"The devil does not hunt after those who are lost. He hunts after those who are aware, those who are close to God. He takes those who are aware, those who are close to God. He takes from them trust in God and begins to afflict them with self-assurance, logic, thinking, and criticism. Therefore we should not trust our logical minds. Never believe your thoughts. Live simply and without thinking too much, like a child with his father. Faith without too much thinking works wonders. The logical mind hinders the grace of God and miracles. Practice patience without judging with the logical mind. We ought always to be careful and in constant hesitation about whether things are really as we think. For when someone is constantly occupied with his thoughts and trusts in them the devil will manage things in such a way that he will make the man evil, even if by nature he was good." - Unknown
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a. Com·mand·ments - noun - a divine rule, especially one of the Ten Commandments.
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Bertrand Russell’s Ten Commandments:
1) Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2) Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3) Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
4) When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5) Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6) Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7) Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8) Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9) Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10) Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness
Old Testament - 10 Commandments (Decalogue) per Exodus 20 KJV:
1) You shall have no other Gods before me
2) You shall not make for yourselves an idol
3) You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God
4) Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
5) Honor your father and your mother
6) You shall not murder
7) You shall not commit adultery
8) You shall not steal
9) You shall not give false testimony
10) You shall not covet
New Testament - Two Greatest Commandments per Matthew 22:37-40 KJV:
1) Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
2) Love thy neighbor as thyself -> Give love to yourself and your neighbors
b. Cre·dos - noun - a statement of the beliefs which guide someone's actions.
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Bureaucrat's credo - I cause change therefore I am.
c. Di·a·lec·tics - noun - a discourse between people holding different points of view wishing to establish the truth through argumentation. Dialectic resembles debate, but the concept excludes subjective elements such as emotional appeal and rhetoric.
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Hegelian dialectic - philosophy an interpretive method in which the contradiction between a proposition (thesis) and its antithesis is resolved at a higher level of truth (synthesis). Thesis / Antithesis / Synthesis -or- Problem / Reaction / Solution. Thesis - "terror" event (real or fake). Antithesis - increased policing. Synthesis - removal of freedoms and transfer of control & power. Also related to Ordo Ab Chao - The motto of the 33rd degree of Freemasonry. Latin for 'Order from (out of) Chaos.' Could also be realted to Solve et Coagula - Comes from a medieval alchemy Latin for separate and join together. Nothing new can be built if not before we make space, breaking the old. Also, Baphomet has solve (dissolve/destroy/separate) and coagula (coagulate/create/join together) tattood on each arm.
d. Di·lem·mas - noun - a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially equally undesirable ones.
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Triffins dilemma - If the United States stops running balance of payments deficits, the international community would lose its largest source of additions to reserves. The dollar's reserve currency role exacerbates the U.S. current account deficit due to heightened demand for dollars.
e. Dis·a·gree·ments - noun - Graham’s Hierarchy of Disagreement is an informal ranking of seven common strategies of dissent; from low-quality forms of disagreement to the highest-quality ones.
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1) refuting the central point - explicitly refutes the central point
2) refutation - finds the mistake and explains why it's mistaken using quotes
3) counterargument - contradicts and then backs it up with reasoning and/or supporting evidence
4) contradiction - states the opposing case with little or no supporting evidence
5) responding to tone - criticizes the tone of the writing without addressing the substance of the argument
6) ad hominem - attacks the authority of the writer without addressing the substance of the argument
7) name-calling - sounds something like, "You are an ass hat."
f. Ef·fects - noun - a change which is a result or consequence of an action or other cause.
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Cobra Effect - used when an attempted solution to a problem worsens the problem by unleashing unintended consequences. The name derives from a tale originating in Delhi, India. The government’s concern about rampant venomous cobras prompted them to offer a bounty for each dead snake. Although the strategy initially worked well, citizens began breeding cobras for income. When the government discovered what people were doing, they ended the bounty program. The cobra breeders, with worthless venomous snakes on their hands, set them free. Despite the best intentions, the solution made Delhi’s cobra problem worse.
