

Life: An Instructional Flow Chart - masukomi
http://weblog.masukomi.org/2013/01/10/life-an-instructional-flow-chart

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lmm
If you followed this you'd never do anything. Every possible action harms
others in some way, it's a question of balancing the good and the bad.

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anonymous
A slightly more productive way to phrase it would be like this:

1\. Do you have the time and patience to use more brain? yes: 2; no: 3

2\. Use more brain; goto 1

3\. Do best idea so far; hope

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masukomi
If people followed that then I'd still be subjected to their stupid statements
that do not improve anyone's life.

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run4yourlives
Rabble rousers and people that piss other people off are the ones that change
the world.

The moment you do _anything at all_ someone will get upset.

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masukomi
The flow does not prevent you from doing things that upset people. It prevents
you from doing things that _harm_ others. Rouse all the rabble you want, as
long as you believe it will improve someone's / everyone's life.

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run4yourlives
So basically, operating a company is out, since this action affects the lives
of your competitors and harms them.

The chart - like most oversimplifications - is stupid.

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masukomi
business is not a zero sum game. Companies in the same space can work together
or play off of each other. Also, taking business from a competitor doesn't
necessarily harm anyone. Maybe it harms the businesses bottom line but so
what? If you're direct competitors and you massively kill their income then a)
you have improved life for customers (given them a product they desire more)
b) you probably have job openings and can cherry pick the best of your
competitors workers c) in many cases it can be argued that the people at your
competitor weren't doing their job very well, or they would not have been in
such a poor position, so maybe it improves the workers lives to move on to
something they can do, and enjoy better... it's rarely enjoyable to be at a
floundering company. Remember, nobody is living a life built on a complete set
of rules. EVERY path we intentionally attempt to follow is, or is based on, an
oversimplified idea. If your statement is true then since most rules, laws,
and guidelines are oversimplifications of what's actually needed / desired,
they're "stupid"... so, what would you suggest? Throw out most of the laws?
Throw out most of society's rules? They are oversimplifications, and thus are
"stupid"..... or wait... maybe your claim that most oversimplifications are
stupid, was in fact, an oversimplification, and thus...

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jimauthors
How do you know if something I am going to say is going to improve someones
life or harm someone?

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masukomi
You don't "know". You just do your best. How do you "know" you're not just in
the middle of a long running hallucination? You don't. You take what you
believe to be true and move forward as best you can. Yes, you'll screw up, and
yes you'll inadvertently harm people along the way, but you'll harm a lot
fewer if you try and choose actions that won't be harmful.

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g-garron
This could stop wars

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rikacomet
I think it takes more than productive say, to make your life better, like what
you do, where you go, how you do it. Then there is motivation, people don't
always 'want' to say whats productive (or something that makes something
better).

Also, its about perception, a lot of times, what you think will not be of any
good, might have been a input someone was looking for, like you saw someone
five minutes ago, and your talking to her boyfriend (your buddy for example)
who just made her upset, but you don't know that, and he has been looking for
her like crazy, and obviously since you don't know that either, you think it
won't make his life better, when it would actually do (lol)

~~~
masukomi
following that logic one should spew out all the thoughts in ones head even if
you think they're of no good because they _may_ be of some good to someone.
Most people would agree that that's not a good strategy.

~~~
rikacomet
Not exactly, I didn't mean that what you think is productive should be thrown
out, no need to throw anything. What I meant, is that your cycle does not
accumulate the entirety of this thing called life.

~~~
masukomi
no? Yes there's the edge case that isn't covered, of sacrificing the one for
the many, but that's a dangerous slope to try and codify. Other than that, how
does it not? At each step of your life "now" you attempt to do something that
benefits someone's life (probably yours) and doesn't harm anyone. Yes, there
are other ways of approaching life (most people do stuff that doesn't really
make anyone's life better most of the time).... but would you really argue
that those are paths you should strive to follow? As a guideline, I think it's
pretty good, and other than the edge case mentioned above, I can't think of an
instance where it isn't the best path to follow. I really would like to hear a
good counterargument / flow that one should follow instead. It's not meant to
encompass all the ways people live. It's intended to be a guide as to how to
proceed.

