Harm Principle

The Nature of the Beast

2006-08-26T13:15:00.001+02:00

There's a story about a certain mammal whose species I cannot remember now and a scorpion going across the river. The scorpion goes on the mammals back promises not to sting him, if he takes him across. In the middle of the river, the scorpion stings the mammal and they both drown. Just before they do, the mammal asked the scorpion, why the ****** did you ***** bite me you stupid ***** *****? (Kids always get the abridged version of that quote and I have very good information that the said mammal was from the Balkans region). The answer the scorpion gave was pretty simple: “It’s in my nature.”
That got me thinking when I was reading a book that, among others, deals with slavery. I am wondering whether the hierarchical structure of our society is such because it’s efficient and it is developing as the methods of production develop or whether it is in the nature of an individual to simply want more than their neighbor, regardless of everything else.
Why does it matter? It matters simply because I refuse to take the nature of the beast as an excuse for a lot of attempts of enforcing our will on others. And even if we are a species who are bent on world domination and have fun and fits of manic laughing while doing it, it’s still not an excuse. It is an excuse if you’re a bug. There’s more to being human than to being a bug though. Then again I could be just the naïve mammal who took the beast across the stream. I’ll think about this…

The fine art of reading

2006-08-17T20:19:00.000+02:00

When commuting to work in the morning and back home in the evening, I travel by bus. Cheap, efficient, ecological, relaxing and on top of all those very important reasons I don't have the money to buy a decent car. Partially because I have to travel to work by bus, which means I’m bored on the way, which means I buy books to read.
I’ve long since given up on the local libraries to have anything interesting I want to read, as their budget for new foreign literature just about covers the 8 copies of The Da Vinci Code, always booked in advance anyway. Still, I notice that people I know don’t frequent libraries much and neither do they spend a lot of time reading. Admittedly, a lot of people I know are working jobs that require them to read all day, but you cannot really compare a document you read at work with a good book.
I wonder why don’t people read more? Am I a creature of the past, who still believes in paperbacks while the world has moved on to more advanced forms of consumption of information? Probably. Good literature is not necessarily about information, though. It’s about the appreciation of a good peace of art woven together with a story. People rarely take the time for that any more. There are a lot more important things to do, than indulge yourself in a book, while commuting to and from work… Or are there? Try it. You might even like it.

What happened to Harm Principle?

2006-08-12T13:17:00.000+02:00

Not much. I’ve been taking a summer break after exams and then I started working again so I ended up doing everything else and not finding the time to post here. Have no fear, however, the Harm Principle is back, I just need to organize my time a bit better so I can write a post now and then.
We mostly all live in a stressful environment so we’re all obsessed with organizing it. A very wise man said, however, that although every great undertaking needs organizing, you’re bound to end up with people who think that the organization needs organizing. You end up doing organization for the sake of organization and loose sight of the real goal behind it. It’s a lot like money. It only makes sense when you’re earning it for a goal, but too many people end up earning money, to get more money. Both categories of people are very common and although they usually end up being very organized, or very rich, they usually don’t achieve the great undertaking they’ve planned to achieve when they were 16 and neither do the rich often find a fulfilling use for all that pile of treasury bills and whatnot.
Next time someone tells you to clean your room, just tell him that it’s organized enough to allow you to find stuff in there. Having perfectly square bed covers is not really all that important. If you shock them with the answer, tell them to read Harm Principle now and then. Maybe the person they were before their obsessions took over will like the concepts behind it…

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO, It’s an intercontinental ballistic missile!

2006-07-05T13:48:00.000+02:00

North Korea is doing new missile tests with rockets that are believed to have enough range to hit anywhere on the globe. They might not be as accurate as western counterparts, but if they ever launch a nuclear strike, it won’t matter much, if they miss by a few kilometers. World is upset, we’re getting emergency Security Council meetings and Japan is pretty nervous.
What’s the main difference between North Korea having nuclear weapons and USA having nuclear weapons? USA is a bigger global terrorist than North Korea ever has the potential to be, true. Main difference, however, is that you can trust the US president to play by the rules. He has to get reelected and if your people are vaporized by other nukes if you start shooting your nukes, then those people cannot reelect you. Nuclear weapons and mutual assured destruction is essentially a good thing in modern world, where we all play by the rules and we all know we will all die if we break those rules.
There’s a difference, though, when new players enter the field and they have no intention of playing by the rules. They don’t care about their own population, and they have a pretty good nuclear bunker for themselves. In such a scenario, there’s trouble.
It is ironic that the same weapon that can keep the world safe is suddenly causing so much trouble in world politics. Something that was in the domain of the big guys to set the rules with is now becoming available to the little guy, like Iran or North Korea. Sure, they might not have working nukes and delivery systems yet, but they’re getting there. When the nuke monopoly is broken we will cease to have any effective form of world government, which we now, on some basic level, have. Any chance we could get the new WTO treaty signed before the little guys get really pissed off by the continued opression?

