Stock Photo Madness

While getting Teamviewer for a new computer, I realized I've seen that stock model elsewhere my curiosity peaked. Who is that model? Why am I seeing that everywhere?

http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx

It's so strange looking at ads now. I mean, people ascribe meaning to everything, but a lot of stuff is just nonsense. It's like the Ad makers are lazy and copied & pasted smiles, and people are eating it up...

I have upgraded my BS filters.

The Christmas Truce

Among this chaos, I think we can all take little consolation in an event that happened precisely a century and 2 days ago. 

The Christmas Truce of 1914, on the Western Front.

That's real courage. The courage to rise above all the evils of war, delusions of nationalism and following orders, if just for a moment. I wonder how they felt going back to following orders and killing each other after that. 

The truce tells us what leads to world peace in the short run - principled disobedience, and obedience to virtue.

Sailing Insights

You know, I had a lot of time to think this weekend out sailing.

I used to think that you were either for the status quo, or against it. Against a trend, or against it. Against the winds, or with it.

Until I stopped worrying and learnt to love the close haul!

A Good Sailor Always keeps the wind in his sails. It doesn't matter where you are going, what you are doing - the wind is your power.

Life

1. Direction
I have a strong tendency to just go where the wind blows and enjoy the maximum speed.
This is fun, but you aren't going to get anywhere.The maneuvers are what really matter.

Gearing up

1. Always use gloves.

Slippery rudder extensions, rough ropes, saltwater and flayed wires makes the equipment dangerous to the sailor hands. Wear snug-fit gloves for easier knot tying and untying.

2. Bring your own wetsuit.

Here at the LCSD centers, the wetsuits reek of salty dead fish and human stink. 

Don't use them. On my first lesson, I tried them. On my second, I went to sea with only swim pants. On my third, I brought my own.

3. Water shoes.

Make sure they are the kind that have sticky rubber soles. I have seen some pretty terrible ones which leave the user prone to slipping all over hard plastic hulls.

4. Wear a hat under the helmet. (Wear a helmet)

A hat provides extra protection, cushioning from boom strikes and shade. In fact, the hard part in front is good for front strikes.

5. Wear sunglasses or high-vis swim goggles.
Sunglasses filter UV and makes the ocean less bright. Also protects eyes from ocean spray.

Single-Sailing/Helmsman

1. Sailing is a lot like horse-riding. If you are scared, horse gets it, and it becomes scared too. Laser Picos are the same - fear and indecision leads to inaction when action is required.

2. Watch the ropes. Keep them away from you. They can be entanglement hazards.

3. Check rudder is fully lowered and secured. A partially lowered rudder leads to a poor rudder control (heavy rudder)

Wind

1. Watching the wind:
Stick a thin piece of string to the boom to indicate wind. Or just use the nearby windsock.

2. Watch for gusts by watching the water surface.

To be Continued...

Purism Librem

I want one!
Give damn Apple a run for its money!

https://www.crowdsupply.com/purism/librem-laptop

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2849795/purism-librem-15-linux-laptop-blends-high-end-hardware-with-totally-free-software.html

Severed Souls (Part 1: The Atlas Dilemma - To Shrug or Not To Shrug?)

What's the connection between Terry Goodkind and the Atlas Shrugged dilemma?

Fuckin' Badass, cognitive dissonance.

[After fighting tyrants, evil, darkness, black magic, superstition for 13 novels...]

Zedd: “I ask myself all the time, what is there to live for anymore? I can’t live in peace. My whole life, until I quit and fled to Westland, was spent in a life-and-death struggle with that evil. It never ends. I am tired of it, tired of the struggle, tired of the withering plague of hatred, tired of everything.
“That is why I say you need to quit and enjoy what you can of your life while you have it, while you still can.
“Give it up, Richard. Go and live for yourself. Forget the rest of the world. Let the inevitable happen as it will. In the meantime, turn your back to all the hate, take the joy you can, and live for yourselves. Just as I did, you will find that after a time the savage streak in mankind becomes a distant memory and unimportant. Let it become unimportant to you and Kahlan.”


At a time like this (Passion Times), this is a central question. What do you do?

SHORT:

It's simple, really. You can't hide. You make a difference, or you don't.

LONG: 

There's a lot you can do.

From empirical evidence, 

1.

Stay away from people who have real coercive power. (AKA Don't sleep with the enemy. Don't do Faustian Bargains.)

Why? 

• Because they may well become moral dilemmas for you. 
• You run the risks of them turning on you if you ever take a stand.
• Once you accept some evil into your life, others will follow and it will be easy to accept them too.
• It's not as good as it seems.

2.

Know your enemy, know your friends.

If you know more about them than they do themselves, good for you!

3. 

Find out what you can do for freedom.

"Ask not what freedom can do for you, but rather, what you can do for freedom."

Off the top of my head...

• Free currencies! Bitcoin! Precious metals! Alt currencies!
• Free software! Go open source! Help out! Firefox!
• Free economy! Go startup!
• Free communications! Encrypt! Tor! Firechat!
• Free the minds of your fellow humans! Encourage them to resolve their personal issues. "Government is based on violence. Violence violates the non-aggression principle and is therefore immoral. Government is immoral."
• Free social networking! Go and talk with people in real-life!
• Free yourself! Free your body, mind, spirit! Resolve your issues! 

4.

"Give me freedom or give me death" 
"Take your freedom and forget about dying for freedom"

Wakeup call - The people who said this centuries ago wanted a government. 

Freedom is not given. You take it, or snatch it from tyrants who hate your freedom.

Begging for freedom is like fighting a war for peace, sex for abstinence or having nothing for dinner. It's contradictory, and hence logically wrong.

5.

Remember to Laugh!

Even the Soviets had a sense of humor. In fact, communism/socialism is well-suited for extreme humor. Of course, comedy was also an extreme sport in the Soviet Union.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_political_jokes#Gulag_Archipelago

Incentives...Incentives...

What incentives are there for freedom? A stateless-society?

The more government intervention, the more incentive to appeal to government.
The more choice government provides, the more incentive to stick to the government, the less incentive to create a stateless-society.
The better a government manipulated economy is, the less incentive there is for a free-market.

The incredible part of this is that no controller, leader is required. This arises naturally. There is no need for a deliberate conspiracy.

Interesting problems

1. Is the current state of affairs at Occupy advantageous to the HK Police as a gov agency?

More Crime, Instability

Violence is advantageous to the Police. For one, they get to show off their toys. And they get to buy more pepper spray, weapons, train more personnel etc etc.
And what happens after the cleanup? More people join in. What after that? Police can then use more violence. And so on...

Huge incentives for starting violence.

