Archivo on Javier Orozco | Observer

Bitcoin (BTC): What Is It, Where to Get It, and How to Use It?

Fri, 18 Nov 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Archive article (November 2016): prices, services, and links correspond to their original date.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a consensus network that enables a new payment system and a completely digital currency. It is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. From a user’s point of view, Bitcoin is like money for the Internet. Bitcoin can be the only triple-entry accounting system in existence.

Who created Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the first implementation of a concept known as “cryptocurrency,” which was first described in 1998 by Wei Dai on the “cypherpunks” mailing list, where he proposed the idea of a new kind of money that would use cryptography to control its creation and its transactions, instead of a centralized authority doing so. The first Bitcoin protocol specification and the proof of concept were published by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 on a mailing list. Satoshi left the project in late 2010 without revealing much about himself. Since then, the community has grown exponentially and now counts on numerous developers working on the Bitcoin protocol.

Satoshi’s anonymity has sometimes raised unwarranted suspicions, many of them caused by a lack of understanding of the open source nature Bitcoin is based on. The Bitcoin protocol and its software are published openly, and any programmer anywhere in the world can review them or create their own modified version of the software. Just like current programmers, Satoshi’s influence has been limited to others adopting the changes he made and, therefore, he did not control Bitcoin. Thus, knowing the identity of Bitcoin’s inventor is about as relevant as knowing who invented paper.

Who controls the Bitcoin network?

In the same way that no one controls the technology behind email, Bitcoin has no owners either. Bitcoin is controlled by all Bitcoin users around the world. While programmers improve the software, they cannot force a change in the Bitcoin protocol because all other users are free to choose the software and version they want. In order to remain compatible with each other, all users need to use software that complies with the same rules. Bitcoin can only function correctly if there is consensus among all users. Therefore, all users and programmers have a strong incentive to protect that consensus.

The above quote is the shortest and most concise official definition out there. From my point of view, there is something very important to keep in mind: BTC has increased its value 1000 times in the last 7 years, and according to experts in the economic field, the trend is that it will keep going up more and more. As of today, 1 BTC = $743 USD (US dollar), but if I go back one year, exactly 1 year ago, on November 18, 2015, 1 BTC = $329 USD; that means that anyone who held 1 BTC a year ago and exchanged it today for another currency would have more than double in the equivalent of the desired currency, just for keeping their savings in BTC.

But BTC is not limited to being simply “a weird thing to invest in” nor a simple system “for saving money and waiting for it to grow”: it is just another currency, like the peso, the dollar, or the euro, and as such it can be used to pay and more, with many advantages over controlled and centralized currencies. In simple words, BTC is a kick in the balls to the traditional banking system, inflation, and the creation of fiat money out of nothing (like the Federal Reserve creating dollars “out of nothing,” watch the video at the start to understand a bit better).

Where to Get Bitcoins?

BTC is obtained through a procedure called mining, mainly with video cards (GPUs); there is more information about it on the web, so I won’t go into the how. This type of mining has become obsolete over time, since the more BTC are mined, the lower the chances of mining and the more hardware power requirements become necessary. There are cloud mining companies where you pay a fee and they do it for you, but that is a very slow way to get them and, for it to be even slightly profitable, you have to invest large amounts, which makes it not very convenient. The best way currently is to buy them. There are various “exchange houses” (exchanges) from which you can buy BTC; I’ll make a list of the ones I have used and recommend, along with other very common and reliable ones that, although I haven’t used them, I know about:

LocalBitcoins: I call it the eBay or MercadoLibre of BTC; once you register and verify your account, you contact BTC sellers (or buyers) with various payment methods, even in person with cash.
SatoshiTango: an Argentine company that also lets you get a VISA debit card, which you can top up with BTC and use at any ATM anywhere in the world where VISA is accepted.
SURBTC: currently operating in Chile and Colombia, it works directly with your bank account for buying/selling, very fast (Monday through Friday) and with the option to trade on it, complete with a platform for it and on automatic (for example, setting it up so that if Bitcoin drops to X price, buy Y amount, and if it rises to XXX, they sell themselves).
Bitnovo: one of its biggest advantages is that, besides being international, it lets you pay with VISA, MasterCard, and Maestro cards.
Wirex: formerly called E-coin, it also has a debit card, a free virtual one and a physical one, plus it has mobile apps and works as a wallet.
Ripio: another very well-known one, although personally I don’t like that by the second purchase they start asking where you got the money to buy, and have you sign an affidavit, even for small amounts of around 300 dollars.
BTC-e: similar to SURBTC but more global; it is said to handle a flow of 2.5% of all existing BTC, and it allows exchange between USD, RUB, EUR and the cryptocurrencies BTC, LTC, NMC, NVC, PPC, DSH, and ETH.
Poloniex: very similar to BTC-e, also international; both platforms are more focused on trading with BTC than on simply buying them once to hold them, although both uses are valid.
Coinbase: another very well-known and reliable international platform, it also allows trading with Ethereum (ETH).

There are many more; most require you to get verified. This is because, given the anonymous nature of BTC, these legally incorporated companies cannot lend themselves to facilitating money laundering, laundering of capital, asset laundering, or operations with funds of illicit origin or capital legitimization, whatever you prefer to call it. If readers know of any exchange they think is missing from the list, please leave a comment and I’ll add it.

How to Use BTC?

BTC, as a cryptocurrency and therefore as money, is used the same way you make an online payment with your credit card or your bank account, except that the fees are very low or almost nonexistent. A couple of years ago it was rare to find places that accepted BTC; many people thought it would disappear or lose all its value, but quite the opposite, the landscape today is different and BTC proved it is here to stay, even trading as an index on the stock exchange and gradually increasing its value.

A website that works as a directory to find out where BTC is accepted and used locally is MercadoBitcoin; personally, I have also bought games on Steam with BTC, another company that accepts them officially.

Soon I’ll do a series of articles in which I’ll expand on the information, like creating a wallet, which is where you can hold your BTC. This is the introduction to the topic in a general and short way; this is a to be continued… (article subject to revisions and updates).

Some important sites to read news and updates about BTC and cryptocurrencies are:

TDLD – Temple of the Gods – www.TDLD.org – templodelosdioses.org

Wed, 06 Jul 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Temple of the Gods (TDLD) is a non-profit organization of a philosophical nature, founded in 2010, operating as a kind of virtual (esoteric) university that outwardly handles the dissemination of topics to the public, and inwardly delves deeper into them in a more advanced manner.

Among its most prominent divisions or fields of study are historical revisionism, esotericism, paganism, National Socialist occultism, social sciences, political science, psychic training, meditation, symbology, gnosis, invocation and evocation of entities, etc.

It presents itself as a spiritual alternative, in opposition to the esoteric schools that commonly have ties to Freemasonry, Zionism or other ideologies contrary to the natural pagan worldview. It runs a strict membership and selection system for new members; its courses and internal materials are completely free of charge, and its activities outside the virtual sphere are kept secret as a precaution.

Well, that —quotes and all— was the official description of what it supposedly was. This article is meant to present a declassified version of what TDLD was, with all forums unlocked to the public, except for the private ones of the so-called Administrative Axis back then.

Soon I will prepare an article or a short review with my opinion about TDLD and why I walked away from all those topics, which is what I refer to in the About Me section of this page. I will also try to explain what my reasons were for managing so many people and creating such large and numerous communities.

Nothing more to add, here are the 2 links: the first one corresponds to the last TDLD (after 2013), which went through an extensive cleanup in which everything was supposedly erased and started from scratch; in it, the forum is almost empty because a few months later I shut it down completely and walked away from everything, but it is also the most complete backup, as it contains all the articles and everything else on the main page. The second backup only contains the oldest forum (2011-2013), before the reset and the erasure of everything. Before that second backup there should be the TDLD forum from 2010 and the «Spiritual Paganism» and «Spiritual Satanism» forums from 2007-2009, but I don’t have those.

These declassified versions are public and active; the main one, with the new forum, is open even for anyone who wishes to register. It is not my responsibility what they do with the information, or whether they will make use of those websites, which I have attached as a subdomain to this personal website of mine.

~~Main TDLD: http://tdld.javieroroz.co~~
~~Old TDLD: http://templodelosdioses.javieroroz.co~~

—Edited—

2026 Update: forums unified into a single one, software upgraded to Discourse and preserving everything without modifications: https://foro.tdld.org.

Post-installation and configuration of Ubuntu 14.04 without using the terminal

Mon, 06 Jul 2015 12:00:00 +0000

This is not the typical article that you find repeated ad nauseam all over the internet, “What to do after installing Ubuntu?”. This one is more personal: exactly what I do when I install it (although I do all of this from the terminal in less than half the time). Maybe I’m just saving a draft in case I forget something on my next install… Those who know me know that I’m an Arch Linux user and prefer it, but I’ll leave that for another day.

Archive note: the original 2015 screenshots were not preserved; the full text is retained.

To begin with, it should be made clear that this article is not an installation tutorial, so I assume that whoever is reading it knows how to install Ubuntu (which is as easy as clicking next, next and… oh yes, next). I just added this to the article, because when I published it on some media outlets, several people, without reading it, commented things like “Burn the heretic, long live the terminal, use Windows for that” (pathetic). To one of them I replied the following, as an example of the audience an article like this would be aimed at: “Tell that to the 65-year-old lawyer who has spent his whole life working in his profession, busy almost all day and every day, who has no time to learn computer stuff and doesn’t want to memorize commands in a terminal, but who nevertheless wants to use Ubuntu. There are all kinds of users; for those of us who prefer the terminal, there are better distributions like Gentoo and Arch Linux”.

Once Ubuntu is installed, we have the default interface, which in my opinion isn’t as “ugly” as on other distributions — being the most popular GNU/Linux distribution, it doesn’t hurt that its default appearance is a bit pleasant and has some identity compared to the others. The challenge of this article is to do everything without using the terminal.

Updates, language, and basic programs

The first thing I do, obviously, is install the available updates. For that… no, I’m not going to the terminal! I’ll try to avoid it as much as possible (even though it hurts me): I simply click in the upper right corner, on that button that looks like a “wrench”, then I click on “About This Computer” and then on “Install Updates”. It usually asks to restart when that first update finishes.

The next thing I install is the language, and it’s that by default in the installation, even if you activate the network, translations for all programs are not installed. To do that I look for “Language Support”, which with just opening it will ask you if you want to install all the translations; you accept and that’s it.

