The Based Life

Some advice I think applies to every study one undertakes in life.  It's up to you: your actions are likely to be the greatest determiner of the outcome of your studies.  Be active: read the book. Do the exercise set.  Think for yourself Question everything: be sceptical about the results presented to you.  Observe: the power of Sherlock Holmes came not from his deductions but his observations. Prepare to be wrong. Don't memorise, seek to understand. Develop your intution: but don't trust it completely.  Collaborate: workwith others, if you can. Reflect: look back and see what you have learned. Getting started The biggest hurdle with any mathematics problem is getting started. Too often, students beginning high level mathematics look for an example or a theorem from which they can deduce a statemetn as a simple corollary. Unfortunately, mathematical thinking is not like that.  Play with examples Rarely can you say nothing about a problem. There may be some ...

The Properties of the Universe Resulting in Economics as a Useful Descriptive Framework of Human Action. Insofar as we may exist in a universe of finite space and time; insofar different space and time combinations may impress upon us more or less agreeable internal states, and insofar as we have the capacity to alter space time combinations, only then, we shall have economics.  Let us investigate the nature of each assertion and the truth we can attribute to it.  What would the world look like without finite space and time, we must first consider what is the nature of space and time. I refer to space, everything with which one's physical autonomy can interact with (including one's own body). This spatial dimension governs what volume of the universe one can occupy, and this, as we can actually experience it, is limited. If one occupies space coordinates x1 y1 z1, then, it is impossible for another to occupy x1 y1 z1 coordinates simultanously. In the case of time, an event v1 ...

The Financial and Investment Strategy

Written in August 2025 Dedication To all those lighbearers of existence cometh before who lit the path.  Introduction Speaking from the purity of my heart, clearness of my mind and firmness of my Being, thirty-one maxims, one for each day of August, of what most certaintly I believe in. Let this be good counsel for better days.  One : Know Thyself, Know the Remedy. The right medicine is delivered best when the source(s) of the illness is correctly identified. Even in case of correct idenfication, poor understanding of medicine can lead to delivering the incorrect formula required. In both cases, chance may occassion the illness be rectified, more often that not, the medicine may lead to no benefit, and if luck not be in your favor, aggravate it.  If you shall be honest to no one, be honest at least to yourself. A general is handicapped whose forces he does not know. The questions that make you uncomfortable, therein lies the path to better self understanding.  Amor ...

Collected in 2021 - 2022 If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together ~ African Proverb People do not care how much you know, they care how much you care ~ Friend There is a time for fun and there is a time for work  (be able to tell the difference) ~ Friend  He who is without sin, cast the first stone ~ Jesus Christ Waste no time arguing what a good man should be - be one! ~ Marcus Aurelius Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present and fear the future ~ Seneca What is the seal at having become free - no longer to be ashamed before oneself ~ Nietzsche Precision beats power; Timing beats speed ~ Connor McGregor

Living up to your potential. What, if any, obligation do we have to our potential? Which potential? The one where you become a professional tennis player, or the one where you are the CEO of the largest company on the planet, maybe its the one where you solve the Theory of Everything? Who pays the price to get there? Is there any a price which makes the potential unbearable? the sacrifice of time with loved ones? the moments with my pets? the times I just... stare at the wall? Does this potential care about the trail of blood and bones that litter the path on its blind pursuit of glory? ... Is your potential better than you? A sense of inferiority to a figment of the imagination? Since when does the imaginary have more value than what Is?  Do you have an obligation to anyone?  Every choice has led you here. Glitter sparkles bright and captures the attention. That which is eternal, is always within reach. Have you been blinded by the Glitter? Eyes are not needed to see the eter...

1.18. All warfare is based on deception 1.19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.  1.24. Attack him where he is unprepared; appear where you are not expected.  2.19. In war, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.  3.2. To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.  3.18. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every vistory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.  4.1. The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity ...

