Consciousness. Though that too is just a word, which I also don’t believe in. But that’s the best of all the imperfect words that at least point away from matter.

You’re always impacted by something that directs what you end up choosing. Or even thinking. Think of a fruit. Did you choose to think of that fruit? Or did something that falls under the category of fruit just pop into your head? Literally every single thought is like that. Verbal or nonverbal. Sure you can mull over a thing forever if you like, but that too is something you don’t know if you’re going to do before you’re doing it. Or not doing it. I can ask you to go brush your teeth right now. You can deliberate “it’s good for me, no reason not to do it, oh but I already did some time ago, I don’t wanna just do something because this dude online said so, maybe I’ll choose to do it just to prove a point…” endlessly but you have no idea what you end up choosing a single moment sooner than you do. You just tell yourself after the fact that you “chose” to do it or not do it, which also just depends on how attached you are the idea of free will.

Free Will

Materialism (as in, matter being the foundation of reality)

Words

Cat welfare because I like cats, and animal welfare as I consider it my meat tax.

In order:

How to Read a Book

https://www.logicalfallacies.org/

Waking Up

This is actually a well known thing in Buddhism and other meditative practices. Most of the old beliefs about yourself fall away (losing that ego), and then you just replace them with new beliefs (develop a new spiritual ego that usually feels nicer). And you have no idea how insidious and subtle it can be. You of course hear about he most extreme examples but it can also be very inward turned spiritual ego that’s mostly damaging to oneself. There’s a whole new level of practice in dissolving that too (which is actually why having a teacher and being a member of a spiritual community is useful because if it’s a healthy community, they will bring it to surface one way or another). There’s a vicious cycle where the unhealthy communities (cults) led by people who are in this god realm delusion are the ones that get the press, so people start avoiding communities because they think that they’re all cults anyway, and then they do practice by themselves and might gain some realization, and then develop a spiritual ego… and decide they should become teachers and then create an unhealthy community.

Disengage (see rule)

Okay man, chill. I’ve gotten a lot of benefit from CBT which is a well researched therapy modality that’s based a lot on Buddhist philosophy. Buddhism has also contributed to consciousness studies and neuroscience which are both important and interesting in the context of AI. Not to mention ethics. You don’t have to like it but don’t shit on people who do.

I think they literally are actually. I vaguely recall reading something about how if you spend a lot of time with someone as a kid, you’re less likely to be romantically attracted to them because we’re instinctively trying to avoid inbreeding (in the context of small villages). Even if true, that doesn’t translate to their claim though.

Bonus points if they also say something like “it didn’t use to be”.

You think Shamil Chandaria is posting his stuff on Lemmy?? LOL

Oh shit that’s good.

Not through my adblocker.

I’m all for people singing to ghosts to soothe them. People should be doing more of it instead of making their issues everyone else’s problem.

old article but hate how they are intentionally fudging the difference between people who pay for a pirate streaming site vs. people who just torrent stuff. I too will bet my left testicle that downloading anime isn’t going to put money into trafficking.

I was in a punk band that never played more than three shows, so maybe I’m just bitter but I don’t love either interaction.