I take the opportunity to install some programs from the Ubuntu Software Center, such as Synaptic (which I’ll use later to install other things), Gimp (photo editor), Inkscape (vector graphics), VLC (media player) and something important, which is support for compressing and decompressing 7zip (where to use RAR you have to enable/install the non-free module as the original screenshot showed, and click on “Apply Changes”, of course).

Proprietary codecs and partner repositories

Then I install all the proprietary codec support and other utilities needed for multimedia content, among others. To do that I go to Synaptic and search for “ubuntu-restricted-extras” and install them (right click, “Mark for Installation” and “Apply”). I don’t install them from the Software Center because from there you CANNOT accept the EULA for the proprietary Microsoft fonts that come included in the metapackage, and that’s why they aren’t installed. In case you haven’t accepted it and they aren’t installed, they can be installed separately from Synaptic itself; the package name is ttf-mscorefonts-installer.

In the original screenshots you could tell that my desktop already had icons and other customizations installed; I’ll explain all of that here. Now that I have this, I go to the program called “Software & Updates” and in the “Other Software” tab I enable the “Canonical Partners” repository. Once enabled, it’s recommended to open the “Software Updater” so it picks up the changes; this allows installing Skype and other programs directly from the Ubuntu Software Center.

Another thing some people might use is proprietary drivers for graphics cards or other devices. To do that you have to open “Additional Drivers”, select the driver (first option, not the “updates” one) and click on “Apply Changes”.

Skype, Steam, and PlayOnLinux

I install Skype, which I use quite a bit to get in touch with some people. Although Skype Web is in beta and it also works from Outlook, the desktop app, although not very flashy visually, offers a better user experience in my opinion (it’s just that I usually close the browser and cut off all the webapps “unintentionally on purpose”, hahaha). When searching for Skype in the Ubuntu Software Center you have to click at the bottom where it says “Show technical items”; you have to know which one to install, because several packages come up.

After installing it, you can follow the suggestion in the most voted comment, which improves Skype’s appearance (yes, that Javier Orozco who wrote that comment is me; I didn’t expect it to stay there at the top forever). But since what I suggest is through the terminal, there’s no need for that; you can also install the packages “gtk2-engines-murrine:i386” and “gtk2-engines-pixbuf:i386” by searching for them with those exact names right from the Software Center.

I also install Steam, because I have several games purchased, and PlayOnLinux (to install Steam for Windows on Ubuntu). I install both programs from their official pages and not from the Software Center, to have the most recent versions, because besides, the .deb automatically adds the direct repository to stay up to date with updates.

On the PlayOnLinux page it says the following: Ubuntu Precise (and superior) users: You must install the package wine:i386 to get PlayOnLinux working. That’s done by opening the Ubuntu Software Center and typing wine:i386 and installing it.

Once in PlayOnLinux, you just search for Steam in the list of programs available to install; it’s quite easy (next, next and next). Once the process is finished, it’s ready to “launch” every time you open PlayOnLinux; that way you can have both Steam for GNU/Linux and Steam for Windows on your Ubuntu.

Customization with Unity Tweak Tool and Numix

After having everything I use the most installed, I move on to customization. For that I install the “Unity Tweak Tool” from the Ubuntu Software Center; on 14.04 two versions come up, I install the most recent one by selecting it in the dropdown menu.

With this tool you can modify icons, sizes, the theme and many other things; each person will see how they modify it. I leave it as default, the only things I change are theme and icons, and I disable the Amazon web app, nothing else. I then proceed to install Numix, my favorite package.

To do it you have to add the repository; I take the opportunity to also add other repositories for other programs I’ll also use. I then go to “Software & Updates” and in the “Other Software” tab I click on “Add” and type the PPA repositories I’m going to add:

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ppa:numix/ppa
ppa:jd-team/jdownloader
ppa:fyrmir/livewallpaper-daily
ppa:diesch/testing
ppa:sunab/kdenlive-release

In the first repository are the icons and themes I’ll use; in the second, the program JDownloader, which is a download manager I use out of habit and convenience; in the third, the Livewallpapers (watch video); in the fourth, the classic menu for Ubuntu; and in the fifth, Kdenlive, my favorite video editor. Possibly whoever reads this only wants the first, the third and the fourth.

Once I’ve added them, one by one, I click Close; it will automatically ask me to refresh the cache so I can use the repositories (this is necessary for everything to be installable).

Then you have to install the programs from those repositories, using the Ubuntu Software Center or Synaptic, searching for the exact name of the packages. When using the Software Center, they usually appear among the “Technical items”. In this case they would be the Numix Circle icons and the Numix GTK and KDE themes, exact names:

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numix-icon-theme-circle
numix-gtk-theme
numix-kde-theme

The JDownloader (which when installed and updated will possibly suggest updating to version 2), the Livewallpapers, the classic menu and the Kdenlive are searched by these exact names:

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jdownloader
livewallpaper
classicmenu-indicator
kdenlive

For the Livewallpapers you have to install the additional plugins as shown in the image, otherwise it won’t work and/or won’t be configurable. Then you have to open the preferences to configure (important to enable autostart) and the wallpaper itself. Now comes the part where you change the theme and icons to the recently installed ones: for that you have to open Unity Tweak Tool; once open, in Appearance/Theme choose Numix, and in Appearance/Icons choose Numix-Circle. You also have to open the ClassicMenu by searching for its name in the Dash.

Media player and desktop effects

Another thing I do is uninstall the default music player, Rhythmbox, and install Gmusicbrowser, which is my favorite since it brings more options (like viewing the song lyrics) and different appearances (with more than 20 different styles).

To finish, I like to add effects to the desktop, like gooey windows, blurs, fades… writing with fire? All of that… To do that you have to install the Compiz settings; these are the 3 packages that must be installed, either from the Software Center or from Synaptic:

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compizconfig-settings-manager
compiz-plugins
compiz-plugins-extra

Once in the Compiz settings, there’s little I enable, since many things cause problems; so I only enable gooey windows, Motion Blur, Fire Paint, Animations and nothing else (the cube works fine WITHOUT the 3D windows, but I don’t use it). Of the enabled ones, I only configure 2: the first is the Ubuntu Unity Plugin, in which I enable the option that allows minimizing and maximizing windows directly from the Unity panel; for that I go to Ubuntu Unity Plugin > Launcher > Minimize Single Window Applications (Unsupported). The second one I configure is Animations, in which I enable all of them and set everything to random, both for minimizing, closing, etc.

Finally, with the Firepaint I write the name of the distribution with fire and take a screenshot to upload it for the #ViernesDeEscritorio in the Software Libre Para Una Sociedad Libre en Facebook group that I administer, and with that I’m done. THE END

January 1, 2015, I couldn't come up with a better title

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 12:00:00 +0000

First article written on this blog of mine, part of «javieroroz.co» (which isn’t just “a blog” — this is only the first section of the website as such). And hey, why bother complicating things when it comes to titles?… This article, just like the blog itself, has a simple, straightforward name (and spectacular at that — what could possibly suit my brilliant and majestic name better?). The ones who make life complicated are boring people who waste their time on crap that doesn’t matter in the end. And it’s not like I racked my brain over an image for this “post” either: I simply took a screenshot of the desktop of the current operating system I’m writing this from, and that’s that.

What’s the motivation or reason for creating this blog?

I ask myself and I answer myself… okay, this is educational: from my point of view, “asking yourself questions” in an article that third parties are supposed to read makes the crap I wrote somewhat entertaining to read. These days almost nobody likes to read (or write) anymore — I do… Am I weird? No way! The weird ones are the rooster’s testicles.

Anyway, I asked the damn question and I still haven’t answered it because I’m busy writing bullshit nobody cares about. The motivation and/or reason for creating this blog is simple and can be summed up in a single word: none!… That’s it, nothing more — I don’t have any “special” purpose, I do everything out of inertia. Why rack your brain planning and dreaming up “dumb shit”? Life is way too short for that: enjoy the moment, live in the continuous present, which is “infinite”, without driving yourself crazy thinking about the future or the past — because unfortunately, as of the date I’m writing this first article on my personal website (the “Blog” section), there are no time machines in stock yet to worry about what was or what’s to come.

What kind of content will I publish here?

That’s easy to answer: whatever the hell I feel like! It could range from diagnosing the weather in Alaska (who the hell cares about that?), don’t-give-a-damn philosophies (that neither I nor anyone else gives a damn about), to “serious” tutorials on all sorts of topics, showcasing my artistic and computer work, and/or even offering my professional support services, among other things… Or the weather in Alaska? Oh no, I already said that crap. Anyway, whatever I want, and that’s that — it carries my damn name for a reason. I don’t think there’s a single person on this damn planet who spends 24 hours a day, 7 days a week doing, talking, eating, carrying out, thinking, dialoguing, etc., about one single topic — and if someone like that exists, they should just shoot themselves, because what a boring shitty life that would be. Besides, I got sick of administering communities where there’s only one topic to discuss and where it’s a mandatory rule not to deviate from the community’s thematic nature; sometimes I want to talk about french fries and I have to hold it in.

Why are you so “vulgar” and “rude”, Javier?

Because that’s just how I am! What others consider vulgar, rude, negative or “bad” has no need or reason, under my criteria and judgment, to be the same. I have my own brain, which is why I couldn’t give a damn about the “existential” bipolarity and duality established by third parties. I’m the same in every area of life, because I’m a non-believer in “good” and in “evil”: what’s good for others isn’t good for me, and vice versa.

To sum up, right now there’s nothing on the website — not a damn thing — just this blog section and this piece-of-shit article that’s good for nothing. There’s no design either, and the “theme” or “colors” of the page aren’t even sorted out; it just started today, even though the domain has been registered for over a year and I only used it as personal email. I don’t know when I’ll keep publishing, or whether I’ll change the colors and make it all “flashy”. As I said before, I act out of inertia: if I feel like it, I do it; if not: leave it at that!

Best regards, this is not an episode of Merga Te Vé.

On Why I DON'T Do "serious" Debates or Exchanges of Ideas on the Internet

Sat, 07 Sep 2013 17:20:27 +0000

This is a purely personal opinion, I based it on an article I read recently but with certain additions and changes of my own; some contacts sometimes send me private messages asking why I prefer to use profane language, act funny/sarcastic/ironic or simply be rude to the people who try to set up a “serious debate” — not for nothing have I set “Irreverente Antipático” as my subnick, that is my stance toward any other user of these anti-social networks. My reaction when they come in with their tremendous “intellectual arguments” about a topic — I stress the quotation marks — is the following:

The internet — contrary to what many people claim — has dragged the world into a dark age of knowledge, a golden age of bad information. You can run an experiment: post a picture of a field hunter and just wait a few minutes to see a whole row, waiting list included, “intellectually” and heatedly opining about animal abuse, animal rights, vegetarian diets and such, most of the time parroting a couple of phrases or words from something they saw on a… Desmotivaciones image? without the slightest solid argument (Although when they do give “valid” and lengthy arguments, they’re another breed of people, and I’ll talk about all of that here). When you analyze all the different points of view on a topic, you could say that every time we gain more knowledge or that we’re getting better and better informed. But that’s not what really happens, our neurons make sure that all these heated debates only make us narrower in our way of thinking.