Low Crime, Stability

With ever-decreasing crime, police would just shrink and eventually disappear. As we all know, the golden rule of running government agencies is always spend all your budget and never be defunded.

No incentive for decreasing crime.

So why does HK have relatively low crime? It's not because of the police. That's because of the free market that incentivizes value-creating economic activities.
How do you increase crime? Destroy the free-market. Make it hard for people to improve their own circumstances through moral means..

2. How much incentive does social welfare have in getting people out of poverty?

3. How much incentive does the CDC have in really stopping Ebola?

4. How much incentive does the military and the industries dependent on military spending have, to not go to war?

5. Where does this put democracy? If democracy, in the end, in support of such an incentive structure?

Conclusion

Policing by government agency will always eventually corrupt itself, because it has all the incentive and none of the costs to do so. Incentives override everything else.

All governments get bigger.

Reason doesn't stand a chance head-on against incentives. If the choice is between suffering for being good and a million dollars, dollars generally win. Instead, reason must start with the disenfranchised.

Conflicts of incentive against reason makes it hard to think straight.

Conspiracy theories are good as an emotional driver, in getting people to think. Such theories are personalizations of natural phenomena. Once one reaches a good understanding of the nature behind bad systems, such are no longer necessary.

As long as morality and moral people, organizations does not control the incentive structure, we are all, unconsciously under the control of immorality. From the most subtle (manipulation of interest rates) to how much more government personnel are paid relative to their free market counterparts, to every agency of every government, you can speak sound rational arguments all day and have no real impact in the end.

Money talks.

If you believe in the free-market, you should work to become successful what's left of the free market.

Halting Problem Proves that Lethal Robots cannot correctly decide to kill humans.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/11/19/1619207/halting-problem-proves-that-lethal-robots-cannot-correctly-decide-to-kill-humans

Neither can humans.

The only correct decision is to not kill humans, lol

What does it take to be a good developer? (Empathy)

Empathy.

Why? To develop good code, one must understand what code is already there and what the requirements are. The emotional motivation must be consistently present - it cannot merely be "the rush of excitement" at finishing a task or project, or enjoying working in a team (because what happens if you have lots of independent work to do?).

Why am I writing this? Because I'm not driven by logic or reasoning. In fact, I am emotionally sensitive. And so, where I lack interest in logical analysis, empathy motivates me.

I have been both motivated and demotivated by adrenal drives and team drives. Therefore, I have learnt to take that as the icing on the cake and nothing more.

The empathy I am describing is incredibly beautiful. At its core, empathy with a creation made of your own brainwork is perhaps the highest expression of self-love and mental integration. It's where logic and reasoning and love intertwine.

I Know How Umbrella will End

Umbrella Movement/Occupy Central : Step up your game (or lose it all)!

I can tell you with confidence how Occupy Central/Umbrella Movement will end.

HK will get its democracy.

Possible moves

• Government
• Oppression.
• Low-level - Intimidation, Hired Thugs
• Useless. Drives public support lower. Makes gov position harder to defend.
• Mid-level - "Non-lethal force"
• Tried so many times. Only firms the resolve Occupiers, members of the movements.
• High-level - Lethal force
• Gov came very close to trying this.
• Mid-level force backfired, so high-level force will backfire far worse.
• May be used to try and stir up a real riot.
• Creates a rally point for all future movements. (eg. TianAnMen Square)
• End of Negotiations. Negotiation will be made impossible.
• Networked people will simply end the government. We can end the BS about "Support the police" (awfully like "Support the troops" by the way). Anyone still unclear about what government is will be completely clear about it.
• Everyone forced to take a stand - Be slaves or take a common moral stand, push for anarchy. (I don't know which. I think given the events occurred, people will take a stand - because there's nothing to lose.)
• Ultra-High-level - Think East German secret police
• What comes after "High-level" oppression, if people don't take a stand, or become fragmented.
• We won't want to live like this.
• Serves as negative motivation to avoid.
• Negotiation
• With HK Gov
• HK Gov insists it can't do anything. What the officials really mean to say is "I will never risk my cushy government job for a risky cause like democracy." 
• Useless.
• Occupy doesn't know how to talk to them. 
• The right way is...don't talk to them. Get them to talk, then call them out on their immorality and leeching off of productive people. Get straight to the point and never, ever invoke the law - which is and will always be the Gov's home-turf, not yours.
• With Beijing
• The CCP knows what they do is immoral. They hate you and they are absolutely honest about it.
• "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" - Mao. Coercion is their language. You don't have anything to initiate force with. You don't speak their language.

• People
• Lose Interest.
• This would be a real threat, if the government somehow managed to stop doing things and getting them wrong. However, the government doesn't seem to be able to do that...sooo we can forget this.
• Normalization. If you wall people in long enough, they could get Stockholm Syndrome. However, the option of escalation and free civil participation exist, so Stockholm Syndrome is avoided.
• Infighting, Neighbor against neighbor.
• As of now, people are holding it fairly well. The social norm has been established - anyone who initiates use of force has automatically lost. If anything, there is not enough debate going on.
• Escalation. Grow the movement
• Self-explanatory. Obviously increases chances of getting a better deal.
• Occupy more minds.

Stalemate.

Government's not letting go (Democracy requires government, obviously). People can't let go, or can always try again.

Solution.

What must the solution be like? (And why democracy/universal-suffrage doesn't fit the bill entirely.)

• Must not rely on Government.
• Crowdsourcing. Crowdfunding. Grassroots.
• All-inclusive.
• All humans (aliens, tourists too) are welcome! :)
• Non-violence. (Adhere to non-aggression principle, with minimum, passive self-defense)
• Decentralized. Distributed. Able to be completely P2P.
• Infinitely Scalable. Cost per supporter acquisition is constant, constantly lowered.
• A counter-example would be riot-police. The costs of dispersing a small group is low, but explodes to impossibility if the group approaches the total population of the area. (IE cannot disperse a riot that involves almost all HK people.)
• Based on universal, Compatible with current values.
• Non-aggression principle.
• Volunteerism (Naturally arises. Not universal.)
• Free trade, expression.
• Simple.

There is only one solution. 

• Go for Statelessness. 
• Until people realize this, government (Beijing and by proxy, HK) is not really being pressured. Occupy will have to stay there, essentially indefinitely.
• Democracy is a dangerous trap that nobody has gotten out of before, except to go into totalitarianism. I don't think anyone would want to put effort into walking into a trap, if they knew it was a trap.

There is no doubt this is a time of tough decisions, breakthroughs, tests of will. I think we have the will. We are just locked in by our lack of understanding.

What can we do?

• Convince people one by one?

To be Continued....

Share your thoughts! 

Conspiracy theories at the top of HK Youtube??