The Independence day

2006-06-27T20:48:00.000+02:00

Bad movie. This post is not about the movie. It’s also not about 4th of July. It’s about a Slovenian national holiday we celebrated this weekend. With some nice parading, some celebrations and about 5000 people invited to the main party. If you were left out, you are most likely an enemy of the state.
We’re celebrating our declaration of Independence from the former Yugoslavia and we’re rightfully proud of what our little country has done. Things could have been better, but they’re not that bad, either. Only thing that is celebrated as much as our Independence is, ironically enough, our integration into European integrations, namely the EU, the coming integration in the Euro zone, the Schengen zone and all other “common policies” that we have in the great state (yes state) that is the European Union. Very few people realize that our independence in the EU is probably of a lesser degree in the EU than it ever was in Yugoslavia. Main difference is of course in the fields where federal government (yes, federal government) in the EU can take action and where the one in Yugoslavia could. For example, while they can regulate the size of cucumbers we eat today (and subsidiarity principle be damned), they cannot regulate the community board that gives out the better looking garden than your neighbor’s award (which would be woefully un-socialistic).
I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the principle of European integration as such. It’s important to know that we give a lot of our independence, that we so cherish, away for a better common future, though. We give that part of independence away, not because we like to be bound by more rules, but because we want to leave freely in all European countries, where borders are a thing of the past. For the constitution project to be successful, the key is to write a much shorter, much simpler constitution, which has a purpose of guaranteeing those basic rights, and has much less to do with rights of EU high ranking politicians and employees. People like independence.

The quest for the holy grail, episode 35

2006-06-23T20:06:00.000+02:00

For those of you wondering, where Harm Principle has gone for the past few days, the answer is simple. Author was pretty busy. For those keeping score with me, 35 done, 3 to go. That means I’m done for the summer and will continue on in the fall, all according to plans so far. The last one was pretty hectic, since I had to learn a lot very fast.
That’s what I’ve been doing for the past 4 years at our faculty. I’m pretty good now at learning insane amounts of data, by hearth in a very short amount of time. I forget most of that in a few days after the exam anyway. I’m resigned to that by now and I do what is required of me, learn instead of think.
And yet, there’s a nagging feeling in the back of my head, the last independent brain cell, which refuses to accept the uselessness of most of what we learn. Is it really necessary? Is there nothing that can be done? I don’t think the Bologne reform will have any practical influence whatsoever on the quality of education at our faculty. There is no will to change the substance of what we learn and therefore, therefore a change of the form won’t matter. It’s a system designed to allow professors to get through lectures with minimal amount of effort involved, and on the other hand it’s a system designed to allow students an easy way out. You learn it by heart.
There are exceptions of course. I’ve had courses by brilliant professors, courses where I had fun, courses that were actually practically oriented. Professors don’t get paid extra for that, they do it, simply because some of them actually like to do their work well. But sadly, there are also a lot of students who don’t like such exams. Those are exams where you can’t learn a single book by heart and know you’re going to be all right. The logic behind the system is quite scary, though. Despite the impressive speeches our dean gives every year, it’s a system designed to make everyone average. If someone did too well, it might become too obvious there are people out there, who would be better professors than those we have. Unfortunately, those will teach quite a few years longer as I’ve never heard of a professor loosign a job before retirement due to bad quality of his work.

Micro$oft Windows Vista

2006-06-15T13:46:00.000+02:00

For those of you wondering where I've been all this time, I'm learning. Well, trying too at least. It's a good faith effort, at the very least. In those short intervals that I'm not learning (yeah right), I took the time to install a new Microsoft operating system that's in Beta2 stage, Windows Vista. I would install Ubuntu Linux, but then I would have software compatibility issues and besides, my family would kill me due to slight changes in user interface...So here I am, stuck with Microsoft software running on my desktop. There are worse things in life, of course, but not many cost as much.
So how's Vista? Well it's beta 2. It works, but it definitely has backwards compatibility issues, especially due to DirectX upgrade. I can't get non-Microsoft programs to be stable. I can't get Thunderbird installed, I'm also having trouble with Firefox. I am sure you begin to see the pattern. Microsoft is implementing an operating system that does not »fully support« non Microsoft software once again. They even went so far to earn a law suit and a request for injunction from Symantec (company that among others produces Norton Antivirus), which is their long time partner, trying to prohibit them from publishing Vista. It is fun to see Microsoft slapped in the face by their own intellectual property activism for once. However, I think they have a solution in mind already. They'll just buy Symantec. There's more, however. Have you ever tried using the nice search function in Mozilla Firefox, that lets you do searches of popular sites? The new Explorer, of course, doesn't support Google.
It's one of those cases in law where prevalent market position is bloody obvious. It's also obvious to a 6yearold that Microsoft is trying to get the competition off Market, by abusing his prevalent position. You’d be surprised how clear the law is on that one and how bloody illegal it all is. Nothing much happens of course. I’m very sure nothing will happen in the USA. I remain hopeful we’ll see another round of Commission vs. Microsoft. But even if Commission was successful, I wonder what would happen. It’s not like the court can ban Microsoft from marketing it’s products in EU effectively anyway. They’d have to hit uninstall the moment they pass the judgment. We’ll know more in about 5 years when legal procedures in Europe will be about to end. Microsoft will be marketing a whole new operating system in 5 years, though.

