Matthew M.

New York , NY

10 Beliefs discovered | 86 Totals Votes

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MY BELIEFS

We’re often too different from one another to assume that we all share the same needs and desires. If we’re going to honor one another’s interests, sympathy will get us only so far. Empathy will get us much further.

Matthew M.

Vote 3
It’s far easier to accept as truth that which we wish were true than that which is actually true. How do we know it’s easier? Why should we value truth over falsehood? Good questions. Ask them.

Matthew M.

Vote 7
Free will is almost certainly an illusion. Thought, emotion, and even consciousness are almost certainly illusions. This can be dispiriting. But even if we’re automatons, we're able to observe what we think, and feel, and see. How? We don’t know. But it's wonderful that we can.

Matthew M.

Vote 5
We can't know with absolute certainty that something like evolution occurred, or that God exists. But we can know that evolution is about as probable as an apple falling downward from a branch instead of up, and that God is about as probable as an apple turning into a flying pig.

Matthew M.

Vote 6
Freedom isn’t free: often it comes at the cost of diminishing someone else’s freedom. Do your best not to take a slice that’s bigger than your share.

Matthew M.

Vote 2
We're more likely to believe what we wish to be true over what we wish not to be true, regardless of veracity. If we’re interested in learning the truth, then we need to actively separate our beliefs from our desires.

Matthew M.

Vote 4
Morality is an evolutionary accident. Often when we feel that an action is objectively right or wrong, our feelings are based on subjective instincts. But the instinct for fairness aligns with an objective mathematical principle: desired commodities can be divided equally.

Matthew M.

Vote 2
It’s better to comfort one another by facing our fears together than by making up stories to pretend that what we fear doesn't exist.

Matthew M.

Vote 12
The ten commandments may have been the world’s first listicle. Its ethics may now be outdated, but the format was way ahead of its time.

Matthew M.

Vote 27

BELIEFS I VOTED ON

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