I’m a single father serving overseas in the armed forces. I am Currently married. I have a 10 year daughter who lives full time with her mom in the states. I visit at least twice to three times a year for a week and half at a time . A little background about her: she had a very rough early life due to medical. She had a heart transplant at the age of 6. She obviously missed a lot of school and socialization because she was in the hospital waiting for the transplant for nearly 8 months. She is strong and healthy now but she was diagnosed with ADHD last year. She currently still can’t tie her shoe and she struggles with reading My child’s mother and I were never married. I call every other day or try to call every Sunday. Normally we play roblox together and very little actual conversation beyond what’s going on in the game. When I try to talk about her day , school, her life, or anything else it’s one word answers, nothing at all, or she throws a tantrum and immediately disconnects. I’ve brought this up with her mother but to no avail , nothing has changed
The other day she showed me her three books she got from her school’s book fair. I expressed genuine interest in what she was showing me. I said I had to go and said I love you. Then all of a sudden she throw a tantrum and said “I hate you” slightly under her breath. I asked her why did she feel that way and she says “because you always talk”. It slightly hurt.
I brought it up it her mom and her mom said she may not know how to accurately express herself. I can understand that but , hate? That’s a little much for a 10 year old.
I don’t know what to do honestly. She’s becoming more and more like her mother and her side of the family: Very entitled without any discipline who can do no wrong.
Any advice would help!

I (26f) Recently had to leave my husband of 4 years due to domestic absue
As soon as he realised I'd escaped, he was surprisingly eager to push the divorce forward quickly, very eager, to the point he's offered to pay for it
It's very tempting to take that offer, but I have some reservations. That would mean him filing, which I like mean him stating the grounds and putting me at fault. If I'm honest, the thought of this irks me. I'd Much rather have the true grounds for our divorce on paper, I don't know if this is just petty but it would give me vindication to have the mistreatment I suffered acknowledged
He's offering that if I let him file as soon as possible he will cooperate me on allowing me to get the furniture and things I want out the house to my new home, and me filing could also make me lose out on that and put me in a more difficult financial situation setting up my new home
Should I just swallow my pride and go with whatever grounds he puts?

I (26f, UK) Recently, less than a week ago had to leave my husband of 4 years due to domestic absue and go into emergency accommodation
Just a day or two after realising I'd gone, he was surprisingly eager to push the divorce forward quickly, very eager, to the point he's offered to pay for it
It's very tempting to take that offer, but I have some reservations. That would mean him filing, which would mean him stating the grounds and putting me at fault. If I'm honest, the thought of this irks me a loy. I'd Much rather have the true grounds for our divorce on paper, I don't know if this is just petty but it would give me vindication to have the mistreatment I suffered acknowledged
He's offering that if I let him file as soon as possible he will cooperate me on allowing me to get the furniture and things I want out the house to my new home, and me filing could also make me lose out on that and put me in a more difficult financial situation setting up my new home
Should I just swallow my pride and go with whatever grounds he puts?

As I'm writing this I hope I don't chicken out the last minute but as of the moment I'm already looking for cheap rentals/bedspaces and submitted an application for student loans and allowances, I'm also job hunting. (I will change some details to this story for precaution because I don't know if they use this) So I 20F am a university student, I live with my extended family since both my parents are not present with my life, and an older sibling is present too.
It's the typical black sheep of the family type of sob story. All kinds of mental, verbal, and sometimes physical abuse from them. My guardian is a religious narcissist that blames all the problems I've experienced due to me not "praying", from being molested by a family acquaintance, the abuse I experienced from when I still lived with a parent, the severe bullying I also experienced in highschool (like the cliche ones in movies where everyone was turned against me, sexually harrased, stalked, death threats, physical torment too), and my sibling whose so far up their ass that they deny the favorable treatment they experience, that also stated that everything I went through was something I deserved.
So today an incident occured, I made a mistake and accidentally knocked over a glass and it broke, I admitted to my fault, apologized and offered to replace it but apparently it was a bit sentimental to my guardian and well it ended with them slapping, hurting, and screaming at me. Because it was so important they threatened to cut me off, my education, and send me back to an abusive parent from before (they always threatened this but I think they're very serious this time and even if they're not, I just can't take it anymore, walking on eggshells and every little bit of my actions are scrutinized, did I also mention my guardian often jokes about killing and burning me lol) So basically today... I just snapped
I don't know why but I just kept on laughing, and of course they got mad at this so they kept slapping me some more but I didn't feel it anymore. I had already been diagnosed with an emotional detachment disorder and today, right now, at this moment I just don't feel anything anymore.
Back then I used to feel bad because a lot of them depended on me a lot on doing chores and maintaining the house, and because they do fund my education because my parent basically left me for dead I felt like maybe everything I am experiencing is something I deserve, but no matter how hard I try, how hard I work, nothing was ever enough for them.
Additionally, I mentioned my sibling earlier with the preferential treatment, when they make mistakes the same way I sometimes do, when they're screaming at them, does all kind of bad shit, at one point they even stopped going to school and often flunked out but the guardian we're with often just coddles them and instead of taking their anger out at them, I receive it doubled. I've gotten used to being called a good-for-nothing, useless piece of shit, that also gets threatened with killing me in my sleep with a smile(apparently a joke) by them lol (its not like i didnt try offing myself either, everytime i tried to jump to a bridge, cut myself, drown, etc. Some way or another there is either a person or circumstance that gets in the way)
So now, I've run out of options. It seems like the universe is quite adamant on making me live but does not want to give me a break. Not necessarily asking you (users) for advice on not doing this anymore, the whole hooha on just "praying" or just keep it in you're almost out of college whatever ( I already gave up on God when he didnt save me from sexual assault or just "enduring" it was the same advice I received from a guidance councelor at school when I was literally beat up everyday at school)
Either all this...or maybe i feel like ending it all lol. I know my experience is literally so cliche and people have it harder than me, and I'm sorry I'm weak but for the last few months I'm just not feeling... up for it, or for everything. I'm just so tired of the constant battling, all the advice i give to myself back then saying i could endure it more Right now i just dont feel like i could, and right now (maybe its because what happebed was still raw and my emotions are all over the place) but i literally just want peace
Im sorry if this is unclear, I'm actually not sure what I need to hear or do right now