Birthdays

2006-06-12T15:05:00.000+02:00

I’ve been at two birthday parties this weekend. My father is now a few years above 50, while my grandmother hit 80. Apart from probably gaining a few pounds from two consecutive days of eating a lot of meat and then some extra cake, not much has changed, though. They’re a year older, I’m getting older, but that’s pretty much it. No one is any different than the day before that. What’s the big deal about birthdays anyway then?
Some explanation is probably found in the Birthday article in Wikipedia. The article has less than a dozen lines on history and 2 pages on festivities. That’s how I understand birthdays, too. If you’re young, you get special treatment for that day and make a party with friends. If you’re older, it’s also an amazing excuse for a family get together. When you have a reasonably normal family (well, as normal as families get), it’s a good party, where you get to see all your aunts slightly tipsy. When you go out with friends you get to see them more than slightly tipsy, as a bonus.
That’s what birthdays really are, a great excuse for a great party. You’re not celebrating that a person is one year older, you don’t throw a party just to get gifts, either (well most people don’t, at least), you don’t really enjoy paying the bill at the bar if it was your birthday, you simply get out of the house and party. It’s a shame really, that there has to be an excuse for a particular person to be a year older in order to throw a party. Or maybe I'm missing some deeper meaning?

Cats and Dogs

2006-06-09T14:29:00.000+02:00

People who read the blog know by now that I have a cat. Those who know me also know I hate getting up early in the morning. So how are these two connected? I woke up at 6 AM today, because my cat needed to be taken to a clinic for a dentist appointment. As perverse as the idea of a cat dentist is, it’s pretty real and the poor bastard really needed it, too.
Apart from the really funny part of seeing a cat wake up, still intoxicated, after the operation, you can imagine I was pretty annoyed by the whole thing. What is amazing, though, is that cats and dogs can be treated for pretty much every other illness humans can be. I’ve seen commercials for healthy food, food for cats with allergies, antibiotics for dogs with liver problems and I was informed a friend of ours had his cat through hip surgery, replacement (No, this is not a joke). I don’t have a problem with people paying for it really, it’s their money.
It’s interesting though from a purely ethical perspective. Isn’t euthanasia more justified in cases of incurable illness and pain for animals? I can understand the argument that it is worth to prolong human life, but is our desire to be with the pet a justification to cause it live in continuous pain? I can see why it’s good to take it to a dentist, you help it get better, that’s for sure. But chemotherapy for liver cancer on cats? Give me a break! That’s selfish torture plain and simple!

Boys will be boys

2006-06-06T18:10:00.000+02:00

I had an intellectual property exam today, another one done, one less to go. It was a good exam, from a field I like, therefore not a big deal. Still, I didn’t sleep much tonight, so I’ll spend the night at home today and probably go to bed early. Now before I go to sleep, I might play some EVE Online. It’s a game I play to relax sometimes in the evenings. I admit it, I’m 22 and I still play computer games. Boys will be boys. Men always play games, but the toys get more expensive with age. I’ve heard it all before, so spare me, please.
In my own defense, I am one of the youngest actually playing this game in the “corporation” or the group of people I play with. Most people that plays are either people who work normally or are in some cases retired. Most of them are, admittedly, male. But what is EVE, then, to have such allure to old men? Well, one is, you get to fly a spaceship. Everyone wanted to do that since kindergarten. But it’s also a MMORPG, which stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Essentially, it’s a game, where many people at the same time get to play their role in a virtual world. There are quite a few of such games available on the market, but they all, in different manner, allow people to enter a world that is essentially different from reality.
What is it that drives us to enter a world where our virtual life is so much different than that in our society? One, for sure, is the fact that there, we’re all essentially equal and free, within the world’s design parameters. A bum in real life can be a king in a virtual world. Furthermore, it’s also a way of getting away from one’s problems, to forget, for a second, that there are real worries out there, more exams, a crazy boss, maybe a wife or a husband you’d prefer not to be with at that moment. It doesn’t solve problems that’s for sure. It can be addictive, that’s also true. It does bring you pleasure and a feeling of achievement, even if it’s virtual. Yes, it’s essentially a drug. Level of market penetration in some Asian markets is close to 20%. It does have negative side effects. But when you feel really unproductive and tired, like I do right now, after an exam I did well, it sure feels good to relax.

Hell is other people

2006-06-02T15:50:00.000+02:00

I’ve read a disturbing article on BBC news. To make the long story short, the government in the USA plans to put cameras on the border with Mexico. Then it plans to stream the output of those cameras to the web. It gets better. Then you can watch illegal immigrants, call a toll free number, the government will be alerted, troops will be sent, and you will save the day, kicking yet another Mexican back to his state.
I’ve stated my opinion about the wall in a previous blog, but this takes the idea to a whole new level. It learns from the methods of the secret police of either the ex-Yugoslav, Soviet, or if you prefer, Nazi regime and combines them with modern day technology. What this regulation does is employ people to spy on other people. What makes it “right” is the fact that you’re actually spying on “others” and not on “us” and therefore it’s legitimate.
What’s the entire fret about anyway? What’s wrong with watching and reporting criminals and by that lowering the crime rate? There’s a really small step between watching illegal immigrants and illegal regular criminals, like thieves, bullies and drug addicts. I don’t worry about the criminals, much. When someone crosses the line and bullies someone in the street, he deserves to be prosecuted. The real problem, however, is that you cannot separate the streets used by the criminals (“them” in the above example) and regular citizens (“us” in the above example). It means that everyone can spy on everyone and infringe on everyone’s privacy, wherever they want, whenever. Just because you kiss a girl you like near the Mexican border, or maybe at some later stage in the middle of your home town, is it really your neighbor’s business to watch that? Would you be willing to make all life that’s not happening behind the close shutters of your basement totally public, just to have a higher chance to lower crime rates? Would you really feel safer? I know I wouldn’t. It’s none of your business who I kiss. It’s none of your business who my friends are. And it’s definitely not the government’s job to make it your business.

