M positions/index.html => positions/index.html +4 -0
@@ 7,6 7,10 @@ pagination:
reverse: true
alias: beliefs
---
+
+<h3 style="margin: 0;">Notes:</h3>
+The contents of these articles have timestamps for when the page had it's last major rewrite by myself.
+
{% for x in beliefs %}
<article style="margin:0;">
<h1>
M positions/personal.md => positions/personal.md +4 -4
@@ 1,14 1,14 @@
---
layout: layouts/post.njk
-id: personal
-title: Biograpy & About Me
+id: personal.md
+title: Biography & About Me
tags: ['positions']
date: 2022-10-28
---
-## about me:
+### about me:
I'm a Computer Science student familiar with C++ and JS.
My interests are video games and engineering, specifically automobile and aerospace.
-## biography:
+### biography:
I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
I am currently finishing high school and am set to begin studying at <i style="color: #363f4741">Currently haven't decided which</i> University in 2023.
After that, I hope to ? and ?.
M positions/philosophy.md => positions/philosophy.md +52 -2
@@ 1,9 1,59 @@
---
layout: layouts/post.njk
-id: philosophy
+id: philosophy.md
title: Philosophy
tags: ['positions']
date: 2022-10-28
---
-## things
+> "It's The Code You Live By That Defines Who You Are." — Johnny Silverhand (Cyberpunk 2077)
+
+## My Foundational Beliefs
+
+When engaging with politics, it's foundational to have a set of philosophical beliefs that you can use to guide your decision-making.
+
+- Part I
+ 1. I exist.
+ 2. I have an experience.
+ 3. I want to maximize my experience.
+- Part II
+ 1. Other humans exist.
+ 2. Other humans have an experience like mine.
+ 3. Other humans want to maximize their experience.
+- Part III
+ 1. Humans synergize to create better experiences.
+ 2. If I synergize with others, it will maximize my experience.1
+ 3. Others will synergize with me to maximize their experience.
+
+I [don't believe that moral facts exist](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-anti-realism/), or if they do, I don't believe they are perceivable to us. Therefor, I build all of my policy positions from this fundamental moral framework.
+
+### On Maximizing One's Experience
+
+> “Man serves the interests of no creature except himself.” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm
+
+Within the statements of my foundational beliefs, I often talk about maximizing one's own experience and helping others maximize theirs. I often run into a problem where people assume the most naive construction of this idea possible. It is assumed, especially when words like "hedonism" and "egoism" get used, that I conceptualize a moral world to be one where everyone just does whatever they want, be it murdering, stealing, etc. because it makes them happy. It is also assumed that I make no distinction between "lower and higher" pleasures. This is obviously a ridiculous position to hold, and just a slightly fairer reading will get us to construct more reasonable interpretations of what it means to "maximize" one's experience.
+
+A thought experiment I often use is the following: You and four friends enter a room with five candy bars. You can either eat all of the candy bars because it would "maximize your experience," or you could share the candy equally. The naive construction of my belief would entail the former, but let's think about the consequences of this. My friends are now unhappy, they might not want to be friends with me anymore, next time they won't share with me, and really the outcome is in the long run (and potentially even immediately) I have certainly NOT maximized my experience. My friends being sad would make me sad, them not being friends with me anymore would be upsetting, you can imagine the rest.
+
+It's clear then, when I say "maximizing experience," that we have to take a more intelligent, long-term, holistic view towards what this actually means. If I start with 0 utils, and I can get 100 now or 25 every year for the rest of my life, in four years I have already surpassed the experience maximization potential of the first option. If I do something that makes me happy at the detriment of those around me which makes my experience at the end a net negative anyway, clearly I haven't maximized my experience.
+
+I would hope that this is straightforward and obvious to understand, however it appears to be a tripping point either due to lack of thought or bad faith on the part of many people I interact with.