  Innocence, life, joy, care, empathy, compassion, love, kindness, humility, seflessness, nurture, trust, vulnerability, sensuality, emotion, feeling, instinct, passion, being, acceptance of unconditional happiness, collaboration, opposite of egocentrism/narcissism, community, superficiality, aesthetics, pleasure, fun, joy, laughter, naivety, purity, love, association (vs dissasociation), enthrallment, wonder, presence, gratitude, excitement, superfluosness, self love, outwards love, gidiness, beauty, leisure, curiosity, vibes, non-rational perception/reasoning, dance, art, creativity, yoga, health, acceptance of feelings without concern of value judgements, serenity, calmness, peace, relaxation, flow, acceptance, appreciation, fertility, manifestation, positivity, indulgence, sensuality, sensation, harmony, magic, fantasy, ego-death, exist from love and trust of process (if the sails have been set up in the righteous direction then trust that the wind will carry where you chartere...

When the Value which provided life hitherto, now slowly strangles out the last breath of air; when the Value which provided fertility to once previously barren dirt, now crowds out all other sources of nutrition, starving everything which seeks to grow. That Value no longer serves life and seeks only to preserve its own existence at the expense of life itself.  Oh Masculinity, how far a back we go, and how much I owe you. But you cannot keep holding that against me as leverage! Lost and directionless, spineless and cowardly, oh Masculinity, you swooped in and caught me before into the abyss I fell into. And for that I am truly very grateful, you showed me how to stand up straight, to take responsibility, to take control. And delivered I have, Masculinity, delivered I have! I have control, I have control! Everything which exists thus, I have my grip tighlty around it, firmly, under my control. I have control! And for what? To fear everything which I don't? And the more I fear, the m...

Improvement is a continuous process of two step forwards and one step backwards ~ Epictetus I hate this is the case. You decide to go off in one direction, to climb a specific mountain lets say, you learn the skills to climb it, its difficult, its tiring, its exhausting, you want to turn back, but you're convinced that the journey after reaching the top will make it worth. To your horor, you get to where you wanted to go only to realise you have hit a dead end!  You realise with the what you know, the skills you've acquired, you cannot traverse forward, either because you cannot see the path forward or you never acquired the skills to traverse the dead end. Perhaps then what we need to do is go back, retrace our steps, see if we missed something. Did we overlook a skill we though was useless? did we avoid learning something because it was too difficult and instead chose the skill that came easier to us?  I think that is understandable, I don't think there is any shame in th...

??? I speak to all those who wish to change the world! ??? You want to change the world you say?  ??? I ask you! Can you even change yourself?  ??? Yes! The world is full of demons!  ??? But do you have courage to look at the demons living within you?  ??? Improve yourself first, show me you can do that.  ??? Improve the people in your immediate surroundings people are fucking difficult, can you do it?  ???  Improve your local community this is starting to involve a lot of people it won't be easy...  do you have what it takes?  might as well try ??? Can you improve the region you live in?  show me you can.  ??? ... ??? Have you made it this far?  ???  Improve your country.  impossible. Do it.  ???  ... ??? ... ??? If you have made it this far, least to say I am impressed beyond belief.  I believe you! I believe you now!!  Not that that was ever important.  Go forth you Improver of the World!...

The World is Ending! The World is Ending!  All that we know is coming to end, what lay ahead? I do not know! All is flux, entropy; the inherent instability of the universe brings to a close what we once knew and forces us into that which we do not!  Where to start!? I do not know! Everything is in change! I am in change! Ought the world not change as well? Nothing is permanent, all that is born; dies; all that grows; becomes ripe, is eaten or rots, returning back to the primordial cycle of all that is!  Are we all going to die from a Climate Crisis which will wipe us all out? Can we maintain a style of life which will not exterminate all living things which exist?  I do not know!  Everything is shifting, everything is changing, the soil we thought was so firm, trembles under our feet, an earthquake is shattering everything we built upon! We live at the end of times, we live at the dawn of a new beginning!  Will technology make my work obsolete? Is everythin...