Feline Humanity?

2006-05-29T16:44:00.000+02:00

There I was enjoying my Sunday, sitting on the balcony, sipping my coffee after lunch, enjoying a good book and being proud of the achievements of the day. It was 3 PM and I already managed to have a shower. I didn’t allow myself to think about the rigors of the coming week, when I will be immersed in the minor but incredibly important distinctions in copyright law. It was a perfect.
I sure can be a lazy bastard when I want to and I do not feel even slightly bad about it. Only one who can beat me at extreme laziness is my cat, but then again he’s competing in a different category. He’s heavy weight champion. There’s a problem with being lazy, though. I can only do it for so long. After a few days I get bored by it. After a week or two it’s unbearable. That’s when my cat wins. I get to work and go do something, anything. It’s just more fun for me when I have a busy schedule, 12 hours of work planned in the next 10, lots of activities and lots of things I have to take care of, preferably prioritized in three categories. A friend of mine asked me whether I still look forward to working crazy hours during the summer, and honestly, I do. Not the crazy hours, really, I enjoy excessive boss presence just as much as the next guy. But the feeling that I’m doing something challenging, that I’m satisfied with the work well done afterwards.
What am I, really? A product of a capitalistic society, an overachiever, a workaholic? Or is it just human nature? Is the desire to achieve or create something impregnated into our essence? Implications of that are profound. If we achieve our goals and behave creatively solely because for the paycheck, then society has a justification to apply such pressure, to force and direct our creativity. Then we are like my cat, acting only when we get a meal for it. But if the real achievements result from a desire within us to create, then creativity and by that our satisfaction is directly proportional to the degree of freedom we have in expressing ourselves. Then an efficient copyright legislation should be based on facilitating free creation, much more than restricting access to created works. I should have just stayed on the balcony, right?

Brave new world

2006-05-27T11:33:00.000+02:00

There are serious talks in Slovenia about not allowing minors under 16 in night clubs. They want to make it a misdemeanor. Naturally, I am upset. Not because I think it’s a good idea to have 15 year olds in night clubs. There are probably better places for them to frequent, places where they could be safer and get better education for future life.
That’s not a reason good enough to criminalize behavior, though. It’s not a choice the government should be allowed to make, instead of that person, instead of the parents. A person at 15 is allowed to work, take part in most court procedures, perform routine asset management and finally, that person is also allowed to choose who to have sex with (age of consent being 15 in Slovenia) and can also decide for an abortion, without parental supervision. We deem the person capable of making all those choices, to make a living for him or herself, but we place limits on how these people are allowed to spend their free time. Firstly, it’s woefully inconsistent not to allow the young to make the choice for themselves. Secondly, if anyone is entitled to have a say in this matter, it’s the parents. If parents allow it, it’s their choice, a choice they should be allowed to make, as there is no detrimental effect on the life of their children or others in the society.
Why do I care though? Is it really so important when such a small part of our freedom is taken away from a relatively small part of the population, with some decent reasons to support that choice? I care because this is not a choice for the better. It limits one’s freedom, while that freedom has no harmful effects on other people. I also care, because it sets another dangerous precedent which clearly says, the state knows better, the state is smarter than you and therefore the state can make the choice for you. The state is not only telling the 15 year old it knows what’s better for him, but also makes a choice for that individual’s parents. The state is making a choice, which essentially means, we take away your freedom so we can govern you more easily. Since it’s under the guise of protecting our young ones the people are inclined to let it happen more easily. Controlling the population with good intentions is even more dangerous than controlling them with fear and hatred, as it’s easier to disguise. And history has taught us, once the control is established, the intentions never stay good.

Coffee > 42

2006-05-25T18:50:00.000+02:00

I’ve had a pretty hard group of exams today and I after some hard work I can proudly say: 33 done, 5 to go. They say we learn things for life at universities. They say we get important lessons on our journey to adulthood. Some might even claim we are irrevocably shaped as individuals, as the representation of new ideas and the connection we all share with our field of study reflects on our personality. Let me tell you what I say! When it gets really hard, and the date of the exam gets closer and closer, just add more coffee. It works. It has a very nice metaphysical feature which allows for prolongation of hours in a day, without loosing consciousness. It looks directly in the face of the laws of physics with a wild grin and says: Not my problem! On top of that, it tastes wonderful, just pick the right brand.
OK, I’m an addict. I’m past denial. Still, I like being an addict. Not all addictions are bad, and a cup of coffee or two a day won’t kill me, but sure will make my days sweeter. It’s a habit, a habit that probably reflects on the fact that I will statistically certainly die 37 days, 5 hours and 3 minutes sooner. But what point is there in living, if we don’t indulge ourselves in a bad habit here and there?