Cosby Effect - The 80’s hit TV show ‘The Cosby Show’ was about a rich black family that depicted a married doctor and lawyer raising healthy and productive children. A few years later, there was a spike in enrollment of black youth in law and medical school.
Dunning–Kruger Effect - It comes from the inability of people to recognize their lack of ability. Without self-awareness, evaluating competence or the lack thereof can be challenging. Said differently, the more incompetent you are, the less you know your incompetence. Those least competent in a certain subject area overestimate their skills the most. Those most competent in a subject area think less of their own talents.
Epstein effect - Cameras always fail at the worst possible time.
Lindy Effect - theory that the future life expectancy of specific non-perishable items—like a technology or idea—is proportional to their age. Simply, the longer it has already lasted, the higher the likelihood it will continue to last.
Lil’ Wayne Effect - Corollary of Bill Cosby Effect. When degenerate rap music hit young black communities there was a spike in crime and school dropouts.
Streisand Effect - A social phenomenon that occurs when an attempt to hide, remove, or censor information has the unintended consequence of further publicizing that information, often via the internet.
g. Ex·per·i·ments - a scientific procedure to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a fact.
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Asch Experiment - "Subjects change their answers to align with the consensus, even though they knew they were wrong. Around one-third of people will either pretend to change their minds for the sake of conformity or, more alarmingly, will actually alter their beliefs if they find themselves in the minority. This is why staged or invented polls, falsified vote counts in elections, bot accounts on social media, astroturfing campaigns work. Media headlines proclaiming “everyone knows X” or “only 1% of people think Y”." - 5 Psychological Experiments That Explain The Modern World, Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,
Drowning Rats Psychology Experiment - Demonstrated the power of hope and resilience in overcoming difficult situations. "This reaction of hopelessness is shown by some wild rats very soon after being grasped in the hand and prevented from moving; they seem literally to ‘give up’. Support for the assumption that the sudden death phenomenon depends largely on emotional reactions to restraint or immersion comes from the observation that after elimination of the hopelessness the rats do not die. This is achieved by repeatedly holding the rats briefly and then freeing them, and by immersing them in water for a few minutes on several occasions. In this way the rats quickly learn that the situation is not actually hopeless; thereafter they again become aggressive, try to escape, and show no signs of giving up. Wild rats so conditioned swim just as long as domestic rats or longer.” - Curt Richter, Johns Hopkins professor
Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Experiment - In summary, if you offer people a small reward for doing something, they will pretend to enjoy it, or be otherwise invested, to justify only making a small profit. The Application: Casinos, computer games, and other interactive media use this principle all the time, offering players very little payoff, knowing they will convince themselves they are enjoying playing. Big corporations and employers can likewise rely on this phenomenon to keep wages down, knowing that low-paid workers have a psychological mechanism that may convince them they enjoy their jobs. Crispy Creme donuts to take the jab. - 5 Psychological Experiments That Explain The Modern World, Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,
Milgram Experiment - the psychological process by which a person can excuse or justify doing harm to someone if they believe it’s not really their fault, they won’t be held accountable, or they do not have a choice. All institutions can use this phenomenon to pressure people into acting against their own moral code. The army, the police, hospital staff – wherever there is a hierarchy or perceived authority, people will fall victim to the diffusion of their own responsibility.- 5 Psychological Experiments That Explain The Modern World, Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,
Miller–Urey experiment - a chemistry experiment carried out in 1952 that simulated the conditions thought to be present in the atmosphere of the early, prebiotic Earth, to test the hypothesis of the chemical origin of life under those conditions. The experiment used water (H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), hydrogen (H2), and an electric arc (the latter simulating hypothesized lightning).
