. And what I gather from that is, 1. There is no such thing as absolute power, the fed can no more affect and enforce anything than what is already deemed "acceptable" and right. 2. However what ever the populous deemed "acceptable" and right is vastly left leaning. 3. Walmart's reach is only so far, and for that matter, whenever it is self interest that is involved, all bets are off. 4. Absolute power in theory and in practice cannot exist. There are just too many moving parts.

Came across an article (http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2015/02/05/time-warners-cnn-will-see-steady-growth-in-subscription-advertising-revenues-in-coming-years/#2e8c2a464f6b) as I was trying to learn more about CNN subscription numbers. Because I would like to see a trend in those numbers, in order to gauge how popular opinions being shaped. As the article stated, CNN beat out MSNBC, and FOX dominates prime time viewership. What really interests me is that it mentioned advertising revenues, as a means to measure viewership and subscription. As one would expect to see, less people subscribe to printed media, and we see a drop in advertising revenues. However without Forbes coming out and announces that "so and so's advertising revenue increases and thus indicates that the subscription is increasing", I would never be able to easily find and dig that information. So is that kind of data publicly available somewhere? And what are some other awesome metrics that can be used to gauge subscription level? Of course I would like to see their subscription number drop into oblivion. As Stefan has mentioned in his numerous videos regarding the media portrayal of DJ Trump is grossly inconsistent, I think its reasonable to think there should be some level of boycotting of the media. And their subscription number should decrease. However, as I wade through news articles online, the first thing I read is the comment section, and it's overwhelmingly people calling out how the article is biased and full of lies, and down with lefties and etc. This led me into thinking, even though people hate the media and know that it's full of lies, but yet they still "subscribe" to them, because there is no alternative. People simply do not just want to spent hours and binge watch through DJ Trump's speeches, or subscribe to Freedomain Radio. The current media is the only "filter" they have for the narrative of the outside world. Unless there is a viable alternative, people will continue subscribe to the current media, and despise them constantly, and we will never see CNN and company become irrelevant. Independent and or media simply do not have the resources to cover the world as the established media do, at the moment, but it's definitely a trend, I think it's a matter of technical issue to distribute the work load of ground coverage by utilizing "citizen" journalists. But the only way to find out the progress about such development is to gauge CNN's subscription numbers. What are some other good metric beside advertising revenue, and how sound is this overall logic? Thanks!

Austin resident

Thank you for all the info, a little search did reveal couple of Local gold dealers, who also have good ratings. I'll be sure to check them out. Is Euro Pacific Precious Metals same as Schiff Gold? It was the first search result on google.

Greetings folks. I am contemplating on buying gold. Not ETFs but actual physical gold bars. A quick google search yields many websites, and within each website there are many options available. It seems there are many sources in which they are produced from, Credit Sussie, Panda Coins... And there are many retailers that distributes these. Navigating them are kind of intimidating. What are your experiences in gold purchase and ownership? Is there like an "official" grade gold, or an "Official" channel? In my mind, this is what I assume the process is like: mining -> minting -> distribution/retail/packaging/marketing and that each process could be done by a same business entity, or different ones. Of course this extends to silver and other precious metal as well.

hm... question of self reflection... where my objectivism goes to die... but anyway, I was always interested in thinking and caring beyond the subject what goes on in the everyday dialogue between people (self included), so that's natural, and of course that would not have stood the rigor of philosophy, but it was a good start. I picked up a few books, started reading around, about history, current events and etc, I like to think about how things occurred and how it occurred the way it did. Engaging in this kind of activity makes me feel as if my soul is vibrating at a higher frequency. And yes get adults into philosophy is impossible, unless something catastrophic happens cause them to reflect, but even then some still don't. Took me several years to figure out and accept that I am just different. What's even more frustrating/interesting is that some adults who spend a lot of effort reading news pieces, follow the current events through the media and consider themselves to be well-informed and by virtue of that a philosopher.