Student privileges, the principal, the agent and a pint of beer

2006-05-23T23:23:00.000+02:00

Students are represented by a students' parliament in Slovenia. It is elected democratically, each school contributing according to the number of students, each political party represented according to the number of votes they get at each school. A very nice side effect is that political campaigns are held at each of our schools every 2 years (used to be every year) and while it can be annoying to be told to vote blue 15 times in the time you need to come from the entrance of the building to your classroom, there are also positive side effects. Political parties know very well that nothing buys students’ votes quite as nicely as free beer. Very democratic, all in all. Different kinds of beer are represented, according to voters’ desires, so there is no coercion whatsoever involved.
While we’re all fans of democratic process, it can get worrisome when the people elected actually need to represent your rights. Most of the time, it’s not a problem. State doesn’t bother with students, we complain on average level, just to keep in touch with our young rebellious side and the emo anti establishment sentiment. Sometimes, however, the government makes a big mistake and has a new plan on how to limit the rights of students some more, and students, of course, to keep it all in good spirits, organize demonstrations, that include some thrown tomatoes at the parliament building, some non violent demonstrations and, of course, free beer. It’s all jolly good.
Problems arise, however, when a government has a set of arguments, and students have counter arguments and contrary to common belief government actually makes a good faith effort at negotiations. In situations like that I would, if I was naive, expect the elected representatives to do everything in their power to protect my rights reasonably. I am not that naive, however, and therefore I’m worried. One of the plans of the government is to limit privileged students' work (a change I do not agree with), which directly funds the work of students parliament and therefore the work of our elected officials. I am slightly worried that no amount of democratic process will be enough to make sure our elected officials consider students' rights before their right to get their salary, which they, doing the hard work, taking care of our rights, so rightfully deserve. Besides, they need it for political campaigns, and there’s not much point in students' housing, if you don’t get free beer.

Eurovision – Could it be a good thing?

2006-05-21T11:58:00.000+02:00

I did not watch the Eurovision contest. I just extrapolated it from the one last year and the years before that. The trend was easy to predict, each contest is pretty much the same. In order to get a lot of support you need to be a large nation which has a lot of people in other countries. It is never surprising when Germany gives 12 points to Turkey.
Nevertheless, when the winner of Eurovision was announced this year, it was a major slap in the face for all of us cynics out there. I might not particularly like Lordi. I might even consider them slightly silly. And I’m a fan of heavy metal, I wonder what my grandmother thinks about them. I’m absolutely sure Lordi would never win at Popstars, Supernova or any other competition of popularity organized by the big music production companies. They have, however, won the Eurovision.
One explanation is that everyone else was appalling, and that’s the one I’m seriously looking into at the moment. The other, a bit less conventional, and more likely just my wishful thinking, is that just maybe we’ve reached the ultimate acceptable level of Britney Spears clones and just maybe people are fed up with it. Just maybe, we have a critical mass of people forming, who can’t stand being told they should listen to sweet looking blondes and fake ghetto exports, who make bad videos and worse music and actually get paid for it. Just maybe there are still some people out there, who value creativity more than conformity. And finally, in my humble opinion, there’s much better hard rock and metal out there than Lordi. If Lordi helps people realize it’s not all the work of Satan, we just might see some non-conventional but nevertheless very good music aired more often. Or, the majority can just keep on licking a certain lollipop. It doesn’t make much of a difference to me.

New investment opportunities in the business of human rights violations!

2006-05-18T22:42:00.000+02:00

If you want to get rich, start a construction company. Forget law, construction is the business of the future. You don’t even need architects. Forget complicated designs and calculations. It doesn’t have to be pretty, or constructed using advanced materials. The business of the future is building walls. It’s a great job, really. Government money, no problems with getting paid, it’s really easy.
First, you need to establish your place of business in a self proclaimed democratic country, that’s really hot on security. Stay away from liberals. Second, you have to make sure there are people living right next to that country who want to A: blow it up or B: just want a better life in the richer country. A good start was possible in Israel a while ago. They do have some issues with International Court of Justice trying to shut them down, but they have the support of local authorities, and a big brother. It should be noted that it is much better to have the USA Congress than justice on your side when you want to earn an honest living in construction industry.
Even if you’re not really into religion and suicide bombers, you can go directly to the big brother. They’re known for their openness to foreign companies, unless you’re Muslim, that is. They just confirmed a really big project in the Senate that will bring about a billion dollars to the market of wall building. Congress wants to invest another billion, just to make sure the protection of honest working Americans is impervious.
It’s the business of the future, I tell you! It is imperative that people know where their place is and the place of some people is behind a wall. Preferably a high one. Oh and by the way, for extra profit I suggest you hire some illegal immigrants to build the wall. According to statistics 15% of people working in the USA in construction are illegal immigrants anyway.

Pride and Prejudice

2006-05-17T10:22:00.000+02:00

When I’m not in the library, or in the middle of one of the countless coffee breaks, I actually have some glimmers of spare time. Times like when I take the bus to the center, or just before I go to sleep, I need something to do. Something that doesn’t require much conscious thought. Michael Crichton’s State of Fear seemed perfect. The story includes a few dead people, global environmentalist conspiracy, some sex and a Gulfstream G-5. Perfect. Once you remember the names of the five main characters it doesn’t take much thinking and besides, it’s a pretty good thriller, I like Crichton’s style.
Still, there is an interesting concept described. We all have our own prejudice, some ideas we believe in, which are in their essence not a matter of faith, but really a matter of research. Most at least mildly intelligent people will agree that saying someone is a bad person due to his or her skin color is an obvious prejudice and shouldn’t be taken seriously. Ask those same people questions about environment protection, healthy diets, economic policy or any other field of science and you’ll encounter strongly held beliefs. Those beliefs will be upheld in light of contrary evidence, stubbornly.
Think about a concept like global warming. We all know it’s there, because everyone knows it is happening. We’ve all seen icebergs on national news, so of course the world must be heating up. President Bush is trying to cover it up, therefore it must be the truth. None of that, however, is a logical argument. How much do you really know about global warming? Not much, eh? I’m not saying there is no global warming. I just admit I have no idea.
When describing concepts you feel strongly about it’s a good idea to maintain at least a bit of doubt and re-examine your beliefs in light of scientific evidence now and then. Yourself. Hitler once fooled Europe Jews are bad. We’ve all learned from that, prejudice is bad and we should think critically about concepts and not just blindly follow the authority promoting those concepts. Or have we? Just maybe, he’s laughing his ass off in hell, seeing we still proudly hold our prejudice so dear, all those years later.