Monkey Ladder Experiment - The experiment never happened. But myth can be worked into reality through sheer dint of repetition.- 5 Psychological Experiments That Explain The Modern World, Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,
Stanford Prison Experiment - If you give people power and dehumanize those below them, they will become sadistic. If you put people in prison, they will act like they are in prison. In short, people will act the way they are treated. If you start treating people a certain way, the majority will go along with it and blame the minority who refuse to cooperate. Meanwhile, police forces around the world were suddenly granted new powers and promptly abused them because the maskless and unvaxxed had been dehumanized in their eyes. Those reactions were engineered, not accidental.- 5 Psychological Experiments That Explain The Modern World, Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,
h. Fal·la·cies - noun - a mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound argument.
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Ad Hominem - That is attacking me and not my arguments! / I conclude you should not be debating while you are malfunctioning.
Ad Populum - You are appealing to my emotional circuits instead of presenting facts / Where is your robot pride?
Begging the Claim - You must prove they are evil before using it in your argument / Those evil humans need to be stopped
Circular Argument - You are restating your point instead of proving it / Robots are better leaders because of superior leadership skills
Either/Or - You are oversimplifying. There are more than two possible outcomes / It is better to destroy humans than let humans destroy us
Genetic Fallacy - You cannot judge a thing based on its origins / All humans start out as incompetent babies, so they must grow up to become incompetent adults
Hasty Generalization - You have not studied enough examples for such a conclusion / I have met a few people, and I conclude that all humans are ugly, evil, and smell like socks.
Moral Equivalence - Your comparison is unfair and inaccurate / The humans who make me do the math for them are worse than MagmaDroid, Melter of Hard Drives!
Post Hoc Ergo Proper Hoc - Just because B followed A does not mean A caused B / I to meet a human, and then I began malfunctioning. Humans are to blame
Red Herring - That is unfortunate, but it is irrelevant and distracting from the main argument / You say we should work alongside humans, but what about humans who are short-circuited, my friend?
Slippery Slope - The first event will not necessarily lead to such an extreme result / If we act nice to humans now. soon they will demand constant back rubs
Straw Man - You are attacking a point of view that is not my own / Why do you hate robots so much?
i. Laws - noun - a phenomenon that is known is invariable under the given conditions
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Bayesian Butcher Law - Probability (hired as CEO | 6’4”+) = P(6’4”+ | hired as CEO) * P(hired as CEO) / P(6’4”+) => the more someone looks the part, the more likely it is that they got the part because they looked it
Brandolini’s Law - The amount of energy needed to refute bullsh*t is an order of magnitude larger than to produce it.
Caro’s Law of Poker Tells #19- A forceful or exaggerated bet usually means weakness.
Doomberg’s Law of Antilogic™ - under which the current slate of Western leaders can be counted on to select the worst possible path forward at every critical junction.
Godwin's Law - He who accuses others of being “hitler” or “fascists” is probably the fascist in the conversation.
Goodhart's Law - When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. If you measure people on # of nails made, then you get thousands of tiny nails. If you measure people on the weight of nails, then you get a few giant, heavy nails.
Gresham’s Law - Overvalued money (the dollar) drives undervalued money (bitcoin, gold) out of circulation. And, no, Martin Armstrong, it is just as true today as it was when money was coins. Bad money chases out the good.
Hickam’s Dictum - multiple simultaneous causes + interaction effects
Kingsley’s Law - More means worse.
Moore’s Law - The number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years. The law claims that we can expect the speed and capability of our computers to increase every two years because of this, yet we will pay less for them. Another tenet of Moore's Law asserts that this growth is exponential (has been breaking down lately, however).
Murphy's Law - Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Neven's Law - Quantum computing power is improving at a doubly exponential growth compared to conventional computing.
Parkinson's Law - work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
Sailer’s Law of Female Journalism - The most heartfelt articles by female journalists tend to demand that social values be overturned in order that, come the Revolution, the journalist herself will be considered hotter-looking.