The human brain, or pride, is neither made nor focused on finding truth or logical reasoning, but on winning and always having the “right” of it. You’ve never seen a case where someone shows up and refutes what another person claims with a couple of sentences, and the one who was wrong accepts that their whole life has been based on false beliefs and thanks whoever corrected them — the day that happens, find a way to wake up, because you’re definitely dreaming. Whoever is clinging to an idea, be it a professor, a politician, a student, a religious man, even if you prove it to them with evidence they’ll keep insisting on their erroneous thesis; the process of clinging to one’s ideas seems to be the only reason humans argue.

The argumentative theory of reasoning establishes that human beings didn’t learn to ask questions and offer answers in order to find universal truths, nor to help improve their beliefs so as to make good decisions, but rather they did it as a way to win authority over others. Reason evolved to help us intimidate people into getting what we want. It’s a purely social phenomenon — helping us convince others and being careful when others try to convince us. Truth and accuracy are by no means the central point.

Naturally, the brain, from its primitive state, should have evolved and overcome these “anomalies”, but it hasn’t, because these cognitive flaws are perfectly adapted to a system that works perfectly well. Our evolutionary compulsion is to prevail, even if that means being totally illogical.

On the internet there are tremendous “intellectuals” — and here I put great emphasis on the quotation marks — who, for any debate they get into, grab their browser, open a search engine with more than 10 tabs on the topic they’re debating, and rattle off a hundred book titles, authors, dates, facts, all to feel the great pleasure of winning a discussion. That means there are two reasons someone might argue with you: because they genuinely want to absorb some of your knowledge, or because they’re trying to establish their dominance over you to lower your “status in the tribe” and thus raise their own — an absolutely ridiculous pleasure.

If you’re smart, you know you shouldn’t trust anyone. That’s why we can forgive ourselves for using dishonest tactics to win an argument. We’re sure the other person is “very, very wrong”. The world is so full of ideologies that we have to do everything we can to keep up in terms of knowledge, and that translates into our code for lying. Think about all the people you’ve disagreed with this month. How many of them do you think were deceiving you?

Experts say it’s almost certain that you want to have the truth. It’s called the trust gap, and a scientist sees it emerge every time a human is asked to estimate how trustworthy another one is.

The problem is that when you assume someone is lying to you, you never find out that the one who’s wrong might be you. You just congratulate yourself for having sniffed out the trap from the start.

From a young age we assume people have hidden motives for springing their trap on you, and from that moment on, we can’t lose an argument for the rest of our lives. After all, if we assume that the person we’re arguing with is basing their argument on a lie, the only thing we could do is applaud them, since they’re a very good liar.

It’s impossible to learn anything from a conversation with someone you believe is lying to you. Your arguments are so strong that you switch your brain off before they even start talking. Or are you one of those people who actually listens to the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons when they knock on your door?

No matter which side you’re on regarding a belief or ideology, you’ve always played this game, and the only thing you’re doing is giving yourself an excuse to disregard everything the other person argues. You believe all their points are lies, they believe you’re lying to them, so what’s the point of that conversation? Unless you’re on a television show where they’re going to pay you a fortune for winning the debate, it would make no sense at all, nothing more than mere pleasure or pride over something meaningless.

As humans we’re strongly predisposed to criticize without examining ourselves. This is known as the fundamental attribution error. It’s a universal thought process that says that when people do something considered bad that you don’t do, it’s because those people are stupid. But when you do it, it’s totally circumstantial. If you see a friend arrive drunk, it’s because he’s an alcoholic totally out of control. But if you arrive drunk, it’s because, well, you fancied it and needed a distraction. If you automatically dismiss other people’s explanations and call them “excuses”, stop for a moment and think: a life without examination is not worth living…

There are a lot of people who join one of the political sides to support it, and who really have nothing to do with the matter, they just want the chance to join a team, to belong to something. Now think about how much it would hurt them to have to switch sides. That’s why the so-called confirmation bias exists. We read an article in the press that supports what we believe, and we add it to the “I’m right” pile. The news that contradicts what we believe is already part of a well-planned conspiracy by the other side. Experiments have been run in which brain scanners are hooked up to individuals and then a story is read to them pointing out something stupid their favorite politician said or did. The logical parts of the brain stayed switched off, while the emotional parts of the brain lit up. In other words, what they believe isn’t based on what it means logically, but on the emotional/social consequences of their position being wrong.

That’s why we stay entrenched, and the internet makes it worse, because many of your political or social beliefs are scattered all over the place backing up your thinking. You can’t change your mind because many people think like you, and you do everything you can to relate to similar people, “It’s right there in writing, isn’t it? Why back down?” Every inch of your psychology fights against it being any other way.

Technology gives us the possibility of always being wrong. The worrying part is that the very same logical fallacy that keeps the madman from admitting his end-of-the-world prediction over and over again is the same fallacy that drives partisan politics and, therefore, government policy. And that’s why, believe it or not, technology sometimes works against us…

Always think about whether debating is really useful, whether you’re going to win or get something out of it, whether it isn’t more advisable to keep quietly and privately studying your own affairs. There’s also an impulsive need to seek out people or groups with different ideas and go set up “debates”, trusting in the knowledge acquired and starting the debate assuming the others don’t have your intellectual level, because you’ve read X or Y books or know more about a topic (or so you think). What’s the point of starting that debate if you start it thinking the others are inferior to you? Are you some kind of evangelist?

Anyway, and in conclusion: go fuck yourselves, cordially, with love, and respectfully yours: Javier Orozco

The Brain: The Difference Between the Human Animal and Other Animals

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:48:55 +0000

The only difference between the animal called “human” and the other animals is the abnormal evolution its brain underwent over the course of millennia. And that brain has been capable of creating everything: it even created answers to its own questions, like the explanation of a God who created everything, even them.

But that is not what this piece is about. The human being has never been able to develop all the capabilities its brain possesses. And I am not referring only to intelligence, to learning, or to storing “data” like a hard drive: the brain’s principal function — and the reason why human beings refuse to classify themselves within the “animal kingdom” — is that small capacity to master, overcome, or lose the “natural instincts.”

The species that lies furthest outside the Natural Order, and that little by little keeps drifting further away from it, is the human. There is no room here for arguments about races, which are merely subdivisions of a single species. In general, the hominid with a developed brain, the one that has a “civilization,” already stands at a point quite far removed from the Natural Order.

Is that bad? It depends. Natural evolution, at the outset, was not meant for living but for surviving: the natural capacity of each species. Every animal evolved something: the feline its speed, the eagle its eyesight… the human being evolved its brain.

The brain is in constant evolution; it is one of the few things that, over the years, keeps evolving in the human being. But today we have a great problem: civilization, “Western culture” — as it is “vulgarly” called — modernism, call it whatever you like. I mean Hollywood, fashion, music, urban cultures, and even studies, philosophies, religions, and beliefs.

There are special parts in the brain; the pineal gland, for example, or the activation of one hemisphere more than the other — from my point of view, the most important one. These parts remain inactive because of the global distraction that exists. Control goes beyond mere paper money or territories: of all the members of the animal kingdom, only the human can think, and those who have managed to manipulate even the slightest detail know that the first thing they must disarm in a population, or in the masses, is their brain — the only one in constant evolution and the only difference that grants “superiority” over the other animals.

How much can the brain do? Several scientists have affirmed hundreds of times that it is not used to its full capacity, and even today it is impossible to know the function of several of its parts; we only know some of its characteristics.

The brain is not just a natural organ: it is an instrument that makes us “gods,” and it lies asleep. The mind holds much power, beyond the unimaginable: it can even convert energy; it is an “apparatus” that transmits and even “generates” energy. And we must not forget the importance of “energy” in scientific areas such as physics. I could not describe everything the brain can do, but I acknowledge its importance.

And that is the crux of the matter: as long as we keep asleep the only thing that makes us different, we will keep drifting away from the Natural Order without ever having used the only advantage we have.

Richard Stallman Has Always Been Right

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 02:59:37 +0000

I’m sharing a short piece of writing, with a slight modification I made to it by adding some information:

Investigating and publicizing historical revisionism is a crime that gets you jail time and can even cost you your life. In 2011, Obama signed a law that allows terrorism suspects to be detained indefinitely without any kind of trial or due process. Anyone who publicly opposes the powers that be is labeled a terrorist by the authorities. Initiatives like SOPA promote the diligent monitoring of communication channels.

What does all this have to do with computing? In this group, I have mentioned on several occasions a theorist and “hacker” named Richard Stallman who, while he cannot be categorized as a “Third Positionist” or anything of the sort, holds a very complete ideology of what freedom is.

Thirty years ago, when Richard Stallman launched the GNU project, and over the three decades that followed, his perspectives — extreme at times, dismissed by the media as “antics” — were ridiculed and ignored as paranoia. But here we are, well into 2013, and his “what if?” questions, once deemed “paranoid,” have become reality.

Even recently, it has been easy to write off Richard Stallman as a paranoid zealot, someone who lost touch with reality long ago. A sort of eternal computer hippie, the perfect embodiment of the archetype of the spiritual computer nerd living in a basement. His beard, his hair, his clothing… in our world of appearances, it is simply very easy to ignore him.

His views have always been extreme. His only computer is a “Lemote Yeelong” netbook, because it is the only computer that runs exclusively free software (no firmware blobs, no proprietary BIOS; it is all free). He also refuses to own a cell phone, because they are too easy to track. Until a cell phone equivalent to the Yeelong exists, Stallman doesn’t want one.

He doesn’t use Facebook or any social network that captures users’ private data in ways that infringe their freedom. In general, all software should be free. Or, as the Free Software Foundation puts it:

“As our society grows more dependent on computers, the software we run is of critical importance to securing the future of a free society. Free software is about having control over the technology we use in our homes, schools and businesses, where computers work for our individual and communal benefit, not for proprietary software companies or governments who might seek to restrict and monitor us.”

