Accountant's Utopia Philosophy

[Sesq]

i am saying that you are susceptible to the same kinds of biases that every other human is.

[Accountant]

no it's not you just have zero understanding of anything

people have traits that they themselves do not notice, but others around them do.

a lot of assholey people don't realize they are assholes. it isn't a mental disease, it's completely normal

if anything you're implying everyone has alzheimer's which is weird

There's no such thing as a trait that I don't notice but others do. How the hell do you think I got the traits I got if not by me creating them? Would you tell Picasso that he had a painting that he didn't remember painting and never painted, but insist that it's totally his and a genuine Picasso? Wouldn't you be implying that Picasso has a mental illness if you did so?

I agree that many people have mental dysfunctions causing them to be unable to be in control of their own brain. But don't you compare me to those... things. They are akin to hollow shells - the stuffed body of a wild animal, a rusted-out robot following a corrupted piece of source code. It is a grave insult to compare me to those. It's such a grave insult that I name it a cardinal sin to go around telling people they're not in control of their own brain.

[Accountant]

i am saying that you are susceptible to the same kinds of biases that every other human is.

No. Do not compare an angel with an ape. (In this comparison, I am the angel. Human beings who cannot understand their own mind and who others can tell what is inside their mind are the ape.)

[Annadog40]

It could be less understaning your mind and more others interpiting their actions and projecting their feelings on to you.

So they look at what they projected onto you and not inside you.

[Shaziro]

Off-topic:

Before I say anything, please explain why you linked this.

[Accountant]

It's an interesting video. It interests me. It's fascinating.

[Accountant]

It also coincidentally became on-topic because it very neatly illustrates the difference between a shell and a person with axioms

[Umlaut]

Accountant, you appear to be conflating

axioms

and

correct axioms.

It is entirely consistent with the evidence to suppose Saddam Hussein operated under axioms like "I am the most important, and anything that benefits me personally is good."

[Shaziro]

Explain what about it interested you enough to post it.

[Accountant]

Accountant, you appear to be conflating

axioms

and

correct axioms.

It is entirely consistent with the evidence to suppose Saddam Hussein operated under axioms like "I am the most important, and anything that benefits me personally is good."

I'm not. I hate Hussein. I bet he's a selfish piece of shit who murdered others for his own gain.

But.

He had axioms. That is undeniable. He had SOME axioms. That makes him set apart from most of the people in society. It makes him interesting. Fascinating.

[Accountant]

In that video, you can really see Hussein bringing his axioms out. Baring his soul to the world, imposing his reality over our own.

[Accountant]

To illustrate: Umlaut, is there something you have such strong conviction in, something you believe so absolutely in, an ideal that shapes your soul so strongly that you would line up grown men and force them to get executed by firing squad? Because anyone with a real axiom would respond yes without hesitation. Understanding the things that someone cares about so strongly they'd unhesitatingly kill for it is the real way to understand someone. In comparison to a belief as deep as that, something like personality is dull and shallow.

Someone who has no such beliefs is, therefore, comprised entirely of personality or other irrelevant factors, and is a dull and shallow person, at least relatively speaking.

[Umlaut]

What if the thing I believe in is that mass executions are bad?

[Accountant]

That "spark" - that ability to create something above and beyond mere personality, an ideal far beyond what a human being can achieve, a prayer of ultimate glory - that is what makes the human race enjoyable, it's what separates us from animals, it's perhaps the fundamental reason why I see value in humans.

[Shaziro]

Do you think that the actions are acceptable, but the reasoning behind them isn't?

[Accountant]

What if the thing I believe in is that mass executions are bad?

Then it becomes "would you be willing to imprison people", or "would you be able to work towards that ideal, completely ignoring all the people who tell you weird things like 'it's impossible to abolish the death penalty worldwide'".

[Accountant]

Do you think that the actions are acceptable, but the reasoning behind them isn't?

The actions are amoral, but beautiful. When I watch the video, when I stare Hussein in the eye in his moment of truth, then I feel a depth of emotion that jolts me in the way some really good poems do. It doesn't have to be positive. Some of the best art is sad. But there is a "feeling" there.

[Umlaut]

Well, that was just an example. I don't really take "mass executions are bad" is an

axiom,

though in general I think life and humanity are good and extinguishing them is therefore bad. And since I don't mistake myself for an

ubermensch

incapable of cognitive bias or simple error, I also know that if I find myself in a situation where I think mass executions are justified in the pursuit of some specific goal, it is far more likely that

I have made an error in reasoning somewhere

than that this is actually what I should be doing.

[Accountant]

It doesn't have to be Hussein seizing power. It could just as easily be Edward Jenner as he eradicates smallpox from the face of the Earth. It could be Gilgamesh as he drinks the waters of the fountain of youth. These are all poignant in their own ways. You don't get this from being a human being that respects reality and the laws of physics. You get it by being someone who can impose their will onto the world.

[Umlaut]

So you're saying Saddam was a magnificent bastard?

[Accountant]

Well, that was just an example. I don't really take "mass executions are bad" is an

axiom,

though in general I think life and humanity are good and extinguishing them is therefore bad. And since I don't mistake myself for an

ubermensch

incapable of cognitive bias or simple error, I also know that if I find myself in a situation where I think mass executions are justified in the pursuit of some specific goal, it is far more likely that

I have made an error in reasoning somewhere

than that this is actually what I should be doing.

Doubt is anathema to someone who operates on an axiomatic level. Ask Hussein if he ever hesitated because he felt doubt at whether this was really best for tbe people of Iraq. Ask Hitler if he ever doubted that he was the savior of the Aryan race.

To proceed in life with an unstoppable conviction, every step assured, a goddess amongst the shells of humans, my very existence an imposition of my axioms onto reality, existing as a machine to execute those axioms, walking a path that is absolute and straight as a laser. This is beauty. This is the meaning of life. This is what humans are supposed to do.

And you would drag me down with things like worrying about whether I have cognitive biases? Things like worrying about the laws of physics or logic? That is akin to splashing mud on a Picasso.

[Umlaut]

Saddam and Hitler were both overthrown, you know.

[Accountant]

So you're saying Saddam was a magnificent bastard?

There's some nuance, I emphasize the goal and the audacity more than the charisma, but essentially yes.

And I'd rather have a hundred thousand Magnificent Bastard mass murderers than a single nobody.

[Umlaut]

And I'd rather have a hundred thousand Magnificent Bastard mass murderers than a single nobody.

I hope for your sake that the nobodies around you are not replaced with hundreds of thousands of Magnificent Bastard mass murderers.

[Accountant]

Saddam and Hitler were both overthrown, you know.

But they lived better lives than other people. I don't mean that in the sense of being more fulfilling, meaningful and beautiful.

They failed, in the end, due to their flawed axioms and not being magnificent enough. I do not possess that weakness.