+
+## Violence
+
+I am generally opposed to violence as I don't believe it is an effective way to accomplish political change, at least not at this point in time in the United States. That being said, I believe there are plenty of groups of people who could, at points, justify the use of violence in self-defense, even if I don't believe it would be a pragmatic or politically effective thing to do.
+
+### Defense of Property
+
+I believe that people have a right to defend their property insofar as three important criteria are met:
+1. You possess the property in a way that your state and community recognizes your possession.
+2. You have reasonably exhausted non-violent options to protect your property.
+3. The other person is effectively "on notice" and understands they exist in an environment where another person will protect their property.
+
+For example, if someone wants to destroy your local business or your house, then you have a right to defend your property by all means necessary.
+
+Many disagreements over whether or not defense of personal property is justified sometimes appear to boil down to a difference of underlying values. The value in question is whether "property can be valued over human life", or some statement to that effect. In my experience, middle-class and well-off people may underestimate the personal sacrifice and the years of time invested into obtaining a business, a car, or even something as simple as a stereo system or a school instrument. As such, they will argue that no matter the value and sacrifice associated with some property, even in the case of people living in poverty, the life of the thief always outweighs said value. This is a conclusion I take issue with.
+
+<footer>
+ Lots of this page was lifted from <a href="https://positions.destiny.gg/docs/philosophy">destiny's positions page</a>, and while I do agree with most of it we do have some disagreements.
+</footer>
M positions/politics.md => positions/politics.md +77 -3
@@ 1,9 1,83 @@
---
-layout: layouts/position.njk
-id: politics
+layout: layouts/post.njk
+id: politics.md
title: Politics
tags: ['positions']
date: 2022-10-28
---
-## things
+> "Science isn't about **WHY**. It's about **WHY NOT**. Why is so much of our science dangerous? Why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won't hit you on the butt on the way out, because you are fired." — Cave Johnson (Portal 2)
+
+## Elections
+
+I believe that local elections (and eventually national) would greatly benefit from switching off the antiquated first-past-the-post system. Both the Democratic and Republican parties, nationally and state-level, are greatly disconnected from the average American.
+
+## Ideologies
+
+### Conservatism
+
+I think there are some good ideas that some good ideas can come from right wing individuals, however, in the US many conservatives refuse to cede any ground
+
+#### Neo-conservatives
+
+I generally try not to wholely disregard groups, however from my engagement with many neo-cons online, I've come to fundamentally regard them as one of the single greatest threats to American democracy.
+
+### Liberalism (As in left-wing)
+
+
+
+#### Leftists
+
+Individuals who fall further left than US liberals often are described (in US politics) as "leftists". Personally I believe this to be far to broad a term to have any meaningful
+discussion about.
+
+### "Omni-Liberalism"
+
+In politics, it can be useful to know which particular ideology someone subscribes to. However, I do not fall perfectly in-line with any particular ideology. I describe myself as an *Omni-Liberal*, which is a made-up, tongue-in-cheek term to encapsulate the general position of:
+
+1. Having the core values of liberalism (e.g. freedom and equality).
+2. Taking the best parts of all different kinds of political ideologies and using them together in a pragmatic way.
+
+Omni-liberalism was created by [Destiny](https://destiny.gg), an online political streamer who's communities I frequent.
+
+#### Changing economic systems
+
+I don't feel dogmatically attached to any particular form of government or economic system. If it can be demonstrated that some economic system (socialism, capitalism, etc.) can consistently produce better economic and social outcomes for a given society, that would be the economic system I would advocate for. As of right now, I believe that free markets with strong social safety nets (see: [Scandinavia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model)) are the most effective way of achieving these ends.
+
+### Capitalism
+
+> "We Shouldn't Fear Change Itself." — Misty (Cyberpunk 2077)
+
+I consider myself to be a [capitalist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism).