Free software to fight controlling governments and spies? Malicious corporations that want to control the world? Software as a tool to monitor private communication channels? To ordinary people, all of this is “paranoia,” and they write Stallman and the FSF off as insane — but we know very well those “pals” who want to control everything, and their modus operandi.

Obama signed the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act], allowing US citizens to be detained indefinitely without any kind of trial or due process, merely for being suspected of terrorism. At the same time, we have Internet control — websites can be pulled off the network, again without any kind of trial or due process — while also establishing the monitoring of Internet traffic. Combine this with how the authorities have labeled opponents, branding them as terrorists, and you can see where this is heading.

If this reminds you of China and feels similar to totalitarian regimes, you are not alone. Even the Motion Picture Association of America, the MPAA [the US filmmakers’ association], proudly proclaims that what has worked for China, Syria, Iran and others should work for the United States. China’s Great Firewall and similar filtering systems are glorified as useful solutions in what is supposed to be the free world.

The crux of the matter here is that, unlike days of old, when repressive regimes built networks of secret police and informants to monitor communications, all that is needed today is to have control over the software and hardware we use. Our desktop computers, tablets, smartphones, and every kind of device play a role in virtually all communications. Do you think you are safe when you communicate face to face? Think again. How did you arrange that meeting? By phone? On the web? And what do you have in your pocket or wallet, always connected to the network?

This is what Stallman has been warning us about all these years, and most people never take him seriously. Yet as the world changes, the importance of being able to review what the code on your device does — or having someone else do it, in case you lack the skills — becomes ever more evident. If we lose the ability to verify what our own computers are doing, we are done for.

This is the true core of the Free Software Foundation’s and Stallman’s beliefs: that proprietary software wrests control away from the user, which can lead to disastrous consequences, especially now that we depend on computers for virtually everything we do. The fact that Stallman foresaw this almost three decades ago is remarkable and vindicates his activism. It justifies the thirty years of the Free Software Foundation.

And in these times, we will probably need free and open-source software more than ever. At the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin (2011), Cory Doctorow gave a talk titled “The Coming War on General Purpose Computation.” In it, Doctorow warns that the general-purpose computer — and more specifically, users’ control over general-purpose computers — is perceived as a threat by the groups that hold power. The copyright wars? Nothing more than a prelude to the real war.

“As a member of the Walkman generation, I have made peace with the fact that I will require a hearing aid long before I die, and of course, it won’t be a hearing aid, it will be a computer I put in my body,” explains Doctorow. “So when I get into a car — a computer I put my body into — with my hearing aid — a computer I put inside my body — I want to know that these technologies are not designed to keep secrets from me, and to prevent me from terminating processes on them that work against my interests.”

And this is truly the essence of it all. With computers taking over things like hearing, driving, and more, we really cannot afford to be shut out of them. We need to be able to look inside and see what they are doing, to make sure we are not being monitored, filtered, or whatever else — this is not paranoia. It is reality.

“Freedom in the future will require us to have the capacity to monitor our devices and set meaningful policy on them, to examine and terminate the processes that run on them, to maintain them as honest servants to our will, and not as traitors and spies working for criminals, thugs, and control freaks,” warns Doctorow. “And we haven’t lost yet, but we have to win the copyright wars to keep the Internet and the PC free and open. Because these are the materiel in the wars that are to come, we won’t be able to fight on without them.”

This is why you should not use an iPhone. This is why you should support GNU/Linux, even if you use Windows. This is why you should support Apache, even if you run IIS. The time will come when being free or open will no longer be a fun perk, but an indispensable necessity.

The 48 Laws of Power (Summary of All)

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:32:50 +0000

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, The 48 Laws of Power, written by Robert Greene and designed by Joost Elffers, is a penetrating distillation of three thousand years of the history of power. A synthesis of deep research into the philosophies of each of the great thinkers such as Machiavelli, Sun-Tzu, and Carl von Clausewitz and the legacies of statesmen, warriors, seducers, and con artists throughout the ages, The 48 Laws of Power is the definitive study of power and the essential guide to modern manipulation.

In a bold and elegant text, displayed in black and red and packed with fables and sculptures built from unique words, the laws are illustrated through the tactics, triumphs, and failures of figures as astute as Queen Elizabeth I, statesman Henry Kissinger, showman P. T. Barnum, and many others who have wielded — or fallen victim to — power.

The laws teach the need for prudence (Law 1: Never Outshine the Master), the virtue of caution (Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions), the power of seduction (Law 43: Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others), the need for discipline (Law 48: Assume Formlessness), and many demand the total absence of pity (Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally). The 48 laws provide an understanding of the strategies used by others, and the tactics to elude them — or to live.

At work, in relationships, on the street, or in the 6 a.m. news: These laws apply everywhere. Whether your interest is conquest, self-defense, or simply being an educated spectator.

Law No. 1: Never Outshine the Master

Always strive to make those above you in the hierarchy feel comfortable with their sense of superiority. Do not let your desire to please or impress them lead you to flaunt your talents and abilities, as this can produce the opposite of the desired effect, that is, inspiring fear and insecurity in your superiors. Always make them appear more brilliant than they really are… and you will reach the summit of power.

Law No. 2: Never Put Too Much Trust in Friends, Learn How to Use Enemies

Distrust your friends; they are usually the first to betray you, since they easily fall prey to envy. They also tend to become disrespectful and tyrannical. Instead, employ someone who was once your enemy, and he will be more loyal to you than a friend, since he will have to make greater efforts to prove his allegiance. The truth is that you should fear your friends more than your enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to create them.

Law No. 3: Conceal Your Intentions

Confound people and keep them in the greatest possible ignorance, without ever revealing the purpose of your actions. If they have no idea what it is you are trying to achieve, it will be impossible for them to prepare a defense. Lead them down the path of false assumptions, wrap them in a cloud of smoke, and you will see that, when they finally realize your true intentions, it will already be too late for them.

Law No. 4: Always Say Less Than Necessary

When you try to impress people with words, keep in mind that the more you say, the more vulnerable you will be and the less control you will have over the situation. Even when what you say is mere banality, it will seem an original idea if you put it forward in a vague, open, and enigmatic way. Powerful people impress and intimidate through their reticence. The more you talk, the greater the risk of saying something foolish.

Law No. 5: So Much Depends on Reputation, Guard It with Your Life

Your renown and prestige are the cornerstone of power. Prestige alone is enough to intimidate and win. However, once it declines, you will become vulnerable and be attacked from every flank. Turn your prestige into an impregnable fortress. Stay alert against any kind of potential attack and thwart them before they occur. At the same time, learn to destroy your enemies by breaching their reputation. Then step aside and let public opinion crucify them.

Law No. 6: Court Attention at All Cost

Everything is judged by its appearance; what is not seen does not count. Never accept being lost in the anonymity of the crowd or being buried by oblivion. Put all your strength into standing out. Become a magnet that concentrates the attention of others, showing yourself more attractive and more mysterious than the great, timid, anonymous mass.

Law No. 7: Get Others to Do the Work for You, but Always Take the Credit

Use the intelligence, knowledge, and physical labor of others to advance your own cause. That kind of help will not only allow you to save a great deal of time and energy, but will also confer upon you a divine aura of speed and efficiency. In the long run, your collaborators will be forgotten and everyone will remember you. Never do what others can do for you.

Law No. 8: Make Other People Come to You, Use Bait if Necessary

When you force another to act, you must be the one exercising control at all times. It is always better to get your opponent to come to you and, in the process, abandon his own plans. Lure him with fabulous gains… and then proceed to attack. You hold all the aces in your hand.

Law No. 9: Win Through Your Actions, Never Through Argument

Any circumstantial triumph you obtain through verbal argumentation is in reality only a Pyrrhic victory: the resentment and ill will it generates are more intense and lasting than any momentary agreement you may have achieved. It is far more effective to win others over to your side through your actions, without saying a word. Do not explain; demonstrate.

Law No. 10: Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky

The misfortune of others can lead you to ruin: moods are as contagious and toxic as an infectious disease. Even if you feel you must lend a hand to someone who is sinking, the only thing you will achieve is accelerating your own downfall. Often, losers are the architects of their own misfortune and end up passing it on to whoever wants to help them. Avoid them and, instead, frequent winning and happy individuals.

Law No. 11: Learn to Keep People Dependent on You

To maintain your independence, it is essential that others want and need you. The more they trust and depend on you, the more freedom you will have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity, and you will have nothing to fear. Never teach others enough that they can get by without your help.

Law No. 12: Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm Your Victim

A sincere and honest gesture will compensate for dozens of attitudes dictated by hypocrisy and falseness. The gesture of frank, honest generosity lowers the guard of even the most distrustful individual. Once your selective sincerity has opened a breach in the other’s armor, you can manipulate and deceive him at will. A timely gift — a sort of Trojan horse — can serve the same purpose.

Law No. 13: When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to Their Mercy or Gratitude

If you need to resort to the help of an ally, do not bother reminding him of the support you gave him in the past or of your good deeds. The past is ignored or forgotten. If, instead, when you make your request for collaboration you show the elements that will benefit the other person and place great emphasis on them, your opponent will respond enthusiastically to your request, upon detecting the benefit he could obtain.

Law No. 14: Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy

It is of fundamental importance to know everything about your rival. Use spies to gather valuable information that allows you to always maintain an advantage over him. And even better: play the spy yourself. Learn to probe people carefully in polite social encounters. Ask indirect questions to get the other to reveal his intentions and weaknesses. Every occasion is a good one to practice the art of espionage.

Law No. 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally

Beginning with Moses, all the great leaders of history knew that it was necessary to crush completely the enemy they feared. (On some occasions they learned this lesson by force of blows.) If a single ember is left burning, however weak it may be, there is always the risk that a fire will break out again. More has been lost to half-hearted annihilation than to total extermination: the enemy will recover and seek revenge. Destroy him completely, not only physically but also spiritually.

Law No. 16: Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor

Too much supply reduces the price: the more they see and hear you, the less necessary others will consider you. If you have already established your position within a given group, a temporary withdrawal will make them talk about you more, and even admire you. You must learn when to withdraw. Remember that the scarcity of a resource increases its value.

Law No. 17: Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

Human beings are creatures of habit and have an insatiable need to feel familiar with the attitudes of those around them. If you are predictable, you give others the feeling that they have a certain control over you. Reverse the roles: be deliberately unpredictable. Attitudes that apparently lack coherence or purpose will baffle others, who will exhaust themselves trying to explain your movements and actions. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

Law No. 18: Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself, Isolation Is Dangerous

The world is a dangerous place and enemies lurk everywhere; everyone needs to protect themselves. A fortress presents itself as the safest alternative. But isolation exposes you more than it protects you from the dangers around you, since it cuts you off from valuable information and singles you out as a hard target for others. It is much safer to circulate, mingle among people, and seek allies. The crowd protects you from your enemies.