Conspiracy theories going mainstream? :)

Halloween: Psychology Edition

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/15/science-of-fear-why-we-love-to-scare-ourselves_n_5976266.html

1. Beneath the fun and social, Halloween is here as self-medication (social-medication) for fears, phobias, worries, whatever negative. Through dressing up, some seek to dissociate, laugh at ourselves and our fears. Others call it "unleashing the alter ego"...

2. And since many people have common fears/issues (the so-called collective fears), we would be sharing the human experience.

3. Can "Social-Medication" eliminate all childhood issues?
At the moment, no. One can argue that it is not engaging enough or all-encompassing. Social media is also fairly voluntary. The deeper level, of course, is that the most pressing problems that inhibit individual potential also inhibit good social life. So the people who need this most may also be getting the least of it.

If you really have the relevant fears, go get some therapy!

4. Most of the stuff associated with Halloween are very dark.

• Theme: Death. 
• Death is no doubt the biggest part of Halloween and a HUGE topic in psychology. Whether it's ghosts, spirits, demons, mummies, Grim Reaper or undead, death is clearly the greatest part of halloween. 
• Most people have a fear of death that goes unresolved until...death. So naturally, coping mechanisms are developed to enable people to cope with these issues. With the decline of religion (from when it was mandatory), Halloween has become a popular alternative. Being frightened and then feeling OK again is a great way to get temporary relief.
• Appropriate Response 1: Get therapy! Yes, I think everybody should have a therapist. A "life coaches", counselor or psychotherapist.
• Appropriate Response 2: Realize "Death, by definition, means unconsciousness. You may be conscious of the dying process, but will not be conscious of your death or the world thereafter." (I have known that for as far as I can remember.)  Knowing this, you have 2 choices.
• Go live and do what you are here to do, whatever it is!
• Carry on with whatever you were doing, free from existential fear.
• Obligatory Rand: "I don't die, it's the world that dies!" - Ayn Rand. The world has no meaning to you if you don't exist anymore, if you don't have a brain nor a mind to process it. While Rand was no Buddhist or nihilist, this compels you to detach yourself from everything that is the world - to do your best to draw in the sandy beach, then let the waves wash your drawing away. It makes you realize the infinite freedom and wonder that the world is, in a far more profound way, than most western religion and philosophies. In the context of Objectivism, it is the recognition of the logical fact that the individual is the prerequisite for society, civilization and the collective we call the world. There is no society, no world, no morality, without the individual. 
• Theme: Being Forgotten.
• Why do people believe in an afterlife? Why do people entertain the possibility of ghosts?
• Ghosts and spirits mean afterlife. And that's secretly optimistic. Outside of religion, people want to believe there is something after life.
• Ghosts are direct manifestations of unresolved psychological trauma, emotionally significant events. WoooOooooOOooo....
• Theme: Violence. (+ Death = Murder)
• Have you been to the Peak recently (Oct 2014)? It's like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre up there, with the Fright Dome at the top!
• Violence. What kind of violence? Do people have an innate fear of this? WHEN are people afraid of violence?
• What kind of violence? The kind where the aggressor successfully hurts the victim. Where victim is helpless.
• Do people have an innate fear of violence and violent death? No. It can be overcome, understood, or simply not exist if well-raised. Which some don't.
• When are people afraid of violence/aggression?  If completely defenseless, helpless. If they feel alone. If they feel that nothing good (eg. good afterlife, martyrdom, good for a cause...) will come out of it. 
• So...how does Halloween help people deal with violence?
• We know there is violence in the world that we haven't and feel that we cannot resolve.
• Foreign wars.
• Governments.
• Abuse of children.
• Halloween is a way of expressing unresolved fears. On a deeper level, Halloween is an opportunity to throw all those fears into a portal and forget them...until the next Halloween. 
• Appropriate Response:
• Realize that violence is very rare in most first-world countries, despite what you see in media, movies.
• Presuppose happiness and wellness.  
• Stay fit and healthy. 
• Be confident in your body - aggressors generally don't pick on others stronger and more confident than them.
• Theme: Magic.
• What is magic, really? 
• Magic is that which does not exist in the real world.
• Something for nothing.
• Consciousness OVER reality. (eg. Spoon bending...with mind power)
• Insanity.
• Why do people want it?
• People feel that there are needs unfulfilled in reality. Fantasy...
• It's lots of fun, funny, in a crazy kind of way.
• Escapism.
• Appropriate Response.
• Understand what magic really is, what values and virtues it holds true.
• Be aware of "magic" thinking - irrationality in yourself.

Most people don't go that deep into Halloween, just as people who celebrate Christmas are not theologians, philosophers and historians. Nevertheless, this is what's beneath the surface.

Go crazy, have fun, and never trivialize these issues. They have deep roots and needs to be addressed accordingly.

On this All Hallow's Eve, I wish you all a very Psychological Halloween 2014!

To be continued....next Halloween.

To Be or Not to Be - #Occupy Style

To be or not to be,

that is the question.

1
To go up against almost insurmountable odds,

Or back down and submit.

2
To be a virtuous being in pursuit of happiness,

Or a coward driven by fear.

3
To wield the sword of truth,

and cut down all unreason,

(Or to throw it into lake,

and hope someone finds it later.)

4
To stand for non-initiation of force,

Or to condone it with silent consent.

5
To live a life without real human connection and empathy,

Or to live in small, silent, subconscious fear of others.

6
To hold reason, evidence and truth above people,

Or to give up reason to be with the unreasonable.

7
To live up to one's ideals,

Or to back down and fall short of one's potential.

8
To realize that your time is limited,

Or to live a life of delusion.

9
There is no question really,

Just words and excuses to let you not see reality.

10
That your life is yours to live;
It can be awesome and all you want it to be;
But time is slipping away...
Rise up and live it!

This is an infinitely extendable poem. Feel free to add!!


Here's a talk (TED) by a Poet!

"We're all going to die — and poems can help us live with that."

Lucy: A Movie Review

A way overdue movie review for a movie most people probably aren't going to watch/rewatch now.

Lucy... the New Woman.

Directed by Luc Besson, this movie is reminiscent of the Fifth Element, the Professional and other action movies. There is more than enough action to go around, but there is more than meets the eye...

Plot Summary

Credits. A cell becomes 2 cells, then 4 cells, then 8 cells, doubling.

We open with an ape/chimp/monkey drinking from a river. A montage ensues taking us through the passage of time, of human progress from prehistoric to civilization to horse-drawn to modern Taipei.

A young woman, Lucy, is persuaded to be a drug mule. She gets the drugs inserted into her abdomen before being sent to another country. Unfortunately, she is intercepted by a rival gang, where she gets beaten up. The package in her abdomen rips open, and she begins to become superhuman. Overcoming her captors with extreme ease, she proceeds to take revenge on the drug gangs, informing the authorities of the situation.

