Don't Be Dumb - Study Guide

** FORWARD **

This document should serve as a study guide to the episodes, making the key points available for further study. It will not restate the direct theme of any episode, but rather will provide reference for the larger ideas episodes refer to. Many of these ideas were discussed directly on "This Is Your Brain On", and are available in the archives for that show. A direct link to the archives is provided above the channel 5 player, labeled "TIYBO".

One may also direct questions and comments directly to me via the boldvoices chat, available on the main page of our website, or at irc://irc.freenode.net/##boldvoices.

** Episode 1: Introduction **

"Don't Be Dumb" is the latest show project I've undertaken in my work in broadcasting. In contrast to prior show themes, it takes negative examples to expose ideas and behaviors that should NOT be repeated. Humans sometimes have difficulty learning from role models and positive examples, but they rarely have difficulty learning from pain and humiliation, whether theirs or someone else's.

To wit: I aired a short clip of a fellow who had the bright idea that he would be cool or funny if he put his arm in an alligator's mouth. The outcome of that error in judgement was neither cool nor funny, and I doubt any who saw it would be inclined to repeat the mistake. That is the essence of "Don't Be Dumb". When one witnesses the fallout of bad choices, one's primal learning facilities are engaged directly, without all that tedious mucking about with logic and reason.

It is dumb to repeat a choice one has observed to be detrimental to others, but, the dumbest thing one can do is to fail to know themselves.

** Episode 2: Cointelpro **

All states are predicated on the fallacy of Appeal to Authority. Further, they seek to inhibit change and protect such status quo as their members conceive. As such, individuals and groups that seek to promote any change are a priori "threatening" to the goals of the state. The state, being a force monopoly, must attempt to surpress any changes, ultimately by violence. However, as it purports to be a legitimate and just monopoly, violence must be perceived by its supporters as a last resort. Thus, it will attempt a variety of non-violent, or at least not obviously violent, methods to dissuade change, or the advocates thereof.

COINTELPRO was (and still is) a covert illegal operation conducted by the FBI et al. I use it herein as a convenient name for any operation with similar goals and tactics. As BoldVoices.TV exists to provide access and security to producers and consumers of uncensored information, we are logically and observably targets of such disruption tactics. As this was well known before the creation of BoldVoices.TV, we designed preventative measures into our model. A variety of tactics are employed by such disrupters, but there is an unbeatable counter-tactic: scientific credibility.

It is dumb to build systems that are susceptible to unwanted, or unknown disruptions.

** Episode 3: Scientific Credibility **

The scientific method is a system of actions that, if properly implemented, refines datasets toward a factual maximum. That is, it is a way for humans to analyze reality and construct theories of its nature that conform ever more highly to observable data.

Credibility is, herein, an index of an individual's behaviors versus their stated motives. An individual whose behaviors differ to a significant degree with their purported motives can be said to have "a low credibility index". The scientific method can be applied to analysis of individuals' behaviors to form a credibility index that conforms highly to reality. Such an index, then, can be used to make highly accurate analyses of a person's true motives, as well as make predictions of their future behaviors.

Any covert disrupter of projects such as BoldVoices must attempt to misrepresent their motives as in favor of our goals. However, application of scientific credibility indexes exposes and nullifies such misrepresentations, making covert infiltration (and subsequent disruption) impossible against any group who employs it.

It is dumb to fail to use known working methods to protect vital systems.

** Episode 4: Humility **

Neither you nor I knows everything. We are imperfect beings, some aspiring towards perfection, whatever that may be. It is impossible for you, or anyone, to know everything about everything. Thus, our choices are often underinformed, and prone to both errors and unintended consequences. This does not mean ALL choices are erroneous, nor that humans are intrinsically flawed by some "original sin". It only means that vanity and arrogance are prima facae false, and concordantly fraught with negative effects. It is dumb to assume or believe you are infallible.

