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.