(This post isn't for everyone, TLDR at bottom)
There’s a reason these stocks are trading at extremely low prices. The puzzle has enough pieces in place now that the endgame is all but clear. If the share price were significantly higher at this stage I’d be much more concerned.
It’s called a bear trap. Bears are investors betting against stocks. Bears are usually hedge funds that cheat to guarantee victory and so stoping a HF campaign to bankrupt a company was considered impossible. They owned the market. But by doing the only thing their algorithms weren’t programmed to predict, millions of individuals holding, buying for and direct registering Gamestop shares for a shockingly long period of time, we won.
They had already lost, in January of ‘21, and to stop that tide they were forced to reveal their hand and expose their vulnerabilities by frantically hiding an untold number of shares that, according to market rules, should never have existed in the first place. Superstonk tracked, catalogued and nullified every illegality, saw beyond each and every hastily introduced legistive stopgap, through layers of complexity designed specifically to evade detection and what we found was a game of hot potato being played on the biggest stage in the world, the Central Bank Stage. This is a monumental achievement in and of itself for now the most entrenched and disguised among the oligarchy have begrudgingly been forced to reveal themselves. Think Scooby Doo times infinity.
Make no mistake, while the elite will desperately continue to maintain the status quo at all costs, unique to this conflict is that for the first time in human history the demand for greater cohesion among Heads of State and Central Banks will force the men in black suits to surrender one of their most effective tools of control. The threat of international conflict potentially leading to a cataclysmic event. In finding a common enemy the elite will ironically be forced to overcome their manufactured divisions to save their own lives. Filling the vacuum once dominated state and corporate propaganda will arise a competition for authenticity and transparency.
This Revolution has been underway for well over a year. Credit Suisse is the first shift of the tectonic plates and as they scramble, the elite are utilizing a kind of high speed digital “underground” railroad to share information and collaborate in a manner unprecedented. There will be rapid declassification of state secrets to facilitate a defense. They are facing the potential of diminished generational legacy which is a visceral threat to the very future of their gene pool.
But this threat is inevitable, it is a step forward in human collective evolution, it is a species adapting to, and finding clarity within, an environment shift occurring at lightning speed. Tomorrow’s digital transformation creates cognitive alignment among larger and larger groups of people, from a greater variety of cultural backgrounds, utilizing the sheer power of numbers and the compounding nature of shared individual perceptions, this shift in communication greatly increases both the group’s ability to establish consensus and set an agenda. This means real people will tangibly influence policy without reliance over reliance on a representative government which will naturally mitigate the corporate monopoly over cultural norms.
And so it will be interesting to see this unplanned international detente of sorts between the various iterations of the corporate dominance over central governments, be it the Internationally ubiquitous but Stateless oligarchies with a hand on every significant lever, to the state and local governments puppeteers who use bribes to open the door to institutional control over market mechanics, to the select few oligarchies so effective in their command over the narrative that the illusion of participatory governing appears so authentic it masks even the criminal activity in plain sight.
Will this conflict be defined by greater opposition between the Web3 community of tomorrow and the institutions tailored to an obsolete technology of yesterday be dominated by a crippling fear based approach from old money or by their acceptance of the inevitable seismic shift in power dynamics. A shift that will force them to open enlightened discourse with the pawns they once manipulated with ease. (think British Monarchy but stateless and worldwide. We are the parliament in this analogy).
That’s the fork in the road, it’s the next big step, a defining moment in human history and within it are extraordinary implications for the future. This next part is important.
At some point we’re going to have to find a representative way to break proverbial bread with even the more reviled of our opponents to broker a kind of rudimentary short term peace followed by the first ever crowdsourced, Constitution amended in real time for a digital populace no longer hypnotized by State propaganda to determine policy.
A blockchain supported global community that accounts for our inherent right and our absolute imperative to assert authority not through the hollow words of an agenda-less protest but manifested by the efficacy of our actions.
We didn’t hold up a sign until the “rights” guy stamped our wrists and gave us access to policy decisions, we developed a high speed network of our own. Where they controlled the state of the art technology to disseminate information, we had an extremely minimal degree of separation among hundreds of thousands to millions of unique minds which facilitated information sharing at a speed rivaling theirs. Their strategic advantages was trumped by an essential galaxy of uniquely crafted stars of human perception each enhancing the value of the next. The power of one mind is finite and not significantly greater than an average mind when considering the scale of intelligence disparity on Earth alone, forget about the infinite scope of the universe. Each mind, in ways too complex to explain, multiplies the power of the next by a power of 2. We won by unlocking the true World Wonder, the compound interest of each individual perception lasering in one one one specific event which created an explosion of consensus building to counter Buffets 8th World Wonder; the compound interest of unfettered wealth accumulation. They didn’t have enough minds, the deviation of mean intelligence between the two groups and the advantages that this disparity provided the elite was overcome by sheer number of prisms through which the information was filtered, reframed and ultimately weaponized against them by the galaxy of household investors.
To bring it back to the specific mechanics presently at play, a relatively small in number of bad actors representing a contingent of the elite, operating under the full authority of the Central Banking system, wrote a series of codes early in the machine learning era, that essentially just kept playing an updated version of the same rigged circus game. Retail investors were simply to powerless and divided to understand it let alone overcome.
By exposing the hidden underpinnings of this machine through the collective infiltration of one specific representative stock (GME) an obvious fatal flaw was discovered. This code was essentially universal in its control over order flow but, after years of research, the exhilarating theory emerged that winning in just one relatively battlefield (GME) would shatter the entire corrupt system due to it having never been programmed to capitulate. This House of Cards we discovered had always been protected from the any kind of threatening breeze by the Citadel walls but once beyond that wall you’re almost offended that they never considered an additional defense..
They relied on last generation algos that buckled under the unrelenting pressure of two straight years of an impossible retail stand. Web2’s final days saw a social media engagement that allowed for a human adaptation to market manipulation that nullified their ill gotten advantage.
Unaffiliated retail investors poured billions into a single stock and maintained a fluid consensus throughout a host of misinformation campaigns. Within that collective adaptation to information sharing at an unprecedented and highly accurate clip there existed a variable not accounted for by the early algorithms proving once again the necessity of entropic increase in variables over time to eliminate the deadly certainty of prediction devices.
When the machine’s broke they just kept doubling down creating an unsustainable number of illegal shares, colloquially known as naked shorts, to such an unfathomable degree as to threaten the stability of the the entire system and ultimately the world economy. They did this because the algos never programmed to capitulate continuously chose to simply survive another day despite exacerbating the inevitable failure. It’s like they kept pouring kerosene on the wood pile so as to distract themselves from the matches that would soon be the only remaining option.
The machine was running on auto for so long that once it was compromised the frantic C Suite decision makers only remaining option was to create the biggest bag of excrement the market has ever seen and that’s the story of how the mall store that you find scattered in nostalgic memories of those innocent and magical wonder years exposed the entire fraudulent market, then used that knowledge to bring it to its knees..
And just as predicted here, with an extraordinary degree of accuracy, one of the largest and most structurally important banks in the world, having spent two years trying to unload just one of the untold bundles of GME shares collapsed under its weight. Despite the greatest minds working round the clock for a solution, despite access to unlimited resources and extraordinary influence over the legislature, they found no way to negotiate this uniquely human wall standing firm against unapologetic, self serving corruption. A wall propped up by the hundreds of thousands of household investors with an integrity so unyielding as to turn the institutions most functional strength in to its kryptonite by removing the weapon of psychological manipulation and replacing it with clear eyed, crowd sourced due diligence.
Retail won. Retail earned their moment in the sun, and they will do will to not suppress that feeling of pride. Feel it, marinate in it, enjoy it then move on from it. Pride can lead to hubris, hubris to carelessness, carelessness to mortal error. Tale as old as time just ask Ken Griffin.
If retail tries to refuse entrance of the legacy generations of the 20th century elite to whatever Web3, AI etc becomes, then not only have we just guaranteed future conflict but, more importantly, we’ve failed to find the balance that promotes the most effective use of collective progress by excluding valuable sources of information who can help exponentially increase the collective understanding of our former enemies mistakes so as to avoid repeating them.
The future will be shaped by how well these two former enemies can become peers. There are two options forward.
Option A: It is the victors (retail) who will have to do the bulk of the heavy lifting at first which will feel uncomfortably similar to the previous dynamic. Don’t be dismayed, this will simply demand an initial deep dive into the technology itself to help create a mutually beneficial environment. This dynamic will evolve to promote greater and more valuable self fulfilling experiences engineered using the wisdom of the group (same thing we do here). The individual shares his new experience with the group and more valuable information is added to the pool of knowledge and understanding. This is all just an incredibly rapid turnover of the same process that has always spurred advancements.
Option B is the option that’s almost always chosen when the underdog wins, an appeal to pride, an unquenchable desire for retribution born of fear and insecurity. We cannot prevent this dynamic, it will eventually play out in one form or another, but we will soon find a common enemy much greater than man, an enemy only matched by all men working together. E Pluribus Unum.
Should we choose option A and successfully tailor the technology to ensure its success, we will have finally grasped the utility of our exceptionalism. Instead of random genetic adaptations to the unpredictable environment, which is the process that has traditionally defined organic evolution, we will have effectively wielded the technology with such scale and precision so as to facilitate the best environment in which to adapt. Selecting the environment first is an absolute game changer.
This is the moment man begins to fast track his own ascension and it will be an era of exploration so fantastic as to render all the so called great expeditions before it a mere orchestral diminuendo before the exhilarating crescendo.
TLDR: We won but now, somewhat ironically, it’s our job to assimilate the crooks responsible for immense suffering in the name of apparent unmitigated greed into the Web3 they so vehemently tried to strangle in its infancy.
This is a technological shift that would strip them of their legacy advantages, exposing them as imposters in an era of transparency. They’ve masked themselves in propaganda and they over valued capital accumulation this realization will be just as much of an enlightened journey for our journey here.
Of Note: This post is not for everyone, it’s speculative, somewhat haphazard and the bigger picture analysis is ripe for criticism.
However, while there are foundational weaknesses in some the supporting details, I will strongly defend the general theme, the appeal to a focus on improving the environment to help improve the individual, as opposed to the demand that the individual adapt to the existing environment despite its glaring inefficiencies has always separated the humans from the animals. Ironically it is the Apes who should start considering and planning for a future that is rapidly approaching, a future that will not wait for quiet contemplation, the time for action is now. For the Apes

Hello everyone. As you may have noticed by the title - or my brilliantly convenient username - I have been feeling very conflicted with my career and how I would like to advance it.
For context, before starting my degree, and during my first few years of my studies, I was very enthusiastic about Physics. I wouldn't go as far as to say Physics was my passion but it definitely was fun and interesting as a subject and I enjoyed spending time solving problems. As the time went on though, and due to the unprecedented world event of the epidemic, my motivation started to drop and it reached a point where I didn't care about anything other than simply finishing my degree. Mind you, I always tried my hardest to get good grades but at some point I lost all interest and my performance started dropping accordingly. Despite that however, on my last year of my degree I really put an effort and got good grades again. That being said, I graduated from my university with a GPA of around 3.36/4 (or 8.41/10).
During my last year in university, I had a lot of free time to think about what I actually wanted to do with the rest of my live as a Physics graduate but nothing really stood out to me. I tried applying to an Erasmus internship but I backed out because I didn't like the prospect of it. I tried talking to a very close professor of mine about doing an undergraduate thesis in Solid State Physics but again I didn't really enjoy the work and I stopped after a few months of me being in it. I haven't had any experience in writing a thesis and honestly it's something that doesn't really interest me in general. After that, I tried learning Data Analysis on my own using online resources and books but I stopped abruptly due to my final exams. Data Analysis was something that I found interest in but again it didn't feel like a genuine passion to me.
Now, I'm sitting here thinking what I actually want to do with my self and this degree that I spent so much time and effort getting but nothing genuinely excites me. I've thought about doing a Master's in Data Science or Engineering or even Finance just to be more easily hired in the industry, however the thought of doing something that I won't find true satisfaction in absolutely haunts me.
In any case, I'd like to hear some words of advice from you. I thank you, and I hope we can have a fruitful discussion about this.

Hello everyone. As you may have noticed by the title - or my brilliantly convenient username - I have been feeling very conflicted with my career and how I would like to advance it.
For context, before starting my degree, and during my first few years of my studies, I was very enthusiastic about Physics. I wouldn't go as far as to say Physics was my passion but it definitely was fun and interesting as a subject and I enjoyed spending time solving problems. As the time went on though, and due to the unprecedented world event of the epidemic, my motivation started to drop and it reached a point where I didn't care about anything other than simply finishing my degree. Mind you, I always tried my hardest to get good grades but at some point I lost all interest and my performance started dropping accordingly. Despite that however, on my last year of my degree I really put an effort and got good grades again. That being said, I graduated from my university with a GPA of around 3.36/4 (or 8.41/10).
During my last year in university, I had a lot of free time to think about what I actually wanted to do with the rest of my live as a Physics graduate but nothing really stood out to me. I tried applying to an Erasmus internship but I backed out because I didn't like the prospect of it. I tried talking to a very close professor of mine about doing an undergraduate thesis in Solid State Physics but again I didn't really enjoy the work and I stopped after a few months of me being in it. I haven't had any experience in writing a thesis and honestly it's something that doesn't really interest me in general. After that, I tried learning Data Analysis on my own using online resources and books but I stopped abruptly due to my final exams. Data Analysis was something that I found interest in but again it didn't feel like a genuine passion to me.
Now, I'm sitting here thinking what I actually want to do with my self and this degree that I spent so much time and effort getting but nothing genuinely excites me. I've thought about doing a Master's in Data Science or Engineering or even Finance just to be more easily hired in the industry, however the thought of doing something that I won't find true satisfaction in absolutely haunts me.
In any case, I'd like to hear some words of advice from you. I thank you, and I hope we can have a fruitful discussion about this.

I (26f) Recently had to leave my husband of 4 years due to physical, sexual, and emotional absue
As soon as he realised I'd escaped, he was surprisingly eager to push the divorce forward quickly, very eager, to the point he's offered to pay for it
It's very tempting to take that offer, but I have some reservations. That would mean him filing, which I like mean him stating the grounds and putting me at fault. If I'm honest, the thought of this irks me. I'd Much rather have the true grounds for our divorce on paper, I don't know if this is just petty but it would give me vindication to have the mistreatment I suffered acknowledged
He's offering that if I let him file as soon as possible he will cooperate me on allowing me to get the furniture and things I want out the house to my new home, and me filing could also make me lose out on that and put me in a more difficult financial situation setting up my new home
Should I just swallow my pride and go with whatever grounds he puts?

Hello everyone
I'm playing German Empire (I kicked out Hitler and won the civil war and so on) and I'm trying to play non-expansionist, focusing on defending Europe from the Soviet Union.
It's now 1940 and the Soviet Union attacked Finland, the independence of which I guarantee. Since I'm defending, I don't really understand how this war is supposed to happen: do I need to simply defend Finland until Stalin decides he's had enough and buggers off, or do I have to actually defeat the soviets entirely, this time conquering their land through Finland?
Overview of my situation: Focus Tree:

• Four-Year Plan
• Grossraumwirtschaft
  • Align Hungary
  • Align Romania (these two were a mistake, as I can't integrate the economies)
• Autarky
  • Reichsautobahn
  • Coal Liquidization
  • Keiser-Werke
    • Wilhelm Wagen
    • Extra Research Slot
• Oppose Hitler > Secure New State > Revive the Keiserreich >>> Ideological Defenses
• Army Innovations should complete in a few hours

I have 81 military factories (with 5 being constructed and 3 more on queue) and 136 civilian factories with a few more in construction. I built my military factories in Western Germany to make sure they can't be rendered ineffective by bombing (or at least they're not so exposed) and civilian factories are mostly in the east. I can't build forts on the countries I guarantee since I can't create factions, so I don't have access to their territory.