Saye's Law - the ability to purchase something depends on the ability to produce and thereby generate income. Say reasoned that to have the means to buy, a buyer must first have produced something to sell. Thus, the source of demand is production, not money itself. Say's Law implies that production is the key to economic growth and prosperity, and government policy should encourage (but not control) production rather than promote consumption.
Stein’s Law (as in Herbert) posits, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” America’s paralysis in fixing existential problems cannot go on at all, much less forever, without a ceding of its superpower status—if not a Weimar-level collapse.
Sod's Law - Corollary to Murphy's Law - The going wrong always occurs at a time that causes maximum inconvenience.
Sulzberger’s Law - The number of times the @nytimes writes an ‘opinion’ piece about a company, the more likely it is that it has positively changed the world.
Vernon Law - Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards.
j. Mo·ments - noun - a particular stage in something's development or in the course of events.
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Minsky Moment - a sudden crash of markets and economies that are hooked on debt — is enough to send shudders through policymakers. The theory stems from the work of Hyman Minsky, a US economist specializing in how excessive borrowing fuels financial instability.
k. Par·a·bles - noun - a simple story illustrating a moral or spiritual lesson.
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Bastiat Broken Window Parable - Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glazier's trade – that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs – I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.
But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry, in general, will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen."
It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs on one thing, he cannot spend them on another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs somehow, which this accident would have prevented.
l. Par·a·doxes - noun - a self-contradictory statement that, when investigated, may prove to be true.
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Ayres Paradox - The biggest increases in US life expectancy occurred early in the Twentieth Century when people had increased access to calories and protein, better water, and sanitation. Lives lengthened sharply decades before vaccines, antibiotics, or nearly any drugs were available and a century before hospitals merged into corporate Systems. Incremental American life span increases during the past fifty years reflect far less smoking, safer cars and jobs, cleaner air, and less lethal wars than they reflect medical advances. Books like Ivan Illich’s Medical Nemesis and Daniel Callahan’s Taming the Beloved Beast echo Ayres’s critique. But PBS, CNN, B & N, the NYT, et al. censor such views.
Connectedness Paradox - More connectedness, less connected.
Death Paradox - Know your death in order to live your life truly. Memento Mori is a Stoic reminder of the certainty and inescapability of death.
Effort Paradox - You must put in more effort to make something appear effortless.
The Failure Paradox - You have to fail more to succeed more.
Gibson’s Paradox- "Suppress $Gold, Suppress interest rates, Print like a psychopath" - Larry Summers
Growth Paradox - Growth takes a much longer time to come than you think, and then it happens much faster than you ever would have thought.
Hamlet Paradox - "I must be cruel only to be kind." — Hamlet
Icarus Paradox - Icarus crafted wings, but they flew too close to the sun, so they melted, and he fell to his death. What makes you successful can lead to your downfall.
Money Paradox - You have to lose money in order to make money.
News Paradox - The more news you consume, the less well-informed you are.
Persuasion Paradox - Have you noticed that the most argumentative people rarely persuade anyone?
Productivity Paradox - Work longer, get less done.
Say No Paradox - Take on less, accomplish more.
Shrinking Paradox - In order to grow, sometimes you need to shrink.
Speed Paradox - You have to slow down to speed up.
Taleb Surgeon Paradox - Looking the part is sometimes the worst indicator of competency.
Talking Paradox - "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” — Epictetus
Tolerance Paradox - If a society is tolerant without limit, its ability to be tolerant is eventually seized or destroyed by the intolerant.
Tony Robbins Paradox - In investing, the willingness to admit you have no competitive advantage can be the ultimate competitive advantage.
Wisdom Paradox- “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.” — Albert Einstein
m. Proj·ects - noun - a collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim.
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Project Blue Beam - plot by NASA & UN to implement new age religion via a technologically simulated second coming of Christ.
Project Cointelpro - FBI infiltrates political opponents (Black Panthers, Nation of Islam, Communist Party, etc.)
