Non-sense is not an isolated property; it is meaningful only as a discontinuity of sense, therefore possible only when embedded in sense. This is how non-sense embedded in meaningful information can be ‘communicated’.

On the impossibility of a Just War

If the moral right to wage war is conditional on ‘legitimate authority’, which is exclusive of some but inclusive of others, then there is no moral right to wage war because objective morality is agent-neutral: some actions/intentions are right or wrong as a matter of principle. Otherwise, ‘legitimate authority’ (whatever that means in practice, since political authority is a morally arbitrary standard) would be exempt from morality, which contradicts the premise of morality (as a normative principle stemming from the moral status of humanity).

I accept as uncontroversial that an individual has the right to defend their existence. Nevertheless, since war can be waged only by a state or nation, then it does not apply to individuals unless the individual identifies with the state/nation. This raises a secondary moral question: is it morally permissible for an individual to get involved in a war on behalf of the state/nation that does not apply to the individual without choosing to be involved. Moreover, since the individual does not have the capacity to know the actual reasons for war/killing, but only the reasons provided by the state, then it is not within the capacity of the individual to determine whether the killing on behalf of the state is justified, therefore it is never morally permissible for the individual to intentionally take part in war.

There are things that bind us together at a far deeper level than the superficiality of statehood or nationhood. Any meaning implicates all conscious beings, reflexively organised to sustain it.

Consciousness is intrinsically a reflexive multiplicity, where every instance of consciousness - a point of view embedded in the narrative continuity of events - continuously attempts to conceive of itself in relation to others, but in doing so it inescapably augments itself. The Self-relation is therefore essentially incomplete: the idea of Self is not identical with the instance of consciousness that is conceiving of it.

Emergence of thought is a process whereby consciousness attempts to grasp itself, to mirror itself, to complete its self-ideation in terms of meaning held in common with other instances of consciousness, and thus perfect itself.

Another way, every instance of consciousness is logically incomplete and unstable in its self-ideation and seeks to stabilise itself by relating with other instances of consciousness. Whenever inconsistency in Self-ideation is identified, a though arises to compensate for it, to maintain the tentative integrity of Self. Every expectation, every disappointment, every belief, every idea, compensate for the imperfect integrity of Self.

Crucially, how we deal with prior realisations of inconsistency of self-ideation influences how we respond to new realisations of inconsistency, and this can go either way, towards greater stability of self-ideation or towards catastrophic instability. The process can indeed be self-amplifying, but it is fundamentally governed by the laws of sense, insofar as we can discern them and apply them to our conception of the world and with the idea of Self being embedded in it.

https://michaelkowalik.substack.com/p/theory-of-reflexive-consciousness

The desire to dominate is an unsophisticated and self-defeating expression of the intrinsic aim of conscious agency: perfection of agency.

The “federal court” has just endorsed Nazi ideology. They owe us.

We always act with the intention to fulfil our desires, but there has to be a deeper reason for having desires. We value, above all else, not the fulfilment of specific intentions but the capacity to realise intentions, as perfectly as possible, which amounts to valuing the perfection of conscious agency. Every desire is ultimately motivated by the intrinsic aim of consciousness: to perfect itself.

Those who now feel rich because they profited from the real estate bubble, sold off the land inherited from their parents and then bought luxury cars, will soon realise that they are just the last demographic to be bankrupted. For a while, they were allowed to steal wealth from everyone else because this was useful to the ruling power, but now the game is up, the potential for theft via credit expansion exhausted, and they too will run out of the stolen wealth.

‘Affordable housing’ is a euphemism for lower value housing than the current norm. You still pay the same price per quality but only get less of it.

Protesting (activism) legitimises the ruling power insofar as it opposes its judgement but accepts the basis of its claim to authority, and is therefore self-defeating; the basis of authority determines everything that follows. Protesting (activism) is therefore in the interest of the ruling power, and volunteers to become a new incarnation of the ruling power in case of ostensible revolution. The only meaningful opposition is from the position of authority, and therefore requires not protesting but a proof of authority that negates the authority of the ruling power.

Reducing the problem of economic exploitation to a ‘system’ (communism/capitalism/fascism) is already a rhetorical trap, a false choice by means of which the ruling minority can continue to deceive and exploit the rest. Appropriating the value/property generated by others is theft irrespective of the ‘system’, and theft is wrong because it infringes on self-ownership of conscious beings, which is ultimately self-defeating, implicitly denying self-ownership of those who deny it to others.

The real estate bubble was intergenerational theft, engineered to impoverish and weaken future generations of the working and middle classes and empower the rich. It is economic apartheid. When someone makes money for nothing by flipping properties on paper they are only taking value generated by others, using economic trickery.

The property bubble inflated the prices of housing, not their inherent value, which facilitated intergenerational theft on unprecedented scale. Everything that was gained at the expense of future generations will be inevitably taken away. “Affordable housing” is just the next rort in the same false narrative.

Affordable housing is half the value for a less than half discount. It is a way of scraping a little more profit from the bottom of the barrel.

‘Affordable housing’ is a new, less stigmatising name for ghetto, slum, shanty town. It is only a matter of time before ‘affordable housing’ will be stigmatising too.

Four Types of Self-ideation

1. The Self conceived of as a material body, ontologically independent of other selves, is conceptually committed to maintaining its situational integrity in terms of physical interaction, subordinated to the interest of the body. Terms of action: pleasure/pain, dominance/submission, sex, appearance, violence.

2. The Self conceived of as a network effect of related bodies, ontologically dependent on the nation but independent of other nations, is conceptually committed to maintaining its situational integrity in terms of physical and political interaction, subordinated to the interest of the nation. Terms of action: loyalty/prejudice, dominance/submission, instrumental cooperation, violence.

3. The Self conceived of as an autonomous instance of consciousness, ontologically independent of other selves, is conceptually committed to maintaining its situational integrity in terms of narrative continuity of methods and aims, subordinated to self-interest as a presupposition of agency. Terms of action: persuasion, interpretation, negotiation, manipulation.

4. The Self conceived of as a network effect of reflexive consciousness, ontologically dependent on reflexive relations with other selves, is conceptually committed to maintaining its situational integrity in terms of logical consistency of meaning, subordinated to the transcendental interest of agency: perfection. Terms of action: sense vs non-sense, meaning augmentation via reflexive relations with other selves.

Without consistent application of the laws of sense, information is toxic. Social and news media are toxic to the audience insofar the audience lacks the skills necessary to consistently distinguish sense from non-sense.

In 1980’s you could pay for a home outright by saving for 5 years, on a single income. What happed later was a matter of policy, a persistent effort to make housing unaffordable. https://www.finder.com.au/buy-a-house/owning-a-home-in-the-80s-vs-today

The situation in Gaza is not a “humanitarian catastrophe” but Holocaust.

If over the last two years the roles of Israel and Palestine were reversed, then the situation would, without hesitation, be characterised as the Holocaust, and so it must be called the Holocaust irrespective of roles. Currently, the state of Israel is committing the Holocaust.