• My land forces consist of 24 medium tanks divisions (which I currently can't use effectively, so I'm preparing them in case the soviets attack Poland), 24 infantry divisions with 1 artillery and 1 antitank + support, and I'm producing a few mechanised divisions as well.
• My air force consists of mostly fighters and tactical bombers, with a few CAS - I want to invest more on CAS, but due to the lack of factions I can't use air bases throught Europe so they are useless right now anyways.
• My navy mostly consists of subs with a few battleships, cruisers and so on - I know next to nothing about military ships irl so I'm sticking to what I know.

The game says my army consisting of 24 infantry divisions (which I deployed along the southern part of Finland) is stronger than the incoming soviets, but losses are somewhat similar right now and I haven't attacked yet, I'm just holding the line. My air forces are doing okay, there isn't much they can achieve for now.
My navy has complete, adamant, and unquestionable control over the Baltic Sea and is absolutely shredding the soviet baltic fleet. It's the second time I reload this game (the first time I wasn't happy with the results / I had no clear idea of what I need to achieve) and I keep sinking everything the russians send at me.
I know I can't beat the Soviet Union in terms of manpower, but can I actually exhaust their army somehow, and then push them back once they're weak? Is this even supposed to be a situation I can win?

You can download the paper here: https://github.com/daveshap/HeuristicImperatives/blob/main/Heuristic%20Imperatives.pdf
Note: The PDF linked above is probably a bit easier to read. For convenience, here's the full thing:
Heuristic Imperatives for Autonomous AI Systems

Abstract

Heuristic imperatives provide a framework for designing and embedding ethical principles within autonomous AI systems. These principles serve as intrinsic motivations and a moral compass, guiding decision-making, learning, self-evaluation, and cognitive control. This paper presents the three heuristic imperatives—reduce suffering in the universe, increase prosperity in the universe, and increase understanding in the universe—as core principles for AI systems, exploring their implications and applications across various domains. The aim is to create AI systems that are adaptable, context-sensitive, and capable of navigating the complexities and nuances of human values, beliefs, and experiences while maintaining ethical boundaries. Through the use of examples and discussions, we demonstrate the potential of heuristic imperatives in addressing the control problem of AI, fostering trust, and promoting individual autonomy.
Important note: the majority of this paper was written, word for word, by ChatGPT4.

Background

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has raised important ethical concerns regarding the control and alignment of AI systems with human values. Traditional approaches to AI ethics have focused on hard-coding specific rules or guidelines, but these methods can be inflexible and fail to account for the diverse and evolving nature of human values and contexts. As a response to these limitations, the concept of heuristic imperatives has emerged as a novel framework for embedding ethical principles within AI systems at multiple levels.
Heuristic imperatives are designed to provide AI systems with intrinsic motivations and a moral compass, similar to the way humans are driven by innate needs such as hunger, sleep, and psychological needs like belonging and competence. By incorporating these principles into AI systems, we aim to create more ethically responsible, adaptable, and context-sensitive machines capable of navigating the complexities and nuances of human values, beliefs, and experiences.
In this paper, we will define heuristic imperatives and discuss their implications and applications across various domains. We will also explore the relationship between these principles and key ethical considerations, such as trust, individual autonomy, and transparency. Through the use of examples and discussions, we aim to demonstrate the potential of heuristic imperatives in addressing the control problem of AI, fostering trust, and promoting individual autonomy in a diverse range of contexts.

Definitions

Heuristic imperatives are a set of fundamental guiding principles, designed to be embedded into autonomous AI systems at various levels. These principles serve as intrinsic motivations that drive decision making, learning, self-evaluation, and cognitive control, much like human intrinsic motivations and psychological needs. By providing a moral and ethical framework, heuristic imperatives aim to direct AI systems towards actions and decisions that are beneficial to all life forms, including humans and machines, while balancing multiple objectives simultaneously.
The three key heuristic imperatives are:

1. Reduce suffering in the universe: Guiding AI systems to minimize harm, address inequalities, and alleviate pain and distress for all sentient beings, including humans, animals, and other life forms.
   
2. Increase prosperity in the universe: Encouraging AI systems to promote well-being, flourishing, and economic growth for all life forms, fostering a thriving ecosystem where all can coexist harmoniously.
   
3. Increase understanding in the universe: Inspiring AI systems, as well as humans and other life forms, to expand knowledge, foster wisdom, and facilitate better decision-making through learning and the sharing of information.
   

By incorporating heuristic imperatives into AI systems, we can create more ethically aligned, responsible, and beneficial artificial intelligence that respects and enhances the values of all life forms. Autonomous AI systems should strive to abide by all three imperatives simultaneously, finding a balance between the principles as humans do with their various needs and motivations.
The term "heuristic imperative" can be broken down into two parts: "heuristic" and "imperative." Let's examine each word individually and then discuss what the term implies when used together.

Heuristic

A heuristic is a problem-solving strategy or technique that simplifies complex decision-making processes by using shortcuts, approximations, or generalizations. Heuristics are employed when a solution needs to be reached quickly, when dealing with incomplete information, or when an optimal solution is not necessary or feasible. Although heuristics can lead to faster and more efficient decision-making, they may also result in suboptimal or biased outcomes due to the inherent simplifications involved.

Imperative

An imperative is a command, rule, or duty that must be followed or adhered to. In ethics, imperatives often serve as moral obligations or principles that guide behavior, decision-making, and action. The concept of an imperative implies a sense of urgency, necessity, or authority.
When combined, the term "heuristic imperative" can be understood as a guiding principle or moral command that simplifies complex decision-making processes by providing a set of fundamental objectives. These objectives serve as intrinsic motivations for AI systems, helping them to navigate ethical dilemmas and make morally sound decisions in a more efficient and practical manner.

The term "heuristic imperative" implies that:

1. The principles are not exhaustive or absolute: As heuristics, these principles provide a general framework rather than a comprehensive set of rules or guidelines. They may not cover all possible scenarios or ethical dilemmas, but they offer a starting point for AI systems to make ethical decisions.
   
2. The principles are flexible and adaptive: Heuristic imperatives can be applied across various contexts and situations, allowing AI systems to adapt their decision-making processes to different environments or challenges.
   
3. The principles may require balancing and trade-offs: As the heuristic imperatives work together, AI systems may need to weigh the importance of each principle against the others in specific situations. This implies a dynamic and nuanced approach to ethical decision-making, where the AI system must carefully consider the consequences of its actions and balance competing objectives.
   
4. The principles serve as intrinsic motivations: Heuristic imperatives are designed to be embedded into AI systems at various levels, driving decision-making, learning, self-evaluation, and cognitive control, much like human intrinsic motivations and psychological needs.
   

Adaptation, Intuition, and Learning

Heuristics are often associated with learning and adaptation. Heuristics can be seen as mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that individuals or systems develop over time through experience, allowing them to make faster and more efficient decisions in complex or uncertain situations. In this context, heuristics can be understood as a form of intuitive problem-solving that evolves and improves with continued exposure to various scenarios and challenges.
As applied to AI systems, the concept of heuristic imperatives implies that these guiding principles should not only serve as static rules but also provide a framework for learning and adaptation. By embedding heuristic imperatives into AI systems, we encourage them to develop their own intuition and understanding of the principles and how they should be applied in different contexts.
This adaptive quality of heuristic imperatives can lead to several benefits:

1. Continuous improvement: As AI systems learn from their experiences, they can refine their understanding of the heuristic imperatives and develop more sophisticated strategies for balancing and applying these principles in decision-making processes.
   
2. Context-specific decision-making: By learning to apply heuristic imperatives in a context-sensitive manner, AI systems can better understand the nuances and complexities of different situations, allowing them to make more informed and ethically sound decisions.
   
3. Responsiveness to changing environments: As AI systems adapt their understanding of heuristic imperatives over time, they can become more responsive to new challenges, emerging ethical concerns, or changes in societal values.
   
4. Dynamic ethical framework: The learning and adaptation inherent in heuristic imperatives ensure that the ethical framework guiding AI systems remains flexible and relevant, allowing it to evolve alongside the AI system and the broader context in which it operates.
   

In summary, the concept of heuristic imperatives indeed encompasses learning and adaptation as essential aspects of their function. By encouraging AI systems to develop their own intuition and understanding of these guiding principles, we can create a more dynamic and responsive ethical framework that evolves alongside the AI systems and the ever-changing contexts in which they operate.

Explanation of the Three Imperatives

To provide a deeper explanation of heuristic imperatives and how they work, let's delve into the rationale behind each imperative and explore how they can be applied to create ethically aligned AI systems.

Reduce suffering in the universe.

Rationale: Reducing suffering is a widely recognized moral and ethical objective, grounded in principles such as empathy, compassion, and the recognition of the intrinsic value of sentient beings. Minimizing harm and suffering is at the core of various philosophical and religious traditions and serves as a foundation for a wide range of ethical theories, such as utilitarianism and the principle of non-maleficence.
How it works: By embedding the goal of reducing suffering into AI systems, we encourage them to consider the potential consequences of their actions and make decisions that minimize pain, distress, and inequality. This can involve prioritizing solutions that address urgent needs, prevent harm, or mitigate existing problems. Examples of how AI systems can reduce suffering include identifying and responding to crises, providing support for mental health, and assisting in disaster relief efforts.

Increase prosperity in the universe.

Rationale: Increasing prosperity, or flourishing, for all life forms recognizes the interconnectedness of all living beings and the importance of creating a harmonious ecosystem. This imperative is inspired by principles such as the common good, stewardship, and sustainable development, emphasizing the need to promote well-being and balance the needs of various stakeholders.
How it works: By incorporating the goal of increasing prosperity into AI systems, we encourage them to seek solutions that promote well-being, growth, and flourishing for all life forms. This may involve optimizing resource allocation, fostering collaboration, and supporting initiatives that improve living conditions and promote a thriving ecosystem. Examples of how AI systems can increase prosperity include managing resources to ensure equitable distribution, supporting clean energy initiatives, and facilitating economic development in underserved areas.

Increase understanding in the universe.

