Daily Archives: April 28, 2014

THE TRUTH ABOUT BIAS

Bias: n. a subjective personal favoritism for a subset(s)

We all have a personal way of thinking and doing things which all depends on our individual experiences, beliefs, and opinions and this is called personal bias or subjectivity. Someone from a different culture or background may have many biases which are much different than our own so we should learn to respect those biases and not always try to prove that our biases are the only ones to have.

Most conflicts, arguments, and misunderstandings stem from the fact that humans have different biases which have to be dealt with in a sometimes diplomatic way and not through an outright assault on emotionally deeply felt biases. A challenge to deeply held biases will be met with sometimes ferocious defensive actions and you should learn to communicate in a way which will not inflame those biases which sometimes may also be called prejudices.

Biases not grounded in many facts but emotionally deeply felt are the hardest to deal with because reason, logic, and relevant facts will frequently not be convincing enough to change those biases. The media, politics in general, religion, and sports is frequently not something which you can talk logically about because they are strongly held emotional beliefs frequently not based on many facts and subject to very little change.

If a human has very many biases different than your own then the probability that you can have a successful intimate relationship with that human are very slim. If you have a relationship it will probably be a very tempestuous and rather unsatisfactory one.

A scientific bias is preferable to a non scientific one but you have to be careful about statistics which can lead to inaccurate conclusions because there is no one to one correspondence with frequently vaguely defined variables. The scientific method is not very useful in human affairs because empathy, anger, frustration, revenge, poverty, discrimination, love, hate, etc is poorly defined and does not lend itself to manipulation with mathematical formulas. You can’t prove morality mathematically and test it in a laboratory.

Science will never prove the necessity for a secular moral code or morality for humans so that they can peacefully interact with one another in society. A moral code for young impressionable minds is necessary so that humans react impulsively in life situations and don’t always have to be asking -is what I am about to do right or wrong?

The questioning scientific approach to situation ethics is dysfunctional because it is so relative and almost any situation can be justified under certain circumstances. The end frequently justifies the means and this is a morally corrupt way of running the world of human affairs.

Except in emergency situations it should be immoral to destroy biodiversity, lie, be inefficient, steal, be adulterous if married, and murder. Prove that mathematically and scientifically in a lab. You can’t!!!!!! But you can try to get a consensus in society that a secular moral code is a good thing to teach young impressionable minds.

If you liked this evergreen truth blog then read more of them, approximately 700 so far, and one or more of my evergreen truth books, especially COMMON SENSE, rays of truth in a human world filled with myths and deceptions.

Enjoy!!!!!!

THE TRUTH ABOUT POLYGAMY

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Historically polygamy was acceptable for wealthy ruling monarchs or more accurately top leaders and it was an excellent way of reproducing talented offspring for the next generation of rulers. It also was an excellent way to avoid adultery and promiscuousness because instead of being promiscuous or adulterous you could just marry your next infatuation. Even in the modern age some Arabs are polygamous and they are carrying on an ancient acceptable tradition.

The only disadvantage of polygamy is that the money power in the world could potentially be once again in very few hands and some of the power would be transferred as inherited wealth to humans who don’t deserve it or have not worked for the money and are really undeserving corrupt manipulators or spenders of it. Inheritance based on merit would not apply in many cases and a new immoral generation of incompetent rulers could potentially arise. It should be the responsibility of the wealthy male to determine who the most deserving of his offspring should inherit his wealth and it need not be the first born but rather the most meritorious one or two or three.

Polygamy should be legalized in the west for very wealthy males with incomes in the many millions or billions so that they can reproduce potentially talented offspring for the benefit of future generations. In case of divorce which may be relatively frequent in the west, they should be required to set up an escrow account with the government so that the divorced women and offspring would not have to go on government welfare but would be financially provided for.

Not so obvious is the fact that most common humans should be monogamous and not be polygamous because in case of a divorce or financial breakdown there would be many divorced women with offspring without alimony payments all going on government welfare at taxpayers expense.

With a social incentive to become rich and legally be polygamous many males would be motivated to make much money and then they could brag about how many wives and offspring that they have and not how many airplanes, yachts, mansions, and cars that they have. Put your money where it counts the most, in the next generation of humans with excellent memories.

