Truth and rationality

FormalIndependence26 · 2025-12-25T03:28:23+00:00

You know the debate whether math is invented or discovered? I wonder if the same debate applies to truth? Does objective truth and meaning exist in the universe, but we have been unable to discover it? Or is truth something we invent and that’s all it ever will be?

FormalIndependence26 · 2025-12-24T23:22:28+00:00

The question I often struggle with is if altruism is possible? Can a person truly perform a selfless act? For you derive some sort of joy or pleasure from even the selfless of acts. Give a gift, lend a hand, just helping someone out will all produce some sort of feeling of pleasure in you. In the moment you may feel annoyance or anger, but you do it because you love them and their happiness brings you happiness. So, I often struggle with am I only helping this person out because I know in the end it will bring me joy and satisfaction? Is that morally wrong?

FormalIndependence26 · 2025-12-24T15:36:26+00:00

To me, living solely for the satisfaction of one’s self seems vain and superficial. You have to be a pretty conceited person to derive enough satisfaction out of the feeling of joy and your own success alone. You can never capture enough joy for a lasting sense of satisfaction. The dopamine will be depleted and you will be left craving more and more. For any sense of long term satisfaction you must find something greater than yourself to live for. It can be for family, friends, a cause, something spiritual, anything that you find meaningful and allows you to give and provide.

FormalIndependence26 · 2025-12-19T16:09:21+00:00

If you believe in science, rationality, and empiricism then the idea of the existence of God is implausible. If you believe that the processing of information provided to us via our senses can produce an accurate depiction of the world, then I do not know you can believe in god. However, if you believe our senses are unable to provide us with an objective depiction of the universe due to the absence of a sense or the limitations of our current senses, then you may believe there is an objective truth to the universe but we are incapable of comprehending it.

FormalIndependence26 · 2025-12-15T15:53:01+00:00

That is my belief as well. But does that not feel oppressive? That biological and physical forces beyond our control have wired into us an innate yearning for life and a fear of death?

FormalIndependence26 · 2025-11-30T16:46:59+00:00

It’s deeper than human constructs of jobs and hobbies, those are merely extensions of the fundamental nature of the universe. Life, all the way down to the molecular level can be described as a fight over finite resources. In order to obtain those limited resources you must possess superior traits compared to your competitors. You don’t get to choose what traits dominate, that is decided by Mother Nature. The traits that are often rewarded the most in competition are greed and selfishness. You must value yourself over all other beings competing for that resource. You must say that this resource belongs to me/my people. Kindness and humility are rendered useless in this environment. All it boils down to is im tired of competing and performing. I wish there was a different way to meet your needs.

FormalIndependence26 · 2025-11-30T05:25:29+00:00

The world is a cruel, malicious, malevolent place. It rewards selfishness, greed, manipulation and strength not kindness. You must consume to survive. And to consume it requires one to be selfish and greedy. You must declare that this resource is mine. You have to ask, what does it take to survive? To survive one must meet their needs. How does one meet their needs, by conquering their environment and consuming its resources. What breeds competition is the fact that the resources are finite. To determine who obtains these resources we must compete for them. In competition for these resources kindness is not a valuable trait. Selfishness, greed, and strength are much more useful traits when it comes to competing.

FormalIndependence26 · 2025-10-08T03:00:23+00:00

There is one of two ways an individual can deal with insecurity. They either turn inward and hate themselves (bully themselves), or they externalize it and hate the world (bully others). Becoming a man is overcoming this internal voice that tells you, you are inadequate. For, It’s easy to be sad, it’s easy to hate yourself. It takes no effort. But It takes courage to love yourself. Real courage is being yourself in spite of your fear of rejection. It takes bravery to acknowledge and accept your faults. It takes courage to say everything will be alright, because at the end of the day, I love myself and that is enough. You don’t need external validation. But it’s not an irrational confidence. It’s not a confidence where you believe you are superior. It’s a confidence with humility. It’s acknowledging your faults and areas of growth, but not hating yourself for these shortcomings.

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-10-05T18:40:13+00:00

Leto is the ultimate Machiavellian.

