"Nothing should be immune to criticism, even the seemingly grandest, deeply established, and widely & highly respected ideas. Everything can be criticized, and should be criticized when necessary." - Klinsman HinjayaContinue reading
Showing posts with label logic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label logic. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Quote #36
Friday, August 4, 2017
Quote #23
"If you cannot change others' stupidity, at least change yours." - Klinsman HinjayaContinue reading
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
May All Beings Be Happy
Is it possible?
This saying kind of "tingled" my brain perhaps several years ago. Let's dissect this idea.
According to Macmillan Dictionary – one of my favorite dictionaries – "being" means "a living thing". Therefore, "all beings" are all living things, which include all humans, animals, plants, as well as microorganisms, such as bacteria.
Now let's take a look at the second most important word in the phrase: "happy". The same dictionary defines "happy" as "feeling pleasure and enjoyment because of your life, situation, etc." (I don't think anybody would disagree with this definition)
Now that we, hopefully, understand what the sentence means, let's move on to the question that has made me ponder: Is it likely that all beings will be happy?
Lions and zebras. I believe everyone knows the relationship between these two types of animals. To put it simply, lions try to hunt zebras and zebras try not to be hunted by the "kings of the jungle". Do zebras want to be feasted on by lions? Of course not; that's why they run as fast as they can when lions are chasing them. Do lions want to let zebras eat grass peacefully? Definitely not since lions have to fill their rumbling stomachs or otherwise they will die. So I guess it is pretty clear that either lions are happy or zebras are happy. It is utterly impossible that both kinds of beings are happy (please let me know if there is a zebra approaching a lion in order to be devoured by the predator, or if somewhere on Earth a lion, while being surrounded by a dozen zebras, fasted until it died).
It is just one out of, I believe, a huge number of predator-prey relationships on this planet – birds and worms, grizzly bears and salmon, Tyrannosaurus rex and hadrosaurs, you name it. Parasitism (such as, the relationship between fleas and your neighbor's beloved dog) is another happiness-is-just-for-one-of-them association.
It appears that we live in an unfair and nasty world. But that's how nature works. Species strive to continue their existence with a broad spectrum of behavior, even if it requires members of other species to suffer or even die.
Continue reading
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Discounts
Imagine you are in a mall. You go to a department store. You see many kinds of things. Some of them are interesting but the others not. But, what is "really interesting" is that there are eye-catching signs. "25%", "30% discount", "up to 80% off", and many others; those are what the signs show.
Discounts are a way to attract people to buy products or services. You can save some money and spend it on anything else. (That's what I know. Please forgive me, I'm not marketeer.)
Item: Watch
Normal Price: $50.50
Discount: 30%
Price After Discount: $35.35
Yeah, cool! You can save $15.15. You can buy two copies of Raptor Red, one for you and one for your mischievous brother. Is it good? Yes, it is. Is it always good? The abrupt answer is NO.
Why? The answer is related to my article Need and Greed. The mistake that people sometimes (or often?) make is that they are tempted to buy discounted things because there are discounts. If you think about it, it makes no sense. The fact that there are discounts is not a good reason why you buy things. We buy things
because we think those will be useful for us, because we will use them for our good, because they will affect our lives well, because they will bring about good effects to us.
If you buy a thing with an original price of $10 at a reduced price of $8 without the right reason, actually you do not save $2; you throw away $8 instead.
Laura: "Brian, look at the T-shirt!"
Brian: "Oh, what's wrong with it?"
Laura: "It's so cheap! There's a 75% discount! It's just $10 now! Get it!"
Brian: "Oh. Thanks, Laura, but I have plenty of clothes at home. :) Laura, you look thirsty. Why not drink an orange juice? I'll treat you. :)"
Laura: "Ah.. Sure.. Thanks, Brian. :)" Continue reading
Discounts are a way to attract people to buy products or services. You can save some money and spend it on anything else. (That's what I know. Please forgive me, I'm not marketeer.)
Item: Watch
Normal Price: $50.50
Discount: 30%
Price After Discount: $35.35
Yeah, cool! You can save $15.15. You can buy two copies of Raptor Red, one for you and one for your mischievous brother. Is it good? Yes, it is. Is it always good? The abrupt answer is NO.
Why? The answer is related to my article Need and Greed. The mistake that people sometimes (or often?) make is that they are tempted to buy discounted things because there are discounts. If you think about it, it makes no sense. The fact that there are discounts is not a good reason why you buy things. We buy things
because we think those will be useful for us, because we will use them for our good, because they will affect our lives well, because they will bring about good effects to us.
If you buy a thing with an original price of $10 at a reduced price of $8 without the right reason, actually you do not save $2; you throw away $8 instead.
Laura: "Brian, look at the T-shirt!"
Brian: "Oh, what's wrong with it?"
Laura: "It's so cheap! There's a 75% discount! It's just $10 now! Get it!"
Brian: "Oh. Thanks, Laura, but I have plenty of clothes at home. :) Laura, you look thirsty. Why not drink an orange juice? I'll treat you. :)"
Laura: "Ah.. Sure.. Thanks, Brian. :)" Continue reading
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Quote #12
"If you can't tell the reason why you do something, it's useless." - Klinsman HinjayaContinue reading
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Zombies & Priests
Zombies & Priests |
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Left Plain:
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Right Plain:
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Game Rules:
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