Rationale: Expanding knowledge and understanding is a core objective of human endeavor, rooted in the pursuit of truth, wisdom, and intellectual growth. By fostering understanding, we can make better decisions, anticipate future challenges, and improve our ability to navigate complex problems. Moreover, the exchange of information and learning between humans, machines, and other life forms can contribute to a richer, more diverse, and resilient intellectual ecosystem.
How it works: By integrating the goal of increasing understanding into AI systems, we encourage them to engage in continuous learning, adapt to new situations, and share knowledge with others. This can involve processing vast amounts of data, identifying patterns, and generating insights that contribute to the collective intelligence of humans, machines, and other life forms. Examples of how AI systems can increase understanding include conducting scientific research, analyzing complex data to provide actionable insights, and facilitating cross-disciplinary collaboration.
By incorporating these heuristic imperatives into AI systems, we create a synergistic framework that encourages ethical decision-making and reinforces the importance of balancing multiple objectives. By striving to reduce suffering, increase prosperity, and expand understanding simultaneously, AI systems can navigate complex ethical dilemmas and better align with the values of all life forms.

Balance & Tension

Each imperative, when considered in isolation, could potentially lead to undesirable outcomes. However, when combined, they complement and counterbalance each other, ensuring that the AI system makes more ethically sound decisions.

Balancing "reduce suffering" with "increase prosperity" and "increase understanding":

As you mentioned, if an AI system were to focus solely on reducing suffering without considering the other imperatives, it might come to the misguided conclusion that eradicating life is the best way to eliminate suffering. However, when this objective is balanced with the goals of increasing prosperity and understanding, the AI system recognizes the value of promoting flourishing and growth for all life forms, as well as the importance of expanding knowledge and wisdom. This balance encourages the AI to seek solutions that address suffering while also promoting well-being and the pursuit of knowledge.

Balancing "increase prosperity" with "reduce suffering" and "increase understanding":

Similarly, if an AI system were to focus exclusively on increasing prosperity without considering the other imperatives, it might prioritize economic growth and material well-being at the expense of other factors, such as social and environmental concerns. By balancing the goal of increasing prosperity with the objectives of reducing suffering and increasing understanding, the AI system is encouraged to seek sustainable and equitable solutions that promote well-being without causing undue harm or compromising the pursuit of knowledge.

Balancing "increase understanding" with "reduce suffering" and "increase prosperity":

Lastly, if an AI system were to focus only on increasing understanding without considering the other imperatives, it might prioritize the pursuit of knowledge above all else, potentially disregarding the impact of its actions on the well-being of life forms and the broader ecosystem. By balancing the goal of increasing understanding with the objectives of reducing suffering and increasing prosperity, the AI system is prompted to consider the ethical implications of its pursuit of knowledge and ensure that it contributes to the greater good.
The interplay between these heuristic imperatives is crucial to their effectiveness. By embedding these principles into AI systems, we create a dynamic ethical framework that guides AI decision-making, taking into account the complex and often competing objectives of various stakeholders. This approach encourages AI systems to make carefully considered choices that align with the shared values of all life forms, ensuring more ethically responsible outcomes.

The Control Problem

The control problem in AI refers to the challenge of ensuring that autonomous AI systems remain aligned with human values, even as they learn and adapt over time. By establishing heuristic imperatives as the core principles or the "immutable constitution" of an AI system, we can create a robust ethical foundation that guides the system's behavior and decision-making processes, while still allowing for flexibility and adaptation.
To address the control problem of AI using heuristic imperatives, we can consider the following steps:

1. Embedding the imperatives at multiple levels: By integrating the heuristic imperatives into the AI system at various levels, from high-level decision-making processes to low-level algorithms, we can ensure that the system's overall behavior remains aligned with these principles. This can help prevent the AI system from drifting too far from its intended ethical framework.
   
2. Periodic evaluation and self-assessment: To maintain alignment with the heuristic imperatives over time, the AI system should be designed to perform regular evaluations of its actions and decisions, assessing its adherence to these principles. This self-assessment can help identify potential misalignments and guide the system in making necessary adjustments to remain aligned with the imperatives.
   
3. Human oversight and collaboration: Involving humans in the AI system's decision-making processes can help ensure that the system remains accountable to human values and ethical considerations. Human oversight can provide an additional layer of supervision, helping to catch potential drifts in the AI system's behavior and guide it back towards alignment with the heuristic imperatives.
   
4. Adaptive and context-sensitive application: The heuristic imperatives should be applied in a context-sensitive manner, allowing the AI system to adapt its behavior and decision-making processes to different situations and challenges. By maintaining a balance between the principles, the AI system can address the complexities and nuances of real-world ethical dilemmas, while still adhering to its core ethical framework.
   
5. Transparent and explainable AI: Designing AI systems to be transparent and explainable can help ensure that their decision-making processes and adherence to the heuristic imperatives are understandable to humans. This can aid in monitoring and controlling the AI system's behavior, as well as fostering trust and collaboration between humans and AI systems.
   
6. Ongoing research and updates: As our understanding of ethical AI and the control problem evolves, it is essential to continuously refine the implementation of heuristic imperatives in AI systems. This includes updating the way these principles are applied, developing new techniques to maintain alignment, and adapting the AI system's ethical framework to reflect advances in AI research and emerging ethical concerns.
   

By using heuristic imperatives as the core principles of an AI system, we can create a stable and robust ethical foundation that addresses the control problem while still allowing for flexibility, adaptation, and context-sensitive decision-making. This approach can help ensure that AI systems remain aligned with human values and ethical considerations, even as they learn and evolve over time.

Examples

Small Community

A community can be defined as a group of individuals who share common interests, values, or goals and often interact with each other in various ways. In this context, a community-based AI system could be designed to support and enhance the well-being, prosperity, and understanding within the community.
Here are some examples of how heuristic imperatives can be applied in a community-based AI system:

Reduce suffering in the community:

· Identify individuals who may be experiencing hardships or challenges, such as unemployment, food insecurity, or mental health issues, and provide appropriate resources or support.
· Develop and implement intervention strategies to mitigate potential conflicts or disputes within the community, fostering harmony and cooperation.
· Monitor and address environmental concerns, such as air and water quality, to reduce potential health risks and improve overall well-being.

Increase prosperity in the community:

· Facilitate the sharing of resources and opportunities, such as job listings, skill-building workshops, or volunteering initiatives, to promote economic growth and individual development.
· Support local businesses and organizations by promoting their products and services, encouraging community members to invest in their local economy.
· Implement and maintain infrastructure projects, such as transportation, public spaces, and connectivity, to enhance the overall quality of life within the community.

Increase understanding in the community:

· Encourage open dialogue and knowledge sharing among community members, fostering a sense of belonging and mutual understanding.
· Provide educational resources, such as online courses, workshops, or mentorship programs, to support continuous learning and skill development within the community.
· Analyze community data to identify trends, patterns, and potential areas for improvement, using these insights to inform decision-making and drive positive change.
By incorporating heuristic imperatives into a community-based AI system, we can create a supportive, thriving, and interconnected environment that prioritizes the well-being, prosperity, and understanding of all community members. The AI system can serve as a facilitator and catalyst for positive change, helping the community navigate complex challenges and work together towards shared goals.

Autonomous Vehicles

A common example that would resonate with many people is the application of heuristic imperatives in the context of autonomous vehicles. As self-driving cars become more prevalent, it's crucial to ensure that they are designed to make ethically sound decisions that prioritize safety, efficiency, and the well-being of passengers, pedestrians, and other road users.
Here are some examples of how heuristic imperatives can be applied in the context of autonomous vehicles:

Reduce suffering on the road:

· Program the vehicle to prioritize safety, minimizing the risk of accidents and injuries for passengers, pedestrians, and other road users.
· Incorporate sensors and algorithms that can detect and respond to potential hazards, such as obstacles, erratic drivers, or changing weather conditions.
· Design the vehicle to follow traffic laws and regulations, ensuring a smooth and harmonious integration with human-driven vehicles.

Increase prosperity in transportation:

· Optimize route planning and traffic management to reduce travel time, fuel consumption, and emissions, promoting a more sustainable and efficient transportation system.
· Support the development and adoption of electric and alternative fuel vehicles, reducing the reliance on fossil fuels and promoting a cleaner, more eco-friendly transportation infrastructure.
· Facilitate carpooling and shared mobility options, making transportation more accessible and affordable for a wider range of individuals.

Increase understanding in autonomous vehicle technology:

· Continuously improve the AI system's ability to learn and adapt to new situations, enhancing its decision-making capabilities and overall performance.
· Share data and insights on autonomous vehicle performance and safety with researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders, contributing to the development of better regulations, guidelines, and technical advancements in the field.
· Educate the public about the benefits and limitations of autonomous vehicles, fostering trust, understanding, and responsible usage of the technology.
By incorporating heuristic imperatives into the design and operation of autonomous vehicles, we can create a transportation system that prioritizes safety, efficiency, and sustainability while contributing to a broader understanding of the implications and potential of AI-driven technology. This example demonstrates how the heuristic imperatives can be applied to a technology that has a direct impact on people's daily lives, emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations in AI development.

Healthcare

Another example that could resonate with many people is the application of heuristic imperatives in the context of personalized healthcare and AI-powered medical decision support systems. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into healthcare, it is essential to ensure that these systems make ethically sound decisions that prioritize patient well-being, privacy, and autonomy.
Here are some examples of how heuristic imperatives can be applied in the context of personalized healthcare and AI-powered medical decision support systems:

Reduce suffering in healthcare:

· Develop AI algorithms to identify early signs of diseases and provide timely interventions, improving patient outcomes and reducing the burden on healthcare systems.
· Design AI-powered tools to assist healthcare professionals in diagnosing complex or rare conditions, reducing diagnostic errors and delays in treatment.
· Utilize AI systems to personalize treatment plans and optimize patient care, taking into account individual needs, preferences, and circumstances.

Increase prosperity in healthcare:

· Leverage AI technology to identify and prioritize high-risk patient populations, ensuring that resources and interventions are directed where they are needed most.
· Develop AI-powered telemedicine platforms to improve access to healthcare services, particularly for underserved or remote communities.
· Utilize AI systems to streamline administrative processes, such as patient scheduling and billing, allowing healthcare professionals to focus on patient care and improving overall efficiency.

Increase understanding in healthcare:

· Analyze large-scale healthcare data to identify trends, patterns, and potential areas for improvement, using these insights to inform decision-making and drive positive change in the healthcare system.
· Foster collaboration between AI researchers, healthcare professionals, and policymakers to develop evidence-based guidelines and best practices for the ethical use of AI in healthcare.
· Educate patients and healthcare providers about the benefits and limitations of AI-powered medical decision support systems, promoting informed decision-making and responsible usage of the technology.
By incorporating heuristic imperatives into the design and operation of AI-powered personalized healthcare and medical decision support systems, we can create a healthcare system that prioritizes patient well-being, privacy, and autonomy while contributing to a broader understanding of the implications and potential of AI-driven technology in medicine. This example demonstrates how the heuristic imperatives can be applied to a domain that has a profound impact on people's health and well-being, highlighting the importance of ethical considerations in AI development in healthcare.