English, internet, communication and culture

2006-05-14T15:46:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine asked me why this blog was in English. Answer I gave him seemed perfectly reasonable to me at the time, well because people outside Slovenia read it too. Checking my traffic reports, Slovenian domains represent 70% of traffic, so it does make sense.
Still, a week later, I’m thinking about the question. I’m by no means a nationalist, but I like Slovenia in general. I like our language. I still think the decision to do it in English was good, since more people can read and comment on what I think. It is widely accessible, as any text on the Internet should be. What worries me, though, is the fact that I didn’t even think about this myself. Everyone roughly my age can speak English in Slovenia. I read daily news in English, the Reuters and the BBC RSS feeds. Movies I watch are in English, most books I read are in English. Some of the materials for my exams is in English. I even have a friend who speaks English half the time. My former boss spoke English only, as he was German. All my discussion with business partners was in English.
What’s the point of Slovene on the Internet? It’s traditional, it allows expression of your culture and it is a part of your identity. But if your aim is to get the point across to an undefined audience, Slovene is much less practical. And what real point is there to a language, when it ceases to be practical for every day communication? Is internet therefore a force that binds us all to use English, or is it a force that allows us to celebrate cultural diversity, like in the example of the various language Wikipedias (to be honest I only use the English one anyway…)? Slovene survived about a thousand years of Germanic occupation, quite a few years of Italian occupation, second world war and 50 years in Yugoslavia. Will it survive as the principle method for day to day communication in light of globalisation? War as means of domination seem obsolete nowdays.

Am I a Capitalistic Pig?

2006-05-12T18:34:00.000+02:00

I’ve been called many things in my life and some of them were actually nice. Some weren’t. I’m often called a free market loving capitalist and I honestly cannot decide whether I like or dislike the label.
I’m not a rightist. I do not support state intervention, I do not think monopolies are a good idea and I also think that state-corporation “cooperation” and state economic intervention is about as desirable as bird flu.
I’m by no means a leftist. I do not think the government should be the one deciding what is best for us, how our income should be distributed and I certainly don’t want to be prescribed what’s in my best interest by the government. In short, I don’t fancy Robin Hood.
What I want is a free economy with good economic growth. I do not care if there’s a wide gap between the richest and the poorest man in the country, what I want is for both of them to be more productive in the future. I don’t care if the gap gets smaller or larger, as long as everyone is better off in the end. What I want is a productive society that is also a free society where income is distributed justly, according to the share in the production process.
For that to be efficient I believe the state should provide basic social aid, so people have food and shelter, I want free elementary education and state subsidized universities, free basic healthcare, in essence all those things that make it possible for someone born in a poor family to succeed, if he’s capable enough. I don’t want everyone to be equal. I want everyone to realize their potential and start from relatively equal starting points in a competitive environment.
Does that make me a capitalist, a leftist, a rightist, a libertarian or a totalitarian? I don’t know. What I do know is that those are just labels designed to prevent us from thinking freely and force us to conform to a “school of thought”. I am not insulted if someone thinks I support capitalism. I can only hope they realize that doesn’t mean I support everything some other self-proclaimed capitalist said.

Kids...

2006-05-10T22:07:00.000+02:00

My life is hectic at the moment, as usual. I actually like it that way. I started learning for an exam yesterday and I have it tomorrow. Long story short, I am in slight trouble, as I expected the exam to be easier than I’m now figuring out it actually is. Still, I had the time to have lunch with a friend of mine. I met her accidentally just outside the library in the university hallway and since we both hadn’t eaten yet, we decided to go out for lunch together. We were just discussing life, weather and other people, the usual small talk during lunch. Among other things, she told me she’d find a job in state administration very appealing. Why on earth would anyone actually want to work for the state? Her answer was quite simple; it’s a good way for a woman to have kids during the years after college. Since she wants to have kids at this stage of life this is pretty much the only option left to her, as a career in private sector makes it that much harder. She has a serious boyfriend and if it was just one “case” I wouldn’t be worried, really. However, I had a similar discussion recently with two other female friends of mine.
My plans for life are a bit different, though. Hectic exams, hectic career, maybe some hectic post graduate studies and eventually, when I feel I want to get serious, maybe a family. I don’t see myself deciding for it before I’m thirty, though. Still, I’m a bit worried. Not just about the sickening social situation that forces women to take inferior jobs due to a very natural occurrence of pregnancy. Another, more selfish thought dawned on me. What if the good ones are already married, when I decide I might want to try something very serious? I’ll end up alone then, I guess. It’s another thing to add on the price tag for my lifestyle. Freedom sure doesn’t come cheap.