Law No. 19: Know Who You’re Dealing With, Do Not Offend the Wrong Person

There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you cannot assume that everyone will react the same way to your strategies. There are certain people who, if you manipulate or deceive them, will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. From the moment of the offense, they will be wolves in sheep’s clothing. Choose your victims and your opponents carefully, and never offend or deceive the wrong person.

Law No. 20: Do Not Commit to Anyone

Only fools always rush to take sides. Do not commit to any position or cause except your own. The fact of maintaining your independence makes you the master of others. Obtain benefits by setting people against one another.

Law No. 21: Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker, Seem Dumber Than Your Mark

No one likes to feel more stupid than others. Therefore, the trick is to make your victims feel shrewd and intelligent and, above all, more shrewd and intelligent than you. Once you have convinced them of this, they will never suspect that you have hidden motives against them.

Law No. 22: Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power

When you are the weakest, never fight merely to save your honor. Instead, choose capitulation. Surrendering will give you time to recover, time to torment and irritate the victor, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and being beaten by him. Capitulate before you are defeated. By turning the other cheek, you will infuriate and baffle your opponent. Turn capitulation into an instrument of power.

Law No. 23: Concentrate Your Forces

Conserve your strength and energy by keeping them concentrated at your strongest point. You will gain more by discovering a rich vein and exploiting it deeply than by moving from one poor vein to another: intensity always triumphs over dispersal. When you seek sources of power that can advance you, always try to find the single key pattern, the cash cow you can milk for a long time.

Law No. 24: Play the Perfect Courtier

The perfect courtier, flattering and scheming, thrives and reaches his full potential in a world where everything revolves around power and political skill. He masters the art of indirection to perfection. He flatters, submits to his superiors, and reasserts his power over others in the most charming and gracefully indirect and false way. Learn to apply the laws of the courtier, and your rise within the court will know no limits.

Law No. 25: Re-Create Yourself

Do not accept the roles that society has foisted upon you. Forge a new identity that attracts attention and never bores the public. Be the master of your own image, instead of letting others define it for you. Incorporate dramatic elements into your gestures and public actions, and your power will be reinforced and your personality will grow astonishingly.

Law No. 26: Keep Your Hands Clean

It is necessary that, at all times, you appear as a paragon of propriety and efficiency. Your hands must never be dirtied by wrongdoing or carelessness. Maintain that impeccable appearance by using others as fronts or screens to hide, when necessary, your personal involvement in matters of this kind.

Law No. 27: Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following

People have an uncontrollable need to believe in something. Become the focal center of that need, offering them a cause or a new conviction to adhere to. Frame it in vague terms full of promises. Emphasize enthusiasm over clear, rational thought. Give your new disciples rituals to perform and demand sacrifices from them. In the absence of an organized religion and great causes they can believe in, your new system of convictions will confer upon you unheard-of power.

Law No. 28: Enter Action with Boldness

If you feel unsure about a given course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitation will carry over into the execution of the plan. Timidity is extremely dangerous; the best thing is to approach every action with boldness. Any mistake you commit through boldness will be easily corrected with more boldness. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

Law No. 29: Plan All the Way to the End

A brilliant ending is the corollary that gives emphasis to all your actions. Plan your path taking into account all possible consequences, all obstacles, and all twists of chance that could impact negatively on your painstaking design and hand the glory to others. Planning the whole process, from beginning to end, will keep you from being overwhelmed by negative factors and will let you know exactly when to stop. Handle fortune with care and determine the future by planning for the long term.

Law No. 30: Make Your Accomplishments Seem Effortless

Your actions should seem natural and easy to perform. All the practice and effort you put in, as well as all the skillful tricks you resort to, must remain hidden. When you act, do so as if the task at hand were something utterly simple, as if you could still do much more. Resist the temptation to reveal how much you work, for you will only generate scrutiny. Do not teach anyone your special tricks, or they will be used against you.

Law No. 31: Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards You Deal

The best deception is the one that appears to offer choices to the other: your victims feel that they control the situation. But in reality they are nothing but puppets in your skillful hands. Present options that are always favorable to you, regardless of which one others choose. Force them to choose between the lesser of two evils and make either choice work in your favor. Make any alternative your rivals settle on harm them and benefit you.

Law No. 32: Play to People’s Fantasies

The truth is often avoided because it tends to be harsh and unpleasant. Never resort to the truth, or to reality, unless you are willing to face the anger that disappointment generates. Life is so hard and fraught with problems that those capable of inventing illusions or conjuring fantasies are like oases in the desert: everyone goes to them. Appealing to the fantasies of the masses is an immense source of power.

Law No. 33: Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew

Every individual has a weak point, a crack in the wall that surrounds his fortress. Usually, that weakness is something that causes him insecurity, or an emotion or a need that overcomes him. It can also be a small secret pleasure. Whatever it is, once you have discovered it, that weakness becomes an element of pressure you can handle at will and, of course, always in your favor.

Law No. 34: Be Royal in Your Own Fashion: Act Like a King to Be Treated Like One

The way you act will determine how others treat you: in the long run, a vulgar or common presence will make people lose respect for you. Because a king respects himself and inspires the same feeling in others. By adopting the attitude of a king, showing confidence in your own power, you will get them to consider you destined to wear a royal crown on your head.

Law No. 35: Master the Art of Timing

Never show that you are in a hurry, since haste betrays a lack of control over time and over your own actions. Always appear patient, as if you knew that, in time, all your desires will be fulfilled. Become a specialist in the art of detecting the propitious moment for each thing. Discover the spirit of the current times and the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stay on the sidelines when the propitious moment has not arrived, and to strike hard when opportunity favors you.

Law No. 36: Disdain Things You Cannot Have: Ignoring Them Is the Best Revenge

By paying attention to a trivial problem, you make it real and give it importance. The more attention you pay to an enemy, the more you strengthen him. And often, a small mistake is magnified in the attempt to correct it. Sometimes, the best thing is to leave certain things completely aside. If there is something you desire but cannot obtain, disdain it. The less interest you show, the greater the level of superiority others will see in you.

Law No. 37: Create Compelling Spectacles

Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures generate an aura of power, since they exert a great attraction over everyone. Put on imposing spectacles for those around you, full of fascinating visual elements and radiant symbolism that emphasize your presence. Dazzled by appearances, others will not realize what you are really doing.

Law No. 38: Think as You Like but Behave Like Others

If you make a show of going against the current, boasting about your unconventional ideas and heterodox attitudes, people will think you only want to attract attention and that you despise others. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is much safer to blend in with the masses and adopt a certain “common” air. Limit yourself to sharing your originality with tolerant friends and with those people you are sure appreciate your different, special way of being.

Law No. 39: Stir Up Waters to Catch Fish

Anger and emotions are strategically counterproductive. You should always remain calm and objective, but if you can enrage your enemies while you keep your composure, you will gain a decisive advantage. Confuse your enemies: discover the crack through which you can shake them and manage them.

Law No. 40: Despise the Free Lunch

Everything that is free is dangerous, since it generally implies some trick or a hidden commitment. Things that have value are worth paying for. In this way, you will not be obliged to any gratitude, you will be free of guilt, and you will avoid frauds and deceptions. The smartest thing is, often, to pay the full price. When it comes to excellence there are no bargains. Be generous with your money and keep it circulating, since generosity is a sign and magnet of power.

Law No. 41: Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes

What is produced for the first time always seems better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have famous parents, you will have to achieve twice as much to surpass the image of that “model”. Do not lose yourself in the shadow of those “great ones” nor remain stuck in a past that is not your own work: find your own identity and reaffirm it with your different actions. Eliminate that dominant father, renounce his inheritance, and win power through your own merits.

Law No. 42: Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep Will Scatter

Problems usually have their origin in a single strong individual: the instigator, the arrogant subordinate, the sower of grudges and resentments. If you leave room for this type of individual to act, others will succumb to the character’s influence. Do not wait for the problems he causes to multiply, and do not try to negotiate with him, for he is beyond recovery. Neutralize that influence by isolating or eliminating him. Remember that, once the dog is dead, the rage is over.

Law No. 43: Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others

Coercion provokes a reaction that, in time, can work against you. Through maneuvers of seduction, you must get others to move in the direction you want. Once seduced, the person becomes your loyal servant. And the most effective way to seduce someone consists of skillfully handling the individual’s weaknesses and psychology. Weaken the other’s resistance through the manipulation of emotions, playing with what the other loves and values, or what he fears. If you ignore the hearts and minds of others, they will end up hating you.

Law No. 44: Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect

The mirror reflects reality but is also the perfect weapon for deception: when you mirror your enemies, doing exactly what they do, your rivals will not be able to deduce your strategy. The mirror effect mocks and humiliates them, which leads them to react excessively. By putting a mirror in front of their psyche, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values. By reflecting their actions in a mirror, you teach them a lesson. Very few can resist the power of the mirror effect.

Law No. 45: Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform Too Much at Once

In theory, everyone understands the need for change, but on the everyday level human beings are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic and will lead to rebellion. If you are new to a position of power, or a third party trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the traditional way of doing things. If a necessary change must be imposed, make it appear as a slight positive modification of the past.

Law No. 46: Never Appear Too Perfect

It is always dangerous to show yourself superior to others, but the most dangerous thing of all is to seem free of every flaw or weakness. Envy breeds silent enemies. The smart thing is to bring to light, from time to time, your defects and admit harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and seem more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can appear perfect with impunity.

Law No. 47: Do Not Go Past the Mark You Aimed For; In Victory, Learn When to Stop

The moment of triumph is often the moment of greatest danger. In the heat of victory, arrogance and excessive confidence in your strength can push you beyond the goal you had originally set for yourself, and by going too far, you will create more enemies than you manage to defeat. Do not let success go to your head. There is nothing like strategy and careful planning. Set yourself a goal and, when you reach it, stop.

Law No. 48: Assume Formlessness

By adopting a defined form and having a clear plan visible to everyone, you will become the target of various attacks. Instead of giving your enemies something concrete to attack, stay flexible, adaptable, and in motion. Accept the fact that nothing is absolute and that there are no fixed laws. The best way to protect yourself is to remain as fluid and formless as water. Never bet on stability or a lasting order. Everything changes.

