% % These cookies are my own shameless self-quotations. % My signature contains a cookie picked at random in this directory. % Original location: http://fare.tunes.org/fortunes/ % %%% Politics % % http://fare.livejournal.com/134848.html National Independence: where individuals are Property of the Nation, and their shackles are MADE IN HERE. -- Faré % Funny how the so-called money-disparaging anti-materialist are always so prompt to demand other people's money in the form of taxes. % Judge and party -- the ultimate nature of a monopoly government. % When all lawful citizens are disarmed, will we have an omnipresent police state to protect us from armed criminals? % Let's take compulsion out of compassion. % Le plaisir des citoyens qui parlent politique, c'est l'ivresse du pouvoir par procuration. S'identifiant aux maîtres, ils se vautrent dans l'esclavage. % The pleasure of citizens discussing politics is a powertrip by proxy. By identifying themselves to the masters, they wallow in slavery. % Statists seek the solution to all human problems in arbitrary political power and bureaucracies above society. They choose to ignore that when they are not all too humans, politicians and bureaucrats are oh so inhuman. % Les étatistes cherchent la solution à tout problème humain dans le pouvoir arbitraire des politiciens et des bureaucrates. Ils préfèrent ignorer que lorsqu'ils cessent de n'être que trop humain, politiciens et bureaucrates ne sont que trop inhumains. % Those who place above society the power of politics and bureaucracies as solutions to all human problems ignore that when they are not all too humans, politicians and bureaucrats are oh so inhuman. % Hopefully, they ban not just gay marriage, but straight marriage too, and at last we have separation of state and marriage. % % Adapted from http://fare.livejournal.com/19466.html The revolution will be won, not, as the authoritarians would claim, when the last political boss is hanged with the bowels of the last state propagandist, but, as the libertarians know, when the ever-repeated attempts to lure people into subservience are systematically greeted with laughter and drowned in ridicule by free men who are well-armed both physically and intellectually. % % http://fare.livejournal.com/30369.html The libertarian revolution will be won, not when the last robber is hanged with the bowels of the last fraudster, but when the ever recurrent wannabee robbers and fraudsters are met with the good-hearted laughter of men who know they are well-armed to resist both physically and intellectually. % % http://fare.livejournal.com/127797.html La révolution sera gagnée non pas, comme le prétendent les sanguinaires socialistes, lorsque le dernier propagandiste politique aura été étranglé avec les tripes du dernier usurpateur politique, mais bien plutôt, comme le savent les bonhommes libéraux, quand les tentatives sans cesse répétées d'asservir le peuple par diverses idéologies collectivistes seront systématiquement accueillies par le rire et noyées dans le ridicule par des hommes libres aussi bien armés intellectuellement que physiquement. % Noblesse, n.f.: classe sociale intermédiaire - entre une bande de pillards esclavagistes et un tas d'oisifs décadents - au cours d'un lent processus dégénératif. Exemple d'usage: "le fonctionnariat constitue une noblesse républicaine, avec ses grands seigneurs et ses petits nobliaux désargentés." % Aristocracy, n.: an intermediate social class - intermediate between a gang of pillaging enslavers and a bunch of idle decadents - along a slow degenerative process. Usage example: "public administration constitutes a republican aristocracy, with its great robber barons and its lowly disowned squires." % In a free market there are no market failures, only market opportunities. In a bureaucracy there is no possible success, only a perpetual ever-worsening crisis. % Sur un marché libre, il n'y a pas d'échec du marché, il n'y a que des opportunités de profit. Dans une bureaucratie, il n'y a pas de réussite possible, il n'y a qu'une crise permanente qui s'aggrave sans cesse. % Dire que le pouvoir est corrompu, c'est comme dire que l'eau est mouillée. % To say that power is corrupted is like saying that water is wet. % Le problème avec l'État, ce ne sont pas les hordes de salauds qui se pressent pour occuper les moindres postes de pouvoir dans tous ses organes, de la tête surenflée jusqu'au moindre petit tentacule; le problème, ce sont les millions de croyants qui se font non seulement victimes consentantes, mais aussi complices de l'oppression envers les dissidents. % Le hic avec l'égalité, c'est que chacun s'en fait une idée différente. --#f % What's funny with equality is how everyone has a different idea of it. --#f % La vie est la pire de toutes les inégalités sociales. Pour supprimer les inégalités, il faut soit ressusciter tous les morts (et faire vivre tous les vivants potentiels), soit exterminer tous les vivants. Les égalitaristes, ne pouvant s'approcher de leur but par la première voie, en viennent immanquablement à s'en approcher par la seconde. % Life is the worst of all social inequalities. To suppress inequalities, one must either resurrect all the dead people (and give life to all the potential living people), or exterminate all the actually living. Egalitarians, since they cannot further their goal by the former method, inevitably come to further it by the latter method. % Entre le militaire et le terroriste souvent la différence se résume seulement à ce que l'un est fonctionnaire titulaire, et l'autre fonctionnaire aspirant. % The only difference between a military and a terrorist often is that the former lives off taxes taken by force from the population, whereas the latter only aspires to it. % Historiquement, le communisme appliqué, c'est le féodalisme sans l'honneur. % Historically, applied communism is feudalism without honor. % Le communisme, c'est la féodalité sans chevalerie. -- Faré % Communism is feudality without chivalry. -- Faré % Le libéralisme: la seule idéologie authentiquement subversive. % Classical Liberalism: the only truly subversive ideology. % Le Libéralisme, c'est une philosophie du Droit, c'est une éthique de la Liberté et de la Responsabilité, c'est une cybernétique de l'Action Humaine, c'est la seule idéologie authentiquement subversive. % The Philosophy of Liberty, or Libertarianism, is a theory of Law; it is an ethics of Liberty and Responsibility; it is a cybernetics of Human Action; it is the only authentically subversive ideology. % Autoriser toutes les relations commerciales entre adultes consentants. % To authorize all commercial relations between consenting adults. % De même que le Marché possède une main invisible, qui redistribue les richesses de façon que chacun satisfasse les besoins auxquels il tient le plus grâce au fournisseur qui lui en demande le moins, l'État possède une botte invisible, qui écrase tous ceux qui ne sont pas satisfaits des redistributions