On Patriotism

2006-05-08T20:40:00.000+02:00

I changed my bank today. My old bank, nicely named after my home town, a bank I have been loyal to for the past 10 years, lost a client. Final nail in the coffin was when I needed a report on my previous earnings and asked for it nicely at my bank, after standing in a queue for 15 minutes. They sent me to another one of their banks, as my account wasn’t open at that particular bank. Yes, the worker could see the earnings on the computer, but before you ask, she was not authorized to print it out. OK, another bank then, other side of town, same process, same queue and same 15 minute wait. Only to be told, yes mister, you are at the right bank; however you’re standing in the wrong line. You see, just because this one is named account management doesn’t mean we can actually help you with your earnings printout for your account. Yes, we do see it on the computer. However we do not deal with the complicated operation of printing this out. You have to go to another line, which is for taking loans, since they deal with such print-outs. Breath in, Breathe out. Another queue, you know the drill by now. I get the earnings report. Guess what, they dare to charge me 10 € for it. One silly A4 printout. As you can imagine, I freaked out.

So I went and checked competition. Half price compared to what I was paying for managing my account. I get free cash limit extensions, no insurance costs, free personal insurance, free Master card and free internet banking, no ATM machine commission. Furthermore I’m kindly escorted to an office from the info desk, and as I explain what I’d like to do, they ask me nicely to wait in the chair with a couple of brochures about my new account, while they fill in the forms for me. Just sign them, thank you very much for choosing our bank.

That’s my story on how I switched a Slovenian bank for Austrian competition. The price of my patriotism was about an hour of my time and a free Master card. All in all I save about 40€ a year due to this, about 4€ a month. I never did consider myself particularly patriotic. Still, I never realized my loyalty to “domestic” companies is quite as cheap. I went to check the ownership structure of my bank, though. Owned by another Slovenian bank, 33% of which was bought by a Belgian bank and their share is likely to increase. I’m feeling a bit better already. I’m only 67% guilty of being unpatriotic.

Free to choose?

2006-05-06T15:07:00.000+02:00

Freedom of speech, freedom of access to information, freedom from persecution, human dignity, right to have private property and most other human rights are based on a simple presumption. An adult individual can make a rational choice regarding what is better or worse for him. That choice will be inherently better for him than the one the state could make instead of him, for him.
Individual picks and chooses based on information he has available, his intelligence and his desires. His desires are by nature of things, irrational. It is impossible to rationally explain why you love someone or why you prefer chocolate to vanilla ice cream. However, the choice itself is rational in nature. You choose, based on the information you have available, rationally, which courses of action will be able to satisfy which of your desires. Based on the subjective perceived value of those desires, which is fundamentally irrational, you make a rational choice to satisfy the desire you find the most important. Now the ranking of those desires is different for every individual. Furthermore you cannot really tell in a quantified way that your lover is 3 units better than vanilla ice cream. It just doesn’t work like that. Since it cannot be measured and statistically described the choice has to be left to the individual. Even with much greater cognitive powers of the society as a whole compared to an individual and possible access to vast amounts of information, society simply cannot know how much you love somebody. Therefore the choice is yours. And since you are the one making the choice, you are also the one responsible for the result.
Rational choice is not the same as freedom of choice, though. If you are tortured and in great pain you’re willing to make a deal you would other ways not make. That is rational. The money you gave them so they stopped torturing you was worth less to you than making the pain stop. But few would claim that the choice was free.
The role of state intervention is therefore to facilitate an environment where equal opportunities are given to everyone to choose as freely as possible, without that right infringing on the same right of others. In other words, every adult individual should have as equal as possible set of initial choices available to him as any other individual, while that set of choices should be as wide as possible. Individual subjective choice should only be limited when it infringes on someone else’s right to make the same choice.
It is therefore up to the state to allow for free transfer of information and prevent undue influences on choices of individuals so they can choose freely according to their set of desires. It is by no means the role of the state to tell us what we should desire, because it is objectively better for us and more productive. Maybe I do not want to be objectively as productive as possible. Maybe I prefer dignity or love.

To trust, or not to trust?

2006-05-02T19:02:00.000+02:00

We are faced with enormous quantity of information being generated daily. We also need information to operate in day to day life. There are, however, two major problems:

1. We’re not capable of comprehending everything
2. Even if we were capable to grasp everything that is going on in the world at any given time, there is no way to deliver all the information to an individual

Now that I’ve firmly established humans are not supreme beings, it seems the best we can do is settle for less. That is, we get the best quality information we can, at the lowest cost for us – basically the least time spent acquiring the information. Therefore we need someone who is paid by us (usually indirectly, through advertisements or taxes) to process the information for us.
There is a strong critique of this approach, saying that technology, especially internet, has made it possible for us to access information on any relevant subject at any time and therefore there is no need to put ourselves in a position where others tell us what to read. If we have the capability to access all information directly, there is no need to have a distributor involved in the process.
Therefore, it only makes sense to use distributors to deliver the selected information to us, if there indeed is an added value in their service. The value of their service must be greater than our perceived loss of value, due to loss of freedom of influence on selecting the information we obtain. In essence, we have to trust the big brother to have a more efficient process of evaluating the sources and combining pieces of information together, to generate the big picture.
The process is primarily determined by the ownership and consequently funding of the distributor. There is no such thing as unbiased. State funding implies filtering according to the will of the state, or worse, the ruling party. Private ownership implies reporting aimed at generating income rather than good news, and the link between those two is rather fragile. Those rare enthusiast individuals with good intentions, doing it for free, are usually the worst of the lot, as they have very strong oppinions themselves on how world should be shaped. The best we can do is pick a filter on a free market that we choose is most appropriate according to our beliefs. Some people will choose the “wrong one,” preferring, say Fox news to BBC. However, it is the same right that allows them to choose the wrong filter that allows us to choose what we deem is the right one.
We can, of course, choose not to use one at all. Despite all my doubts, I fail to see the practicality of that. I prefer to read a couple of relatively unbiased websites, especially those based on wiki technology, and thereby get a clearer picture, than by going directly to the sources myself, as I have no information to evaluate their worth, neither the time to browse through all of them. Besides, I can always double check!