The Imaginary in Politics

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 03:11:44 +0000

Let’s talk about “The Imaginary” in politics, or more precisely, an imaginary — what the heck is that? It is a real and complex set of mental images, independent of the scientific criteria of truth and produced within a society from relatively conscious inheritances, creations, and transfers; a set that functions in various ways in a given era and that is transformed at a multiplicity of rhythms.

A set of mental images that draws on aesthetic, literary, and moral productions — but also political, scientific, and other ones — as well as on different forms of collective memory and social practices in order to survive and be transmitted as sets of mental images; imaginaries operate within global social structures in various ways… their workings are a guarantee of survival.

They do not always fulfill the same roles: they can justify societies, call them into question, lend them touches of harmony or of conflict, propose countless ways of life. Imaginaries function for a certain time, their functions can be reborn here and there, they have no necessary and absolute logic, no fixed and invariable laws. They exist in a given era and are transformed…

They draw on myths and legends, on places, on memory, on techniques of the body, on gestures, as well as on all manner of social phenomena in order to survive, to remain, and to perpetuate themselves.

The imaginary as a set of visual or iconographic images must be called “imagery.”

As pragmatic discourse tied to an institution, a political party, or a religious group, it must be called “ideology.”

As a way of reacting within the world and within a given society, it must be designated by the term “mentality.”

As a set of metaphorical and allegorical objects and practices, it must be called “symbolism.”

As the remembrance of past things, tales, and narratives, usually oral, it must be called “collective memory.”

Colombia (and the other Latin American nations) needs a narrative that takes charge of the common memory — the one from which it will be possible to build an imaginary of the future that mobilizes all the energies of construction of this country, today devoted in a gigantic percentage to destroying it… Thinking our political culture implies starting from there, from that originary violence upon which the truncated representation of the country — the one that fit within its first figures of an independent nation — was founded.

When one thinks of “politics,” one usually associates it with “politicking,” a practice that unfolds amid individualistic machinations, devoid of axiological content and ideals, and that is largely responsible for the contempt for and distancing from politics.

Classical definitions of politics aim to define it as the “exercise of power.” For Plato, politics is an art and a science, and it must be studied because in politics one does not improvise; politics is subordinated to the ethical sphere as an effective way of exercising not only a social morality but also an individual morality. Aristotle analyzed the Greek cities (poleis) in his work The Politics, considering man a political animal who socializes; thus, politics would be an activity inherent to human nature and the science of the organization and conduct of the polis.

Politics can be understood either as an activity that tends toward agreement and consensus, or as a practice that highlights the most conflictive aspects of life in society.

Politics would then be seen as a game or friend-enemy dialectic that finds its maximum expression in war. A struggle or combat of individuals and groups to conquer power that the victors would use to their own advantage (an objective very well fulfilled and applied by the current governing political spheres at the global level).

Politics can equally be considered the power to move, the science of organizing, and the art of foreseeing. In this sense, politics acquires the double dimension of steering human beings and administering things. It can also be considered the art of the possible and the effort to make the desirable possible.

With the above, it should be clarified that “politics” and “the political” are not the same thing. Since the Greeks, a distinction has been drawn between “politics” and “the political”: the former designates the human activity through which one organizes, directs, ranks, and governs, and the latter everything pertaining to organization, direction, and government in static terms.

“The political” is thus the permanent, belonging to the sphere of human nature.

“Politics” would be the perishable, the activity of man to organize the political; it belongs to the domain of doing.

Returning to the main topic, the idea of building an “Imaginary” in society would be with the idea of influencing the field of THE POLITICAL, and not “politics.”

What or Who Is the God of the Abrahamic Religions?

Mon, 10 May 2010 04:05:17 +0000

To answer this question, we must go as far back into the past as we possibly can, and try to reach the first description of this “almighty” god. As the vast majority of us have heard, he has primarily been identified as the «God of Israel», calling Israel his «chosen people»; we could then conclude that his origin comes from this people.

If we accept the Pentateuch (the 5 books of Moses) as a real historical document, we find something curious in the personality of the god of the Jews, and a behavior very different from what we have all been taught in our current culture. Contrary to a god of love, we find a vengeful and destructive god; contrary to a god who helps and wants the salvation of all, we find a god with a «reward and punishment» system, in a way very similar to the behavior of some of the gods of ancient Sumeria.

In whatever place or source of research you look, you will always find that the Torah or Pentateuch, according to the Jews, was written by Moses; if this were true, its origin goes back a little more than a millennium BC (according to the current calendar, before Christ). It is said that this character died at the age of 120; various experts, comparing the calendar and these claims, calculate that the exact date of Moses’s death in our calendar dates to the year 1272 BC.

Before continuing with this article, I clarify that I will not debate the affirmation or the denial of the «existence of God»; as I said before, let us take for now the Pentateuch as a “real” historical document.

The documentary hypothesis

Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918) was a German theologian, a member of Protestant Christianity, best known for being the main proponent of the «documentary hypothesis», which holds that the “5 books of Moses” have 4 distinct sources which were later combined, thus forming the books that would be included in the Torah centuries later. The most curious thing is that the oldest of these sources dates from the year 950 BC, 322 years after the “death of Moses”. This, then, is the division the theologian proposed:

Yahwist tradition, or “J” texts (c. 950 BC, originating in the southeast of the kingdom of Judah)
Elohist tradition, or “E” texts (c. 850 BC, originating in the northeast of the kingdom of Israel)
Deuteronomic tradition, or “D” texts (c. 621 BC, originating in Jerusalem)
Priestly tradition, or “P” texts (c. 450 BC, originating in Jerusalem)

The «God of Israel» is distinguished in different ways, mainly in the first two sources (the oldest):

In the “J” texts: he is called by his name YHWH, the Tetragrammaton, translated as Yahweh or Jehovah, as we know him today. These texts in particular describe a very human “god”, with a ruthless, passionate character, with instincts critically described as carnal and materialistic.
In the “E” texts: here the pre-Judaic tradition is recorded; he is called by the name «Elohim» and is presented as a less anthropomorphic god than that of the Yahwist tradition. Elohim is a plural word; in truth it represented a hierarchy of many «superior beings».

The Unpronounceable One

YHWH is the name that the Jews have assigned to their god, although its pronunciation is impossible and no one truly knows the correct way to say it. Judaism forbids any attempt to pronounce his «holy name», and much less should it be done outside the «Holy of Holies». Such is the wariness that this culture holds toward whoever does so, and the cause is that great «magical powers» have been attributed to whoever pronounces it or discovers its correct use.

It is also known as the «Tetragrammaton», which means the “four great letters”, used “powerfully” in the Kabbalah and Jewish magic.

In the Talmud it is held that Jesus managed to find the pronunciation of the word. As it was guarded by two guard dogs that frightened the perpetrator and made him forget the word, Jesus cuts himself and slips the word into a piece of paper, then pronounces it and his wound heals. He is frightened by the dogs, but after reopening his wound he finds the piece of paper where he had written the word.

This is how Jesus is classified as a kind of sorcerer or magician, and his powers came from dark practices and from the use of YHVH.

The word was also used abundantly by both the rabbis and the Kabbalists. Since the name of YHVH is considered the only true one, at first in the rabbinic texts it was known only as “The Name”, as «Shem ha-Meyuḥad» (The extraordinary Name), as «Shem ha-Meforash» (The distinguished Name), as «Shem ben Arba’ Otiyyot» (Tetragrammaton or Quadriliteral Name) or as «Yod He Waw He» (spelling out the letters of the word).

According to the Jews, the pronunciation of the name was only carried out inside the temple of Israel; outside of it, the word Adonai was used.

The Kabbalists give great importance to YHVH and added other variants, the most important being “En Sof” (Infinite or Endless), which is beyond the Sefirot (tree of life, emanations of creation).

The name of 42 letters was added by the Kabbalists in turn as equal in value to (YHVH=45).

What was YHWH like according to the Bible?

From Genesis 6 onward we begin to see the true personality of what would be the first reference to YHVH (Yahwist text). It speaks of the nephilim giants, “the sons of God” (as we saw earlier, it is a plural word), and it reads exactly like this:

Genesis 6:1 “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”

Later in this same article we will analyze the “plurality” of the Elohim.

The cruelty of this entity begins right in the same chapter, exactly in verse 17:

“And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”

Let’s do this in a didactic way, with questions and answers referenced in the Bible:

- What was YHWH’s appearance like?

Isaiah 2:19 “And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”

- Where did YHWH live?

1 Kings 8:12 “Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.”

2 Chronicles 6:1 “Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.”

- Whom would YHWH “save” from his atrocities?

In Ezekiel 14:12-20 it is explained very clearly that only if Noah, Daniel and Job were alive, because no one else, not even their relatives, would be saved from his “punishment”.

- What does YHWH think of people with disabilities?

Leviticus 21:16-21: “16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, 19 or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, 20 or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken. 21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.”

- What is YHWH’s personality like?

Nahum 1:2 “God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.”

- What does YHWH think of others’ property and their freedom?

In the book of the sacred “law” we can see in Numbers 21 a perfect example of what Jehovah wants: “the enslavement of man, seizing the property of others”.

- What does YHWH think of another’s wife?

2 Samuel 12:11 “Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.”

What did YHWH think of nature?

Jeremiah 7:20 “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.”

What stance did YHWH take toward the ritual sacrifice of the shedding of blood?

Deuteronomy 12:27 “and thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.”

Exodus 22:29-30 “Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me. Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; and on the eighth day thou shalt give it me.”

2 Samuel 21:6 “Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them. 21:9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. 21:10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.”

Numbers 31:25 “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 31:26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation: 31:27 and divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation: 31:28 And levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep: 31:29 Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the LORD. 31:30 And of the children of Israel’s half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD. 31:31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses. 31:32 And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep, 31:33 and threescore and twelve thousand beeves, 31:34 and threescore and one thousand asses, 31:35 And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him. 31:36 And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five hundred sheep: 31:37 and the LORD’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen. 31:38 And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which the LORD’s tribute was threescore and twelve. 31:39 And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORD’s tribute was threescore and one. 31:40 And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the LORD’s tribute was thirty and two persons.”

Judges 11:34 “And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. 11:35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. 11:36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. 11:37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. 11:38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. 11:39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. 11:40 And it was a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.”

Exodus 20:24 “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.”

Exodus 24:4 “And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 24:5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. 24:6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 24:7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 24:8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.”

Exodus 23:18 “Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.”