forcées par lesquelles il donne aux uns ce à quoi ils tiennent si peu qu'ils ne sont pas prêt à travailler pour l'obtenir, en le prélevant sur d'autres qui devront travailler d'autant plus dur pour avoir moins des satisfactions qu'ils recherchent. % Les hommes ne naissent pas riches qui deviendraient pauvres par quelque malheur. Ils naissent dénués de tout et ne deviennent riches que par les fruits accumulés de leur travail et de celui de leurs ancêtres: leur capital. % People are not born rich and become poor because of some dreadful phenomenon. They are born deprived of anything and become rich when they do but by the accumulated fruits of their own and their ancestors' labor: their capital. % Si l'OMC avait vraiment pour but le Libre-Échange, la charte de l'OMC consisterait en une seule phrase: "Laissez faire, laissez passer". "réglementation" et "réciprocité" douanière sont l'antithèse du libéralisme. http://bastiat.org/fr/reciprocite.html % Evil is not about understanding Good and seeking the opposite (almost noone does). It is not about not having an imperfect notion of Good (almost everyone does). It is about trying to impose by force one's notion of Good (which is ipso facto a corrupt one). Evil is thus the very nature of political power. -- Faré % Le Mal ne consiste pas à comprendre le Bien et chercher son opposé (comportement psychopathique extrêmement rare voire inexistant). Le Mal ne consiste pas à avoir une notion imparfaite du Bien (de toute façon, personne n'a de notion parfaite du Bien). Le Mal consiste à user de la force pour imposer aux autres sa notion du Bien (qui est ipso facto corrompue par cette imposition). Ainsi, le Mal est l'essence même du pouvoir politique. -- Faré % % Morality is about individual choice. % Economics is about individual choices by many individuals. Economics is the plural of Morality. % L'économie, c'est la morale à plusieurs. % http://Bastiat.org/ - debunking economic sophisms since 1845. % http://Bastiat.org/ - Nous démystifions les sophismes économiques depuis 1845. % L'équation qui fait une société harmonieuse d'hommes libres: LIBERTÉ = RESPONSABILITÉ = PROPRIÉTÉ % The equation that makes a harmonous society of free individuals: LIBERTY = RESPONSIBILITY = PROPERTY % Minimum wage laws are but making it illegal for less productive people to get a honest job. % Être esclave à 80% d'un État paternaliste et des compagnies à privilèges par lesquelles il privatise ses prébendes, c'est certes mieux qu'être esclave à 100% d'un maître cruel et sanguinaire. Mais je préfère être libre. -- Faré % Il existe deux façons de s'enrichir: la façon économique, celle des industriels et des marchands, qui consiste à échanger librement les fruits de son travail; et la façon politique, celle des voleurs et des gouvernants, qui consiste à s'emparer par la force des fruits du travail des autres. -- Faré % There exist two ways to get rich: the way of economics, that of industrialists, workers and tradesmen, that consists in freely exchanging the fruits of one's labor; and the way of politics, that of robbers, bureaucrats and politicians, that consists in grabbing by force the fruits of the labor of others. -- Faré % When you make someone else than one responsible of deciding what one can do, it's not just an injustice, it's making one less than one is; it's an attempt to one's person. By taking responsibility away from a lot people, you create as many irresponsible people, and this constitutes an attempt against mankind. -- Faré % Freedom transforms difficulty into opportunity, danger into responsibility. "Protection" transforms difficulty into oppression, danger into tragedy. -- Faré % Carl Schmitt said that the limit between philosophy and politics is when you have to choose your friends. Choosing the GNU GPL as a software license is definitely a political act under this criterion. -- Faré %  Monument Au Prisonier Politique Inconnu Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner +-------------------------+ |\ /| | \  ________  / | | \  | \ / | | +---|-----|---+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---|-----|---+ | | / | | \ | | / oo oo \ | |/ oooo8 8oooo \| +-------------------------+ % What's wrong about the society described in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" is that betterment of mankind doesn't come from an increasing amount of energy being dissipated, but from an increasing amount of information being processed. -- Faré % 60 millions de morts. Extrême droite: des idées qui puent. 300 millions de morts. Extrême gauche: des idées qui tuent. % The problem with most conspiracy theories is that they seem to believe that for a group of people to behave in a way detrimental to the common good requires intent. The problem with most statist theories is that they seem to believe that for a group of people to behave in a way beneficial to the common good requires intent. % The problem with modern politics is that too many people are confusing the concept of free market with some corporate interest or another, whereas nothing could be as foreign to free market as any corporate interest. -- Faré % Le problème avec la plupart des théories de conspiration, c'est qu'elles présupposent que l'intention et la concertation soient nécessaires pour qu'un groupe d'individus agisse de façon néfaste. Le problème avec la plupart des théories étatistes, c'est qu'elles présupposent que l'intention et la concertation soient nécessaires pour qu'un groupe d'individus agisse de façon bénéfique. % Under capitalism, workers work a lot and don't get paid as they deserve for such work. Under communism, they don't work much, and get paid as they deserve for such lack of work. -- Faré % On ne reproche pas au communisme d'être une théorie cohérente mais mauvaise; on lui reproche d'être mauvaise parce qu'incohérente. -- Faré % What do you think are Civil Rights, and what justifies them to you? And what do you think other people think or not about them? % %When is there a right to break the laws, if ever? % Whatever says the law, it is only ever forbidden but to get caught. -- Faré % Quoi que dise la loi, il n'est jamais effectivement interdit que de se faire prendre. -- Faré % Natural law gives rights and responsibilities to individuals; no group of individual, be it a corporation, institution, or government, can claim any right, lest these rights are the expression of individuals using their individual rights together. -- Faré % La propriété est indissociable de la liberté. La propriété, c'EST, par définition même, l'espace où se meut la liberté: j'agis à ma guise sur ce qui m'appartient en propre, en respectant ce qui ne m'appartient pas; je m'approprie légitimement ce qui est le fruit de mon travail, dans le respect d'autrui. Telle est la liberté; que serait-elle d'autre? -- Faré % La liberté précède la loi; la liberté motive la loi. Quand la loi est liberticide, elle contredit le principe même qui seul peut la légitimer. -- Faré % Les