Do not believe in something simply because you have heard it or because it has been handed down for many generations, or because it is found written in your religious books, or merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Only believe after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason, and is conducive to the good and benefit of all, accept it, and live up to it.

- Buddha

Our reason is our best guide to what is true. Authorities usually repeat what they were taught and frequently do not even believe what they profess. I would modify the statement:

Do not believe something simply because you heard it, or because it is written, or because it was handed down for many generations, or because of the authority of its proponent. Believe something only when, after observation, and critical analysis, you find that it agrees with your reason and your cosmology, and make all beliefs tentative, pending further evidence and thought.

-SCM

The Golden Rule Across the World's Religions

Native Spirituality

We are as much alive as we keep the earth alive.

-- Chief Dan George

Baha'i Faith

Lay not on any soul a load that you would not wish to be laid upon you, and desire not for anyone the things you would not desire for yourself.

-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings

Buddhism

Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.

-- The Buddha, Udana-Varga 5.1

Christianity

In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

-- Jesus, Matthew 7:12

Confucianism

One word which sums up the basis of all good conduct....loving-kindness. Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.

-- Confucius, Analects 15.23

Treat your inferiors as you would want your superiors to treat you.

-- Confucius

Hinduism

This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.

-- Mahabharata 5:1517

Islam

Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself.

-- The Prophet Muhammad, 13th of the 40 Hadiths of Nawawi

Jainism

One should treat all creatures in the world as one would like to be treated.

-- Mahavira, Sutrakritanga

Judaism

What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.

-- Hillel, Talmud, Shabbath 31a

Sikhism

I am a stranger to no one; and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all.

-- Guru Granth Sahib, pg. 1299

Taoism

Regard your neighbour's gain as your own gain and your neighbour's loss as your own loss.

-- Lao Tzu, T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien, 213-218

Unitarianism

We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence.

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Guidelines for a Golden Rule Workshop
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Relativity of Motion

The Gallilean train moving at constant velocity is used as an example of the inability to detect contast motion; however, one can go much further than this and say that we can only detect relative motion. Only relative motion has any reality. Imagine that every particle on the train is acted upon equally by some external force at all times as opposed to the wheels being acted upon by a force, which is then trasmitted to the body of the train and subsequently to the passengers. One can see that even external forces of this type are utterly undetectable. No force would be felt! An accelerometer can detect accelerations only when the motion of the reference mass differ from those of the constraining walls. An accelerometer cannot detect gravity (neglecting tidal effects)! Everything will be in free fall unless acted upon by an external force.

Similarly, no matter what the motion or derivative of that motion, it is utterly undetectable as long as all the particles experience it equally. When an accelerometer on the Earth's surface measures a = g, what we actually detecting is an acceleration upward which is transmitted from the electrostatic forces acting on the body of the accelerometer and, in turn, being transmitted to the reference mass.

Notice that the direction of the acceleration on objects on the Earth's surface is upward, not downward!

Any accelerometer will accurately reproduce the fact that we are accelerating upward on the surface of the Earth. If one tries to tare out this natural value so as to agree with individuals' preconception that we are not accelerating on the surface of the Earth, then flipping the accelerometer over will result in a different value (a = 2 g). This is obviously nonsense because the correct value must be independent of orientation of the accerlometer. Only one value will yield orientation independence and that is a = g (directed upward). This gives us a special reference frame, called the inertial or freely-falling frame in which the accelerometer reading is zero.
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Mass pulls on space and space on mass. All masses only react to the local curvature of space (the energy field). This explains action as a distance forces such as gravity. Similarly, charge acts on the electric field that permeates all of space and distorts it and other charges interact only locally with that field.

Man is a Domesticated Animal

Domestication is the act of humankind changing living organisms into more desirable forms through selective breeding and destroying of undesirable forms. Everytime anyone is killed or punished by society, the result is a more domesticated human species (more moral, more civil, etc).

The next biggest type of genetic selection effecting humans is sexual. Can one find a partner who is willing to have and raise your offspring? This type of genetic selection results in more beautiful (defined culturally and genetically) and social people. Sexual selection results in runaway features: deep colorations, complex song, exaggerated features that are otherwise non-functional, mating habits, etc. Example: In parts of Italy, aquiline noses were a sign of nobility. In those parts, the population has very aquiline noses. The birds of paradise are another good example of sexual selection.

An Acceptably Abstract God

My "God Issues"

Medical Bidding

A medical website should be setup in which people post there symptoms and others compete to give advice. The individual giving the advice that works gets the current payment price, which would slowly increase from a minimum to a maximum at a specified rate. The system would automatically show related advice and prevalence of symptoms by age, gender, and location.

Example:

Generalized chest pains that occur during winter. Age: 30. Gender: F Location CA Starting Reward: $15 Current reward: $35 Maximum reward: $150

Why Legitimacy In Iraq Matters

Why Legitimacy In Iraq Matters

Legitimacy is a matter of degree. It seems that Bush's venture in Afghanistan will be much more sucessful than that in Iraq because

1. Overthrowing a regime that is protecting an organization that attacked you is much more legitimate than overthrowing a regime that was neither threatening nor capable of attacking you.


2. Karzai is much more legitimate in that he genuinely seems concerned about the future of Afghanistan. His position does not seem to be a reward for supplying false information to the U.S. or working as a covert operative.