Queen Story's Mere Servant

hmm... wait. Are all of these questions from kids? Some of them clearly are. "Why does the teacher get cross with me when I smoke?" One teacher says tea is bad for you, another says it's fine.

okay, that would explain something... it's not really that I think they're stupid questions, just that I just didn't get why he would be in a position to answer them. They don't correspond to any particular expertise. Why are they asking him, not each other? Well, if they're all children, that's a reason.

Ooh, one of the questions is "How did you come to learn all that you are talking about, and how can we come to know it?" He answers, not by reading religious or psychological books, but by observing himself, gaining self-knowledge. And he seems to deny developing his own doctrine; he says on a long journey you must carry little, and everything can be discovered anew in each moment.

For some reason, people ask my advice a fair bit. Most of it comes down to calmly talking them through "What are your options? What do you really want or not want? I get that that's a sucky option, but the other ones seem worse for you. Have you considered what you want out of it, not just what you're expected to want?" etc.

people ask me for... i wouldn't say advice on decisions, more like insight on abstract questions. I think it's a natural kind of "relationship" in which i am particularly "attractive".

with these manipulative gurus that generate bay area rat drama, it seems like a toxic version of a normal interpersonal relationship. I mean these small-time "cult leaders" that don't have organizations, that are basically just charismatic people that are dicks to their friends. And when it's toxic it's toxic in similar ways as other relationships. There seems to be especially a kind of jealousy of other intellectual influences. Among the rationalists, Ziz took this farther than anyone, see The Matrix Is A System. I've certainly had such feelings, because the kind of person who looks to me for insight is also looking to others, including charlatans.

But i guess the conclusion ive come to is that unlike maybe in a romantic relationship where jealousy is natural, in this kind of life coach relationship it defeats the purpose, which is, or should be, to help someone develop their independent judgment.

Which is part of why I'm so interested in Krishnamurti. Like, what do you do with all these people looking for answers from you.

From Besant & Leadbeater, “Occult chemistry: a series of clairvoyant observations on the chemical elements” (1908)

admiring the heavy lifting being done by "can" in this sentence :3

fun's over

So, this is weird. As far as I can tell, the company responsible for this cable did everything absolutely properly and professionally, and didn’t ever plan to do anything which would disturb the beach at all. There were reasonable concerns about the fact that it’s a beautiful beach and tourist asset which shouldn’t be messed around with, but these were all taken into account at a very early stage in the planning because they were so obvious. Harry Potter fans didn’t cause anything to be changed. The project got permission really quite quickly and has been in operation for a while now.

well the old definition of fair was you cooperate if and only if you can prove i cooperate. Or, you defect if and only if it is possible i defect. ("Fairness" sounds a little paranoid... you defect if it's possible I defect? You need proof?)

For the new "payorian" definition: you're fair, that means you defect if and only if it's possible i betray you.

the key concept is "betrayal". To betray you is not just to defect on you. It means, i defect on you, and there's a proof you cooperate. It means it wasn't possible that you defect, but I defected anyway.

Obvious fact about betrayal: if it's impossible that i defect against you, it's also impossible that i betray you. Since betrayal requires my defection plus something else.

But what's that mean? If there's a proof I cooperate, then I don't betray you.

WHich is precisely the condition for you, fair as you are, to cooperate.

That means, if you're fair, you never betray!