While things cool down, she goes to contact a certain top expert (Morgan Freeman) in this field. She tells him she has "read all his research" and wants to know what is going to happen to her. He does not know. She tells him she knows that the drug CPH4 is slowly killing her.

So, she goes back to exacting revenge on the gangs, but this time, with the goal of retrieving all the other drugs. She finds that she needs it to survive.

Eventually, she meets the Expert, who has brought his fellow top-expert friends along (they look like bewildered dorks). They analyze the drug, while a firefight ensues outside, between the authorities and the gang who want their drugs back.

Eventually, the gang breaks through, after employing an anti-tank missile. The gang boss hangs there, his pistol aimed at Lucy. I can't think why he would do such a thing, but it seems to be important to the plot.

A time travel sequence brings Lucy backwards and forwards in space and time, as she appears to gain the ability to effortlessly manipulate space and time. Eventually, she returns to the room only to become this black goo that eats all the equipment in the room

The movie ends with the villains dead and a shiny, space-black flashdrive being created.

Analysis

Here are some truly significant excerpts I thought everyone who did/didn't watch the movie should know.

When cells grow in a hostile environment, they will choose immortality.
When cells grow in a friendly environment, they reproduce.

The Myth of 10% Brain usage

Are we really using 10% of the brain's neurons? No, that's just an urban myth. I'm thinking 10% potential sounds about right - my brain could be doing wildly awesome things, but only after the training and learning required to even comprehend such knowledge bases.

"One factor to rule them all" CPH4. For some, a growth hormone. For others, certain death from overdose.

The Role of Force

While most of the action (shooting and car-chases) are pretty much for entertainment, much of the brutality is there to shock. By that, I mean the hiding of drugs in the abdomen via surgery.

The Obsolete of the State

Before being tipped off by Lucy, drug enforcement officials are sitting around and basically ineffective. Their security measures are pretty useless too.

If you think about it, the only reason why drugs must be smuggled via such extreme means is because the drugs are illegal. Understanding this, Lucy was as much a victim of the State, as she was of the mafia-like drug gang.

Men are Useless

Yes, that's right. Feminism is everywhere. Every man are absolutely and totally useless. The cops, all men, are only good for killing the criminals, who are also, all men. The "top scientists" of all fields are men, but all are incompetent jaw-droppers in the face of almighty Lucy. Lucy's sidekicks all want her sexually, but Lucy is like this asexual organism.

If women were given the treatment the men are given, the movie would never be made. When men are treated this way, most men have no problems with it.

2001:A Space Odyssey

Honestly, I can never cease to be amazed at how many tributes to 2001:A Space Odyssey are in remotely sci-fi, philosophical movies. Lucy is uncannily similar to 2001 in plot and visual metaphor.

The Matrix

Anonymous agents perfectly dressed in black suits? Uploading yourself into any screen or electronic device? Downloading skills and information at will? The bending of reality?

The violent, deceptive Win-Lose world. The Win-Win world evolves out of the Win-Lose cut-throat world. Technology grows out of it. That's the story of the human race, for now. What is done with the technology determines whether we boom or bust.

Integration. 

The Singularity, achievable by recognizing fully human potential. It is not machines who will cause the Singularity, but human beings aided by machines.

The meaning of life

In a voice over at the beginning of the film we hear "Life was given to us a billion years ago. What have we done with it?" At the film's conclusion another voice over tells us "Life was given to us a billion years ago. Now you know what you can do with it." 

At the end of her lifespan, she turns all her knowledge into a USB flashdrive and hands it to the scientists to help the world. The movie argues that the meaning of life is to realize you are part of a bigger whole, and so serving the world is the meaning of your life, and everybody's.

Internet of EVERYTHING

Download any skill, all of every kind of science. Hardwork all nonsense now. Beat the experts of different fields within a few seconds, by somehow reading everything they ever published. Isn't that a modern, info-age notion of Enlightenment, as being able to process data and make decisions quickly.

Cell Mitosis, Cell Integration. Monoliths.

Cells separate, and specialize as a human being grows. Eventually though, the film makes the argument that self-actualization is achieved by becoming whole again.

Deux Ex Machina. You know exactly what's going to happen the moment she starts evolving...10%...20%...30%...40%... so on ... 100%. You know no bullet can touch her.

Digital Immortality, if you so choose to accept it.

In the end, Lucy becomes this organic supercomputer that proceeds to consume all the other computers in the room, before creating a USB flashdrive to store all that she had learnt. She then ceases to be a physical form, turning the screens to "I am everywhere". 

Which reminds me of... the starchild at the end of 2001.

Transcending physical existence is one of those things that only movies and art can do. The movie makers have full control of the "reality" on screen, its space and time... and even your mind. You may not be conscious of all the details, but your unconscious is affected... all the time. As the name "unconscious" goes, you are

Think it Through Critically, or Be Subconsciously Programmed...

How I Solved a 10-year old Insecurity in Less Than 5 Minutes

Dear Reader(s), 

This article may change the way you see me, past, present and future. I hope you get something out of it.

Cheers,

Eugene.

Problem

I have an insecurity.

I have always had a fear of being alone.

- Darkness

- Friends leaving.

- Being picked up late back in school.

- Socializing.

- Friends not texting back.

It's a terrible burden that has sapped energy.

Change

OK, it took 5-7 years to build up to this. But 5 minutes max was all it took to understand and uproot this. Some remnants could still exist, but as of today, none have been discovered or attributed to this.

Trigger

Long story short, I am sitting at the office OTing one night, feeling very productive but kinda lonely. So I talked about Kumon with a friend. He talks about flushing Kumon papers and coming up with all kinds of excuses not to do them (eg. down the toilet, throwing them in the trash). I realized I was always the good student and did all the Kumon, even if it meant overtime. (Overtime at age 7 lol.)

And then out of nowhere, I made a connection. The loneliness of OT was the same as the loneliness experienced by the younger me, all those times when I was picked up late, in detention, etc.