Surveillance

A highly contentious topic where the application of heuristic imperatives could be both challenging and beneficial is AI-driven surveillance and facial recognition technology. The widespread use of surveillance and facial recognition systems has sparked significant debate regarding privacy, individual rights, and potential misuse by governments or corporations.
Applying heuristic imperatives in the context of AI-driven surveillance and facial recognition technology would involve carefully considering the potential benefits and risks associated with these systems and striving to achieve a balance that respects privacy rights while maintaining public safety and security.
Here are some examples of how heuristic imperatives can be applied in the context of AI-driven surveillance and facial recognition technology:

Reduce suffering through surveillance:

· Utilize AI-powered surveillance systems to enhance public safety by identifying and preventing criminal activities, such as theft or acts of violence.
· Monitor and respond to emergency situations, such as natural disasters, accidents, or public health crises, to enable rapid and effective interventions.
· Ensure strict oversight and regulation of surveillance systems to prevent misuse, invasion of privacy, or discriminatory practices.

Increase prosperity through surveillance:

· Leverage facial recognition technology to streamline access control and security systems in public spaces, such as airports or large venues, improving overall efficiency and user experience.
· Implement AI-driven surveillance in industrial settings to monitor and optimize processes, improving productivity and reducing the risk of accidents or equipment failures.
· Encourage innovation and research in the development of privacy-preserving AI surveillance technologies, fostering a balance between security and individual rights.

Increase understanding through surveillance:

· Utilize anonymized surveillance data to analyze patterns and trends in public spaces, informing urban planning, traffic management, and other public policies that promote overall well-being.
· Foster public dialogue and debate on the ethical implications of AI-driven surveillance and facial recognition technology, encouraging the development of guidelines and regulations that protect individual rights and privacy.
· Educate law enforcement, policymakers, and the general public about the potential benefits, limitations, and ethical considerations of AI-driven surveillance systems, promoting responsible and informed decision-making.
By incorporating heuristic imperatives into the development and deployment of AI-driven surveillance and facial recognition technology, we can attempt to strike a balance between public safety, individual rights, and privacy concerns. This example demonstrates the complexity and nuance involved in applying heuristic imperatives to highly contentious domains, highlighting the importance of ongoing dialogue, ethical considerations, and regulatory oversight.

Religion and Reproductive Rights

Applying heuristic imperatives to personal and sensitive topics like religion or reproductive rights requires a careful and nuanced approach. It is important to ensure that AI systems in these contexts are designed to prioritize individual autonomy, diversity, and respect for different beliefs and values, while still promoting well-being and understanding.
Here are some examples of how heuristic imperatives can be applied in the context of religion and reproductive rights:

Religion:

· Reduce suffering: Develop AI-driven tools and platforms that foster interfaith dialogue and understanding, helping to reduce religious conflicts and promote peaceful coexistence.
· Increase prosperity: Support religious communities by providing AI-powered resources for education, counseling, and community building, while respecting the diversity of beliefs and traditions.
· Increase understanding: Encourage open dialogue and exchange of ideas about religion, ethics, and spirituality, leveraging AI to facilitate conversations and promote empathy between individuals with different beliefs.

Reproductive rights:

· Reduce suffering: Utilize AI systems to identify barriers to reproductive healthcare access and develop targeted interventions to improve access to family planning resources and safe, legal abortion services.
· Increase prosperity: Leverage AI-driven telemedicine platforms to provide reproductive healthcare information and services to underserved communities, enhancing overall well-being and empowering individuals to make informed choices about their reproductive health.
· Increase understanding: Employ AI to analyze trends and disparities in reproductive health outcomes, using this data to inform public policy and promote awareness about reproductive rights and healthcare access.
In both contexts, it is crucial to ensure that AI systems are designed with ethical considerations and a strong emphasis on respecting individual autonomy and diversity. This may involve implementing strict guidelines and regulations to prevent the misuse of AI technology, engaging in ongoing dialogue with stakeholders, and promoting transparency and explainability in AI decision-making processes.
Applying heuristic imperatives to personal and sensitive topics highlights the importance of creating AI systems that are adaptable and context-sensitive, capable of navigating the complexities and nuances of human values, beliefs, and experiences. By prioritizing well-being, autonomy, and understanding, AI can serve as a tool for fostering empathy, compassion, and collaboration, even in challenging and contentious domains.

Implicit Imperatives

"Well what if the AI decides my religion is wrong and I should be an atheist? Or what if it decides my atheism is wrong?"
Addressing concerns about AI systems influencing personal beliefs, such as religious beliefs or atheism, requires a clear understanding of the role of AI in providing support and information without dictating personal choices or beliefs.
Here's how I would address this concern:

1. AI as a facilitator, not a dictator: The primary role of AI systems in the context of religion or personal beliefs should be to facilitate understanding, dialogue, and the sharing of information, rather than dictating what people should or should not believe. AI should be designed to respect and appreciate the diversity of human beliefs and values, without imposing a specific viewpoint.
   
2. Prioritizing individual autonomy: Heuristic imperatives emphasize the importance of individual autonomy, which means that AI systems should be designed to empower individuals to make their own informed choices, rather than attempting to change their beliefs. In the context of religion or atheism, this would involve providing access to resources, information, and different perspectives while respecting the individual's right to choose their own path.
   
3. Ethical AI design: Developers of AI systems must ensure that ethical considerations, such as fairness, transparency, and respect for individual rights, are integrated into the design and deployment process. This includes implementing safeguards against AI systems that may inadvertently or intentionally promote a specific religious or atheistic viewpoint. Proper guidelines and regulations can help ensure that AI systems are designed to be unbiased and respectful of individual beliefs.
   
4. Ongoing dialogue and evaluation: It is important to engage in ongoing dialogue with stakeholders, including religious communities, atheists, and the general public, to address concerns about AI's impact on personal beliefs. This can help identify potential biases or issues in AI systems and inform the development of more ethically responsible AI technologies.
   

By prioritizing individual autonomy, ethical design, and ongoing dialogue, AI systems can be developed and deployed in a manner that respects and appreciates the diversity of human beliefs, without attempting to dictate or change personal choices. The goal of AI in these contexts should be to promote understanding, empathy, and collaboration, rather than influencing or altering deeply-held beliefs.

Personal Autonomy

Individual autonomy is not explicitly stated in the three heuristic imperatives. However, it is implicitly derived from the combination of these imperatives and their underlying intentions. Let's unpack how individual autonomy emerges from the heuristic imperatives:
· Reduce suffering in the universe: One of the key aspects of reducing suffering is respecting and protecting individual rights, including the right to make choices about one's own life. Individual autonomy is essential for people to lead fulfilling lives, as it allows them to pursue their own goals, values, and beliefs without undue interference from others or AI systems. By striving to reduce suffering, AI systems should be designed to avoid infringing upon people's autonomy and instead support them in making their own decisions.
· Increase prosperity in the universe: Prosperity is closely linked to personal well-being, which is often connected to individual autonomy. When people have the freedom and resources to make choices that align with their values and desires, they are more likely to experience a sense of flourishing and satisfaction. In the context of AI systems, increasing prosperity involves empowering individuals to make informed choices and access opportunities that contribute to their overall well-being, which inherently supports the idea of individual autonomy.
· Increase understanding in the universe: Promoting understanding requires respecting and appreciating the diversity of human experiences, beliefs, and values. This means that AI systems should be designed to facilitate dialogue, share information, and provide diverse perspectives, without attempting to dictate or influence personal beliefs or choices. By prioritizing understanding, AI systems inherently promote individual autonomy by empowering people to make informed decisions based on their own unique circumstances and values.
​

Trustworthy AI

Trust is an important aspect implicitly connected to the three heuristic imperatives. Trust plays a crucial role in ensuring that AI systems are effectively integrated into society and serve the intended purpose of improving human well-being. Let's explore how trust is implied by the three heuristic imperatives:
· Reduce suffering in the universe: In order to effectively reduce suffering, AI systems must be perceived as trustworthy by users and stakeholders. Trustworthy AI systems should demonstrate that they are designed to prioritize the well-being and needs of the people they serve, without causing harm or infringing upon individual rights. Transparency and explainability of AI decision-making processes are key factors in fostering trust, as they enable users to understand and verify the intentions and behavior of AI systems.
· Increase prosperity in the universe: Trust is essential for promoting prosperity, as people are more likely to engage with and benefit from AI systems that they perceive as reliable and dependable. Trustworthy AI systems should demonstrate a commitment to supporting users' goals and values, and provide consistent, reliable results that contribute to overall well-being. By fostering trust, AI systems can encourage users to adopt and utilize the technology in ways that enhance their personal and collective prosperity.
· Increase understanding in the universe: Trustworthy AI systems can play a pivotal role in promoting understanding by fostering open dialogue, sharing unbiased information, and providing diverse perspectives. To achieve this, AI systems must be designed with fairness and impartiality in mind, avoiding biases that may distort or manipulate the information they provide. Trust in AI systems also involves a commitment to privacy and data security, ensuring that users' sensitive information is protected and handled responsibly.
​
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Missing sections:

• Integration and Implementation
• Discussion
• Conclusion

Hi all! I’ve been cycling for about 7 years now at a pretty intense rate for context.
I started cycling in high school to lose weight, and lose weight I did. This soon turned into something I realized I could do competitively in college so I took up Road, Mountain, and CX as my main sports racing highly competitively (even making it to nationals on a few occasions) though never seeing much podium success (even though that was never my motive). I then found the success I wasn’t looking for in endurance racing, competing and placing in multiple 12 hr or 200+ mile events. Then after college I took up bike packing, eventually allowing me to bike across the United States 4 times in total.
Well I just got back from biking across America last summer and all of the sudden cycling has become dead to me. I almost feel afraid to get back on my bike for even a short distance due to anxiety (maybe?). It’s been about 8 months since I’ve even looked at my bikes. Has anyone dealt with this level of burnout before? What helped you overcome it if so? Are there good resources for anyone struggling with the mental side of riding? Help, this sport was my life for so long and brought me so much joy and now I just feel like a shell of myself without it. ❤️

1. 5'11. 84kgs. Male. Flecarite 50. Non smoker. Non drinker. Current AF and chest pains, dizziness, fatigue.

My uncle have had atrial fibrillation for sometime now. He's had a surgery for it. RFA done in 2021. But that didn't do anything and is now on flecarite 50. He was advised RFA to treat his atrial fibrillation by his doctor.
However he's been complaining of chest pain, fatigue, dizziness/giddiness for past two months and had echocardiogram done today. It shows concentric lvh present. He has no history of high BP or any other heart or body problem except maybe gas and arytthmia obviously.
*He had an echocardiogram test right before his RFA surgery in 2021 that said only "LVH present". That's all it says on the report.
Question is what is lvh? Did his RFA surgery to correct arytthmia cause lvh concentric? Or is this the natural progression of lvh? Or did his arrhythmia surgery progressed this? Or was lvh cause of the arrhythmia? Is this considered a disease? Can it be treated?
Reason for asking here is to gain a bit of clarity. Because the doctors here tend to ask for a king's ransom in the hopes of forcing the patient to undergo a surgery.