Written 2nd June 2022 Calhoun's rat experiment is an experiment with a grim warning to the future of mankind, of a population that increases beyond the pyscho-sociological limitations of its limited area.  One of the interesting aspects of the experiment Calhoun pointed out was that man, contrary to rodents, are able to construct a completely fictitious world of roles where we can inhabit. The rodents in his experiment on the other hand where unable to create more roles for the mice to fulfill and therefore degenerated into rodents who pursued non productive activities. Calhoun pointed out that in the state of nature animals that exceed the physical and pyscho-sociological limitations of the environment will divide itself and branch off into different tribes. The physical aspect is straightforward, if there enough land to support 100 individuals, once the population reaches 100 it must separate and emigrate in order for there not to be an overpopulation. The psycho-sociological asp...

 Just yesterday I was taking a look at some of the notes I had written on Stoic philosophy and came across some passages I had copied from Epictetus' Art of Living. Hopefully these passages are a useful reminder of some of the eternal wisdom of life.  First, say to yourself what you would be; then do what you have to do. Some things are within our control, and some things are not.  Never place the blame on others, but on our own attitudes. One of the signs of moral progress is the gradual extinguishing of blame. Never depend on the admiration of others. Don’t demand or expect that events happen as you would wish them to. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths. Prudent people look beyond the incident itself and seek to form the habit of putting it to good use. Remember to turn inward and ask what resources you have for dealing with it.  Take great care with what you have while the world lets you have it.  Begin at once a program of self...

??? We all have four selves ??? Our first self exists in the here and now It is the only self we ever consciously experience ??? Our second self is of our past This self exists as a more immature, a more childish, self of ours This self is expected to have made mistakes, for that is the essence of youth We, consequently, have to live with those mistakes Do not reprimand your past self for having made those mistakes, for he might disappear And consequently you may lose the source of vitality, energy and wonder Be kind to your past ??? Our third self, our future We have never experienced nor will we ever meet our future self But he exists there as the potential manifestation of all the potential realities we could become This infinitude of potential selves all compete to gain our attention These selves may even play devious tricks by talking to our past  Your future self can become a tyrant, it may try to take you hostage, demanding you satisfy his desires If your future self disappe...

The pursuit of virtue is not a question of rowing the oars of a ship more vigorously. Set your sails up correctly and nature will carry you forward. Even though the ocean is flat and empty, you can learn to use the stars to position and navigate yourself across the flat water. Are you able to able to delegate and coordinate the different tasks to your crew?  Some weeks of life the wind may blow weak, other times it may be strong and you will sail forward rapidly, however, no amount of wind can compensate for a captain with no destination in mind. There may come a moment where strong storms and violent wind throw you off course requiring time to recuperate and find your position again. Fog and thick clouds may even make navigation impossible requiring reduced velocity and patiently waiting for the the fog to clear. If you have put the time into learning to navigate, to read the stars, to be the master of the ship, then your vessel will always make its way towards the destination you...

Fragments from Ecce Homo "One has deprived reality of its value, its meaning, its truthfulness, to precisely the extent to which one has mendaciously invested an ideal world." Mankind worships the values that are opposite to the ones that would guarantee health and its future (p. 218).  "The aggressive pathos belongs just as necessarily to strength as vengefulness and rancor belong to weakness" (p. 232).  "My whole Zarathustra is a dithyramb on solitude or, if I have been understood, on cleanliness" (p. 234). What does Nietzsche mean be cleanliness? - the values of the herd are contrary to the needs of the individual, through solitude are we able to be free from the ideas that infect our minds. Social media is a good example on how by isolating yourself from it your mind becomes more transparent, more clear, or as Nietzsche would put it, more clean.  "Scholars who at bottom do little but thumb books ultimately lose entirely their capacity to think for...