More passages of ritual blood sacrifice:

Exodus 29:10-31
Leviticus Chapter 1
Leviticus Chapter 7
Leviticus 14:34-57
Leviticus 8:14-32
Leviticus 9:1-24
Leviticus 14:1-5
Leviticus 14:12-28
Leviticus 23:12-21
Numbers 19:1-7
Judges 3:27-31

What did YHWH think of murder and genocide? To save space, I will name the biblical passages:

Joshua Chapter 10 – Mass murder.
Exodus 32:26-28 - Jehovah has the Jews kill their relatives and racial brothers.
Ezekiel 5:17 “So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.”
Psalms 64:7: “But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.”
Genesis 7 and 8:2; 2 Peter 2:5 - A Universal Flood that finished off many innocent creatures, such as animals, children, and above all babies and fetuses.
Genesis 19; 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 1:7 - Total destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, I keep asking: did there ever exist ethnic groups whose child populations were entirely perverse?
Genesis 19:26 - Direct cause of the transformation into a pillar of salt of an innocent woman (Lot’s wife).
Genesis 38:1-10 - Death of a man who refused to have sexual relations with his widowed sister-in-law, and to avoid it, masturbated.
Exodus 7:1-14, 9:14-16, 10:1-2, 11:7; Jude 1:5 - Plagues, called “wonders” by Jehovah himself, upon innocent beings of Egypt, such as the elderly, women, animals and children (does it make sense to sacrifice children?).
Exodus 12:29; Jude 1:5 - Annihilation (“wonder”) of all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, including children.
Exodus 14:21-28; Jude 1:5 - Direct cause of the extermination of an Egyptian army, by drowning them in the waters of the Red Sea.
Exodus 9:22-25 - Disaster by means of hail on Egyptian fields.
Numbers 11:33 - Plague upon human beings.
Numbers 12:1-10 - Leprosy upon a woman (Miriam) for plotting against Moses.
Numbers 16:27-33 - Opening of the Earth, through Moses, to swallow an entire population (with all its children… perverse?) for rebellion.
Numbers 16:35 - Genocide of 250 men by incineration.
Numbers 16:49 - Genocide of 14,700 people by means of a deadly plague.
Numbers 21:6 - Deadly attack of fiery serpents upon Israelite settlers.
Numbers 25:9-11 - Genocide of 24,000 people by means of a deadly plague.
Deuteronomy 2:32-35 - Logistical support to massacre Sihon, his sons and his people, and then plunder them.
Deuteronomy 3:2-3 - Logistical support to massacre King Og and all his people.
Deuteronomy 20:1 to 21:3 - Logistical support to massacre and plunder 6 peoples.
Judges 14:5-6 - Possession of a man’s body (Samson) to tear apart a young lion.
Judges 14:19 - Possession of a man’s body (Samson) to massacre 30 men.
1 Samuel 5:6-9 - Infliction of tumors on the groins of the Philistines (plague).
1 Samuel 6:19 - Genocide of 50,070 men of Beth-shemesh.
Joshua 10 - Logistical support to Joshua to exterminate the Amorites (5 peoples) and their kings, as well as the peoples of Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Gezer, Eglon, Hebron, Debir. From Kadesh-barnea to Gaza and from Goshen to Gibeon, all of this including the classic plundering.
Joshua 10:10-11 - Crushing of an indefinite number of men with large hailstones.
Psalms 78:21-31 - Murder of the “most robust men” of Israel.
2 Samuel 21:1 - Punishment of Israel with drought for 3 consecutive years because of an act of Saul.
1 Kings 2:32 - Murder of two righteous men.
2 Kings 10:17 - Orders Jehu, through his prophet, to kill the survivors of Ahab.
1 Chronicles 2:3 - Death of Er, son of Judah.
1 Chronicles 5:18-22 - Logistical support to the children of Reuben and Gad to destroy four peoples.
1 Samuel 23:2-5 - Logistical support to David to wound the Philistines and their cattle.
2 Samuel 5:23-25 - More logistical support to David to wound the Philistines.
2 Samuel 6:7 - Death of Uzzah.
2 Kings 9:7 - Ordering harm to the house of Ahab in revenge for Jezebel.
2 Chronicles 21:17-19 - Death of Jehoahaz through a terrible and cruel illness.
2 Chronicles 26:20 - Infliction of leprosy upon Azariah.
Isaiah 10:20-27 - Threat of destruction to the people of Israel.
Jeremiah 20:1-8 - Threat to Pashur of death, destruction and plundering of his loved ones and people, for having wounded Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 29:21 - Aggression against two false prophets.
Amos 6 - Derived from envy, threat of destruction, death and plundering of the people of Jacob (Zion and Samaria).
Zechariah 12:4 - Aggression, with blindness and confusion, upon the horses of Judah and, with madness, upon their riders.
Zechariah 14:12 - Infliction of an unknown plague against the rival peoples of Jerusalem.
Zechariah 14:18 - Intimidation by means of the threat of plague upon the Egyptians.
2 Samuel 12:1-19 - Death of a baby as punishment to his father (David), who apparently could not have cared less.
2 Samuel 24:15 - Genocide of 70,000 Israelites by means of a pestilence.
2 Kings 1:10-12 - Annihilation of 50 men with fire from heaven.
2 Kings 6:18-19 - Infliction of blindness upon the Syrians.
2 Kings 15:3-5 - Death by leprosy of Azariah (king).
2 Kings 19:35 - Genocide of 185,000 Syrians.
Ezekiel 9:4-6 - Orders to massacre “old men, young men and virgins, children and women, until not one is left…”
Deuteronomy 2:15 - Annihilation of human beings.
Lamentations 2:2 - Destruction of the tents of Jacob and the fortresses of the daughter of Judah.
Lamentations 2:5 - Massive destruction of Israel.
Numbers 21:3 - Massive destruction of the Canaanites.
Deuteronomy 2:2 - Destruction of the Anakim.
Deuteronomy 4:3 - Death of men who went after Baal.
1 Samuel 5:6 - Annihilation and infliction of an epidemic of hemorrhoids upon the people of Ashdod.
2 Kings 15:5 - Death by leprosy of a king.
2 Kings 24:2 - Sending of troops of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites to destroy Judah.
1 Chronicles 21:14 - Genocide by epidemic of 70,000 men of Israel.
1 Chronicles 21:15 - Orders of destruction to Jerusalem (and it is carried out).
2 Chronicles 26:20 - Infliction of leprosy upon Uzziah (king).
2 Chronicles 32:24-25 - Death of Hezekiah for ingratitude.
Jeremiah 8:1 - Gives orders to exhume corpses.
Jeremiah 19 - Destruction of the settlements of the valley of the son of Hinnom.
Jeremiah 21 - Threat of destruction of his people to Zedekiah, king of Judah.
Jonah 3 and 4 - Heavy and bad-taste pranks on Jonah.
Jeremiah 50:21 - Orders of destruction and death upon the inhabitants of Merathaim.
Judges 4:13-15 - Total annihilation of the army of Sisera.
Judges 4:22-24 - Death of Jabin and destruction of Canaan.
Jeremiah 51:52-58 - Threat of destruction to Babylon.
Amos 3:9-15 - Destruction of Samaria.
Amos 9:1-2 - Threats of destruction and punishment.

There are hundreds of more quotes, but we leave the list here, to continue with the article.

YHVH known in other cultures and/or civilizations

According to the Bible, Abraham, the «father of all nations», grew up in the Sumerian city of UR; there the Hebrew people began, approximately 2000 years BC, exactly in the year Sumeria ends. Curious, huh? Knowing that Sumeria had begun 2000 years before, is there a cycle every 2000 years? How do we see civilization today, 2000 years after the “Christian era”? A possible beginning of something “new”? These are topics to be discussed in the internal forum of «Temple of the Gods».

Judaism, up to the point we have studied, we understand that it is currently jealous of polytheism and holds a radical apology for monotheism, as do Christianity and Islam, all classified as «Abrahamic religions» as indicated in the title of this article. Well then, according to many investigations, and also putting a part of logical thought, we arrive at the affirmation that all this oral tradition was simply a «cultural inheritance» from civilizations that precede the Hebrews by centuries and even millennia.

I attach an excerpt from The Lost Book of Enki, by Zecharia Sitchin:

“Both experts and theologians recognize today that the biblical accounts of Creation, of Adam and Eve, of the Garden of Eden, of the Flood or of the Tower of Babel were based on texts written millennia before in Mesopotamia, especially written by the Sumerians. And these, in turn, stated with all clarity that they obtained their knowledge about what happened in the past (much of it from a time before the beginning of civilizations, even before the birth of Humanity) from the writings of the Anunnaki (“Those Who from Heaven to Earth Came”), the “Gods” of antiquity.”

There is an endless number of proofs that affirm what Sitchin said, which can be read in various articles of the library of «Temple of the Gods»; that is why I will not extend myself to make the apology of this affirmation in this article, but rather I invite the reader to read and investigate more. Besides fitting historically or mythologically, I have also gone through “experiences” in which I can assure having confirmed the following information.

The god of the Jews is something more than a simple copy or cultural inheritance: it is an “entity” that has had many identities through the vast majority of traditions throughout the world, and it is always characterized by the ritual sacrifice of blood, the destruction of enemy peoples and the «reward and punishment» system.

In Mesopotamia he was known as Marduk; in Egypt, as RA/Atum/Amun (curiously the Egyptian monotheism was toward Atum). And not only in the Middle East: also the god Huitzilopochtli appears in present-day Mexico, becoming a warlord of the Aztecs. He indoctrinates him in the rite of circumcision, instructs him in the construction of an Ark of the Covenant to communicate with him, and orders his people, through him, to leave the region they inhabit and move to a Promised Land… In the pilgrimage, which lasts about 200 years, the Aztecs are guided by a «Great White Eagle», their god, and must face various peoples (Chichimecas, Tlaxcaltecas, Otomíes, Tepanecas, Xochimilcos, etc.). Curiously, this eagle had a mortal enemy: «the serpent». The theme becomes clear with a deep study of the archetypes of the collective unconscious.

The previous comparison is based on the “other identities” of Marduk, but let us then go to the point of connection between Marduk and YHWH (bearing in mind that the Jewish Yahweh inherits all his characteristics and personality from the Sumerian tradition, which was plagiarized by the Hebrews):

Ezra 1:2 “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”

The Cyrus Cylinder is a cylindrical piece with a declaration in Akkadian Babylonian cuneiform from the Persian king Cyrus the Great (559-529 BC). In it, the new king legitimizes his conquest and says that Marduk chose him as king, guaranteeing peace and the cults of the conquered Hebrews.

It was discovered in 1879 by the Assyrian-British archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam during the excavation of the temple of Marduk in Babylon. It consists of two fragments, called “A” and “B”. The first remained in the British Museum since its discovery, while the second was housed at Yale University until its transfer to the British Museum.