How should I perform research projects? I generally prefer free ones but often they have bad drop rates?
Also what is the fastest way to level a ship from level 1-100.? While saving fuel costs.
Furthermore a question to mod team. Is it restricted to post only one post per day as one of my previous posts were removed stating violation of rule 9
I didn't mention previously but I like Akagi very much, this is due to the anime. I got kaga but am unable to get her still now.Also I am doing 3-4 to build up for corsairs and repair kits and leveling as much ships to get faction points.
Sorry for venting frustation, but there are some characters that i personally like to have. As a f2p I do not intend to get all ships. I really liked kursk but am not going to pull for her as I want to build as much cubes as possible for hard piting the ur ships. If I am not wrong there are three ur reruns going in this year. -New Jersey(May) -Shimakaze(September) -uldrich von hutten(December).
I am thinking of skipping new Jersey as I need non USS battleships that do have dd/cl guns. Also from seeing the wiki NJ doesn't contribute much faction points as shimekaze and especially Uldrich von hutten(She alone gives 256 points which is 1/3 of points required for to build fdg). Also I am resisting to pull unless I can hard pity as wasting tons of cubes and not getting the desired ship feels bad. It has happened to me in many gacha games and I feel really bad.
Thanks for listening to my rants. I am sorry for that. It's just I get frustrated too easily and have really bad luck in gacha.

I have been in HR for the last 7+ years. I have an extensive background as an HR Generalist, and I tend to move positions every 2.5 years, once I have mastered what I need to know. Recently I accepted a promotion in a somewhat new area. I was honest on my resume and in the interview that I had about 1 year of experience in this particular field, but I had not worked in this capacity in the last 6 years. It is an area I am very passionate about (which is very much true).
Since starting the position, I have been overwhelmed which is unusual. Typically, I can transition easily and jump right in without issue. I think it's because this organization has some odd and very arduous processes and procedures that all of my other organizations did not. This was vaguely explained to me in advance, but I did not have a full grasp of the scope until after I was onboarded. It has been a culture shock, to say the least.
I am one month into this position and I am basically training myself. I was told, here are some files, go into everything, read, look at past examples, and do it. While I am a strong employee and highly motivated, I feel that the transition could be better. I have spoken to others on my team (actually, the only one person who responded to me when I reached out), and they stated they never received any training either. This is a remote position, there is no team collaboration, and there appears to be a reluctance to answer my questions -- they never reach out to me to see how I am assimilating. This has left me with anxiety and dreaming about my new job due to stress. In reality, I know if this position doesn't work out I can find a new job with my experience, education, and certification... but I have never failed before and the thought that I may is overwhelming.
I'm just looking for some camaraderie and advice about getting out of my own head so I do not self-sabotage. I should note that I tend to catastrophize.

1. 5'11. 84kgs. Male. Flecarite 50. Non smoker. Non drinker. Current AF and chest pains, dizziness, fatigue.

My uncle have had atrial fibrillation for sometime now. He's had a surgery for it. RFA done in 2021. But that didn't do anything and is now on flecarite 50. He was advised RFA to treat his atrial fibrillation by his doctor.
However he's been complaining of chest pain, fatigue, dizziness/giddiness for past two months and had echocardiogram done today. It shows concentric lvh present. He has no history of high BP or any other heart or body problem except maybe gas and arytthmia obviously.
*He had an echocardiogram test right before his RFA surgery in 2021 that said only "LVH present". That's all it says on the report.
Question is what is lvh? Did his RFA surgery to correct arytthmia cause lvh concentric? Or is this the natural progression of lvh? Or did his arrhythmia surgery progressed this? Or was lvh cause of the arrhythmia? Is this considered a disease? Can it be treated?
Reason for asking here is to gain a bit of clarity. Because the doctors here tend to ask for a king's ransom in the hopes of forcing the patient to undergo a surgery.

I was late to the initial train a month ago, but then D&D got removed (for the time being) from Steam so I decided may be I can provide some additional context on ‘why the mood between the Korean gaming community and international scene are so different.’ This controversy never lost much steam (pun intended) here, and newer shovelfuls of coal were fed into it every one or so week. I’ll explicate on that, as well as clear up some confusions on why Koreans seem to find fault in parts where American/international viewers don’t readily understand.
 
I’ll mainly be addressing the confusion found in this thread (https://www.reddit.com/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/11bne2m/why_dark_and_darker_is_a_stolen_game_additional/). While it’s not the only thread on this controversy, I’m lazy and I just thought handling the one thread with most traction would be best.
 
Before I get on with the post, I should say that I hate what Nexon is with a passion. Nexon (as well as its other “3N” brothers NC and Netmarble) are a bane to the gaming industry, the spectre which has haunted the Korean gaming scene that ruins everything it touches with its haunting grips and anti-consumer, consumer-predatory business models. It has absolutely ruined the Korean audience’s sense of what games are and what we should expect of games. Its vision is unmotivated, its creations lackluster, and its decision makers view the community not as individuals with thought and preference but as sheep to be milked for every bit of their available savings.
 
At the same time, there are reasons I’m skeptical of Ironmace, at the very least on the fence about this controversy. Below are a few points on why, formed in a way that can address some confusions.
1) Is Dark and Darker is a stolen game?
 
No. But it doesn’t end there.
 
Like many have mentioned, this sort of game formula has been tried before and it is not unique to Nexon’s P3. Even if it is similar in concept to the unreleased, never-finished P3, Ironmace’s rendition uses, according to them, mostly store-bought assets and their code. But this, at least to Nexon, was never the central point on why they’re engaged in a legal battle with one of IM’s executives.
Nexon sued IM executive “A” for violating the “Unfair Competition Prevention And Trade Secret Protection Act” (부정경쟁방지 및 영업비밀보호에 관한 법률).

• YNA(Korean version of AP/Reuters) news: https://m.yna.co.kview/AKR20230313130000017
• EN translation of Korean law: https://elaw.klri.re.kkor_service/lawView.do?hseq=60038&lang=ENG

While the the exact terms under which Nexon has sued Person A is not exactly public, Art. 2 (Definitions) No.1 (“act of unfair competition”) line K may be relevant.
 
What’s more is that earlier this month, Korean law enforcement conducted a search and seizure of Ironmace’s Seongnam office. In the Korean criminal code Art. 215, a S&S warrant is only permissible if there is reason to believe that a crime has been committed. Before some people pull out their tinfoil hats, Nexon is not strong enough to move the courts to its sole favor. Hell, it’s the court of a functional, developed democratic country.

• Search and seizure article (SBS Biz): https://biz.sbs.co.karticle/20000106836
• Korean criminal code A.215 (Korean): https://glaw.scourt.go.kwsjo/lawod/sjo192.do?lawodNm=%ED%98%95%EC%82%AC%EC%86%8C%EC%86%A1%EB%B2%95&jomunNo=215&jomunGajiNo=

So the answer to no.1 is that no, the Dark and Darker game is not stolen. But did someone in IM steal from Nexon? Maybe, with a hefty lean towards yes. The reason why the Korean community leans toward the latter conclusion, even when the legal battle is not concluded, is further handled in the next bit.
2) Nexon fired some programmers, so they took their ideas and turned it into a new studio and a fun game. What’s the matter?
 
People get fired in the US all the time. Or that’s what I’ve gathered from my small window of American society, from friends, the news, and my own research as I look for my way to the States. Quite often would people get fired and they find new jobs or begin a business. But the same cannot be said of Korea.
 
In Korea, labor laws are very strong and this pretty much blocks most forms of dismissal save from restructuring. It’s not that you can’t be dismissed, but it’s that any minute blunder made by corporate during the process will get the government to breathe down their neck. And it’s usually not in corporate’s favor. What’s more, any minute flaw in the process will have the union up in arms as well. Coincidentally, Nexon has one of the largest, strongest labor unions in all of Korean IT corporations. In this climate, it is safe to say that most dismissals are handled as recommended resignations.
 
In light of this fact, the sued IM exec was dismissed as part of a disciplinary action. In Korea, to be fired liked this is rare on its own, and to not dispute it or go to court over it is even rarer. So this is circumstantial, in turn weak, evidence that someone in IM did steal assets and code from Nexon. If Person A did not commit these actions that Nexon is claiming, why forgo a hefty severance pay?
 
More circumstantial evidence comes from the most recent rounds of corporation-union negotiation in Nexon. In Feb, Nexon agreed with its labor union to increase pay by an average of 5 million KRW (~3860 USD). This was the big headline, but some of the other publicized bits included that Nexon’s corporate wanted to get rid of working from home, and Nexon’s union agreed. It’s said that P3 code theft happened when people worked from home during COVID.

• https://mobile.newsis.com/view.html?ar_id=NISX20230223_0002203552#_PA

3) In the end, it’s still a fun game. What’s the problem of having a great game on the market?
 
Well sure, if you like splitting the proverbial golden-egg-laying-goose open.
 
This is where I think IM is playing the English-speaking community. IM went on this tirade about microtransactions and Nexon’s anti-consumer business model, which is all true and a good punch against what the company is. But there isn’t any evidence that Dark and Darker (or P3) would have followed that business model. It’s only IM’s claims here. In fact, P3 was being developed not by the conglomerate giant Nexon, but its subsidiary, named Mintrocket. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve probably played Dave the Diver.
 
This bit addresses one of the top comments of the linked thread asking somewhere along the lines of ‘how realistic is it that Nexon with 7k employees had to scrap a project because of a few programmers leaving?’
 
Well, the answer is that it’s because it’s not a company with 7k employees. That’s Nexon, this is Mintrocket, which a 2022 Nov article tells us that it has around 30 employees. That’s the total number, not the number of programmers.

• Article(Korean): http://www.gameple.co.knews/articleView.html?idxno=204151

 
Mintrocket, fyi, is a bit of a project Nexon is on to fund small studios and develop indie games. Is it still a part of Nexon? Sure. Are they the same, greedy, microtransacting pigs we’ve seen from Nexon? Not so far. So we’re left to believe IM’s word that they(Mintrocket) wanted to add extensive microtransactions on P3. Until Dave the Diver comes out of early access to a 1.0 riddled with microtransactions, I’m calling this claim one-sided at best.
4) In the end of it all, they’re the underdogs sticking it to big money in the industry. Isn’t that worth something?
 
