tripu @tripu@qoto.org

“#Pleasure is good”

This is true only because (or to the extent that) pleasure is incompatible with suffering, or that pleasure means that whatever the level of suffering it is being offset by a greater amount of the opposite stuff.

Other propositions, while true and important, are derivative, reducible — not axiomatic:

“#Wellbeing matters”

…insofar as there's (some degree of) consciousness/sentience. Because only sentient entities can suffer. And suffering is what matters.

eg, relieving a horse of a toothache is more important than preventing the annihilation of a sterile galaxy. There's no “wellbeing” in a corner of the universe where there are no conscious creatures, no matter how vast that chunk of space-time be.

(If putting “destruction of an entire galaxy” lower in your list of worries than “someone somewhere breaks his little finger” sounds alarming to you, it's only because it is extremely improbable that we could know for sure that the galaxy is entirely devoid of sentience, is incapable of developing or hosting consciousness ever in the future, and is not and will not provide shelter or resources to any creature. Very little confidence in that, therefore too much risk in prioritising a toothache over the fate of a billion stars in practice.)

Off the top of my head, strong candidates for that set are:

**“#Suffering is bad”**

That's the only thing that I'm certain is bad. My foundation for #ethics.

**“#Mathematics is true”**

Math is the only #epistemology that I trust. And math is behind everything.

**“I matter. Others matter, too.”**

This guards against the polar opposites of egotism and immolation — both mistaken.

[…]

I aspire to navigate #life using #reason as well as I can to make decisions based on as parsimonious a set of #axioms as possible.

I have two jobs and two small kids.

#UniversalDisclaimer #SorryIWasLate #IHaveToSayNo #DontWaitForMe

@codewiz

Money well spent.

/cc @benoit @globalc

@codewiz

+1!

/cc @benoit @globalc

I'm so annoyed by the _appification_ of services…

No, I won't install your stupid app just to book a haircut, to see the balance in my meal card, or to be notified when my vehicle is ready to leave the garage.

Especially if your stupid app needs a ton of irrelevant permissions, weights 250 MB, keeps itself always busy in the background and bugs me with notifications!

Develop a fucking universal web app which can be used by pretty much anyone anywhere immediately and without leaving a trail of binary droppings.

#web and #webapps FTW.

@Some_Emo_Chick

⁉️

@codewiz

That's beautiful! Unfortunately I never visited while I was living in #Japan >_<

@valleyforge

It's a risk, yes.

Anyway, we're talking shifting a few dates around to better accommodate modern sensibilities and preferences here, not burning down the regime.

Again (and I'm not trying to be facetious here): it is rationality (and I would argue also materialism) what _you_ are using to conclude that any reform proposal risks devolving into a dystopia.

The polar opposite (keeping holidays just as they are) is essentially conservative and status quo bias.

Where's the middle ground?

/cc @ImperfectIdea

@ImperfectIdea

Assuming we _do_ want official national holidays, the calendar should be decided much in the same way other important, long-term decisions are made already: by technocrats, via international consensus, through Constitutional reforms, or via a referendum held once in every generation or so. That is how most decisions are made, actually — nothing new here.

Technocrats and politicians routinely decide what expensive medical interventions to subsidise and what conditions are too rare, unpopular or expensive to treat within the public health system. International treaties about commerce, war, energy, immigration, etc are written, signed and held for decades without the populace ever voting. Someone in your country decided exactly how many aircraft carriers to buy (or not buy) last year without consulting you. Experts advise governments (and politicians decide) about whether to phase out that nuclear plant, build a new dam, buy foreign debt, sell an island to a foreign nation, etc. All that is easily politicised and subject to controversy.

I'm not saying I'm OK with all those important decisions being made without my input. I'm just saying redesigning national holidays with a cost-benefit mindset shouldn't be essentially different from all that.

@ImperfectIdea

I'd start by examining the convenience or the need for official #holidays and #festivities at the national level. I'm not saying I'm sure they're pointless — I'm just saying it's not obvious they're good or necessary as they exist now.

Why stop a whole nation in specific dates? Why not leave that entirely at the discretion of other levels of government (eg regional, local, schools, companies, labour unions, even families and individuals)? There are advantages to _not_ having everyone take time off, buy compulsively, halt important services, congest the roads, etc _all at the same time_.

The State/government staying out of the business of festivities and letting those groups design their own set of _n_ yearly holidays instead would annul many Culture Wars (“shut up and pick your own, or negotiate your preferences with your employer/town/union”). It would better accommodate personal preferences and needs (caregivers, large families, childless couples, young, old, healthy, sick — they may prefer different weekdays or seasons, different religious dates, different historical figures to honour).

OTOH, shared festivities allow for better, bigger events (economies of scale), probably contribute to integrating immigrants and in general to build a sense of belonging and unity (aside: is that working? is that even good?), and allow institutions and businesses to plan ahead for safety etc.

Many arguments and counterarguments there, for sure.