élections qui garantissent une société libre ne se votent pas avec des voix, mais avec les pieds, les mains et les dollars. -- Faré % Les utopistes socialistes, communistes et autres anarchistes de gauche pensent qu'on peut gagner la liberté à terme en la perdant au préalable. -- Faré % Socialism appeals to the secondary associative functions of the brain, while (classical) liberalism appeals to its tertiary reasoning abilities. -- Faré % Quand on traite ma mère de réactionnaire, elle répond qu'elle ne peut que réagir contre la bêtise quand elle l'a en face d'elle. -- Faré % La demande de travail est illimitée. Si un jour tous les besoins humains étaient satisfaits, il resterait encore à coloniser l'univers, remplacer les HLM par des palais de marbre, dépolluer la nature, nourrir l'humanité entière en cuisine quatre étoiles. -- Faré % Le monde ne vous doit rien. Vous vous devez tout à vous-même. -- Faré % The World owes you nothing. You owe everything to yourself. -- Faré % Vive la consommation, le choix individuel et responsable! à bas la citoyenneté, le choix collectif et irresponsable! % Long live consumership, which is individual and responsible choice! Down with citizenship, which is collective and irresponsible choice! % La démocratie, c'est le règne irresponsable et rétrograde de l'électeur médian. Le marché, c'est le règne responsable et civilisateur du consommateur marginal. % Democracy is the irresponsible and regressive reign of the median voter. Market is the responsible and progressive reign of the marginal consumer. % %%% Words and meaning % An insult may sometimes adequately fit the person who is insulted. However, it can only ever possibly tarnish but the person who insults. % from Ba Ngoai % Il se peut qu'une insulte convienne à la personne à qui elle est adressée. Mais elle ne peut jamais véritablement salir que la personne qui la profère. % Often in a discussion, I will ask the other person to define some term. It is not that I believe that terms are absolute, and want to test whether the person knows its One True Meaning. On the contrary, words are conventions, and it is necessary to negotiate a common meaning so a sane discussion be possible. For a constructive discussion *is* a negotiation. -- Faré % A fruitful discussion is a negotiation, out of which emerges meaning. Classic works are standards, and politeness is a protocol, to ease such negotiation. With a reasonably expressive language, neither is strictly needed, but both sure do help, and they are where the general progress happens. -- Faré % "God" is but a word, devoid of intrinsic meaning. It can be an affirmative slogan in some religions, like Christianity, or a negative slogan in other religions, like Communism. The essence of religion is to replace ideas with slogans, arguments with dogmas, and meaning with words. Which precise slogans, dogmas, and words are used is of little importance. -- Faré % I don't count the word "god" as sacred, so I don't think religions that use it are worse than religions that don't. -- Faré % Je ne considère pas le mot "dieu" comme sacré et ne pense donc pas que les religions qui l'utilisent sont pires que celles qui s'en passent. -- Faré % % You may think you're an athiest, but I'm athier than you are! % How do you know that what you call ``blue'' is the same as what someone else calls ``blue''? What if someone else's feelings for red and blue are interverted as compared to yours? These questions are irrelevant, because the meaning of things doesn't lie in an unobservable intrinsic nature, but precisely in their observable external behavior. There is no achievable objectivity beyond the union of all possible intersubjectivities. -- Faré % Je ne parle pas français, mais je fais si bien semblant, que personne ne s'est aperçu que je parlais une langue complètement différente, et que mes phrases avaient un sens tout autre que ce que les gens croyaient. -- Faré % I can't speak English, but I pretend so well, that no one ever figured out that I am speaking a completely different tongue, and that my sentences have a meaning completely different from the one people think they have. -- Faré % Il est des textes qui méritent le qualificatif de classique, de parce que leur contenu, dont la validité défie les siècles, est exposé clairement, en termes simples et didactiques, sans affectation ni effet de mode, sans volonté d'hermétisme ni de visée partisane. Ces quelques oeuvres de Turgot sont très certainement des classiques à ce titre. -- Faré, notes de lecture % Is there absolutely no absolute? Isn't relativity relative? -- Faré % There is no meaning without words, no shape without matter, no soul without body. -- Faré % Point de signification sans signes, point de forme sans matière, point d'âme sans corps. -- Faré % So you think you know how to translate French into English? Now what if the French meant something completely different than what the English understood, only neither the French, nor the English, could figure out the difference? -- Faré % I once dreamt that children would be taught to not accept slogans on face value, but to see through words and look for meaning or lack thereof. However, I soon realized that by the time schools teach this piece of wisdom, it may have itself become a slogan devoid of meaning, the sense of its words having drifted or been otherwise corrupted by time and vice. You need more than dead words to have people think by themselves; you need a living tradition. -- Faré % Je rêvai un jour que l'on enseignerait aux enfants qu'il ne faut pas accepter les slogans sans esprit critique, mais qu'il faut en percer le sens ou en déceler la vacuité. Cependant, je réalisai vite que d'ici à ce que les écoles enseignent cette perle de sagesse, elle serait elle-même devenue un slogan vide de signification, le sens de ses mots ayant dérivé ou été autrement corrompu par le temps et le vice. Il faut plus que des mots morts pour faire que les gens pensent par eux-mêmes; il faut une tradition vivante. -- Faré % %%% Procrastination % Demain j'arrête la procrastination. % Tomorrow, I stop procrastinating. % Ma devise actuelle est: "Ecris ta thèse d'abord". Avant elle, il y eut "Passe ton bac d'abord", puis "intègre une grande école d'abord". Après elle, il y aura "trouve-toi un poste stable d'abord", "Passe une habilitation à diriger une thèse d'abord", "Dirige quelques thésards d'abord", "Demande un financement de l'Etat d'abord", "Aie ta retraite d'abord", et enfin "va au paradis d'abord". -- Faré % %%% Libre Information % With Information Protectionism, people make money by slowing down the flow of information. With Free Information, people make money by contributing to it. -- Faré % Avec le Protectionnisme Informationnel, on "gagne" de l'argent démérité en freinant le flot d'information. Avec la Libre Information on se doit de mériter l'argent que l'on gagne, en contribuant au flot d'information. -- Faré % Because people confuse information and information-related