Being and Decision: New Interests, New Blog

I have a new blog to serve as an outlet for more general interests.

The essence of human life can be categorized broadly as being - life as it is without the intervention of consciousness - and decision - the reprogramming of existence so as to transform on some margin or margins. Humans employ logic to understand their environment, which includes themselves, and intervene in it with intention of generating some outcome. The outcomes generated may or may not be in accordance with the intention of the acting agent. Agents face the challenge of how to be effective in action while not generating outcomes that harm themselves and others. To the extent that they harm themselves, agents will not long survive. To the extent that agents harm others, they form relationships defined by enmity. This also hurts their ability to survive, though many engage in such practice while successfully isolating themselves from the negative consequences of their actions. "He who lives by the sword dies by the sword." Such isolation must be finitely lived. 

The challenge that confronts society is for those acting within it to do so in such a manner that does not make others worse off: to aim for Paretian improvements. When this is not possible and others are made worse off by our own actions, whether or not recompense is required by law, we can at least be sure to leave others the opportunity to improve their own situations whenever possible. We need an ethic that appreciates that the social animal is also an institutional animal. Humankind must be careful to consider the effects of our interventions as the effects of these are travel through institutional channels that increase the distance of the outcome from the motivator of that outcome. This is the golden rule applied to the logic of institutions.