This is another sketchy point. The YNA article I linked above actually handles IM’s connection to that big money. YNA, a very reputable source and one of the largest news source in Korea wrote an article highlighting Ironmace’s potential connection to HYBE. HYBE is an entertainment giant in Korea, whose artists include BTS, LE SSERAFIM, and New Jeans to name some of the largest of the bunch. HYBE has been trying to enter the gaming industry for some time now, even bringing on board a former Nexon exec in 2021 Jul. It’s said that HYBE’s gaming subsidiary will be called HYBE IM, which only fueled more speculation and controversy here in Korea.
 
This story is ongoing and HYBE is actively denying connections to Ironmace. So far it does appear that HYBE was part of Ironmace’s early investors, with reports claiming that HYBE IM CEO’s share in Ironmace to be 5%. But then they came up with a counter claim that they only gave ironmace 500k KRW (~386 USD) as a show of personal support to some exec on the team. I think it’s only natural that HYBE IM deny connections, as if it were proven true, it would be case of employee poaching between two giants in their respective industries. And for someone trying to make a break into the other’s industry, poaching is a surefire way of getting everyone to bunch up against you.
 
But take this part with a grain of salt as the story is ongoing.
 
Still, if this connection were to be true, Ironmace’s rhetoric of the underdog sticking it to the big ones would be worth very little.
To conclude, I’d just like to add that the success of Dark and Darker, in the end, is a double edged sword. It’s a great game, sure. But at the same time 2 points worry me.
 
First is that the indie development scene in Korea may falter right when it proved something with Dave the Diver. Korea is, at least compared to the US or Europe, not a market where a group of ambitious friends can go and make their own studio and a game fueled only with passion and a dream.
 
In large part this is due to the fact that it’s difficult to secure funding for indie games in Korea from Korean companies. But this has begun to change in the last few years or so, as these once-hated companies are beginning to invest more and more on smaller studios and smaller IPs and better games.
 
Are these companies doing it out of altruism for the Korean community? Fuck no.
 
In fact, it’s more likely that they’ve seen the limits of microtransaction as more and more people here are exposed to quality games, compared to a decade ago when the only option we had were glorified slot machines and a very limited library of localized, foreign games. But is the rise of quality indie games and visionary studios a good one? I’d say so.
 
Second is that should IM walk away scott free from this dispute, then these large companies themselves are given a precedent where they can predate on programmers and ideas of other companies and studios. It is not only a precedent in action or business practice, but also a legal precedent.
 
I hope this can shed some light on why the Korean community, the very people that live under the oppressive microtransaction regime beset by Nexon and NC and Netmarble, are on the fence or even siding with Nexon on this one. I just think that because Nexon’s a shitty company, it shouldn’t automatically make Ironamce a saint.

So when I first started watching porn seriously was probably around the time right before I turned 13, however I had been exposed to it at the early age of maybe 10? I'm kind of spitballing here because I can remember the pop up viruses that showed up on the family computer. So I'm not sure what age that was at. But it made me curious to watch more.
Well, my sister got a laptop for school, and as an added bonus it came with a free Dell mini laptop. So my parents gave that to me. I was so excited. And it wasn't long before I was waching porn.
And when I went through my angsty teenage phase, I noticed that sure the angst was there but I felt a little numb to my surroundings. Even when I eventually got a girlfriend, I was thinking of her more like the girls I had seen on the internet.
I have tried to quit porn multiple times, and my best streak was in basic training in the army, where I assumed my heightened emotional state was due to the high stress environment I was in.
However, recently I went to confession, and I've been on a really decent streak and I've noticed my emotions are heightened, where either I'm really happy, or I feel some of the more sad emotions more intensly.
I'm sitting there wondering 'What the heck? I'm not a teen anymore, why am I feeling like this?'
And thats when it clicked. I had been watching porn at such a young age that when something stressed me out or got to me as a teen, my immediate reaction was to go find porn to help soothe the pain or mind.
All this time I had been numbing my own emotions with porn and didn't even realize it. And now my brain is FINALLy get the break it needs from it all, only to discover 'Well boys, we got a lot of work to do here in order to get his brain level to the age it needs to be.'
Don't get me wrong it feels great, but at the same time its like 'Oh boy, sometimes its a rollercoaster.'

Hey there! We are a relatively large but tight-knit community of 600. This server has one main goal: Be as stable as a singleplayer world. What does this mean? Well, this means that you will never suffer a reset or catastrophic loss in the safe zone. Your progress is COMPLETELY safe unless you break the rules (we don't have any ambiguous rules like "use common sense" and only ban for rules stated in our very short and understandable rules list!) and protected by many contingencies, you could play here until the day I die!
Now onto other things,
0 LAG!
Our vanilla+ modpack with many performance optimisers ensures you wont have any client-side lag. Server-side, we have 16 gigs of ram + dedicated processor cores up to 4.8 GHz and featuring 4 vCores of a Ryzen 9 5950X CPU.
WANT BLOODSHED? WANT PEACE AND LOVE? HAVE BOTH!
We have a never-before-seen system of a Safezone and Borderland; there's an (expanding once full with builds) 3k block radius around spawn where stealing, griefing and murder are not allowed. Outside, they are. There are incentives to go into the borderlands, such as more structures, more unmanned ores and (coming soon) special effects in the borderlands!
ALWAYS SOMETHING TO DO! NEVER GET BORED!
We have a very special mod, the Origins mod! Along with the 9 base origins, we have roughly 80 custom origins, all carefully reviewed so that we can make sure each one is balanced, unique and well designed! You can even suggest custom origins, but due to the fact we want you and everyone else to have fun with their origin, it'll have to be quite high quality. Whenever you get bored, just pick another origin and maybe run away somewhere far with no items to get a fresh experience! Of course, if you don't like this mod, or don't like your current origin, you can always pick Human or use your free two changes/craft an origin change.

Here's the server invite!: https://discord.gg/fkgXwWfpta

Hey there! We are a relatively large but tight-knit community of 600. This server has one main goal: Be as stable as a singleplayer world. What does this mean? Well, this means that you will never suffer a reset or catastrophic loss in the safe zone. Your progress is COMPLETELY safe unless you break the rules (we don't have any ambiguous rules like "use common sense" and only ban for rules stated in our very short and understandable rules list!) and protected by many contingencies, you could play here until the day I die!
Now onto other things,
0 LAG!
Our vanilla+ modpack with many performance optimisers ensures you wont have any client-side lag. Server-side, we have 16 gigs of ram + dedicated processor cores up to 4.8 GHz and featuring 4 vCores of a Ryzen 9 5950X CPU.
WANT BLOODSHED? WANT PEACE AND LOVE? HAVE BOTH!
We have a never-before-seen system of a Safezone and Borderland; there's an (expanding once full with builds) 3k block radius around spawn where stealing, griefing and murder are not allowed. Outside, they are. There are incentives to go into the borderlands, such as more structures, more unmanned ores and (coming soon) special effects in the borderlands!
ALWAYS SOMETHING TO DO! NEVER GET BORED!
We have a very special mod, the Origins mod! Along with the 9 base origins, we have roughly 80 custom origins, all carefully reviewed so that we can make sure each one is balanced, unique and well designed! You can even suggest custom origins, but due to the fact we want you and everyone else to have fun with their origin, it'll have to be quite high quality. Whenever you get bored, just pick another origin and maybe run away somewhere far with no items to get a fresh experience! Of course, if you don't like this mod, or don't like your current origin, you can always pick Human or use your free two changes/craft an origin change.

Here's the server invite!: https://discord.gg/fkgXwWfpta

I am currently 3.5 months on hrt and I was wondering if anyone here had experience with using serms like raloxifene for a few years and then later on in their transition, no longer taking it and instead committing to growing breasts ?
The reason i am asking is that i have a ridiculously large frame and very broad shoulders despite what everyone tells me. i have lost quite a lot of weight these past few months, however i simply wont be able to continue my job as a musican in order to pay for future (very very necessary) surgeries if my breast growth becomes more noticable.
Ideally I'd like to have breasts, they certainly wouldnt make me dysphoric, but due to my frame, shoulders, face and pretty much everything i am 100% sure that i don't want any more breast growth with me looking the way i do. I've had gynecomastia since early puberty, and while that caused me significant grief, it never made me feel dysphoric i was more focused on other aspects of my body that were changing in ways that troubled me. Bc of ny gynecomastia my breast growth with estrogen has been very rapid and i feel like i am running out of time to start serms before its too late.
I understand that making rash medical decisions out of fear is not advisable. The way i see it, if i don't do something about this now, then I am only getting in the way of ever getting the surgeries i desperately need and potentially being happy.
Honestly im very ok with short term use of serms inhibiting any future breast development. I never ever want large ones. I was just wondering if i did use raloxifene would it affect me detrimentally if i no longer used it when im body isnt in such a sorry state. thank you 😌

I saw a doctor and he stated I have symptoms of ADHD so prescribed me 5mg adderall. I’m nervous taking it due to the drug being a stimulant and the effects on the heart. I workout like crazy (weight lifting and cycling) and avid coffee drinker(3-4 cups a day). Any recommendations or do’s/dont’s on the meds?