Yes, there will be many talented writers, scientists, business humans, and technologists who will never be very wealthy and should theoretically all reproduce with many wives and offspring but life is not fair or just and only an enlightened society will be able to judge talent objectively and not subjectively.

There is primarily only one objective measure of talent and that is how good a memory you have which means that you can learn information and skills at an incredibly fast pace. Yes, there are idiot savants but those are the few exceptions to the rule that excellent memory is a primary need.

There are many humans with high IQ’s doing some pretty stupid things so IQ alone should never be used to judge how smart and talented an individual really is. A lifetime is ultimately the determiner of how smart and talented you have been and no subjective culturally biased test of mental ability will predict how smart or talented you will be in life. Excellent social skills are frequently more important for leaders than book learning and scoring high on a standardized test.

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THE TRUTH ABOUT CRITICISM

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Criticism: n. a communication with disapproval for too much deviation from normative standards of perfection and/or complete standards of perfection for a subset(s)

Almost all of us have been criticized for not looking good, not doing the right thing, or having an opinion or belief which is unacceptable or wrong. Our first reaction is usually very defensive and we frequently decide to defend ourselves or get very upset at the criticism. When you criticize another human keep in mind that they may become very defensive and upset no matter how diplomatically you present that criticism.

There are certain things which you should keep in mind when offering criticism.

Don’t name call such as calling someone stupid, crazy, or incompetent for doing a stupid, crazy, or incompetent thing.

Instead ask a probing question and find out what made the human do the stupid, crazy, or incompetent thing. They may surprise you by giving a reasonable answer from their point of view and what they did may not seem so stupid, crazy, and incompetent as you initially thought. After getting a subjective personal answer you may still decide that objectively what they did was stupid, crazy, or incompetent so then offer a suggestion of what you would have done instead and find out if they agree with you.

If you are a boss then you can insist that they do what is right the next time but if it is a friend then you should accept their point of view and not try to force them to change their behavior the next time around.

If you are criticizing an opinion which is not a firmly held belief which you probably will never change then ask them to give reasons for the opinion if it is one that you disagree with.

What are the reasons why you feel that way? or What facts are you using to back up your opinion? are questions which will give you a better idea of why the opinion is being held. There may not be any facts to back up the opinion and it may simply be an impulsive feeling of being right. If this is the case then you can present facts or reasons why a differing opinion is in fact right and should be held.

There are other techniques which you can use to persuade a human that your opinion is the right one to have but you should realize that you may still fail to convince another that you are right and they are in fact wrong. If the opinion is not going to affect your life in any major way then let the opinion live and don’t try to destroy it by taking a very aggressive attitude towards it and starting unnecessary confrontations or arguments.

An attitude that I am right and you are wrong is frequently the wrong approach because as in most things in life neither you nor they are completely right or wrong but both are frequently partially right and partially wrong. There are many more shades of grey such as sometimes, frequently, and not always than just black or white, yes or no.

Criticizing looks is dangerous because no one wants you to say that outfit is ugly because they impulsively feel that you are calling them personally ugly. When criticizing give some valid factual reasons why you don’t like something first. It is not my favorite color, color combination, style, pattern, or print is much better than saying it is ugly, I hate it, it is terrible, and I can’t stand it.

If you have a reputation for being honest, sincere, dependable, and trustworthy then your critical opinion will have more impact than if you have a bad or unreliable reputation and are not trusted by another. Criticisms from someone that you like are not as offensive as criticisms from someone whom you don’t like.

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THE TRUTH ABOUT DISCRIMINATION

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Discrimination: n. willfully and fraudulently stealing privileges and/or rights one has merited but has been denied due to one’s (ethnicity and/or gender) and/or (age and/or nationality) and/or handicap.

The truth is that we all discriminate or perceive differences in humans and things but discrimination has taken on political meaning and it means noticing unjust differences in humans and making largely impulsive judgments to the detriment of the human who may objectively qualify for a job or real estate purchase.

