Ok ok,

I see a lot of judging going around lately. And I notice that people often invent their own standards of right and wrong just before passing sentence. What this world needs is some sort of universal standard so we’d always know for sure who is good and who is bad.

The Ten Commandments was a start. That list covers some of the basics. But it’s a bit dated, and it doesn’t cover the important questions of our day, such as who is arrogant, who doesn’t work hard enough, who should come out of the closet, who is a hypocrite, who is an Internet troll, and so on. Society is inventing new ways of being bad more quickly than we can evolve the rules to cover the new situations. We need some sort of standard that can keep up.

I’m unqualified for the task of creating this new standard of good and bad because I believe free will is an illusion. By my view, we’re born, our molecules bump around then we die. No one is good or bad if we’re all just bumping around according to physical laws. Any standard for good and bad behavior that I suggest would be inconsistent with my own point of view.

But for some reason I’m going to suggest just such a standard anyway. Apparently I can’t help myself. And my standard goes like this: You’re a good person if you work hard at something that is useful to society and you try to avoid hurting other people when it’s practical. I’m big on overlooking victimless crime. I’d go further and suggest that anyone who is putting effort into punishing people who commit victimless crimes is bad.

One big problem with my standard is that we live in a world with limited resources. The simple act of getting a job creates a victim if you consider the next best applicant who lost out. If I stand in line to buy something, I make the line longer for the people behind me. Most of what we do has some sort of impact on others. But let’s agree that you can display a certain degree of self-interest and still be a good person.
Without some degree of selfish behavior, society would fall apart.

What’s your own definition of good and bad?

Cheers.
ps: I am the law

Ok ok,

Do you know what kind of person you are? A person who wishes deep down that everyone more special than you was sick because “healthy” sounds so much more exciting than “boring”. You’re average, plain average. You’re every kid in the playground that didn’t get picked on. You’re a business-casual potted plant – a human White Sale. You’re VH1 Robo-Cop 2, and Back to the Future 3. You are the center slice of a Triple Cheese pizza. Actually that sounds delicious. I’M the center slice of a Triple Cheese pizza …you’re Jim Belushi.

Cheers.
ps: i am the center slice of a triple cheese pizza.

Ok ok,

I have a rule of thumb when it comes to conspiracy theories. If the theory involves aliens or government competence – such as keeping a secret for years – I don’t believe the story. But if the conspiracy involves money, I generally believe it.

Cheers.
ps: Rule of thumb.

Ok ok,

Economies are driven by imagination. We give it other names, such as consumer confidence, expectations, and forecasts. It all boils down to imagining the future. If you imagine you’ll have plenty of money tomorrow, you’ll spend more of your savings today. If you think tomorrow will be challenging, you hoard your cash to be safe. A economic friend who is an economist says it is all about causality.

Cheers.
ps: Tok the economist could probably explain better.