Change

• Realizing the emotionally significant experiences, going as far back as possible: 
• Childhood: Since kindergarten, my caregivers kept being late coming over. I waited for hours. It was bad enough to see everyone else gone home, or out to play and not being able to join. I felt abandoned. On top of this, I had separate issues about social anxiety, which only multiplied its effects. 
• Early Childhood: Left in daycare center. For whatever reason, I can only recall short segments.
• "It's not my fault." (or "It's not your fault"):
• The realization that there is no inherent defect in me, that my issue is caused by certain external factors outside my control. 
• The realization that I am paying for the bad decisions of some people. 
• Because it is caused by external factors in the past, I see my freedom, power to choose.
• HOWEVER, stopping here would create another problem called "Victim Mentality". So...
• Self-reaffirmation
• I have done very well given this. 
• Purpose: Inoculates against self-criticism.
• "I am actually very different.": 
• Links my best work, experiences, happiness. 
• Gather up all my finest moments.
• The things I can have and do without this issue.
• What will I do differently from now on?
• Solving a major hurdle is kinda useless, if I didn't then move forwards.
• What is my new vision? 
• Redefine all relationships as mutually-supportive and never due to loneliness.
• What is the underlying "human nature"? To what extent are humans "social animals"?
• Curiosity, Rational research needed.

Aftermath

Before this, I had an immense issues dealing with loneliness. 

Now, I have less than 10% of the original. I used to wait for people to respond on whatsapp, watch their last seen time/date. It also made it very difficult to actually sit down and do individual work, because I feared being alone. Now I don't care anymore, except for matters of business urgency. 

I used to feel isolated, lonely and homesick. Now, I can feel almost none of it, simply because I expect to feel isolated, lonely and homesick and don't have any of it anymore. It's a strange feeling, like opening my eyes after a good night's sleep. As my mind synchronizes, the remaining anxiety are disappearing.

Considering myself as an introvert, I did well independently, but as I grew up and went through the "socialization phases", the issue began to affect me. I had to be out and always doing something with others. Sometime, it became hard to stay put and focused on hard stuff. This affected my university grades. 

I can only wonder where I would be now, if I didn't have this issue, or had it resolved early on.

I have come home, wherever I am. 

And ahead of time. I'd hate to be going through this during a mid-life crisis in my 40s. For that I'll be ever grateful.

Impact

As far as I can tell, I have met many with similar anxieties (who have no idea). Logically, these issues will persist forever or are patched, until one fixes them. Over the course of a lifetime, they can be a massive drain on happiness, satisfaction and productivity. 

Most people need to be seriously affected to seek help with their bugs. Ironically, this means that people who have milder forms, or are adept at coping with or avoid the bug, may have less incentive to figure it out and tolerate these bugs for longer. 

Why should people fix their bugs completely, no matter what? 

• Murphy's Law. Because bugs always come back to haunt them. At the worst times possible.
• All bugs persist until the day they are fixed, or the host dies. All bugs are lifetime max-security prison sentences. 
• You will live better. Most bugs sap mental energy.
• Able to discover your intrinsic motivation. Issues prevent motivation, cause procrastination. "What do you want?". 
• For other people. So that the world has less assholes, less violence. So that you can bring the best to the world. Many issues cause negative feelings towards others. No, that's an understatement. Why are people supporting violence against others, which is completely morally insane?
• So that the world can change.

Work. Could this prevent one from moving forwards? Do unresolved issues prevent an increase in performance? 

Relationships? What can an attachment disorder do to a relationship? How many relationships have not worked because of insecurities? Could this lead one to stay in a bad relationship? Ever heard of the slang "Clingy Girlfriend"? 

Old age? What happens when one's kids are gone and one is in a nursing home or hospital? Could this be a cause of senior depression?

Denialism is common, possibly due to ignorance,defense mechanisms. "I am no problems!" is the most frequently heard words spoken in group counselling sessions. Such people almost always have the most unresolved issues.

TakeAway

Resolving issues can be incredibly fast with the knowhow.

Self-therapy is easy.

Personal development can be completely free and open-source.

We are a few steps away from resolving issues. The problem is not "HOW?", but "WHY?".

A world with no government, no violence is 100% technically (psychologically, sociologically) feasible.

What to do about...Occupy Central - The Final Solution

This is the result of a lifetime (so far...) of experiences, critical thinking and research. However, it doesn't belong to me. It's there for all to see.

Update:

So it has come to this. Protesters, possibly agent provocateurs...possibly even a co-opted movement.
It's not an effective way to change. However, it seems the most logical for many, and so it will go on. It will run its course, wherever that may lead.

This is the solution as I see it.

Assumptions:
Initiation of Force is morally wrong, for any reason.
Morality is fundamentally based on non-aggression principle.
Non-aggression principle is a universal, natural necessity for any social group, and hence desired for all humans coexisting.

• Proof: Pro-aggression principle would mean everybody must destroy everybody else immediately. For groups to form means some are not attacking. Attacking destroys group, so the only way a group exists is through non-aggression principle. Apply the same concept to property & stealing.

The state has legal monopoly over the Initiation of Force.
The initiation of force is against the non-aggression principle and immoral.
Hence the state is immoral.

The state can change its image, but that does not change its definition.
If one works for the state, then one is working for an immoral cause.
This is the original sin that poisons all the morally-good deeds state agencies do do.

Building freedom starts from early childhood.
Every experience, every habit, belief, attitude builds on previous memory. So one must go back chronologically to find the root cause of every behavior.
Teach children that you don't initiate force to get what you want. It is wrong.
That means parents and adults don't initiate any kind of force against kids, for any reason. It's that simple.

Teach kids HOW to think, to be confident.
Don't need to teach WHAT to think. A rational, whole mind exposed to irrationality will see it for what it is. The mind will come to the logical conclusion, which has a tendency to always be constant.

When most people have minds like this, a kind of herd immunity will arise that protects the rest, but eliminates the disease. The rest can then grow.


How will we reach this new utopia naturally and WITHOUT any Initiation of Force?
Thinking rationally, rethinking, challenging, viewing concepts with new eyes!
Acting upon those rational thoughts.
Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Technology.


How will we actually reach this utopia?
Technology.
Economic instability. This encourages/rewards people who taking risks in investment, spending. All good for new stuff.
Startups. Imagine multiple times the number of startups now solving all sorts of problems, with almost everybody involved.
Alternative currencies, markets, medicine, therapy, distributed communications.
Social networking. (Continuously evolving. Free from the ground up.)
Massive "population explosion" with AIs through a series of open-source AI breakthroughs. (Unpredictable timeframe.) Humans would face very stiff competition from highly scalable, rapidly growing, effectively immortal beings with mental abilities far exceeding our own.


How can we fail? Why is it Urgent?
Science, technology  are double-edged swords.
All the tech created to control, destroy indiscriminately is catching up with us...Eg. AI, advanced analytics, spy tech, military, psychological techniques. Our power to initiate force vastly outmatches our power to love and think.
Something big will happen sooner or later...Eg. world war, major financial disasters, public hysteria.
If you as an individual conscious entity dies. (Humanity doesn't fail, you just don't get to see the good results :) )


Who will win?
The rational side will, eventually. The question is how quickly - in our lifetime would be AWESOME!
Humanity, historically speaking has been getting more rational. For most of history, I'm not sure humans even understood reason, evidence, philosophy.
If you consider all possibilities, this is the only fate that matters. Tyranny, dark ages...that just means we haven't quite evolved fully yet. Nuclear extinction, asteroids...not much can be done if it really happens. Dismissed!