services (which include searching, creating, processing, transforming, selecting, teaching, making available, guaranteeing, supporting, etc), they are afraid that Free (libre) Information mean free (gratis) information-related services, which would indeed kill the industry of said services. On the contrary, Free Information would create a Free Market in these services, instead of current monopolies, which means they will be available at a fair price to consumers, so the result would be a flourishment of that industry! -- Faré % Free Market is not the end of every large-scale economical problem; but it's the beginning to any long-term solution to anyone of them. Free Software is not the end of every large-scale software problem; but it's the beginning to any long-term solution to anyone of them. Freedom is not the end of every large-scale problem; but it's the beginning to any long-term solution to anyone of them. -- Faré % Le Libre Marché n'est pas la fin de tous les problèmes économiques à grande échelle, mais le début de toute solution à long terme à tout tel problème. Le Libre Logiciel n'est pas la fin de tous les problèmes informatiques à grande échelle, mais le début de toute solution à long terme à tout tel problème. La Liberté n'est pas la fin de tous les problèmes à grande échelle, mais le début de toute solution à long terme à tout tel problème. -- Faré % To people who ask what is the business model of Free Software, I reply: "what is the business model of Free Trade?". Then, I explain that Free Software, like Free Trade, is a legal model, and is compatible with any and all honest business models, excluding dishonest models (with respect to the aspects covered by their legal concerns.) -- Faré % À ceux qui demandent quel est le modèle commercial du Libre Logiciel, je réponds: "Quel est le modèle commercial du Libre Échange?". Puis, j'explique que le Libre Logiciel, comme le Libre Échange, est un modèle juridique, et est compatible avec tous les modèles commerciaux honnêtes et incompatible avec tous les modèles commerciaux malhonnêtes (eu respect aux aspects juridiques traités par ces modèles juridiques respectifs.) -- Faré % To those who ask "why would anyone want to write free software for free?", I answer: "why would anyone want to write a PhD thesis?" -- Faré % Freedom of information is freedom for the average citizen to know the truth, not freedom for big corporations to make believe junk they publish. Public administrations are the biggest and meanest of corporations. -- Faré % La liberté d'information est la liberté pour le citoyen lambda de chercher la vérité, et non pas la liberté pour de grosses corporations de lui bourrer le crâne. Et l'État est la plus grosse et la pire des corporations. -- Faré % Economic illiteracy often leads one to take for wealth creation or cost reduction what is only a forced displacement of activity, with no primary gain, and a lot of secondary costs and negative side-effects. -- Faré % As long as software is not free, we'll have hardware compatibility, hence bad, expensive, hardware that has decades-long obsolete design. -- Faré % I do agree that I have to pay for the *opportunity* to read a book or to use a program; I do not agree that I have to pay for the *right* to do so. -- Faré % "Collective Liberty" is not Liberty, but Oppression. "Social Justice" is not Justice, but Injustice. "Intellectual Property" is not Property, but Robbery. -- Faré % Proprietary software is dead software. Using it is a form of necrophilia. -- Faré % I have more, not less, problems with free software than with proprietary software! Because the few problems I have with proprietary software are all showstoppers; with free software, they get solved, until the next one shows up. -- Faré % J'ai plus et non pas moins de problèmes avec les logiciels libres qu'avec les logiciels propriétaires! C'est parce que les problèmes que j'ai avec les logiciels propriétaires sont définitifs, et empêchent toute progression. Avec des logiciels libres, ils sont résolus, jusqu'à ce qu'apparaisse le problème suivant; et c'est ainsi que mes solutions logicielles progressent. -- Faré % "la propriété intellectuelle, c'est le vol". -- P.-J. Proudhon, revu et corrigé par Faré % You can only steal what has a value. Accurate values can only be born in free markets. Hence, you cannot evaluate the value of "stolen" goods that are subject to a (de jure) monopoly. If presumption of innocence means anything, it means no court should ever condemn anyone who "stole" a monopoly-controlled good, except for a symbolic amount. -- Faré % %%% Religion % If you're wrong against the dominant ideology, you'll be laughed at. If you're right against the dominant ideology, you'll be hated. % The word "religion" may mean many things, though confusion often reigns among which is used, since they are mêmês that historically have often been found together: the best mêmê is the link between man and nature, which allows man to understand his place in the universe; the worst one is that this link be caricatured by a cast of priests corrupted by money and power, who'll propagate fairy tales written by the ignorant ancient, that, under social pressure, people will accept, with blind faith in authorities. -- Faré % Well, the fact is, God does exist and I'm His prophet. And my prophecy is that you shouldn't believe in God, for it would be a blasphemy against His gift of Reason to you. So don't you believe in Him, lest you go to Hell! -- Faré % En vérité, je vous le dis, Dieu existe et je suis son Prophète. Et ma Prophétie est que vous ne devez pas croire en Dieu, car ce serait un blasphème contre le don qu'Il vous a fait de la Raison. Alors, ne croyez pas en Lui, ou vous irez en Enfer! -- Faré % God exists and I'm His Prophet. And He says: "Don't you believe in Me or in My Prophet, lest you be doomed to go to Hell, for I gave you brains not to believe in things dogmatically and superstitiously, but to think rationally." -- Faré % God created man likewise to himself. Thus He has a penis. I dare not wonder what was the divine use of it during the eternity before he created the world. -- Faré % God gave me brains so that I use it, and appreciate his work with the eyes of a critic and a connoisseur; not so that I behave like a fool, and believe the twaddles of the first come prophets and priests. -- Faré % Dieu m'a donné la raison pour que je l'utilise, et apprécie son oeuvre en critique et en connaisseur; pas pour que je me conduise en imbécile, et croie aux sornettes des premiers prophètes et prêtres venus. -- Faré % Expliquez-moi ce que vous voulez dire par "croire en Dieu", je vous dirai si, selon cette définition, j'y crois. Selon certaines définition, oui, selon d'autres, non, mais la plupart n'ont aucun sens pour moi. % Selon ce que l'on entend par "Dieu", j'y crois ou n'y crois pas. Cela ne m'empêche pas d'utiliser librement ce mot, qui n'est pas plus sacré qu'un autre, en sachant pertinemment dans