#morality

@blogdiva

The problem with the #left is so many judgments out there are absolute

But the only way to get #progress in this world is to be relative:

Is someone moving in a good direction, regardless of where they are starting from?

Then you applaud that

That is true #morality

Absolutism is just ego masturbation. It doesn't change the world

So I mourn the passing of #PopeFrancis

I recognize the good he did in the confines he operated in, on issues dear to the left

And so should you

#RIP

Happy Easter! Pray for a return to reason.

#Truth #TrumpVirus #Easter #blasphemy #hypocrisy #evil #morality #Christianity

@bodhipaksa #Morality #TerryPrachett

@todymotmot @FranceskaMann @profdc9 @zakalwe @wendinoakland @GutterPoetry

the essential #psychological failure of #toxicIdealism is as follows:

if one can justify a position inside the ivory tower mind palace of one's self-regard, then that is "morality"

no, it's #ego masturbation

true #morality is action, even if it is messy

but they value the purity of themselves, over actually mattering to the world

the real world is too messy, they can't be bothered with messiness

ego over #reality

#TrumpVirus #GQP grovelling & #Fascism ... vs. #respect for #Truth / #Law / #Democracy / #Sanity / #morality / #values

"The reason you begin tracking your data is that you have
some uncertainty about yourself that you believe the data
can illuminate. It’s about introspection, reflection, seeing
patterns, and arriving at realizations about who you are
and how you might change."
—Eric Boyd, self-tracker

an article by Natasha D. Schüll, 2019, "The Data-Based Self:
Self-Quantification and the Data-Driven (Good) Life" https://www.natashadowschull.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/SocialResearch-2019.pdf

#concentration #credit #scores #scoring #reward #rewards #psychology #socioPsych #socioPsychology #selfWorth #universalism #digitalization #recognition #data #AIRisks #AIEthics #gaming #socialization #Tracking #surveillance #selfRegulation #attention #reintermediation #intermediation #enshittification #risk #derisking #vulnerability #morality #selfConfidence #dataDon #Schüll #quotes

‘Our moral intuitions about merit and personal worth are changing.’

an interview with Marion Fourcade about her book "The Ordinal Society" co-written by @kjhealy: https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/04/23/from-uber-ratings-to-credit-scores-whats-lost-in-a-society-that-counts-and-sorts-everything/

#TheOrdinalSociety #concentration #merit #meritocracy #MarionFourcade #Fourcade #school #credit #scores #scoring #reward #rewards #sociology #psychology #socioPsych #socioPsychology #ranking #selfWorth #universalism #digitalization #inequality #inequalities #recognition #data #AIRisks #AIEthics #gaming #socialization #Tracking #surveillance #power #socialControl #governance #regulation #rules #socialMedia #attention #reintermediation #intermediation #enshittification #risk #derisking #vulnerability #morality #confidence #trust #dataDon

a few notes on a Linda Rising's talk

"Realize up front that this is hard".

Cognitive dissonance: contradictory "evidence" causes severe cognitive discomfort.

* We are not rational decision-makers
* but we are good at explaining after-the-fact why we made a decision – a pattern called rationalization.

Two thirds of people will not consider an idea until "somebody they know pretty well, is doing it, is happy with it, talks about it […] so maybe i might think about it".
To convince,
* you must address: "What's in it for me?" – requires empathy;
* you can use the values of your opponent. (Loyalty or fairness?)

A pattern of personal touch: walk a mile in the other's shoes
Another pattern: "Give it a try"
Another pattern: listen
Another pattern: ask for something personal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrCD1wmK9oM via @matthew

#conversations #memory #neuroscience #campaigning #narratives #storyTelling #morality #socialPsych #socialPsychology #facilitation #rationalization #values #influence #LindaRising #morals #principles

#Christians tell us that the #EndTimes are near, and one of the signs is the rampant immorality we see...but is it true?

The illusion of moral decline

"𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 #𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯, 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘺."

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06137-x

#atheism

Carole Cadwalladr speaks truth to power.

Every one of my friends and colleagues in Silicon Valley should spend the 18 minutes to watch this incredible talk, and then have a good long think. Ask yourself: what is YOUR part in this story?

#morality #kakistocracy #coup #tyranny #oligarchy #SiliconValley #broligarchy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZOoT8AbkNE

“When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.” — Frédéric Bastiat
#quotes #law #morality #morals

"I have never seen an anti-feminist backlash quite like the one we are living through. The embrace of misogyny is thorough and unapologetic. It transcends just about every aspect of this administration, from the president down through his followers.

~ Jill Filipovic

#Musk #Trump #MAGA #destruction #chaos #fascism #suicide #empathy #morality #religion #WhiteChristianNationalism #misogyny #women
/8

https://jill.substack.com/p/boys-will-be-boys-but-women-are-too

'“To me, this disparagement marks a step in the destruction of our multicultural democracy, and provides a path from the verbal dehumanization of others to ope' discrimination and maltreatment.” ...

We are witnessing the construction of the ideological architecture to excuse violence and suffering on a mass scale."

#Musk #Trump #MAGA #destruction #chaos #fascism #suicide #empathy #morality #religion #WhiteChristianNationalism
/7

“'The disparagement of empathy is the flip side, I believe, of a deliberate effort to set up a permission structure to dehumanize others, and to narrow the definition of who should be included in a democratic state, or in a Christian community,' she said."

#Musk #Trump #MAGA #destruction #chaos #fascism #suicide #empathy #morality #religion #WhiteChristianNationalism
/6

"Susan Lanzoni, a historian of psychology and author of Empathy: A History, said by email that through all her research into the intellectual history of empathy, she had 'never seen empathy vilified in the way it has been in these current sources [on the American right]'."

~ Julia Carrie Wong

#Musk #Trump #MAGA #destruction #chaos #fascism #suicide #empathy #morality #religion #WhiteChristianNationalism
/5

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/08/empathy-sin-christian-right-musk-trump

A quotation from Thoreau

I would remind my countrymen, that they are to be men first, and Americans only at a late and convenient hour. No matter how valuable law may be to protect your property, even to keep soul and body together, if it do not keep you and humanity together.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Speech (1854-07-04), “Slavery in Massachusetts,” Anti-Slavery Celebration, Framingham, Massachusetts

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/thoreau-henry-david/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #thoreau #higherlaw #citizen #civicduty #humanity #law #morality #rightandwrong

The story about Ibtihal Abu Alsaad, the Microsoft engineer who was fired for telling Microsoft not to use their software to aid #Israel in the Palestinian #genocide, is something I’ve feared all my career. Abu Alsaad said: “My biggest fear is waking up for my 9 to 5 and realising that my code has killed children today.”

I wrote this in 2018: “Software used to guide a missile has consequences. So does software used to profile applicants for potential jobs, or help people live a healthier life. Will you accept the moral consequences of your code? Will you accept both praise and blame for how your software is used?”

I’m always painfully aware of what the code I write can potentially do. There are bright red lines I will not cross, no matter the reward.

#fridayDevAdvice #software #morality #principles

https://www.humancode.us/2018/03/30/personal-values.html

"A society that rewards anti-social behaviour is a worse society" is a great line.

Makes you wonder why in our current economic system so many jobs that pay well require you to check your morals at the door while jobs where you are of service to others (like teaching) you are expected to bear a lower salary because you get to feel good about yourself at the end of the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESdGShbsyYo
#morality #capitalism

Why #Religions Were Created

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKrguuFjCWI

#religion #fear #control #morality #mystery #science #weather #history #atheist #atheism #gods #god