How many people?
Millions at least (Libertarians, all sorts of fringe groups).
Growing exponentially (Nature of social media and a persistent, rational message).
Information absorbed into public consciousness, becoming public knowledge...effectively permanent. (Who hasn't heard of "childhood trauma"? Insecurities? PTSD? Counselling? Don't hit children? Homeschooling?)

Nobody knows. Probably more than most would think.


How soon?
Unpredictable. Some places may reach this state faster than others.
Conservatively, give it a generation or two.
Throw in some accompanying socioeconomic changes and the changes are huge and getting bigger exponentially.



What can you do?
You know how Christians spread the Gospel?
Just spread the word any opportunity you get. Be persistent.
Christianity, Rome were not built in a day.


Can this all be wrong?
Oh, of course.
Feel free to present your arguments! :)



Tangents:

Could sentient alien life have reached this?
Probably. The non-aggression principle is quite universal. At some point, they are going to have to do this, or the technology they created was going to consume them.


Is this what 2001: A Space Odyssey is about?
Possibly. Man (Dave Bowman) must use his brain, body and off-the-shelf tech to overcome tech, manipulation and untruths, or be consumed. When Man does overcome them, he attains some sort of enlightenment.

Man is in the vacuum of the airlock, without gravity. He has precious seconds to shut out the deadly void of space, turn the air on, get gravity. Once that is done, it will all work out. But this is the crucial step.


A work in progress...

IPhone 6: The Sexiest, Most Insightful iPhone Ever

To 炒 or not to 炒, that is the question.

From the moment I knew IPhone 6/6 Plus were up for grabs, my world has changed completely. I believe things I would not have believed just a week or two ago.

First, came the shock.

I was reading the news one morning. It had hit main news.

What? China blocking iPhone sales for national security reasons?

Next came the price estimates. Rationally, I knew it was highly lucrative and you really couldn't lose. Emotionally, I felt it was kind of wrong in some way. I'm sure many minds have gone through this cognitive dissonance.

Is it moral? Is it OK?

I argue that it is not only moral and rational, but a great thing to do... on 2 reasons.

• Why are we even doing this? Because the Chinese authorities has decided that if it says iPhones are banned, then people will stop wanting them. This in itself is immoral, because seizure, fines and detention violates the IoF criteria.
• The simple law of supply and demand requires that prices go up when demand far outgrows supply.
• Providing goods that the market wants and you will get a reward. This is a moral thing to do.
• Defying immorality is part of being moral. 

Non-religious folk seem to be very happy with the opportunity to make a quick and significant buck. The Christians I know are somewhat divided. 

The Pro Camp

• It has nothing to do with sin. (Kind of weak. What if you can look at it as a god-given opportunity?)

The Anti Camp

• Greed!!! You people are greedy!!!
• Idol-worshippers!!! Arrr!
• Be content with what you have.
• Boycott FoxConn!!!

Perhaps the most fun I've had, besides having a go at the iPhone draws and speed contests, is convincing people with hang-ups that the situation is simply not due to some flaw in "human nature" (eg. Greed, envy, idol-worship) but an entirely reasonable response to an unreasonable market barrier. And as for FoxConn, I think the Anti(s) have a point, although Foxconn does seem to make too many electronics to effectively avoid.

For the hardliners though, I reserved a joke I remember from long ago...

A priest is trapped on a roof with a few other people by a flood. The water is rising fast. 

A boat floats past. 

"Get onboard", the skipper says.

"No, I am waiting for God to save me.", the priest signs and prays.

Eventually, it gets too dangerous and the boat leaves with the other survivors.

A lifeline is thrown.

"Hook onto it and let's go!", the firefighters shout, across the raging floodwaters.

"No, I am waiting for God to save me.", the priest signs and prays.

The firefighters move on.

A helicopter swoops in.

"Get in the basket and we'll winch you to safety!", the loudspeakers boomed a pilots voice.

"No, I am waiting for God to save me. I'm sure he will come", the priest signs and prays.

The helicopter move on to other cases.

Soon after, the roof collapses and the priest is swept away, dies and goes to heaven. 
The priest asks God, "Why didn't you come?? :(". God replies, "I did. I sent the boat, lifeline and helicopter."

Moment of Truth

It was always a game to me. Up until the moment when I somehow became the first person in my office to successfully places orders, it was all fun and suspense. Then it happened, and I realized I had to make a choice. Looking side to side and realizing how lucky I was to get in so quickly, I decided to go through with the order and check it all out.

Envy

Envy...it's all over the place. You try posting good results on your whatsapp peer group and people will start getting envious. I have felt that too.

Envy is a pretty composite emotion. It's partly just being happy for the other person and partly jealous. It's cognitive dissonance. Envy is the unconscious awareness of discrepancy and dissonance between self and "other" even though "other" is more a fantasy than a real person. 

Envy arises when one compares oneself to others. That leads to a few questions...

• Why compare yourself to others?
• What can you learn from having this envy?

The first question has an obvious answer - insecurity. You are not sure you will get what you need. This could be due to past experience and various beliefs one holds about money and life.

The second question is more open-ended. I learnt a few things. 

I learnt that I had subconscious lobby groups that felt I was not being pro-active enough. (I never intended to buy any in the beginning.) At the critical moment of iPhone6 or iPhone6Plus, I went for the iPhone6s 16GB. It turned out very well, actually.

I learnt I had been assimilated into HK young culture... from the first day of HKUST, I felt there was a lot of "beat your peers", "beat the mean!". When I felt I was falling behind, it made me feel envy. Envy leads to more envy.

I learnt that I could be more decisive and play the game harder.

I learnt that there are way more rational, clever people out there.

To Conclude

When God gives you iPhones, make your iProfit!

Cheers!

What to do about ... Occupy Central

I think there are a few points everybody should understand.

• You have influence of the government to the degree where it is convenient for the government to listen. That means you either play small and try to be convenient, OR you play so big, the powers-that-be would rather do what you want. Playing big is kind of hard if you are playing on their turf, that is, anything physical... including sitting-ins, strikes, etc.

• Government is initiation of force. If you get hit, arrested or worse, it's what is natural. You don't cry "Tiger Brutality!" if you get your arm eaten by a tiger...it's just its nature. 

• How can you know that the above? 
• Try not paying your taxes! Eventually you end up in prison. Physically refuse and you might end up with worse.
• All that a government does is use your tax money for other things, programs, democratic elections etc. There's no need to consider the morality/nature/cost/benefits of the programs, when its very source is the initiation of force. 