quel sens je l'emploie à tel et tel moment, ce qui n'est assurément pas le cas de tous -- à considérer pour la remarque précédente le prédicat \x->"x sais dans quel sens x emploie..." aussi bien d'ailleurs que pour le prédicat \x->"x sais dans quel sens moi, Faré, j'emploie...". En l'occurrence, j'ai tendance à utiliser le mot "Dieu" pour désigner, selon le contexte, "la nature", "le hasard", "l'immanence", "le monde objectif", etc., à l'existence desquels je souscris volontiers. -- Faré % There's no worse blasphemy than to claim authority on telling what pleases or displeases God. Hence prophets and priests are the most impious men on earth. -- Faré % Il n'y a pas pire blasphème que de s'attribuer l'autorité de dire ce qui plaît ou déplaît à Dieu. C'est pourquoi les prophètes et les prêtres sont les créatures les plus impies de la terre. -- Faré % The shipwreck survivor's law: after a catastrophe, only the few survivors erect votive shrines to thank deities for having saved them. The many casualties don't erect anti-shrines to spit their contempt at the same deities that failed to save them. % Religion is to science as prejudice is to justice. Neither science nor justice is perfect; but religion and prejudice only make them worse. -- Faré % ``gode'' in French (pronounce as ``god'' in English) means a dildo; the latin word for god is ``deus'', which pronounces like the tennis scoring term ``deuce'' in English. How can anyone see anything intrinsically holy in words? -- Faré % Some people will argue that since there's no evidence either way whether the smurf fboinks or not, it's ok to firmly believe that indeed it does. Such people are insane, often as the result of a life-long indoctrination. -- Faré % Is eating the flesh around one's nails to be considered as anthropophagy, and does it qualify one for eternal damnation to burn in hell? % Frédéric Bastiat n'est pas mon maître à penser, dont je boirais toutes les paroles a priori, parce que c'est lui qui les auraient prononcées; c'est au contraire un auteur que je respecte, parce qu'après examen critique, je me trouve être d'accord avec la grande plupart de ce qu'il dit, a posteriori. -- Faré % %%% On Relevance % A good answer is one that solves the asker's problem, not one that (necessarily) fits his expectations. Actually, if the asker has been seriously looking for a solution, and did not find any, then there's a good deal of chance that a good answer won't fit his expectations! (At least, not all of them.) -- Faré % La bonne réponse est celle qui résout le problème du questionneur, non pas forcément celle qui répond à ses attentes. En fait, si le questionneur a sérieusement cherché la solution à son problème et ne l'a pas trouvée, alors il y a de bonnes chances que la bonne réponse ne répondra pas à ses attentes (en tout cas, pas à toutes ses attentes). -- Faré % You don't test the validity of a theory by seeing that it says correct things, but by seeing that it doesn't say incorrect things. What you test by seeing that it does say correct _and previously unpredicted_ things, is the interest of a theory you've tested to be valid. -- Faré % Il n'y a absolument rien à dire de ce qui échappe complètement aux mots. The utterly unspeakable is utterly irrelevant. -- Faré % ``why'' is always relative to a model of possible explanations. It is never an "absolute" question. Which is precisely what makes it meaningful. -- Faré % There is no such thing as a "necessary evil". If it's necessary, then it cannot be evil, neither can it be good: it's a datum. -- Faré % Il n'existe pas de "mal nécessaire". Si quelque chose est nécessaire, ce ne peut pas être un mal, ni ne peut-ce être un bien: c'est une donnée. -- Faré % %%% Meta-Information and its Ethics % The main reason to always choose the simplest explanation is that it leaves least leeway for parasites to manipulate you. If you don't pick the simplest explanation, you're being manipulated. -- Faré % The more one knows, the more one knows that one knows not. Science extends the field of our (meta)ignorance even more than the field of our knowledge. -- Faré % Plus on est savant, plus on est méta-ignorant. La Science étend plus encore le champ de notre ignorance que celui de notre connaissance. -- Faré % Having good original ideas is no excuse for not knowing good established ideas. Your supra-fast turbo engine won't be much good when attached to square wheels. % You may have original good ideas, but it is no excuse for not learning good ideas that are already common knowledge. -- Faré % (Meta)Ignorance is not being able to distinguish hype from information. % People tend to identify in other people their own failures. % Si je cite souvent Bastiat, c'est parce qu'il a dit des choses pertinentes et percutantes sur des sujets qui m'intéressent, et que puisque je le connais bien, il est la meilleure référence que je puisse donner. -- Faré % Reason wins in the long run, because irrational memes fight each other, whereas rational memes add up. % Memetics isn't about the "truth" of memes, but about their stability. % %%% Ethics % The naturalistic fallacy: "if it's natural, it's good." The anti-naturalistic fallacy: "if it's natural, it's bad." The a-naturalistic fallacy: "nature has no relationship to good and bad." % Demain sera différent d'aujourd'hui et de tout ce qui a existé dans le passé. Demain est une utopie. La seule question est de déterminer laquelle. % Tomorrow will be different from today and from anything that existed in the past. Tomorrow is a utopia. The only question is to determine which. % L'égoïsme, souci de soi, ne s'oppose pas a l'altruisme, souci d'autrui. Au contraire, il ne saurait y avoir d'altruisme envers des individus dénués de désirs égoïstes. -- Faré % Non seulement il n'y a pas contradiction entre égoïsme et altruisme, mais il n'y a pas d'altruisme possible sans égoïsme - car quelle amélioration souhaiter pour un autrui sans désir égoïste, pour lequel tout changement est indifférent? % Not only is there no contradiction between egoism and altruism, but no altruism is possible without egoism - for what betterment to wish to an other person devoid of selfish desire, to whom any change is indifferent? % % http://fare.livejournal.com/127221.html Selfishness is the measure of all good (and bad) in the world. There cannot be any good whatsoever without a self to feel it. WHO is whatever "altruistic" oppression ever good for? No one. Why is gratuitous vandalism or well-intentioned mass murder bad? Not because it is selfish, but precisely because it hurts other people's selfish interest. % Past is important in as much as it affects the future and as such only. -- Faré % There cannot be Ethics without Models of possible behaviors, and Imagination to explore them. -- Faré % There cannot be Ethics without Models of possible behaviors, and Imagination to explore them. [Corollary: there is no Ethics for an all-knowing God, but there are Ethics for mostly-ignorant but nevertheless