Allegedly, all of the author's friends are dead, and this is a widespread problem. This happenes everywhere, society is at fault. - What we hear is baseless (there are no links provided). It's pretty far from my experience as a human (however, I am not US based).
The tone of the text is very low on specifics, and it's spoken at a 3rd person always talking about others, about how society behaves, about what others do and how others feel. - This style is usually a projection of someone's thoughts. In my experience I've had lots to learn by talking about my own values and how they developed over time. Also hearing others talk about their own experience directly proved valuable. All I'm seeing in this text is "I judge X, I judge Y". That scares me.
These are 2 of the red flags I have to detect problematic philosophical wiring. Is it specific? Is it personal/direct experience? Negative answers suggest I should avoid this piece.
[EDIT] I did not get to the end of the piece and thus I do not argue about content here. Red flags triggered for me in 5-6 distinct paragraphs. Enough for me to decide I should avoid the rest (and that I should write this comment).
Why?
Because the red flags I discuss happen early. Way before Abraham is mentioned. What I describe is a tool I use to decide whether the author is projecting a reality or observing/reporting on it.
I stopped reading without encountering any mention of Abraham. However I hope the tools I mention are still of value. I say this because it seems they helped me abandon an article that could have gotten me to Abraham...
[1]: https://splinternews.com/leaked-emails-show-how-white-nation...
Perhaps so, but TFA rejects that solution, stressing the importance of acquiring one's own values through experience. Traditional wisdom can be helpful in a "prior work" sense, but is no substitute for trying things and learning from them.
If we all abided values only because those values made sense to us, then I think the world would not only be a much more interesting place, but also probably a much better one. It's so weird to see so many people simply claim to believe things that they probably don't, simply because it's socially expected or convenient to claim to believe them. We're only here for ~80 years, spending this time deceiving others, or even worse - yourself, just doesn't make any sense.
This seems to be the main thrust. Abraham : Mesopotamia :: Trad values : Modern society's values. A flimsy argument that comes from an extremely shallow understanding of what little we know of ancient history.
This makes sense:
>Well-grounded values, which is to say values that actually serve and accelerate life rather than deplete it, come from only one source: hard engagement with reality, where you can form an experience-building feedback loop of trial, error, and vitality.
and this:
>Our most important low-hanging fruit is to recognize the problem: most of the values we learn from the institutions around us are fake and exploitative. They do not represent our real interests.
And this:
>In contrast to these false values, what we can do is recognize and orient ourselves more rigorously to Abraham’s hard natural values. Are you winning at a biological level? Are you getting more territory at a more sovereign level of control? Are you living rigorously in contact with natural law? Are you working on something that will achieve eternal fame? Are your enemies being cursed and your friends blessed? Does your winning at these things serve any great and higher plan of blessing for all creation and all peoples?
>These are not the root of all value. But absent some kind of reliable revelation as to the deeper wishes of the higher powers, as Abraham had when he almost sacrificed Isaac, anything that doesn’t credibly offer you help towards these values is not your friend.
That last part (a bit uncomfortably!) reminds me of the more cult-y parts of the startup ecosystem.
So God talked to Abraham? God exists?
And if you don't, well, then you have no known content for the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. For that matter, you have no known content for anything else in Abraham's life.
Choosing to believe that Abraham existed but God doesn't and didn't is... not supportable by the only text we have.
Look at Peterson, he is very intelligent and educated, yet in real life he was drug addict, who almost died from overdose.
I think there is something about hard drugs which actually damage a person's psyche, something like not growing up when you can always escape to drugs. And when you do it means you are not asking relevant questions about the life and society. You are asking the question where can I get more dope. You are not thinking about values that would help the society at large. And later if you can kick the habit your experience somehow convinces you that you know the truth and must redeem yourself by preaching it to others. You feel the need to redeem yourself. But problem is hard drugs seem to take away all empathy towards others which you then never learn.
