The manifest manifesto

By dkl9, written 2024-322, revised 2024-322 (0 revisions)


We believe in staying alive — at least when life is or will be worth it — to do things that are useful and/or fun.

Protect yourself from extreme cold by techniques such as wearing clothes. Avoid looking directly at the sun, except when using eye-protecting equipment. Prefer to avoid addictive drugs, especially those with acute overdose risk. Prefer to keep yourself and others alive. Use a vehicle to travel a long distance, if you must do it quickly and/or thru a dangerous environment.

Wash your hands sometimes, at least after you defecate and before you perform surgery. Clean your body, by shower or equivalent, at least once per week.

Sleep sometimes, some amount between 20 hours per week and 14 hours per day, in a place at most as dangerous as where you tend to go when awake. Drink water-based liquid, some amount between 5 litres per week and 10 litres per day, with liquid at most as contaminated as that you use to clean your hands or body. Eat food, some amount between 10 kilograms per month and 10 kilograms per day, which food should, in total, contain at least fibre, protein, α-linolenic acid, and ascorbic acid. At least some of the food should be plant-based. Exercise sometimes. If your environment is safe enough, go outside at least once per month.

Think, at least a little, before you act in a new or complex way. Observe new things, at least a little, before you handle them. If an action hurts, consider stopping that action. If an action is fun, consider doing more of that action. Where you see a way to do a task at equal quality with fewer resources (time is a resource), or at better quality with the same resources, do it that way.

Speak to people, in at least those cases where you are spoken to and you have a wise and/or useful response. Prefer to tell the truth. Know how to read and write your native language. Know the basics of arithmetic on natural numbers.

If there is to be a government, it should leave some autonomy to the people. If the government will punish people, it should do so in positive correlation with their crimes. A government should legalise some vehicles for private use and/or provide public transportation.

The following should generally be illegal:

The following should generally be legal:

There are at most as many gods as people. If there is at least one god, you should believe that they exist, and at least one of them contributed to making the universe.

The human body contains many parts, many of which are necessary for survival in the long run. One of those is blood, a red liquid pumped by the heart. Except when otherwise supported, objects near Earth tend to accelerate downward.

Most other things, we argue about. Hopefully, we can all agree on this much.