Category: Philosophy

How many times during the day do you find you do not know something? Once or
twice? More than that? For me its just about the whole day. Not sure how this
widget works, unsure what this thing does, not clear what that word means. Yet,
for the most part, this is not upsetting to me. At times, yes, it can be
frustrating to fail just because you lack knowledge. But here is the thing, the
silicon lining if you will, it is exciting to find out you do not know
something. Why, because now you have the chance to improve yourself in the
easiest way possible. I am too lazy for the gym, I struggle to keep myself in
working order, and I can barely be bothered to eat some days, but given the
chance to learn something new, I will take it every time. We live in the
glorious future promised to us by scifi books for a generation. I can, with
minimal effort, find the answer to all the questions I think up today. Here is
a brief list so far:

1. What does imprimatur mean?
2. What does the error “undefined is not a function” mean?
3. Does S. C. Rossi Automotive have a website?
4. What car tires do I need?
5. What is the difference between mortgage Pre-Qualification and
   Pre-Approval?

It took about 10 minutes total to find the answers to all those questions
and at the end I felt like a better person. Did it make me better at my job?
Probably not. Did I gain new insight? I doubt it. Still, totally worth it. I
gained that much more knowledge to apply to future problem domains and I can be
of that much more utility to others. So be not afraid to embrace what you do
not know. It is a chance for self improvement, which is always exciting.

This took me a while to get and I still half wish it were untrue, but for
the most part people just do not care about you. Why is this? Because they are
too busy thinking about themselves. I am usually not in the business of making
broad statements so you do not have to believe that last sentence. I merely
invite you to consider, the amount of time you spend thinking about other
people. I would estimate I spend roughly about 5% of my day thinking about
other people. Breaking that 5% down even further about half of that 5% (2.5%) I
spend thinking about how nice it would be to get together with some people and
play some board games. The rest of that 5% I spend thinking about how other
people appear to me. So I admit, you got me, a small fraction of my time is
spent actively thinking (caring) about what other people say and do. Does 2.5%
of my total brain activity represent enough for you to care what I think about
you. I would say no.

Now, what does it mean that no one cares about you? It means freedom,
freedom of thought, of action, of personality. Because no one cares about you,
you can do all that you once feared. Think about all that time I wasted
preening, dressing half decent, worrying about what others thought about my
hobbies, etc. Almost all a total waste because everyone else is too busy doing
the same thing and has no time to care about me. If I want to grow a terrible
neck beard because I hate shaving, I will, because no one cares. If I want to
talk about how awesome Katawa
Shoujo is, I will, because no one cares. If I want to spend all day
watching anime, I will, because no one cares. I am not saying to drop all
decency and be a slob, I am saying you should act as you and you alone see fit.
Worry about what others think is worthless because no one cares.

This is a tough rule to internalize and I admit to not fully following it,
but I try.

I have a lot of things to say. Some of them probably will not make sense,
others are just bad, and still others will make you question how I can even
continue to exist. But on some rare occasion I may say or write something that
you might agree with. Stop. Do not do that. I am going to try and do everything
and anything to get you to agree with me, but that is exactly what you must not
do because you should not listen to me or anyone else. The only person who
matters is you. The only person who makes a decision is you. The moment you let
someone else start dictating how you should think, act, feel it is game over.
Go over here,
fill out the form, and sit down and wait.

Now you might say, Paul, aside from sporting such rugged good looks I agree
with you, I am in control, but you just told me to not agree with you! Yes dear
reader I did say that, but that is not the full extent of my point. It is more
accurate to say you should not agree with me UNTIL YOU HAVE COME TO THE
SAME CONCLUSION. By all means take into account my reasoning, another
source, a book, a website, anything reputable, but please oh please do not just
parrot back what someone says for the mere reason that they said it. Think
critically about the idea and examine just the facts. Whatever conclusion you
come to you should be willing to die over. To steal a phrase, fear is coercer
of conformity. When you liberate your thinking from the control of others you
can truly be your self.