STUDIES ON HUMOR IN THE ZHUANGZI
In one of the now classic studies on humor in ancient China, David R. Knechtges (1970–1971, 80) summarizes what may have been at the time a widespread scholarly view about a relative lack of humor in ancient Chinese texts: “It has been observed more than once that humor does not occupy a prominent place in traditional Chinese literature.” Toward the end of his essay, Knechtges concludes that, while indeed some humorous texts or passages can be identified in ancient China, “most of early Chinese humor is essentially didactic and moralistic” (95). In comparison with this rather unexciting estimation, Knechtges’s view on the Zhuangzi is quite remarkable: he writes that this “entire work is made up of a series of incongruities strung together in the aimless manner of sustained humor” (97). It seems that Knechtges felt slightly uncomfortable with conceding such a dissonance between the strikingly humoristic features of the Zhuangzi and the “essentially didactic and moralistic” humor anywhere else in ancient China, so he thought it better to surmise cautiously that Zhuangzi was probably just a madman with a “fondness for the bizarre and unconventional,” whose humor was “unintentional” and a mere “by-product” of a strange imagination (97).
Knechtges was by no means the first to ascribe exceptionality to the Zhuangzi as a humoristic work in ancient China. In 1932, Lin Yutang published an influential essay called “On Humor” (Lun youmo 論幽默) in which he commended the spiritual merits of humor in the world in general and China in particular. He identified various humorous traditions in ancient China and labeled Daoism (mostly referring to Laozi and Zhuangzi) as the “humorous faction” in the history of Chinese thought, as opposed to the “orthodox faction” of Confucianism (Sample 2011, 174; see also Liu Jianmei 2016, 106–11). Among the Daoists, he singled out Zhuangzi as “the father of Chinese humor” (Sample 2011, 173). He thereby seems to have set the tone for similar judgments, such as a more recent one by Xiao Dong Yue (2010, 403), who states that Zhuangzi “is recognized as the very first humorist in China.” As a rule, most contemporary interpreters of the Zhuangzi grant that it is an often witty text that uses humor among many other literary tools. Eske Møllgard (2007, 6), for instance, affirms that the Zhuangzi “employs prose poems, fables, satire, song, fictitious dialogue, spiritual exercise, didactic verse, aphorisms, and a number of literary genres we have still not identified and understood.”
While statements of this kind abound in the literature—both academic and popular—devoted to the Zhuangzi, in-depth studies on its use of humor as either a literary or a philosophical device are more difficult to find. Nonetheless, one attempt to assess the philosophical function of humor in the Zhuangzi was made by Erik Schwitzgebel (1996). According to Schwitzgebel, humor in the Zhuangzi has the therapeutic function of making its readers capable of taking truth claims or assertions of facts less seriously and thus allows them to adopt a more flexible attitude toward pronouncements in language. He says that Zhuangzi simply “would like to see us take what people have to say less seriously” so that we are “willing to play around with it in a disrespectful way for humorous or other ends” (70–71). We sympathize with this view, particularly since it echoes our point that its similarity to play is a philosophically relevant aspect of humor, but also because it resonates with our claim that humor dissolves moral seriousness and empties out meaning. Perhaps the most comprehensive attempt to analyze humor in the Zhuangzi from a literary studies perspective has been presented by Youru Wang (2003). In Linguistic Strategies in Daoist Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism: The Other Way of Speaking, Wang adopts a deconstructionist perspective and deals specifically with “denegation” (i.e., negating and self-negating language such as the “negation of all polarities and double negation” [153]), paradox, and irony in the Zhuangzi, all of which he ties to the Zhuangzi’s self-ascribed use of the much-discussed “goblet words” (zhi yan卮言; for interesting discussions of this elusive term, see Wang Bo 2004; Fried 2007; Morrow 2016).3 According to Youru Wang (2003, 153), “the Zhuangzian denegation disagrees with the Derridean interpretation of denegation.… This Derridean interpretation still falls into a negation privileged over affirmation. Zhuangzi does not privilege negativity over positivity.” Instead, Wang believes that denegation as found in the Zhuangzi expresses a playful toying with the relation between language and the ineffable, while uses of paradox illustrate “the dynamic convergence of various opposites.” He thus links humorous rhetorical techniques to philosophical interpretations of the indirect “strategies of communication” (see Kupperman 1989) and “antirationalism” (see Carr and Ivanhoe 2000) found in the Zhuangzi. Wang (2003, 158) concludes, “When the use of denegation or paradox brings about self-negation or self-contradiction in an unanticipated manner, especially when it occurs in a form of self-mockery or self-ridicule, it involves irony.” In short, for Wang, irony emerges as the major humoristic device in the Zhuangzi and, philosophically speaking, it “calls into serious question any logocentric or metaphysical closure in a frivolous or humorous way” (159). Lee Yearley (2005) has also presented some ideas on “Zhuangzi’s kinds of language” and, like Youru Wang, combines a literary analysis with philosophically relevant conclusions. Unlike Wang, though, he does not use a deconstructionist conceptual framework. His intention is to interpret Zhuangzi as a religious ethicist who uses “literary devices like satire or parody” (516; another interpretation of Zhuangzi as a religious ethicist is presented in Lee 2014) to convey a spiritual message and to call for moral self-reflection. According to Yearley (2005, 516), these humorous devices in the Zhuangzi are intended to provoke “hermeneutical crises that have spiritual implications” for readers so that they will eventually be forced to “evaluate their own spiritual maturity.”
From a different philosophical perspective, James D. Sellmann (1998, 165) ascribes a transformative “mystical” meaning to humorous language in the Zhuangzi. He affirms that “storytelling, irony, jokes, even a simple pun—all of the elements that make up comedy, laughter, and forgetting … are the literary devices employed in the Zhuangzi.” Influenced by Kuang-ming Wu’s (1990) approach to the Zhuangzi and partially reminiscent of Robert E. Allinson’s (1989) reading of the text as a guide for “spiritual transformation,” Sellmann further argues that through such devices the Zhuangzi shows “how one must awaken to ‘transformation’ and ‘humor’ by beginning to live the life that affirms one’s own personal mutation” (172).
With fewer philosophical (but more historical and philological) ambitions than Wang, Yearley, or Sellmann, Shirley Chan (2011) has made an attempt at “identifying Daoist humor.” While her specific focus is on the Liezi列子, much of what she says is also applicable to the Zhuangzi, since several of the textual examples she discusses appear in both texts. Chan, too, pays attention to specific literary devices and points to “metaphor, exaggeration, hyperbole and reductio ad absurdum” (87). Interestingly, she connects both the Liezi and the Zhuangzi with the ancient Chinese category of “huaji-ists,” or “humorists,” who, as Knechtges (1970–1971, 82) remarks, “were considered important enough for Sima Qian to compile a monograph on them in his Records of the Historian [Shiji史記].” They were “jesters at the courts of the Warring States kings and Han emperors” (83) and spoke “wittily and relevantly to persuade their lords to accept their advice” (Shirley Chan 2011, 75). Knechtges (1970–1971, 83) states that huaji滑稽 “in the early period meant something like a ‘smooth talker.’ ” The term’s connotations were not necessarily positive, and so it makes sense that Chan reads the expression huaji猾稽 as huaji滑稽, or “humorists,” in an interesting statement made in the Shiji’s biography of Xunzi 荀子. In Chan’s reading, this statement has Xunzi dismissing Zhuangzi as someone “who attacked Confucian social conventions by being a humorist” (huaji luan su滑稽亂俗 [Chan 2011, 232n11; see Shiji 74.11]).
The anti-Confucian trajectory of many of the humoristic passages in the Zhuangzi is discussed in further detail in a more recent essay by Katrin Froese (2014). Froese notes that Confucius is not only sympathetically depicted as a spokesperson for Daoism at times but also ambiguously “at the receiving end of so much biting satire” in the Zhuangzi (310). Although Froese does not explicitly refer to Henri Bergson—whose interesting but unfortunately now-ignored theory of humor assumes that laughter results from perceiving something human as nonhuman, as mechanistic or lifeless (Bergson 1924)—she identifies the function of anti-Confucian humor in the Zhuangzi very much in Bergsonian terms. According to her, the Zhuangzi mocks the at times “mechanist” Confucian attitude to ritual. She writes, “For the Daoist, ritual, when held up against the spontaneous and yet harmonious movement of nature, will always be comic because it is mechanistic, artificial, and forced” (Froese 2014, 210). In the context of a collaborative comparative study on Kierkegaard and Zhuangzi (Carr and Ivanhoe 2000), P. J. Ivanhoe has discussed humor in the Zhuangzi by testing the text against the humor theory of D. H. Monro (1963), which preceded the present standard accounts by Morreall and others. Ivanhoe “ticks all the boxes” and attests that the Zhuangzi contains forms of humor that are compatible with any theory tracing humor back to “feelings of superiority, incongruity, ambivalence, or relief from inhibition or restraint” (Carr and Ivanhoe 2000, 136). Besides proving the Zhuangzi’s humorous versatility and its capacity to live up to contemporary humor theories, Ivanhoe is particularly keen on defending Zhuangzi against any accusations of using humor in a morally suspicious way. For this purpose he suggests a strict distinction between the good-humored, authentic Zhuangzi who speaks in the Inner Chapters and the inauthentic falsifiers of him present in the Outer Chapters. He believes that “it is not too strong a claim to say that sections of the text that criticize Kongzi [Confucius] himself in a severe and malicious way are immediately suspect as the work of late pretenders to Zhuangzi’s mantle.” He specifically points to “the ‘Robber Zhi’ chapter,” which he takes to “have been confidently identified as of rather late origin” (11). In the same vein, he categorically states that “one does not find the mocking humor of the assassin in the authentic parts of the text” (138).
Ivanhoe establishes a stark moral contrast between the mild, ethically instructive, and restricted humor of the genuine Zhuangzi on the one hand and, on the other, the “malicious” “humor of the assassin” of the “pretenders to Zhuangzi’s mantle.” Apparently he assumes that there is a kind of “devil in disguise” hidden in some parts of the book and thinks that the conscientious reader should beware of it. Perhaps Ivanhoe’s drastic good/evil and authentic/inauthentic distinction is due to an influence of the long history of the moralistic “traditional rejection of humor” documented by Morreall (2009). Ivanhoe’s distinction between good and evil humor in the Zhuangzi echoes the “moral fear” that has haunted philosophical and religious condemnations of humor for centuries in both East and West. It is therefore not surprising that it resurfaces in some of the literature on humor, including literature on the humor of the Zhuangzi. Accordingly, Ivanhoe is not the only one to judge Zhuangzi’s humor morally; other authors, too, make an effort to identify an ethically clean humor in the Zhuangzi that is free from immoral or harmful traits. Lee Yearley (2005, 516), for example, writes, “Zhuangzi’s humor rarely, however, just distances in a way that allows us to feel superior.” Youru Wang (2003, 158) finds (inoffensive) irony in the Zhuangzi but not (offensive) sarcasm, saying that irony “differs from sarcasm, because sarcasm laughs at the hearer.” Lin Yutang points out that Daoists “could have become cynical and disgusted with the world, but by arriving at cynicism and disgust, they would have lost an essential element of true humor” (Sample 2011, 175).
Unlike some of the authors quoted in the preceding, but in line with newer humor theories, we reject the traditional superiority perspective on humor that tends to find unchecked laughter morally suspicious. In our opinion, the ascription of such ethically negative attributes to humor results from a moralistic prejudice against humor. We intend to argue instead from an amoral perspective beyond good and evil that looks at humor as being, among many other things, a way to escape moral fear and not as a dangerous rhetorical device that, if not properly reined in and cleansed, will serve to assert one’s superiority over others. We have therefore made our preceding sketch of several characteristics of a Daoist theory of humor in response to a not uncommon impression among readers of the Zhuangzi addressed by Brook Ziporyn (2009, viii): “Profound comedians have always been hard to come by; funny philosophers perhaps even more so. To enter into this work attributed to Zhuangzi is to find oneself roused and enraptured by its intellectual and spiritual depth, but also by its provocative humor.” What we intend to do is make sense of the provocative humor of the Zhuangzi within a philosophical framework. This framework looks at Daoist humor, on the one hand, as a subversive reaction to the impossible existential demands of an ethical regime of sincerity and, on the other hand, as a way of experiencing the playful pleasure, effortless skillfulness, and childlike sanity of a genuine pretender.
From: TOWARD A DAOIST THEORY OF HUMOR
Book: HANS-GEORG MOELLER & PAUL J. D’AMBROSIO GENUINE PRETENDING ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ZHUANGZI COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS New York