  Smith, Jones and Euthanasia The Smith and Jones ethical question is one which illustrates the moral difference, or the lack thereof, between killing and letting die. It is a scenario where both Smith and Jones would receive a large inheritance if their cousin hypothetically passed away, this is a sufficient enough reason for Smith to actively go out an murder his cousin by drowning him in the bathtub. On the other hand, Jones also has the same intention and actively goes out to drown his cousin but has the fortunate situation where his cousin, right in front of him, drowns by himself, although Jones had the intention of drowning his cousin if he so happened to get out of the water, but having not killed his cousin, Jones does not feel morally responsible for what has just happened.  This ethical question presented in the article “Active and Passive Euthanasia” by James Rachels (1) thus presents the scenario that if we consider killing and letting die as morally different the...

 Hippias Minor Platonic dialogue on lying The dialogue of Hippias Minor can be roughly divided into two main sections, in the first one Socrates is questioning Hippias on whether or not liars and truth tellers are mutually exclusive to each other, the second part is concerned about if voluntarily lying is better or worse than involuntarily doing it. I will be going over the main arguments put forward in the dialogue to clearly delineate the arguments presented.  Son of Laertes, sprung from Zeus, resourceful Odysseus,  I must speak the word bluntly,  How I will act and how I think it shall be accomplished,  For as hateful to me as the gates of Hades  Is he who hides one thing in his mind, and says another.  As for me, I will speak as it shall also be accomplished.  (Achilles to Odysseus) Are liars and truth tellers mutually exclusive? Hippias, at the start of the dialogue, claims that Homer made Achilles the superior individual compared to Odysseus...

 42 - Boredom is that disagreeable 'lull' of the soul that precedes a happy voyage and cheerful winds.  Here Nietzsche is referring to the need for boredom in artists and inventive spirits and how they are distinguished by the modern worker in the sense that they do not see 'work' as a means to an end but rather they see work as the end in itself. Therefore these types of individuals can spend long periods of time where they rather be bored than to 'work' at something they do not find pleasure in. Nietzsche states that this state of boredom is not only an effect of the pursuit of pleasurable work but it is in fact necessary in order to produce high quality result in their interests.  I found this quote to be extremely relatable especially during the Covid Pandemic as I was, like many other people, holed up in my house for the greater part of a year, while this whole ordeal was extremely boring and uneventful it served the same purpose as years of video games did...

Untamed Wisdom Never ask for permission, firmly state what you are gong to do and provide solutions for the inconveniences of your actions.  Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone. People can teach you so many things if you are willing to ask questions and listen.  Seeing opportunities is a sixth sense you develop, they exist around every corner in life, you are either too blind to see them or too scared to take them.  Life will be interesting only if you make it interesting.  Be ruthless against your weaker self, never let an opportunity go where you can crush your fears.  The internet will taint you life with jealousy and resentment, be careful how you take this poison. We cannot let the pain of tomorrow prevent the joy of today.  Everyone pays a price for the life they live.  Friendships are like plants, not al of them are the same type of plant, but they all need to be watered, some more than other, but guess what all plants will die if they ...

Consider the following passage from Bishop: “If someone discovered that, throughout a relationship, her and her partner's free choices in forming and maintaining it had resulted from the -- at the time, undetectable -- manipulation of another powerful agent, she would be justified in feeling betrayed and scaling down considerably her estimate of the relationship's value. From this, I think, we may infer that a relationship which results from the undetected or even undetectable continuous contrivance of another person, however valuable it might seem, would not actually be of the highest value.” (John Bishop, ‘Compatibilism and the Free Will Defence’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Volume 71:2, 1993, p.117). Now do the following: 1. Carefully explain how this passage relates to Bishop’s ‘Upgraded’ Free Will Defence 2. Set out one reason either for agreeing with Bishop’s reasoning in this passage, or for disagreeing with it  The passage in question is part of an overarching ...