Appearance, gender, manner of speaking, and behavior are all impulsively judged based on prior associations with similar humans and we make speedy judgments about whether we like them or not and why. If you are prejudiced about some human groups then your reactions to individuals will show a group bias and you may unjustly judge individuals for something which they are not. If they just had the opportunity to prove themselves to you with more contact then hopefully you would change your mind and have a better opinion of them than the stereotypes which you have in your mind.

Humans must discriminate and do, so they must be taught to make more objective judgments about humans and ask pertinent questions about them before making impulsive judgments. The judgments should be just and primarily based on job, education, communication ability, trustworthiness, and personality.

If someone talks funny or is hard to understand and doesn’t have a friendly personality then you don’t want them to make customer contact but they may still be hired for behind the scenes work which does not require good communication skills.

Gender discrimination is harder to do objectively because there is a primal attraction to the opposite sex and females are still largely viewed as being responsible for offspring and to be treated differently than men because of it.

Unless they are inappropriately dressed, humans should not be judged primarily on looks and that means color of the skin. All other forms of discrimination are acceptable because ethnicity is the only unfair or unjust form of discrimination since all the humans in this world should have an equal chance at a job if they are qualified.

Age and sex discrimination should theoretically not exist but the fact is that age and sex does matter to some extent with the only rule applying is that there should be equal pay for equal work no matter what the sex or age. For example, not hiring elderly women to be showgirls or cheerleaders is age discrimination and it would be very unconventional to have 80 year olds fill those jobs and not bankrupt the business.

Most businessmen prefer someone with experience and the true form of discrimination which hurts young adults the most is no experience discrimination. How do you get a job if there is no on the job training and you need job experience? It is also a fact of life that no job experience adults are frequently not dependable and many are lazy so there is fear that hiring someone with no experience will just result in higher turnover for the business.

A question which you should always ask yourself is-Do I dislike this human because he or she has a lousy personality, can’t communicate well, is untrustworthy, is boring with little education and a poor job or do I dislike the human because of ethnicity or color? If you are discriminating for reasons other than ethnicity or color then you have every right to discriminate in your choice of potential friends or potential workers.

You should be civil towards all humans and be able to have unimportant conversations with them if needed but you have the right to chose your potential close friends and workers who are qualified for the job and will not scare away customers because of worker incompetence and bad personalities.

Enjoy!!!!!!

THE TRUTH ABOUT CRIME

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Criminals can broadly be classified into violent and non-violent offenders. The violent ones either threaten you with a weapon and/or words and may follow up with some form of physical aggression. Other violent offenders may vandalize property or break into private property violently and proceed to steal but they are not considered violent offenders.

Non-violent offenders will frequently steal your money and/or property with deception, fraudulent means, or physically without much force.

The violent offenders frequently go to jail if they are caught but the non-violent offenders may be so clever and deceptive that their crime goes undetected for a long duration. Bernie Madoff is just one example of a very clever white collar criminal who stole billions of dollars for a long duration before he got caught with his Ponzi scheme.

Drug offenders both users and pushers are clogging the court system. Drug dealers with much money frequently get light sentences or plea bargain to a lower charge when they are caught making the problem even worse with no respect for the legal system.

As is frequently the case in this country, if you have much money and great lawyers then you can sometimes get away with crime with little or no jail time and minimum fines. This is especially true of bank and corporate fraud which is infrequently prosecuted to the full extent of the law if at all.

Recidivism is rather high or about two thirds return to jail within a five year period. It appears that the prison system is effective in taking criminals off the streets but not very effective in teaching them a lesson or rehabilitating them.

In 2012 the arrest rate 4165 per 100,000 population was about six times the incarceration rate in California so it seems that only about one sixth of those arrested go to jail. Almost 5% of the population get arrested for some crime or suspicion of crime and some perhaps more than once.

About a 33% of black males enter the federal prison system during their lifetime compared to about 6% for whites and about 17% for Hispanics. One can conclude that the poorer you are with dysfunctional families and a bad education the more likely you are to commit crimes because a realistic reliable job is not an option in many cases.

The common crimes are assault and battery, domestic violence, driving crimes, drug crimes, fraud, theft, and sex crimes.

Worldwide the United States has the highest incarceration rate or 716 per 100,000 population or close to 1% and India has one of the lowest or 30 per 100,000 or .0003 %.

Enjoy!!!!!!