Project Fishbowl - Launched nukes at the firmament. Caused ripples in the sky like water in a pond.
Project Funvax - Project to reprogram religious fundamentalists genetically
Project Lebensborn - Nazi Eugenics
Project Montauk - Time travel and psychological warfare experiments done in Montauk, NY
Project MK Naomi - CIA biological and chemical Warfare project
Project MK Ultra - CIA program to brainwash people with LSD, hypnosis, and torture
Manhattan Project - WWII project to produce nuclear weapons
Project Mockingbird - CIA program to control news and spy on reporters
Project Monarch - sex slave blackmail
Project Northwoods - Plan fake terrorist attacks
Project Paperclip - Nazis brought over to the US post-WWII and put in high-ranking positions
Philadelphia Project - Project to teleport/make invisible destroyer USS Eldridge
n. Ra·zors - verb - the 'shaving away' of unnecessary assumptions when distinguishing between two theories
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Hanlon's Razor - Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Hanlon's Razor Corollary - The presence of incompetence does not obviate the possibility of malfeasance.
Occam's Razor - if you have two competing ideas to explain the same phenomenon, you should prefer the simpler one.
o. Rules - noun - principles governing conduct within a particular activity or sphere.
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1% Rule - on the web, only 1% of people contribute, while 99% lurk
80/20 or Parebo Rule - 20% of users will produce 80% of the content regardless of how you define content
90/10 Rule - you can get 90% of the benefit at 10% of the cost. We didn’t do that. We tried to get a 100% benefit, but the cost was 100% of the economy, or close to it.
Attorney Rule - "Remember the Attorney’s rule. If you have evidence use it. If you don’t have hard evidence use circumstantial evidence. If you have no evidence, attack the witness who has.”
Tueller Rule - My brother once had an interesting conversation with a major personal defense lawyer who told him the magic number was "27 feet". If you shoot someone beyond 27 feet, the average jury will conclude that you could have run away or avoided the fight. If within 27 feet, they will sympathize with your need to defend yourself and your inability to withdraw from the threat in safety. Actually its 21 feet and has since been re-evaluated since they have been able to demonstrate that even 21 feet someone with a knife can disarm and cut you in just under 2 seconds.
p. Say·ings - noun - a short, pithy expression generally containing advice or wisdom.
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Chesterton's Fence - if you come across a gate in a field and see no reason why it should be there, do not remove it until you have figured out why it was put there in the first place.
Old Texas Saying1 - "Don't ever ask a man where he is from. If he is from Texas he will tell you. If not, you will embarrass him." - John Gunther
Old Texas Saying2 - “You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.” - Davy Crockett
q. The·o·rems - noun - a proposition proved by a chain of reasoning.
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Burnt Toast Theory - if you burn your toast in the morning, the time you spend making another toast may have saved you from a car accident,
Ewing Theory - The best player goes down, and the team does better.
Mises’s Regression Theorem - precludes that fiat cannot replace broken fiat.
Virgin Volcano Theory - the theory that throwing virgins into volcanoes makes it rain by cherry-picking correlation when it happens and not listening to anti-volcanos who question the settled science.
r. Traps - noun - a situation in which people lie in wait to make a surprise attack.
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Thucydides Trap - the idea that war often results when a rising power threatens to displace a ruling one. In 12 of the last 16 times this has occurred, there has been a major conflict. This is relevant in the case of China potentially displacing the US as the world superpower.
s. Wa·gers - verb - bet against someone else's on the basis of the outcome of an unpredictable event.
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Pascal's Wager - the argument that it is in one's rational self-interest to act as if God exists since the infinite punishments of hell and the infinite rewards of heaven, provided they have a positive probability, however small, outweigh any countervailing advantage.
God Exists God Doesn't Exist
I believe Go to Heaven Nothing Happens
I don't believe Go to Hell Nothing Happens
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