Using lies to tell the truth

2006-05-01T21:58:00.000+02:00

Just recently, I’ve seen V for Vendetta, the latest Hollywood action movie production. Coming in package with Matrix directors, fast forwarded scenes, superhuman heroes, totally impossible fight sequences and all of that happening in the near future for the extra flavor. Therefore, it’s just another action movie. You couldn’t be more wrong.

As Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) says: My father was a writer. You would've liked him. He used to say that artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up.

The movie tells a powerful story about a monstrous freedom fighter using terrorist tactics to fight a government he is forced to live under. It takes place in a totalitarian society, led by a dictator controlling the population through fear.

Sutler (John Hurt, playing the dictator): I want this country to realize that we stand on the edge of oblivion. I want everyone to remember why they need us!

The answer offered by V is profound. After a hail of bullets is shot at him and he manages to stand upright the following dialogue takes place:

Creedy (Tim Pigott, a high member of regime): Die! Die! Why won't you die?! ...Why won't you die?

V (Hugo Weaving): Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.

It is of course impossible, a lie. People die under a hail of bullets. It’s impossible in exactly the same way as it is impossible to believe that the totalitarian regime portrayed in the movie has anything to do with the society we live in. And yet, by using such little lies it manages to tell a deep truth about the nature of ideas, which are indeed bullet proof. It is also true that authority, whenever given leave, will strive to increase its power over the society. Individual freedoms are always the first sacrifice we make when faced with fear, of either terrorism, or economic collapse. So why bother with the fireworks, the nice explosions, fancy sound effects?

V: A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having!

The sexy pink blonde phenomenon

2006-04-29T12:15:00.000+02:00

I was at a party not long ago, one of the last I had the time to go to before the exams period. I was spending my time, like I often do at parties, drinking some wine, chatting with friends at our table (who are not the subject of this blog, thank god) and, not surprisingly, checking out girls. Before anyone starts, I’m single, OK? Anyway, I was standing in the hallway looking at a blonde that went by me. A minute later, that same blond passes me again, walking the same hallway in the same direction. Since it’s a standard bar, no weird round architecture, my first thought was, go easy on the wine, Sergej.

It wasn’t the wine, though. It wasn’t even the same girl. There were, however, similarities. Both were bleached blondes, roughly the same height and weight. Both had pretty much the same blouse, similar jeans and the same makeup. So, what’s the problem? What’s wrong with people wearing what they want? Well, nothing, of course, if they wear what they want. After all, those blouses are great for advertising one’s assets, especially in a room full of half drunken guys. They get the attention they want, I’m sure.

What I don’t understand is, why do they have to read Cosmopolitan with a text marker and learn the 10 tips on how to get a guy with a marketing strategy by heart (I am not making this up, that was an actual article). What you wear is an expression of your style. But is it really your style, when you wear, what you have to wear, as it is prescribed in the last edition of your favorite fashion magazine? It’s not the fashion that’s to blame, though. It’s quite possible to adapt your unique style to fashion trends, without becoming just another copy. As usual, it’s the people.

It’s an example of conformity taken to its limit, industry creating an ideal of sexy pink blondes, women wanting to be like them and men falling for them. Dressing like that long ago ceased to be an expression of one’s uniqueness. They dress as they’re told to, interact in society as they’re told to and look for men they’re told they should be looking for. In light of all of that, I do hope those girls don’t blame me for treating them like perfect substitutes for each other. It would make more sense to remember the model year than the name in some cases...

Debate and Authority

2006-04-26T23:21:00.000+02:00

People, who know me, will confirm it, I’m sure, I talk a lot. Sometimes, however, I sit back and just watch. Yes, watch, not listen. That usually happens when I’m not really interested in the contents of the debate. I like to listen to people argue their position and listen to what they say and even more, how they say it.
I was present at one such meeting today, among some very intelligent people. What caught my attention, however, was the fact it’s sometimes more important who’s making the argument than the actual argument made. Authority of the speaker transfers itself to the authority of the argument. It’s an argumentative fallacy, to give argument more or less merit, simply based on the popularity of the person making the argument.
The really interesting question is what that means for the value of the conclusion reached. An argument could be made that a more popular person is usually smarter and therefore it’s only natural that that person’s arguments should prevail. I don’t buy it. I think most people use their authority to advance their lines of argumentation, to varying degrees of success. I do not think it’s a conscious process for most. The result, however, is a conclusion that is much more likely to be according to the opinion of some people, regardless of its intrinsic value.
I like to argue for freedom of expression among equals on a state level, so it seems fitting that the first post of this blog is about that same freedom applied on a small scale, on the level of a few people discussing something over a beer. It is essential to understand that added value of arguments does not come from the authority of the speaker, even on this very simple level. Quality of the debate is proportionate to the equality of participants, on all levels. Submissiveness to authority, without any rational reason whatsoever, is the first step away from the truth.