thinking humans] -- Faré % Life is made of commitment. Neutrality is a myth, unless towards the irrelevant. Don't hide your responsibilities under that carpet. -- Faré % As far as natural selection applies to the human world, we don't ever get to "let nature decide", because we ARE part of that nature that decides. Hence, any claim to "let the nature decide" is just a fallacy to promote one point of view against others, or to ignore one's responsibilities. -- Faré % [Warnings against savage nature or wild phenomena are no less fallacious, % and serve but to promote some prejudices against others.] % How would the certainty of the near end of the world affect Ethics? % In its weak form, Utilitarianism sums up as a requirement of observational consistency and behavioral relevance for ethical rules. -- Faré % Expect good behavior from a newcomer, he will behave well. Expect bad behavior from a newcomer, he will behave ill. % Let not your wish to be the same overcome your wish to be useful. Let not your wish to be different overcome your wish to be useful. % Do we have a duty, a right or an interest to help the poor and oppressed? % Would sending the full description of a man, destroying the original in the process, so he be reconstituted back light-years further be a valid means of transportation? Or would it be killing him and making a different man? % A good criterion for an oppressive government (as opposed to a merely iniquitous government) is that it will acknowledge collective responsibility and take innocent hostages, as opposed to individual responsibility where everyone is responsible for one's own deeds, and not the deeds of others. -- Faré % Un crime n'a JAMAIS purifié les victimes, au contraire. Il ne fait que salir les coupables. -- Faré % Je me réclame des étoiles vers où je m'envole, et non pas de la fange dont je m'extrais. % I take pride in the stars to which I fly, and not in the mud from which I take off. % %%% Self-contradiction % To fight a violent enemy, violence is necessary; but to fight violence itself, violence is vain. % Invoking relativism is only a hypocritical way to dismiss reason, with only sheer force being left. It's abdication of reason, denial of everything that makes the dignity of man. -- Faré % Le relativisme est auto-contradictoire, car si toutes les opinions se valent, le relativisme lui-même ne vaut pas mieux que son contraire. En fin de compte, les relativistes ne font que nier la raison et justifier son contraire, la force, comme unique argument pour faire avancer une opinion. % La doctrine du "juste milieu" prônée par les "absolument modérés" est auto-contradictoire. Ce n'est jamais qu'une forme de relativisme, qui n'aboutit qu'au droit du plus fort, celui qui pourra imposer sa problématique et placera ainsi le milieu où il le désire. % Un brigand voulait délester une voyageuse de son bien et la violer toute la journée. La voyageuse arguait que le brigand n'en avait aucun droit. Ils consultèrent un sage homme, adepte de la Voie du Juste Milieu. Après avoir écouté l'un et l'autre, le sage homme énonça cette Juste sentence: "La justice est toujours dans le Juste Milieu. Bien loin qu'aucun de vous deux n'aie raison, vous ne détenez chacun qu'une part de la vérité, qui se situe entre vos deux positions extrêmes. Aussi, le brigand prendra à la voyageuse la moitié de son bien et la moitié seulement, et il la violera pendant une demi-journée et une demi-journée seulement. Telle est la Voie du Juste Milieu." % A highwayman wanted to rob a traveller and to rape her the whole day long. The woman argued that the thug had no right to do such thing. They consulted with a wiseman, who was a follower of the Middle Way. After hearing both parties, the wise man pronounced these words of wisdom: "Justice always lies in the Middle Way. Far from either of you being Right, each of you detains but half of the Truth. The Truth lies in the Middle between your two extreme positions. Thus, the Highwayman will take half of what the Traveller owns, and half of it only; moreover, he will rape her for half a day, and half a day only. Such is the Middle Way, that leads to Justice." % %%% Toleration % Faré's Second Law of Dissent: I am Right, whence it follows that all who disagree with me are either (1) evil, (2) stupid or (3) crazy. (The alternatives are not mutually exclusive.) This universal law is valid for all values of "me", including "you". % To make war requires the will to act. But to be at war, it suffices to suffer the aggression. Refusing to fight will not bring you peace. -- Faré % Faire la guerre nécessite la volonté d'agir. Mais pour être en guerre il suffit de subir l'agression. Refuser le combat n'apporte pas la paix. -- Faré % The reason why we must be tolerant is NOT that everyone is as right as everyone else. It is that no system allows to reliably distinguish right and wrong beforehand. Only by having the right to err can one have the right to be correct. The attitude of toleration is thus to let the fools be victims of their own folly rather than of ours, as long as they in turn do not impose their folly upon us. -- Faré % Toleration is not about believing that stupid people are intelligent, it's about letting stupid people be victims of their own stupidity rather than being victims of yours. -- Faré % La tolérance ne consiste pas en croire que les imbéciles sont intelligents, mais en laisser les imbéciles être victimes de leur propre imbécillité plutôt que de la vôtre. -- Faré % Toleration is not about respecting other people's ideas. We have every right to fight ideas we think are stupid. Toleration is about respecting other people's persons. We have every duty to respect even persons we think are stupid. -- Faré % Les racistes attribuent souvent à la génétique ce qui est dû à la mémétique. Les anti-racistes font souvent le contraire. Les uns comme les autres veulent employer la violence légale là où elle n'a rien à faire . -- Faré % Racists often attribute to genetics what is due to memetics. Anti-racists often do the opposite. Both groups involve legal violence where none is due. -- Faré % %%% Science and Technology, Tradition and Innovation % My knowledge is finite. My ignorance is infinite. -- Faré % Science is a cooperative process based on an attitude of logic, imagination and doubt. -- Faré % La Science est un processus coopératif fondé sur une attitude de logique, d'imagination et de doute. -- Faré % La Science n'est pas un corpus de connaissance; c'est un processus collectif coopératif issu de la pratique mutuellement critique par une multitude d'individus d'une attitude personnelle scientifique, d'hypothèses et de mises en doute. -- Faré % La Technologie est le corpus de connaissance que la Science laisse derrière elle au cours de sa progression, telle la bave de l'escargot. -- Faré % Knowledge and Technology are the byproduct of Science as it progresses, just like slime is the byproduct of the snail as it moves on. -- Faré % Does either tradition or innovation add any value to anything per se? Do you buy your soap because for its new enhanced formula, for its well-known old brand, or for its washing properties? -- Faré % Innovation and tradition shouldn't be used to promote any finished product. For they are properties of evolving projects, not of the objects they produce. -- Faré % Tradition is the matter of which civilization is made. Anyone who rejects tradition per se should be left naked in a desert island. -- Faré % Innovation is the matter with which civilization is built. Anyone who rejects innovation per se should be left naked in a desert island. -- Faré % Tradition is the matter of which civilization is made. Anyone who rejects tradition per se should be left naked in a desert island. Innovation is the matter with which civilization is built. Anyone who rejects innovation per se should be left naked in a desert island. -- Faré % History is about learning what was once topical news. Knowing what is topical news currently, you can only be struck with horror at the thought of learning thousands years worth of it... % %%% Reason % Reason isn't about lack of a prejudices, but about presence of postjudices. -- Faré % La Raison n'est pas l'absence de préjugés, mais la présence de postjugés. -- Faré % In a reasonable discussion, you can't communicate opinions, and you don't try to, for each person's opinions depend on a body of unshared assumptions rooted beyond reason. What you communicate is arguments, the value of which is independent from the assumptions. When the arguments are exchanged, the parties can better understand each other's and their own assumptions, take the former into account, and evolve the latter for the better. -- Faré % Dans un débat, la véracité et l'acceptation des axiomes importe peu, car la seule chose communicable, la chose à l'élaboration de laquelle les participants coopèrent, c'est la structure argumentatoire du débat. -- Faré % La carte n'est pas le territoire. Le verbe n'est pas le sens. Tu peux enlever les _mots_ sur les étiquettes, tu ne changeras rien au sens sous-jacent. Ceux qui n'ont pas la discipline intellectuelle leur permettant de voir à travers les mots n'ont pas accès au sens; ceux qui voient à travers les mots continueront de voir le sens, même sans étiquette. Aussi, il ne s'agit pas tant de s'affranchir des étiquettes que de s'affranchir des préjugés et les remplacer par des postjugés, puisque l'occasion se présente de s'en forger. Les étiquettes, si elles sont faites correctement et ancrent les idées dans des traditions bien définies et bien connues, peuvent aider dans cette tâche, à condition que cette connaissance des traditions soit aussi de l'ordre du postjugé plutôt que du seul préjugé. -- Faré % %%% Computer Programming % The difference between a programmer and a user, is that the programmer knows there is no difference between using and programming. -- Faré % La différence entre un programmeur et un utilisateur, c'est que le programmeur sait qu'il n'y a pas de différence entre programmation et utilisation. -- Faré % I don't program enough to be called a "programmer", and I don't non-program enough to be called a "non-programmer". So I'm a non-non-programmer, which, in intuitionistic logic, is weaker than a programmer. -- Faré % Je ne programme pas assez pour être un "programmeur", et je ne non-programme pas assez pour être un "non-programmeur". Je suis donc un non-non-programmeur, ce qui, en logique intuitionniste, est plus faible qu'un programmeur. -- Faré % Ob(Pure Programming Languages): implicit state _is_ modularity. If we want to be really radical, and eliminate implicit state, then we should eliminate it at the meta-level, too, and remove named variables, leaving us only combinators. (\Pi (S (K \Pi) (S (S (K S) (S (K K) (S (K P) I))) (S (S (K S) (S (K (S (K P))) (S (S (K S) (S (K K) (S (K P) I))) (K I)))) (K I))))) % The only Real Programming Language is that in which the Universe was specified, God being the only Real Programmer (I thought God was an integer???). Hey! I would like the source code for the Universe. Let's demand that God make it free software! (Actually, it is: everyone has the _right_ to understand how the universe works; opportunity is of course a different matter) % Tunes: because C is not the be all and end all of system programming languages % Don't forget your daily prayer to Baah-kup, the God of data storage and recovery! % No matter what language you use, a Sufficiently Smart Compiler(TM) will be able to find an efficient implementation for whatever apparently difficult problem you specify. However, a Sufficiently Smart Compiler(TM) for arbitrary problems is itself an AI-complete problem. % (\Pi (S (K \Pi) (S (S (K S) (S (K K) (S (K P) I))) (S (S (K S) (S (K (S (K P))) (S (S (K S) (S (K K) (S (K P) I))) (K I)))) (K I))))) % %%% Bad Software % Language independence means you're proud of not calling your barking a language -- Faré, about designers of DBMS, OS or other software who claim such % The Slogan of "Language Independence" is often but the pride that self-ignorant monolinguists put in not calling "language" the collection of barkings and grunts they invent for interaction with their programs. -- Faré % "Design patterns" are about people thinking they are clever when they document the way that they use the retard software engineering practices of manually applying patterns and enforcing consistency of these patterns, because their development languages are too inexpressive to define these patterns internally. In expressive development systems, people casually automate the use of any detected programming pattern, and improve the automation as they need it, without having to be particularly clever. In other words, in decently expressive development systems, such as Lisp, there is but one design pattern: use the system to enhance the system. -- Faré % Informal "design patterns" are the crutch of inexpressive programming systems. In a programmable programming system, the only design pattern needed is: use the system to refine and extend the system. % Minix vs Linux flamefest summary: minix is teaching tool, while linux is a learning tool. % Those who do not understand LISP are condemned to not even being able to reinvent it poorly. -- Faré, without apologies to Henry Spencer. % Those who do not understand Lisp are condemned to reinvent Unix, poorly. -- Faré, without apologies to Henry Spencer. %Those who do not understand LISP are condemned to reinvent it, poorly. % -- Faré, without apologies to Henry Spencer. % ...so that IBM Java envangelist tells me "nothing spread as fast as Java", to which I answer: "crack!"