Islam: I have shied away from crticizing islam because I thought live and let live. I now acknowledgeit was from fear of inviting violence from fanatics. But I am now encouraged by open debate and conversation on social media. This post is to mark the shedding of my acquieiscence about anti human character of islam.

   Objective analysis of islam is very easy to do; read quranic verses and the evil is explicitly stated;

0 those who believe, do not take Jews or Christians as friends (for) they are friends among themselves. And whoever has friendship with them, he is one of them. (5:51)

Kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from where they drove you out, as Fitnah (to create disorder) is more severe than killing. However, do not fight them near Al-Masjid-ul-Harām (the Sacred Mosque in Makkah) unless they fight you there. However, if they fight you (there) you may kill them. Such is the reward of the disbelievers. (2.131)

Clearly, islam is an impediment to good social life among diverse people. Other religions had undesirable teachings in the past. But they are not as closed to reform as islam. I have cultivated an outlook absent of enimity towards religion in general. Though religion militates against intelligicence, the common religiouninsts do not invoke ill feelings. When it comes to muslims, they get offended and angry when confronted with cruel and unjust teachings of that religion.

 Evidently, islam has prevented muslim countries in flourishing in this world. Islam forbids many harmless joys and pleasures of life - music, art, alcohol, friendships. It condemns the female half of humanity to an inferior status.

This bubble of fear about critizing islam, mohammed, hadiths has been pierced. It my duty at the minimum to confront the injustices when any body brings it up. I may also voice my opinions ithout taking undue risks. 

 Apr27, 2024  Production, Consumption and Distribution.

Does anybody have a right to claim more than they produce in a just society?

Finding a way to organize society may be done heuristically.

Axioms for life: 

•   Humans by nature want to live in freedom, the reason for individual rights.
  
•   Freedom to live by one's own values.
  

 Before civilization, might was right. Weaker members were subjugated and made to suffer. In time, the majority realized that all could be made to follow some rules to make life fairer for all. As the majority was stronger than strongest individuals, it laid out rules.

Monarchy, tyranny, theocracy, communism, democracy were adopted and are still in operation.

To me, democracies that guarantee individual rights, facilitates unforced production and trade approaches the best way possible to organize human life. An individual's right to live in freedom without violating another's rights to the same, to trade and relate to freely with other individuals is the lynch pin of making it the best.

Nicholas Humphrey- How did consctiousness  evolve?

Dec21, 2023: 

In his brain model - stimuli arrive causing reflex behaviour. There are adaptive benefits to monitor and direct behavior. There are adaptive benefits to simulating the stimulus followed by  behavior, followed by evaluation of outcome, followed by simulating modified behavior to change outcome.

This feedback loop, Nicholas Humphrey claims, manifests consciousness.

I don't agree. There are man made machines that have adaptive controls. Imagine adaptive computer programs that can designed. When a problem does not yield to available analytics, the program may be designed to simulate a state, inputs and outputs. Then evaluate the output against requirements. If not goof it, resimulate changing the controllable variables. The machine is not conscious and we did not hit the necessity of consciousness to produce such machines.

Nicholas Humphrey uses the term attractor to mean what I call objective towards improved being.

Consciousness is not necessary for survival of organisms.

Perhaps conscious beings gain an evolutionary advantage by being interested in well being as in they become interested in avoiding pain (harm). Can an organism be interested in avoiding harm without being conscious. Can it not arrive at the same goals by internal representations of the world and computations on the representation?