What is the best move?

• You want to make an impact? Do anything related to kids. I personally go to 2 volunteering activities every week. I play with kids, help the shy ones socialize and have fun and most importantly, I educate the parents every moment I get. I tell them the truth - 
• Kids don't choose their parents. Nobody chose their parents. Some have great childhoods, others take on problems that hurts them all their lives. You on the other hand, can be a better parent.
• Never raise your voice, period.
• Never hit anyone, especially not children.
• Always talk to them, about everything. Always listen attentively. Listen, and children will pour their heart out to you. 

Children become adults, but carry their baggage with them until it is removed. Adults for the most part, have too much scar tissue, defenses. This makes them hard to change at a deeper level.

Change the kids, and HK will change... before you know it. :)

Update:

So it has come to this. Protesters, possibly agent provocateurs...
It's not an effective way to change. However, it is the most logical, and so it will go on.

Assumption:
Initiation of Force is morally wrong, for any reason.

The state has legal monopoly over the Initiation of Force.
The initiation of force is against the non-aggression principle and immoral.
Hence the state is immoral.

The state can change its image, but that does not change its definition.
If one works for the state, then one is working for an immoral cause.
This is the original sin that poisons the good deeds state agencies do do.

Building freedom starts from the very beginning.
Teach children that you don't initiate force to get what you want. It is just wrong.
That means parents and adults don't initiate any kind of force against kids, for any reason. It's that simple.

Teach kids to think for themselves, to be confident.
No specific education is necessary. A rational, whole mind exposed to irrationality will see it for what it is. The mind will come to the logical conclusion.

How will we reach this new utopia naturally?
Thinking rationally, acting upon those rational thoughts.
Startups.
Alternative currencies.

Give it a generation or two. Throw in some accompanying movements and the changes are going to be huge.

How does viewing Facebook feeds make you feel?

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/08/29/2147248/study-social-networks-have-negative-effect-on-individual-welfare

To me, Facebook is a happy, inspiring place. Yes, I would still rather they don't mine the data, analyze my posts/behavior, but most Facebook posts are fairly inspiring in some way.

But I can definitely see how one could become sad, envious, jealous. Comparing oneself to others and then feeling inadequate. That would make most people unhappy.

I have been there. To the people still there, I want to say,

"It's OK. It means you haven't found what truly makes you happy, gives you well-being and meaning, makes you feel you can achieve anything. Because when you find it, nothing out of someone else's life can make you envious, jealous. I did a record time running up to the Peak. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything else. OK, except for, maybe, a few safe skydives. But even if I see someone skydive, I know I can and will too, someday. :)"

"As for personal attacks and discrimination, those can be dismissed immediately on sight, because they are always without reason and evidence."

What do you think when you read Facebook?

What's going on on wikipedia?

F-Secure: Xiaomi Smartphones Do Secretly Steal Your Data

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/14/08/09/220243/f-secure-xiaomi-smartphones-do-secretly-steal-your-data

XiaoMi data grab confirmed?

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17

What a tragedy. And you know what's sad? You may never know the truth. You will forget it, before you know it.

Remember TWA Flight 800? Talk about coincidence. July 17th, 1996.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800

The most probable cause:
It doesn't matter what the exact cause is. Someone could have been too trigger-happy, or someone deliberately shot it down, or it was misidentified - it doesn't matter.

What's a crazy theory?
That MH17 is MH370, complete with all its passengers. Right, then how about all the crying relatives? Or the airport people who saw them board?

What we know:
Think about it. Do you really know anything about it?

Everything we're getting is secondary information. Anything goes. Even mutual accusations. A rational human would realize this and believe nothing.

Optimum move:
Let the public awareness die down naturally. Expect people not to see why it happens. It took just a few months for MH370 to be forgotten. Exploit for propaganda purposes to fullest extent possible. People will believe what they wish to believe, or what they fear is true.

What we can expect:
Nobody admit or deny it. Neither is not politically advantageous.
Every side will use the incident to support their position.
At least a side will try to make evidence impossible to use.

What to learn:
The art and science of killing people has been perfected to an extreme degree. Combine that with government monopoly on Initiation of Force and this is how it will go wrong. Allow a government to support a related organization with weapons and you have many landmines waiting to go off.

We should all assume we are being manipulated.

Once you realize this, you realize there is no immediate solution to ending wars, conflicts, dirty politics, etc.

What you can do:

Don't be a victim. It sucks to be a victim. People will write RIP FB posts and then forget about you in a week. It will be as if you have never lived.

Stay far, far away from conflict zones. There will always be victims, but it doesn't have to be you. I thought about vacationing to Iran, but decided against it for cost and security issues. There are other interesting places to go.

Be prepared. Most disasters are actually very survivable.

Stay informed. See something, say something. There is a dimension to this mess that we do have control, and that's information.

Impressive AR Climbing Wall

http://gizmodo.com/augmented-reality-climbing-walls-turn-mountaineering-in-1609640162

Future climbers will be so much better. It is now far easier to visualize the climbing routes. Building route planning skills is now so much easier. Gamification allows climbers to repeat difficult moves until perfection.

It's clearer than ever, that with adequate time commitment, anyone can become a master climber.

Transformers 4: Not what it seems to be

After enjoying the movie with friends, my brain began to spin up.

1. What are the morals of the story?
2. Are there any hidden subplots? If so, what are they?
3. Are there any agendas?

2 & 3 are pretty much related.

Family

I believe that at its heart, Transformers is about dysfunctional families, coming together and experiencing what "family" is like. "Family", as in a military sense, like a "Band of Brothers", with all the emotional bonds.

Family is the elephant in the room.
Family...
is what almost all the characters do not have. Both the girlfriend and boyfriend don't have complete families, or good parents.
is what the AutoBots provide (however, comedic they seem.)
is what makes people strong.

The movie is not directly advocating for whole families. Instead, it's more about the connection. When people are connected, they can do anything.

Men

Basically, Men drive the show. Women help out, but it's really about the men. The tech entrepreneur, the male-sounding robots, the male villains, the agents, the soldiers, the police. And it's not even sexist.

When you put it together, I think it's about the impact the choices men make have on the world. When they choose to be evil, they are really committing IoFs against other males first. They'll be IoFs against females as blackmail, or if they get in the way. There is a kind of biological instinct to eliminate male competition first, and to get the females on your side..

There's a lot of truth to this.

Government

Governments are so inept in the world of Transformers it's hilarious. Whether it's Chicago, somewhere in Texas or in Quarry Bay, government agencies are always one step behind...except when they are committing an IoF or doing something illegal. And when US agents try operating in HK, they get their a** kicked by a random Chinese guy in the lift!