** Episode 5: Causality **

Causality is a law of nature, or a Natural Law. It states that effects follow causes, or that the "time arrow" points in only one direction. It, like any natural law (as opposed to man-made "laws"), is utterly inescapable. It is omnipresent and cannot be bent or broken.

As volition, or human choice, affects change in reality, it is a cause, and necessarily has effects. When one causes change in reality, the effects of that change are attributable to the entity that caused it. That is: your choices have effects, and you are the cause of them. And, as it is a natural law, statements contrary are by definition false. Many people engage in attempts to evade effects, or their responsibility for them. Such is impossible for any entity that has volition, anywhere in the universe that is subject to entropy.

It is dumb to ignore causality, or to attempt to evade it.

** Episode 6: (skipped for no good reason) **

A mislabeling on my part. I shall not correct the error as testiment to my fallibility, and my humility in letting it stand as an example for others.

It is dumb to mislabel your episodes.

** Episode 7: Volition and Morality **

Two further Natural Laws are the Laws of Volition and Morality.

The Law of Volition states: "[t]he individual is the sole arbiter of its choices". The mechanics of your organism show that your volition (i.e.: your capacity or faculty of making choices) resides in the electrochemical processes of your nervous system. Organisms that lack self-determination or motion also lack these neoruchemical processes. Whereas interruption or alteration of these processes can create surprising effects, it cannot factually be said that another volition can supplant your volition with its own. If an outside actor uses threats to coerce you into an action, it is still your nerves the create the electric impulses that move your arm. If an outside actor uses electricity to move your arm, it is an exploitation of electric systems, and not of volition itself.

The Law of Morality states: "[a]ll choices are value statements". A short form is "volitions choose values". Every choice creates a positive valuation on the chosen outcome versus its alternative. To choose vanilla for your ice cream cone is to state that vanilla "is better" than the other options. It is through this mechanism that all values are created, and thus such concepts as good and bad, better and worse.

As a Natural Law, it is inescapable and unbreakable. Every choice, no matter how seemingly trivial, expresses a value and establishes a moral - that is: it defines the individual's standard of right and wrong. Moral subjectivists and relativists have spent enormous energies attempting to evade these conclusions, but as they are Natural Laws, they evade nothing but their greater understanding of reality, and themselves.

It is dumb to make choices as if they had no moral implications. Volition IS morality.

** Episode 8: Gullibility and Skepticism **

Some humans make false statements, and as per morality the choice to do so establishes their belief that deception is good. Often, their good comes at the expense of someone else's bad.

Gullibility is a willingness to accept what others say as true without confirmation. Skepticism is to withhold judgement on trueness. The gullible are by definition the source of all profits taken by the deceivers.

The skeptic reserves judgement, and as no action is taken on a false belief, no benefit is conferred upon the deceiver, rendering deception strategies a net loss of energy invested versus profit returned. As deception strategies are commonplace in society, skepticism is a necessary strategy to avoiding unnecessary losses.

It is dumb to be gullible.

** Episode 9: Knowledge **

Knowledge is the set of beliefs that conform without contradiction to reality. Beliefs that do not conform to reality are not knowledge, and claims contrary are false. Knowledge can only be acquired by rigorous logic, removing any concepts that contradict empirical evidence while retaining only the concepts that are non-contradictory. Knowledge is intrinsically useful, because it can be reliably used to make predictions about the future.

The brain is a prediction engine, acquiring empirical data through the senses in the present, storing data from the past for retrieval in the present, and comparing past experiences with present data to make predictions about the future outcomes of choices. Inputting false data into prediction matrices causes less consistent outcomes in reality. Reducing data to only the provably true increases the probability of success of a prediction. Thus, applying rigor to one's determination of knowledge increases the ability of the organism to survive in reality, as well as enjoy the various benefits of accurate predictions, notably increasing the desired positive outcomes inherent in the act of making a choice and expressing a value statement.

It is dumb to lack, or evade, knowledge.

** Episode 10: TBA **