<aside> 🎩 These operating principles maintain Eudaimonia and help me decide what go into my Schedule.
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The whole notion of constructing limitations that guarantee you can't do what you did before will force you to do something else. And that’s how you change, move forward; not necessarily progress but how you can program change into your work. -Chuck Close
Dogma goes against my operating principles, so I strive to stay curious. Curiosity goes hand in hand with Equanimity (”Ataraxia”), which is my key to a stress-less, highly productive existence, even as I work toward the ever illusive “philosopher’s truth” (also known as Eudaimonia).
I escape indecision by following My Utility. Doing what I see as my utility*, fulfills me.
*Utility is not to be confused Utilitarianism. I am not a utilitarian. Utilitarians must make choices on the greatest good for the greatest number. That philosophy has the potential to defeat Operating Principle #3.
Do like SBF does not:
“No one ever asked about the risk engine. I don’t know what I would have done if asked. I would have done one of two things. Either I would have answered a different question, or I would have made a word salad.” -Sam Bankman Fried
Life isn’t a chessboard. I don’t want to be known as a Machiavellian manipulator.
Related: Errata and Promises & Bets.
Free thought moves the world forward. I subscribe to the Classical Liberal belief that we should not squash thoughts of any kind and work toward better reasons. That said, some openness does require checks and balances in order to promote safe experimentation. Related: On Security
I hope all my actions work toward my own peace, as well as peace for the world. What is this peace? Think about the feeling of laying in the sun after you've done something very useful. I hope I can lay in sun and feel this feeling of peace each and every day.
Ethics are the first thing to go when profits are on the line. I am not interested in money that sacrifices ethics. (For more on this, read Ethically Achieve My Basic Income and Can I ethically accept money? .)
“Bad” can of course be complicated. But using my common sense to avoid things I immediately know as “bad” saves a lot of headache. Still, I'm amazed how many people (myself included) do things we know are bad. I have gotten better about avoiding bad things and I try to discourage people from celebrating "being bad."