Or what about the dealings with space aliens. The US try to play them off against each other, but suffer blowback when the "allies" have had it with government inefficiencies. At the cosmic scale, government is like a helpless playground bully flailing, trying to get a grip on its people.

Of course, it's still a very dangerous game. The main characters spend most of their time and energy running away from the state and hoping to prove their innocence, besides simultaneously trying to save the world.

Heroes

How many anime/comics enthusiasts wouldn't want a real life action hero to fly out of the blue and rescue them? It's like the best fantasy ever!

Movies like TF4 feed on this. That's partly why people watch them.

Out of suspended disbelief, we know there are no such superheroes in reality. Indulging in fantasies and worshiping non-existent beings makes one weak and oblivious to what it really takes to win.

Transformium

At first, I thought transformium was one way to show off the SFX. Which it does brilliantly.
But deeper, it seems to be about how information rules the physical world.

When you take away the AutoBot heroes, you realize how helpless the little man is, in a world where technology and information supersedes the biological beings, even the creators. An obvious example of this is the quirky entrepreneur is really being controlled by Galvetron.

Robots

In the movie, robots are insanely powerful. Amazingly, the most destructive militaries on the planet cannot deal with them. Now, movies are about suspended disbelief, but this is just downright ridiculous.

Why this? Whether it's true or not, Hollywood believes that technology works for those who are most innovative AND resourceful. Technology can be used as a weapon, passively and actively.

Combine it with...

Might makes Right

The most common of Hollywood themes. The good guys somehow overcome overwhelming odds and save the day, sometimes with tech, sometimes without tech. When it's without tech, more disbelief needs to be suspended and people are supposed to go "That's so cool, as in military cool, like how blowing stuff up is cool". When it's with tech, people are supposed to go WOW at the gadgets and become inspired by it. Either way, the movies are trying to sell stuff. And the idea that might makes right. How animalistic, for a movie selling high-tech consumer products/military hardware.

You know the good guys are always going to win

You knew that, didn't you?

Yeah, what's the deal here?

Trivia

Did you know one of the AutoBots is voiced by John DiMaggio, the Voice of Bender (Futurama)?

Conclusion

Transformers is a lie!

I'm not sure if you picked up on these consciously. If you did, good for you. Now you can go deprogram yourself. If not, you can always choose to ignore everything you read here.

To be continued...

Re:Re:Re:On Violence

"... ... My reservation for your Initiation of Force (IoF) concept is that it is widespread in nature. There are food chains and animals hunting other animals, and this process is inherently violent. Given this occurs all the time, I would hesitate to consider all of these IoF to all be immoral."

Yay! Great argument!

I should change it to "IoF by a human against other humans is immoral." We are, after all, talking about human morality.

Thanks for the bug report!

Below are some other approaches to the problem.

---

So the problems are "Are all IoFs immoral? What about animals hunting OTHER animals? Why are humans different from other animals?"

Questioning 

Is it reasonable to apply human morality to non-humans? From bacteria to the whole universe we call "nature"?

You can't communicate with them, so what's the point? For the civil engineer in you, have you tried to talk a hill out of making landslides onto the road? Lecture it about human morality? No, you reinforce the slope and prevent it - self-defense against slopes.

So yes, it's immoral. And there's no choice but self-defense.

Naive

Do prey animals prefer to live or be eaten? No. Do I prefer harmful bacteria giving me a cold? Not particularly.

So is it immoral? Yes. It's no different from human murder, assault, robbery.

Should we stop it? Can you? No. What would you do...imprison all the tigers? :) It does feel good for everyone involved to save creatures from the slaughter though.

What about humans killing other animals?
This is the most telling of all the cases. Why do we kill other animals? For food, for hunting,... We haven't been able to make more humane versions, so if we want meat, it's 'slaughter the cows' or don't eat beef. So in the strictest sense, it's immoral too. And as for hunting, that's still violence, just violence with far less consequences than hunting other humans.

Short

That's why we have morality to guide us and animals don't. Humans have far more choices and no biological guide about what to do with our lives. Some sense of morality also helps some organizations refrain from wiping the species out. Animals? Morality is inconsequential and pointless for them, as nature selection is their priority.

Cynical

Sure, if we want to end civilization as we know it and start hunting the weaker humans (Hunger Games!!!), why not? It would just be turning back thousands of years of human progress :)

Long

As Short Me said, that's why we NEED morality to LIVE, as a human society. Animals know what they have to do, since birth. Humans need love, care, parenting, education, skills, direction, a will to live. Babies fresh out of the womb have none of these things but need all of them to become fully functioning humans.

And to live together, we need morality. Actually, that's half-true, because the moment any group of humans come together, morality will arise naturally. Because we have choices. Should we shoot each other on sight, or trade, or work together? If we trade, how do we trade so that everyone gets what they want? Before you know it, you have to make decisions on what's moral.

Some moral codes allow some civilizations to do better than others overall. A city considers armed robbery illegal and tries the suspects will generally do better than another that considers armed robbery a nuisance, but does nothing about them. Why? Economics. The robbers would rush to rob the latter because it's more profitable!

That's an extreme case but I think you'll find examples everywhere, for all sorts of IoF. It's not even that IoFs are immoral, it's just not economical or people don't like it.

So let's say humans do become animals. Great. But even in survival situations where sadists or "mother nature" forces humans become animals, people WILL work together or against each other. Morality arises again.

Animal Me

Even animals have morality among themselves. It's good for passing down the genes. I wonder where it came from, but they would just not do very well without something like this.

- Don't eat all the offspring and family! (obvious)
- Kill the prey! Don't cannibalize (unless you have to)!
- Breed as much as possible!
- Take care of offspring. (Parenting species)

Humans on the other hand, generally don't just want to pass down the genes. We have way more choices than that. So we have different rules.

Conclusion

All IoF is immoral and the victims don't like it(By definition), but morality is important to the degree in which the agent have choices and consequences. Telling the cat to stop eating mice is pointless. But telling a kid to not eat other kids may help - he has the capacity to understand that nobody would play with a kid-eater, and the ability to override feral instincts and eat something else. Without choice, human morality doesn't simply become useless or inapplicable, the whole phenomenon just doesn't occur.

"Widespread in nature"... doesn't make it moral by human morality. Rather, it just means that animal nature doesn't care about human morality. No, animals aren't even an active part of humanity that the phenomenon of morality arose from. Well, except as resources. It also precedes any humans or morality by millions of years.

Morality as described here arises naturally, then people try to write it down as best they can. But actions, moral/immoral/inconsequential-morally, have consequences for us. That's why it's worth studying.