Fediverse

I come from the background of bigotry. I was one of these people. I have changed and am still, and hopefully always a work in progress.

I am trying to tell you that the experience of debating like I described was the primary catalyst that converted my dogma by questioning my assumptions. The moment that changed my mindset the most was realizing that a ban on abortion is a death sentence for some and that outcome is no better because it is anything but pro life. I realized in that moment that such arbitrary assumptions are stereotypes and all stereotypes have outliers that are harmed. I realized that I want to harm the fewest number of people possible as my internal form of ethics. I believe in the Hippocratic aphorism of "first, do no harm." So my primary value is to live and let live.

If I had not had that opportunity to debate controversial topics, I would still likely be a dogmatic fool. It was hard for some students in the class when racism was a subject, but the teachers tread the subject with strong moderation. I learned a lot of the nuances about what black families were going through and how things were a lot harder for many of them. It made me feel much closer to them as friends and willing to stand up for them when I may not have otherwise. I saw how most students had a similar experience and it put a spotlight on the few students that lacked empathy in ways that ostracized them.

All I have said is from this perspective of wanting to help fight dogma effectively. I'm well aware that dogma cannot be argued directly. It can be manipulated easily from within by someone that is an accepted member of the tribal group. Such a person can refocus attention elsewhere and poke holes in the logic that supports some branch of reasoning. It is challenging to do without getting labeled a heretic, but it is not too difficult. Trump banged a porn star he said reminded him of his daughter, and Musk is a polygamist yet they are of divine origin. I can play this way. My entire life has been lived in this balance of understanding dogmatism.

Again, I'm not going to create the community. When I post about my explorations of AI that are outside of the norm people show they are not very open minded or curious here. I think this kind of community and post would make me even more deeply depressed based on the demographics response to any topics. I think these types of debates require a filtered room of the best and brightest. That is unfortunate, as I believe this is the only way to convert dogma into questioning and curiosity as it was for me. It didn't work for my sister though. She is a high Machiavellian as well, but she is emotionally intuitive and manipulative of people whereas I am more manipulative of abstract ideas while empathetic of people. I genuinely care. I will never intentionally hurt you or anyone else and will work to repair anything if it is brought to my attention. My only goal is to make anyone's life a little better, not worse, before my life avalanches into oblivion soon. I am sorry that I have upset you in that effort, and failure.