Cyrus rebuilds the temples in the time of the Babylonian exile of the Hebrews, because God-Marduk has asked him personally.

Ezekiel 9:1, 5-6 “Go through the city after him and kill. Spare no one, let your eye have no pity. Old men, young men, girls, children and women; kill them until they are all gone.”

Ezekiel 8:1-2 “In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me. Then the hand of Lord Yahweh fell upon me. I looked, it was a human form; below the waist it was nothing but fire, and from the waist up it was like glowing metal. He stretched out what could be a hand and grabbed me by the hair; immediately the spirit lifted me between heaven and earth.”

1 Samuel 15:1 “Thus saith God the Father: I have decided to punish what Amalek did to Israel, cutting off his way when he came up from Egypt. Go then, Saul, and strike Amalek, and destroy all that he has. And do not have mercy on him! Kill men, women, children and even those at the breast, cows, sheep, camels and donkeys. And Saul defeated the Amalekites and took Agag alive, the king of Amalek, but killed all the people with the edge of the sword. And Saul and the people spared Agag. But Samuel asked that Agag be brought to him, and cut him with the sword into pieces before God the Father, so that the order of Our Father would be obeyed.”

2 Chronicles 28:6 “Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah 120,000 in one day, all valiant men, because they had abandoned the LORD, God of their fathers.”

Genesis 28:11-19 “And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac.”

2 Kings 2:9 “They were walking along talking, when a chariot of fire with horses of fire separated them from one another. Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw it and cried out: My father! My father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen! Then he saw him no more.”

Marduk and YHVH: the points of connection

Appearance of Marduk

1) Both gods begin their dominion at the beginning of the Age of Aries [2048 BC]. [Note: the planetary ruler of Aries is the planet Mars = Marduk]. Mars is of war (Jehovah is of the armies, according to several mentions in the Bible).

2) Both gods represent the characteristics of Mars [warriors, aggressiveness, ambition, dominion, conquest, leaders, weapons, destruction, sacrifices].

3) Both gods, warriors, were involved in the struggle, the declaration of wars and the destruction of cities; both were heroes and/or benefactors.

4) Both claimed to be the destroyers of cities such as Sodom and Gomorrah.

5) RA, Marduk and YHWH [as well as the Israelites] “were” all in Egypt, at the same time.

6) Both roamed the sky in chariots [transport or ‘Sem’].

7) Both were known as “God, King, Lord, the Most High”, that is, the Lords of Heaven.

8) The number 50 was important to both: Marduk was given the status of 50, YHWH and the Jubilee of 50 years.

9) Both were hidden gods: Marduk was in exile.

10) Both were seen on a celestial throne attended by angels of fire.

11) Both [and Ra] announced having a son who would promote their “mission” [Marduk/Nabu, YHWH/Jesus, RA/Osiris]. Jesus and Osiris rose from the dead and went to heaven; it is unknown whether Nabu did the same.

12) Both said they were the “creators” of the Earth, of the solar system, and creators of humanity.

13) Both left the scene of power at the same moment of history.

14) IS-RA-EL: says the word “RA” is of God [El means God]; RA is the Egyptian name of Marduk.

15) RA and Marduk were one and the same god.

16) I AM WHO I AM, same as “I am, I am Asher” [Asher and Marduk were the same god].

17) Both Marduk and YHWH celebrated the Sinai peninsula as a very important place.

18) Marduk arrived in Harran in 2048 BC; Abram was told to leave Harran in 2048 BC.

19) Marduk claimed that Nibiru, the ‘celestial planet’, was his; YHWH claims to possess “heaven” and its gates.

20) Marduk replaces Anu, his grandfather, and is proclaimed as the most supreme god; YHWH is declared as the supreme god millennia after other deities reigned on earth.

21) In the creation of the solar system, Marduk claims the role of ‘The Father’.

22) Marduk [as Nibiru] has a God-12 hierarchy; YHWH has 12 tribes; Jesus had 12 disciples [12 months in a year].

23) Marduk [as Nibiru] has 7 moons, one for each day of the week; YHWH instituted seven days to the week.

24) Both gods claimed to be the supreme deity of heaven and earth.

25) Marduk [as Nibiru] was the planet of ‘Crossing’ [of our solar system]. The ‘cross’ is used to symbolize the Judeo-Christians.

26) Marduk was the firstborn of Enki, while Jesus was the firstborn of YHWH.

27) The name of Marduk means “son of light”; by that same description Jesus was known.

28) Both are known as the dual gods: Marduk/RA, YHWH/Jesus. One good identity and one bad.

29) Both had the claimed supremacy of the “four parts of the earth”.

30) Both said that the god of Babylon was their enemy.

31) RA and YHWH both had built temples; both had a special altar and, in the most sacred place of worship, a coveted instrument [the Benben and the Ark of the Covenant].

32) The kingdom of RA was divided into two sections for [Set and Osiris], north and south; the same happened with the Israel of YHWH.

33) Osiris, son of Marduk, was murdered, resurrected and ascended to the heavens through the secret gates; Isis [goddess] found his corpse. Jesus, son of YHWH, was murdered, resurrected and later ascended to the heavens; Mary Magdalene dedicated herself to caring for his body and was the first witness of Jesus after his resurrection. Isis was the wife of Osiris; Mary Magdalene, that of Jesus. This has been denied by the Vatican and other entities have wanted to keep it secret, but there are many Gnostic gospels and investigations that confirm it.

34) The northern and southern kingdoms of Egypt dressed in red, white and blue hats; the twelve tribes of YHWH of Israel have red, white and blue flags today.

35) Father, Virgin Mother, Divine Child: Osiris, Isis and Horus; YHWH, Jesus and Mary; Marduk [as Nibiru, Tiamat [the earth] and the Sun].

36) A six-pointed star symbolized Nibiru and Marduk, just like the Jews; King David associated his god with the same symbol. Today it is the official symbol of Israel, as can be seen on its flag.

37) For both gods, the lion is a sacred animal (lion of the tribe of Judah).

38) The Eye of Horus represents strength, vigor and sacrifice. Today America, the home of lost civilizations, has the “eye” as a national emblem along with the pyramid, knowing that the USA was founded and is controlled by Masons, and these are the highest priests worshiping YHWH.

Ten signs to recognize if you belong to the group of fanatics of the God Yahweh

(By Carlos Mesa, taken from his website, article “A Strange Being Called Yahve”)

1. You vigorously deny the existence of the thousands of gods worshiped by other religions, but you are overcome with rage when someone denies the existence of yours.

2. You feel insulted and “dehumanized” when scientists say that humans evolved from other forms of life, but you have no problem with the claim that we were created from mud.

3. You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing that three persons are one god and not three gods. Or two beings and a metaphor, for example.

4. You turn all colors when you hear the “atrocities” attributed to Allah, but you do not hesitate when you hear how Yahweh is the greatest killer in history, as you have been able to read above in this text.

5. You mock Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and that Buddhists believe in reincarnation, but you do not hesitate to believe that the vengeful Yahweh was capable of impregnating virgins thanks to his “Holy Spirit”.

6. You are willing to spend your life looking for flaws in the age of the Earth estimated by science (a few billion years), but you see nothing strange in believing the dates recorded in the Bible by Bronze Age tribes who sat in their tents and speculated about an Earth only a few generations old.

7. You believe that the entire population of the planet, except those with whom you share beliefs —not counting those of rival sects—, will spend eternity in a hell of infinite suffering. And you still consider your religion the most tolerant and kind.

8. While modern sciences, History, Geology, Biology and Physics have not managed to convince you, instead an idiot rolling on the ground and “speaking in tongues” is all the evidence you need to “prove” what the Bible says.

9. You define 0.01% as a “high success rate” when it comes to answered prayers. You consider it proof that prayer works. And you believe that the remaining 99.99% of “failures” are simply due to divine will.

10. You usually know much less than many atheists and agnostics about the Bible and the history of the Church, and yet you call yourself a believer.

Note

This article is a brief introduction to our studies on the “Abrahamic religions”; parts have been taken from the following articles by other authors and websites:

A Strange Being Called Yahve - Carlos Mesa
Jehovah versus Satan - Sin Dioses - By Orcas Torres Barrón
Exposing Judeo-Christianity - Javier Orozco

This article is complemented by the following:

Jehovah; God of Israel
Symbolic and esoteric meaning of his god, for the Jews

Magic

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Magic, the first of the sciences, the first of the religions. It was in the age of darkness, when man feared the vermin of the night and disease. Rituals conquered fear and instilled in the group a sense of security that made them feel strong and invincible.

Magic was the culture of our ancestors. Magical practices reflected the community’s feelings, its yearnings and its most vital needs. Man then lived in permanent contact with nature and sought in its forces and its laws the answer to his questions.

Under those laws man began the path that would lead him to civilization. Observing what happened in his surroundings, he came to apply the laws of nature to his own existence, and his continuous search for perfection led him to create from them an organization of his social environment.

Those first laws were never moralizing; they merely sought a proper social organization, leaving absolute freedom of worship and of thought.

The masterpiece that Roman law came to be was annihilated by the moralizing and radical religious currents that came from the Jewish world, such as Christianity.

Much earlier, peoples of great historical importance never imposed a fixed cult or a specific moral conduct; on the contrary, they were always willing to learn about everything that happened beyond their borders. But then came the shadow of the Jewish religion, that of the “chosen people” guided by a jealous god, willing to exterminate all those peoples who would not worship him. Idolaters were those who, in freedom, chose their own spiritual option, and the punishment Yahveh reserved for them was death on earth and the fires of hell in the afterlife.

It is curious to note how the peoples of Asia Minor or the so-called Fertile Crescent never waged religious wars; all of them were political and economic. Religious cults were enriched by contact with other, different cults.

With the arrival of the religions of Jewish, Muslim and Christian origin, the terrible wars of religion begin. The gods of love, of wine, of fertility, of the sun or the moon fall crushed by the fanatical hordes of the new omnipotent god. One could kill, torture, rape: an infidel was not a human being, only an animal to be exterminated.

Then came the darkness of knowledge, lit only by the bonfires in which free-thinking souls were burned. Man’s genius could only be expressed if placed at the service of that terrible god. Painting, sculpture, music could have no other purpose than to praise him.

The magic that gave man courage, security and greater freedom was replaced by the terror and tyranny of the Muslim-Christian monotheistic religion.

But it is impossible to keep human nature enslaved. Its desire for knowledge and freedom keeps overcoming the old bonds and returning to the pure waters of the old wisdom that is part of the nature of our world.