+
+At a high-level, capitalism seems to be the best-known economic system to generate wealth. I believe the responsibility of any economic system should, first and foremost, be to allocate resources in an economy as efficiently as possible to create the largest possible base from which to draw taxes to redistribute to those who need it most. I recognize in many western countries, especially the United States, we seem to have a big problem with the "redistribution" part.
+
+There are different kinds of capitalism, ranging all the way from *[laissez-faire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laissez-faire)* (e.g. [free market](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market)) to [state capitalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capitalism) (e.g. [China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capitalism#Mainland_China)). Completely free-market systems have serious downsides (e.g. monopolies, unequal bargaining power) and don't properly account for negative externalities (e.g. pollution, global warming) without government intervention. Thus, I believe that capitalism should be tempered by a strong government that tries to correct for these problems, similar to how Nordic countries function. Not surprisingly, this is the economic model of nearly all advanced economies in the West.
+
+### Populism
+
+> “It is fatal to look hungry. It makes people want to kick you.” ― George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London
+
+I do not support [populism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism).
+
+Populism is usually defined as "the people" versus "the elites." This happens on both the right (e.g. the alt-right & Donald Trump) and the left (e.g. Bernie-or-Busters). Populism is powerful because it feeds off negative emotions, but is often not based on facts.
+
+### Socialism / Communism
+
+> "Truth And Good Are Values Proven To Cause Division." — Delamain (Cyberpunk 2077)
+
+I do not support [socialism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism) or [communism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism). I believe that these systems are fundamentally flawed and have been proven to be ineffective at producing wealth and improving the lives of the people. Many people online fundamentally refuse to accept this, and I believe that this is a big part of the reason why the left is so divided.
+
+## LGBTQ+ Issues
+
+### Transgender Individuals
+
+Soon™️
+
+### Giving minors HRT
+
+Soon™️
+
+<footer>
+ Lots of this page was lifted from <a href="https://positions.destiny.gg/docs/politics">destiny's positions page</a>, and while I do agree with most of it we do have some disagreements.
+</footer>
M projects/index.html => projects/index.html +16 -3
@@ 1,5 1,6 @@
---
layout: layouts/base.njk
+id: projects.md
title: projects
---
<style>
@@ 13,18 14,29 @@ h5 {
margin-bottom: 0;
}
</style>
-<div id="projectspage">
+<div>
<div class="subgroup1">
<h4 class="headerblack">VEX Robotics Competition</h4>
<h5>2019-2023</h5>
<p>
I have been a member of the Steel Eagles Robotics club for 3 years and am set to finish it out this year as a senior.
- On both of the two teams I've competeed on (2019-2020 and 2020-2023), I have been the lead programmer and have been responsible for the design and implementation of the robot's autonomous and driver control code.
- On the second team I've been a member of, we have been tournament finalists twice and ranked high at almost every competition we've attended. <br />
+ On both of the two teams I've competed on (2019-2020 and 2020-2023), I have been the lead programmer and have been responsible for the design and implementation of the robot's autonomous and driver control code.
+ On the second team I've been a member of, we have been tournament finalists twice and ranked high at almost every competition we've attended.<br />
Links: <a href="https://github.com/7701F">GitHub</a>, <a href="https://www.robotevents.com/teams/VRC/7701F">RobotEvents</a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="subgroup1">
+ <h4 class="headerblack">Katana</h4>
+ <h5>2022</h5>
+ <p>
+ Prototype datastore that takes in strings as arrays, stored in a json file.
+ The keystore takes the string that the programmer inputs and
+ stores it in a separate keystore JSON object with the location of the data in the data array,
+ then stores that in another file.<br />
+ Links: <a href="https://github.com/Chrono-byte/Katana">GitHub</a>
+ </p>
+ </div>
+ <div class="subgroup1">
<h4 class="headerblack">SmoreSoftware</h4>
<h5>2017-2018</h5>
<p>
@@ 32,4 44,5 @@ h5 {
Links: None, project was abandoned.
</p>
</div>
+
</div>