I Love Moral Ambiguity

Life becomes interesting when you look at the gray areas; if everything was black and white, it’d be boring line to walk from start to finish with no room for exploration… I find morals to be quite an interesting case for this. To give some background, I’m what you’d call a Agnostic Atheist, which means I don’t believe in any higher power, but don’t deny the possibility of it. I’m open minded. I’m very calculated and like to be educated before I speak up or make any decisions.

As soon as I mention "atheist" some religious folks assume the worst. Oddly enough, religion is blamed for some of the larger man-caused catastrophes, yet somehow the lack of religion still raises an eye brow. When I think of morals, I think of the basics: don’t steal, don’t hurt people, be kind… ultimately: treat people how you’d like to be treated. I don’t think there’s more to it than that.

For whatever reason, I tend to gravitate towards issues that society either can’t agree on, or somewhat frowns upon. That’s not to say I’m doing anything questionable myself, but I do find the topics interesting. I work with many different online communities in my line of work. I’ve worked with communities from high stakes business / finance, to drugs, guns, escorts/prostitution and a pile of gaming sites. Let’s start small…

A gaming community. Hardcore gamers who don’t get out much. They brag about their DUIs, arrests, or how they haven’t left their house in a week. I’m sure they are mostly full of shit, but it’s interesting nonetheless. By working with these types of people, am I effectively feeding their addiction? Let’s say I even started one myself… how responsible am I for the outcome of these peoples’ lives? Some of them, 8 years later, are still around doing the same thing on a site I created. Wow. Perhaps they were going nowhere, and this particular site was merely an option. Perhaps it was the only option. Perhaps they would have instead gone to school, but the addiction of the community kept them behind. It’s pretty cool to leave an impact on the world, even if it’s a little unclear exactly what it was.

How about a Forex (foreign exchange) site? Am I helping promote capitalism (another gray area), or perhaps I’m helping feed someones gambling addiction? One Forex site I worked on went as far as forcing us to use code names and had the most comprehensive non-disclosure agreement I’ve seen. Apparently developers get head hunted to try and put in back doors or release data early for some quick cash (probably more than I think). While that’s something I’d never do, it was surprising to be warned about it. Backstabbing a client definitely falls under the don’t steal and don’t hurt people clauses of my moral compass. Perhaps I’m simply a cog in their wheel, one that can be easily replaced with somebody else.

One of the most interesting topics I find is prostitution. There is a ton of psychology behind it from both sides of the transaction. It’s been fun interesting to study the demographics, and ultimately talk to and understand how it works, what their risks/benefits are, and why they do it. The worlds oldest profession has a stigma in modern society, yet it’s still thriving over various classified sites and online communities. Offline too, of course, but with the internet as widespread as it is today, it’s much more visible now. I certainly surprised whenever I see TV shows, movies or even books that touch upon the topic. It’s a fascinating hidden economy controlled by very high demand, privacy, and a pile of supply.

I’m lucky I get to explore some of my curiosities through my work. I can dive in quite deep, and ask any questions I may be curious about, all without any judgement, which I’m sure they appreciate too. I wish people were more willing to discuss these gray areas of life, but for now, I’ll continue to be judged or get wide eyes when I bring it up. That’s fine. If you are on the opposite side of the discussion, please humor me. Life is boring when nobody has anything to new to say.

Freakonomics

Having heard good things about this book for ages, it seemed like a first good read. For those not familiar with the book, it’s not so much about economics as it is about how an economist views the world and solves problem. The book can be simplified to one concept: people respond to incentives. It explores various comical, yet seemingly everyday scenarios of how people respond to incentives. People such as realtors, gang members, organized sports, and parents.

I found this book to be fantastic because it all boiled down to a few high level points. It encourages you to look at situations differently, always thinking of why people do things, or rather, what incentivizes them. As an entrepreneur, this thought process has always present, but often lays dormant when out “in the real world”. This has really encouraged me to dig deeper when analyzing the world around me. I think I’ve become a little more cynical with my analysis, but that’s a better place to start compared to complete naivety.

I found the chapters on children & parenting particularity interesting. As a parent, it becomes easy to fall into the trap of wanting the best things for your kids. Why wouldn’t you want the safest car seat, or healthiest food? There is a huge gray area between paranoia / elitism, reality, and negligence / cheapness. The child safety industry is insane, and it rules with fear. The opposing government regulations and health networks seem to trail behind and legally can’t give any product advice anyway. Who do we trust?

I highly recommend the book. It’s probably more beneficial to the average person than business people… we need more people thinking analytically rather than being bullied around with fear.

Time to Blog Again

After just turning 24, I realize I’ve matured a lot and slowly found my own identity since graduating high school 6 years ago. It took a while, but I no longer see myself as a computer geek. I no longer feel I need to strive to be the best at that defining aspect of my life.  I’m content knowing I’ll never be that glorified rock-star developer (we suck with reality).  While I spend the majority of the time honing the craft, I find I benefit far more from learning the other complimentary skills.  That’s the realization I’ve hit this past year.

I’ve tried to keep a blog over the past few years, and I succeeded for a while, but it was always technical writing. That bores the majority of the people I care about. I’ve merged that into my company blog instead and have decided to make a personal one. I’m going to instead post about life, business / entrepreneurship and everything in between.

I also saw an idea a while ago of trying to read one book per week. That seems pretty ambitious for me, but I’m going to give it a shot. Reviewing the books publicly seems like a good form of accountability, and also gives me some content to write about. Let’s see what happens.