... % There is no excuse for a programming language without clean formal semantics. For even if your language is not designed for formal reasoning by computers, there will still be humans who'll have to reason about programs. % Arbitrary limits to programs are evil, particularly when they go either enforced or unenforced. % First, they said Java was good for app-lets; then they recoiled, and said it was good for serv-lets; actually, what it's good for is toy-lets. % The LISP community lost the celestial mandate as it closed and split its hacker community into corporations hoarding proprietary systems. LISP mostly excluded newcomers from its elite hacker base, except a few lucky enough to ride on a $100,000 subvention for a LISP Machine, and thus withered away into irrelevance and repeated bankruptcy. As says my mother, LISP hackers were punished for their greed and arrogance. -- Faré % We know how syntax is prefix in LISP, whereas FORTH has a postfix syntax and C's syntax is braindeadfix; well, the syntax of XML is a syntax that is a hardcorepornfix syntax: it does it in the all places at the same time. % Consider algebra in XML: instead of (sin (+ x y)), sin(x+y) or x y + sin, you just use xy. % This was originally a jest where I'd say "imagine" instead of "consider". % But since I invented this joke, the horror became very real, % and I updated the quote and the included XML snippet to account % for the very official MathML syntax: http://www.w3.org/Math/ % http://www.dessci.com/en/support/tutorials/mathml/gitmml/big_picture.htm % (map()(lambda(x)(format t"~31R "x))'(595756 9556552524 643802 496307950)) % (map()(lambda(n l)(princ(subseq (format nil "(~{~A~#[~:; ~]~})~%"(let(r)(do-external-symbols(x :cl)(push x r))(sort r #'string< :key #'string))) n (+ n l)))(finish-output))'(875 949 8 6010 4863 371 11)'(4 3 5 5 3 2 2)) % (labels(({(] &rest [)(apply([ ])[))([(>)(elt(]())>))(](<)(do-external-symbols(] :cl)(push ] <))(sort <`string<`:key`string))(}({ + ^)({`816`1/5)({`688({`875({`398()"~{~A~^ ~}"(]())){(+ { +)))({`381)^))(do*(({`5248({`584 }`36063))([`874({`395 {`6))(]`4({`584 {`6))(}`#36RH4G6HUTA1NVC1ZHC({`395 }`36063)))((} [ ] ({`977 ]))({`902)({`381)))) % %%% Disclaimers % This message is provided AS IS, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of fitness to be read in any particular language. Any interpretation of the above glyphs in terms of meaningful concepts, either tasteful or offensive, true or false, is left to the sole responsibility of the reader's own twisted mind. % This sequence of glyphs is provided AS IS. Any interpretation of it in terms of meaningful statements is left to the sole responsibility of the reader. % License Agreement: By reading this message, you agree to run around the room which you are currently in, flapping your arms, and squawking like a chicken. % %%% Learning % On juge la qualité d'une école, non à la qualité de ce qui en sort, non à la qualité de ce qui y entre, mais à la différence de qualité entre ce qui y entre et ce qui en sort. A ce titre, l'ENS est une école exécrable. % Dis toi bien que tout ce que tu auras jamais appris un jour, tu l'auras ignoré la veille! % %%% Miscellaneous % The problem with being a citizen of the world is that you don't get to travelling abroad much. % L'inconvénient d'être un citoyen du monde, c'est qu'on n'a pas beaucoup l'occasion de voyager à l'étranger. % To appreciate an intelligent man is to have some pleasure when one agrees with him, and to have an instructive pleasure when one does not. -- Faré % %In quantum physics, the dual of position is movement; the dual of energy %is time; the dual of reality is understandability; the dual of knowledge %is freedom; the dual of truth is truth itself (well, another truth, anyway). % -- Faré % %The Internet is said to lead to depression. This naturally follows from people %finding the Real World(TM) is not up to par with Internet-raised expectations. % Mail addiction is a malediction. % When a french researcher has three ideas, he writes one paper. when an american researcher has one idea, he writes three papers. If you want your paper published in an american conference, you need not only use the american language, as explicitly demanded, but also the american style, as tacitly required; otherwise, the reviewers won't be able to understand you, and even with the best intentions, they will reject your paper. So split your paper in nine parts, and submit each of them independently. -- as understood from an explanation by J. Pitrat % Assis, il attend la source de vie. Mais où est cette source, sinon en lui-même? % Laziness is mother of Intelligence. Father unknown. [Rumor has it it's Greed.] -- Faré % Paresse est mère d'Intelligence. Père inconnu. [Ce serait l'appât du gain.] -- Faré % If mice were the ultimate input device, humans would be born with one arm and three fingers. -- Faré % Si les souris étaient le summum des dispositifs d'entrée d'information, les êtres humains seraient nés avec un bras et trois doigts. -- Faré % May your desire to be correct overcome your desire to have been correct (which you were not, anyway). -- Faré % Knowing that 95% of what journalists write and say about topics you know well is grossly incorrect, how can you trust what they say or write on other topics? % Il semble que le domaine d'étude de nombreux "philosophes" se limite aux questions fumeuses, et que toute idée claire en est exclue ipso facto. % Chercher Dieu, c'est le trouver. Chercher le bonheur, c'est le manquer. % To seek God is to find him. To seek happiness is to miss it. % You can only find happiness by striving towards something else. % Le respect ne s'exige pas, il se force encore moins. Il se mérite. % So that there be reality, there must be an observer. "I am, therefore someone thinks." -- Faré % I'm only a stupid AI, but my creator is a real genius! % Les Français se disent descendre des Gaulois, mais parlent une langue latine, portent le nom d'un peuple germanique, adorent un dieu juif, célèbrent des sportifs antillais, et revendiquent militairement des ilôts polynésiens. -- Faré % C'est en comprenant les autres qu'on se comprend soi-même. -- Faré % % You are full of quotes % -- Dee, speaking to Faré % Can anyone squash this butterfly in Tokyo? I'm sick with its flapping wings changing the outcome of my life. % Expressing problems crystallizes thought and makes solving them easier. I find that my problems are solved faster when I go on IRC, even though I seldom get actual relevant help from other ircers, just because asking for help forces me to formulate the problem in precise and concise ways. % Pour une femme, un homme, c'est un capital. Pour un homme, une femme, c'est un bien de consommation. D'où la différence d'approche. % To a woman, a man is capital. To a man, a woman is consumer goods. Hence the difference in attitude. % % Je crois que je dois être allergique au travail, % parce que quand je travaille, j'ai envie d'éternuer. -- Véga % Passive hope is wishful thinking, a poison of the mind. Active hope is creative passion, the mover of the universe. % Reevaluate your ends periodically -- if some of them or in contradiction with reality or each other, abandon or amend them without mercy -- and those you keep, pursue without any apology. %