My personal life philosophy and moral code

You can have convictions while being an atheist

This document tries to specify a set of:

strict fundamental time-less rules, sort of like a constitution
soft guidelines of 2 types:
- derived from said rules (to clarify nuance)
- idealistic stuff (part of my preferences)

It puts in words everything I strive to be, so that I can remind myself (or you, if you want to call-out my hypocrisy). It also tries to concisely share wisdom with the world.

But before that, I’ll lay out some definitions:

Definitions

Free-will: It is something that you have/possess, and something that you are. It is a quality/characteristic/property of a being, and it also just is. “Cogito, ergo sum”. This is the only definition that is “dogmatic” in nature, as all evidence proves free-will cannot exist, even if you’re a deity. But it’s a matter of perspective: free-will exists in the context of people, not the cosmos or quantum realm.
Instinct: The “firmware” written in the brain by evolution (or a deity, if you believe in last thursdayism). It exists to aid in your survival. Not part of free-will. Can conflict with free-will and override it.
Person: A being who has free-will and sentience. Note that I didn’t include consciousness, as a comatose human is still a person (until its brain dies). However, a fetus (human or animal) is not a person, just a living being gradually becoming a person.
People: Plural of “person”.
Ignorant: Something that doesn’t know a piece of data. The “piece of data” in question depends on context. We’re all finite-state-machines that want to be Turing-machines. Let’s be honest with ourselves and remember “all we know, is that we know nothing”.
Faith: Blind belief on something/someone. Not based on evidence, just feelings or fallacies. It is common for faith to be “injected” into someone by means of “brainwashing”, if the defense of the victim’s psyche is low (which is the case of kids). It also also possible to have faith in blatant lies.
Trust: Belief in something/someone based on evidence, and/or rigorous predictions based on precedent.
Idiot: A person who is willfully ignorant. For example: most people with faith are idiots, while others are simply ignorant. It is possible to be a faithless idiot.
Deity: An entity with essentially “infinite” power. Truly-omnipotent entities can’t exist.

Because I accept my human condition, I shall accept the existence of free-will and sentience. Even if I were to reject my humanity, I still promise to accept free-will.

Without further ado, let’s actually begin:

Rules

Sorted by priority. Inspired by Immanuel Kant:

Do not use people as a means to an end, as people must be the ends themselves. Respect the free-will of others.
If you want to do something, do it! “Follow your heart”. Respect your own free-will. “Don’t let your dreams stay as dreams”. “Words are the tombs of ideas. Because if you resorted to words, you’ve abandoned actions”

Guidelines

Go “the extra mile” and defend the free-will of others and yourself!
Free-will is a spectrum, and most animals are “lower” on it. You should still protect them, but not as much as humans. Consume animal-based products, as least as possible.
Accepting bribery is fine, only if you can use your extra power (typically money) for a greater good. For example, including ads to your website is fine, if you can use that money against Palantir (and the impact is greater than the data harvested)
During digital communication, remember the human. This also applies if you’re writting a letter.
If you argue with an idiot, ensure it’s in a public space (digital or physical) where other people can perceive the “debate”. If you argue with an idiot in private, that’s an absolute waste of time (for both of you). The motivation is that public spaces allow spreading the truth efficiently, while simultaneously ridiculing the idiot.
Be mindful of what you say in public. Distributed systems can have permanent memory of some things.
Even when you don’t care much about privacy, remember that knowledge is power.
Do not grant more power to powerful entities. For example, don’t give any of your data to “big tech” unless you understand the consecuences/implications and you think the trade-offs are worth it. Take informed decisions by reading legal docs. Beware of chains.
Try to get the most out of the least. i.e. be efficient. This implies “don’t waste time” but it also extends to tools: ensure you have a set of non-bloated tools that are good-enough for whatever your current purpose is.
Whenever possible, use textual communication, as digital text is more accessible and efficient than images with words.
Find a healthy balance between trust and skepticism. This depends on situation/circumstance.
For all circumstances, at all costs, NEVER EVER HAVE FAITH. Dogmas (secular and religious) are, and always will be, bullshit, by definition. Even if they weren’t bullshit, they disrespect the free-will of every person that has them; much like instincts do, but more arbitrary and mindless.
Respect deities, as long as they don’t have the power to rewrite memories/written-history. If the deities can rewrite reality (past, present, future), you have no choice but to trust them; this is like trusting that the ground you stand on doesn’t collapse, you really have no choice but to stand on it and hope that it doesn’t break.
Be pro-adoption, pro-need (not pro-choice), and pro-life (not pro-birth). See “Do They Really Believe Abortion Is Murder?” by Ampersand