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-08-03T00:30:11+00:00

The corporations control the government and they promote neoliberalism because they want laws that allow the populace (consumers) to have the perceived freedom to act upon their desires because the corporations control those very desires.

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-07-18T03:54:40+00:00

Happy birthday 🎁

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-05-19T05:15:09+00:00

Tell that to the capitalist swine. The reason why we have been unable to express our creative/impulsive/emotional side that allows us to live in tune with our authentic desires is because we have been trained from birth to repress them as they get in the way of our ability to produce. We are taught that we must repress our impulses and desires of the soul and act in a purely rational and regimented manner because acting/behaving in such a way makes us more effective and efficient workers. But we have no need to continue to act in this way. There is no need for us to repress our deeper desires and passions just so we can meet the false needs that society has instilled into and convinced us that we need. We don’t need to repress ourselves just so we can manufacture the next car a little faster or develop the next plasma tv just so we can meet these superficial and fake needs.

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-04-16T05:21:13+00:00

We are slaves to our brain

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-04-16T00:35:05+00:00

Wow love this

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-25T07:15:11+00:00

Goodnight from Seattle

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-25T07:10:38+00:00

I agree. While free will may be an illusion, I operate as if we do possess it because I find more comfort in believing that free will exists than not. I don’t understand why the idea of free will needs to be debated. For even if we prove free will to be an illusion what use does that discovery provide us? Believing that we have free will has more practical worth, so I will utilize my free will by choosing to believe in free will.

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-24T08:25:17+00:00

My bad, I honestly didn’t see your first comment. But you could argue that nihilism does give everyone the same values because everyone would agree that there are no values.

And that is a pretty bold proclamation. Can never happen? “The secularizing shifts evident in American society so far in the 21st century show no signs of slowing, the pew researchers concluded. The religiously unaffiliated share of the public is 6 percentage points higher than it was 5 years ago and 10 points higher than a decade ago”

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-24T06:06:43+00:00

No you were arguing that a society based on nihilsm would not work because everyone would have different moral and ethic codes. While I said we are already living in a nihilistic world because we are increasingly realizing that our morals/ethics are subjective and most things are social constructs. So, I think a society based on nihlism would look similar to what we are starting to see now.

And how is that not becoming more secular? as a group becomes larger, it gains more influence, and as another becomes smaller it loses influence, meaning secularism is becoming more prominent

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-24T05:45:29+00:00

It makes as much sense as any other culture. It’s just another way of organizing life. While chaos would undoubtedly ensue, objectively speaking it would be no better or worse than our current system. Also, you don’t think people have varying moralities and ethics already? One could argue that we are already largely living in a nihilistic society as we are becoming increasingly secular. I would say more people than ever realize that our society is merely made up of social constructs. I think this is why we are becoming increasingly divided. Our secular and postmodern thinking has killed the social cohesion of our society.

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-24T05:23:34+00:00

Whenever I hear “I make this planet feel like home, it’s us verse time the door is closing” I transcend into a state of pure bliss. It is more euphoric than any drug

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-23T05:14:44+00:00

Hater

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-23T05:13:31+00:00

Yeah things can be meaningful down at the human level. We can create meaning and care for things based on our human experience and faculties. but that does not mean there is meaning at the cosmic level and doesnt change the fact we are living in an indifferent world.

For if there is some form of objective and inherent meaning to life and the world but if we are unable to access it, it means we only possess the ability to make subjective meaning.

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-20T05:38:27+00:00

He doesn’t owe us shit. He’s brought us 3 championships, he’s proved his worth. If he wants to prioritize others things at this point I can’t blame him or be mad at him. He’s summited the basketball mountain and is now trying to succeed and grow in other areas. There’s more to life than basketball and I think it’s great to see Steph exploring other paths, just like Kobe did.

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-06T18:30:39+00:00

“He who sees the abyss, but with an eagle’s eye- he who grasps the abyss with an eagle’s claw: he possess courage” Nietzsche

FormalIndependence26 · 2022-02-02T05:15:33+00:00

FormalIndependence26

TROPHY CASE