#leaving the UC

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

https://youtu.be/vpnxd31y0Fo

Julia Galef   Big Think   September 25, 2013

The sunk cost fallacy means making a choice not based on what outcome you think is going to be the best going forward but instead based on a desire not to see your past investment go to waste.

___________________________________

Julia Galef is a New York-based writer and public speaker specializing in science, rationality, and design. She serves on the board of directors of the New York City Skeptics, co-hosts their official podcast, Rationally Speaking, and co-writes the blog Rationally Speaking along with philosopher of science Massimo Pigliucci. She has moderated panel discussions at The Amazing Meeting and the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism, and gives frequent public lectures to organizations including the Center for Inquiry and the Secular Student Alliance. Julia received her B.A. in statistics from Columbia in 2005.

TRANSCRIPT: So I want to introduce you to a concept known as the sunk cost fallacy.  Imagine that you’re going to the store and you’re halfway there when you realize, “Oh wait, the store is actually closed today.”  But you figure, “Well, I’ve already come ten blocks.  I might as well just go all the way to the store, you know, so that my ten blocks of walking won’t have been wasted.  Well, this is a transparently silly way to reason and I doubt that any of us would actually go all the way to a store that we knew was closed just because we’d already gone ten blocks.

But this pattern of thinking is actually surprisingly common in scenarios that are a little bit less obvious than the store example.  So, say you’re in a career and it’s becoming more and more clear to you that this isn’t actually a fulfilling career for you.  You’d probably be happier somewhere else.  But you figure I’ll just stick with it because I don’t want my past ten years of effort and time and money to have been wasted.  So the time and money and effort and whatever else you’ve already spent is what we call the sunk cost.  It’s gone no matter what you do going forward.  And now you’re just trying to decide given that I’ve already spent that money or time or whatever, what choice is going to produce the best outcome for my future.

And the sunk cost fallacy then means making a choice not based on what outcome you think is going to be the best going forward but instead based on a desire not to see your past investment go to waste.

Once you start paying attention to the sunk cost fallacy you’ll probably notice at least a few things that you would like to be doing differently.  And maybe those will be small scale things like, in my case, I now am much more willing to just abandon a book if a hundred pages in I conclude that I’m not enjoying it and I’m, you know, not getting any value out of it rather than trudging through the remaining 200-300 pages of the book just because I don’t want, you know, my past investment of a hundred pages, the time that I spent reading those hundred pages to go to waste.

And you might notice some large things, too.  For example, I was in a Ph.D. program and started realizing, “Gee, this really isn’t the field for me.”  And you know, it’s a shame that I have spent the last several years preparing for and working in this Ph.D. program but I genuinely predict going forward that I’d be happier if I switched to another field.  And sometimes it really does take time to fully acknowledge to yourself that you don’t have any good reason to stick with the job or Ph.D. or project that you’ve been working on so long because sunk costs are painful.  But at least having the sunk cost fallacy on your radar means that you have the opportunity at least to push past that and make the choice that instead will lead to the better outcomes for your future.

[synthaphone]

finished the chocolate and custard centibytes- the dessert brothers

with that, every color i've finished converted art for that existed pre-conversion now has a UC counterpart. Hooray!

[hsslilly-blog]

What kind of things do Hunt and Claire agree on as they plan to have a kid?

Like hypothetically, if your parents are a famous movie star and director, you’re gonna naturally be curious about film and tv. So maybe they say, like, you can be in the school play if you really want to, but we’re not letting you work as a child star

i think most of their conversations about it revolve around this exact topic. this ended up too long, i'm so sorry.

claire has lots of anxieties about being a mother: it is something she wants to be ("eventually... one day... in the future") but she feels very insecure about it. sometimes she thinks she's not cut for it. i think claire just fears repeating what both her parents did to her when she was a child. "planning" a child feels very weird to her, and i think it is a topic of conversation she Avoids (just like she Avoided the topic of marriage.) this is a theme in claire's character: for someone who demands clarity from her partners, she sure likes avoiding topics she finds uncomfortable. and, well, hunt does not.

so these conversations are not something she can escape from. i think it takes a while for hunt to figure out if: 1. claire wants to marry; 2. claire wants to have a child; and then, finally 3. how this is going to happen. at first claire says they shouldn't plan at all, that things are going to work out just fine. hunt tells her this is absurd. she says it's not fair to the child to have everything set in place before they're even here! hunt asks her if bringing a child into the world without any preparation is any fairer. as always, conflict moves them, so this is when they start having a productive discussion.

(it takes her a while but claire eventually understands that "planning for a child" is different from "planning their entire life ahead" and that her parents were complex individuals.)

as a former child star, claire would be terrified of putting her children in the same situation. the stress and pressure of it all, plus her dynamics with her parents (and her mother's fixation on her acting career) greatly defined her person. and she's a bit weirder because of it. i believe hunt shares her sentiment; he's more than aware how ruthless the industry can be for adults, let alone for children.

there are two things they agree very early on: their children may be interested in any art form (or whatever else they may like), but they're not going to pursue it professionally until they're old enough to understand what it means; and that the less exposition the better. the public wouldn't know grace's face until her 10th birthday. does baby #2 have a name? who knows. i think this is true of their relationship prior engagement as well.

most of all, i think they just want the kids to have a normal childhood. neither of them had one. they want the kids to explore who they are, try things out, make mistakes, etc, without fearing judgement (from them, or from others.) <- these are two overly critical people, and they know what criticism does to your soul. they don't want that to their children. so being kinder and accepting the babies as they are is also something hunt and claire agree on. learning experience.

i also believe they'd try to be present for their children. claire had her whole situation with her parents (one was Not There, the other one was only there when she was acting), and hunt had a very lonely childhood. so they agree on trying to be less weird about work. not easy for either of them! this is when claire has her... crisis. it does work out in the end. i think they're a happy little family.

[dailyfatefigures]

Mega Cat Project - Nyantomo Ookina Nyandam Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Kira Yamato by MegaHouse

[candyredterezii]

praying and crying pl decent job with decent pay come back to me and or be listed i cant work at this arcade anymore LOL

[arytha]

The Flower, for the draw prompt :3c

The flower!

[ID from ALT: A portrait of my OC, Rowana, with the title 'The Flower' next to her. End ID]

Rowana!! I got obssessed with that name sometime in fourth grade and when I made this Embodiment I decided she gets to have a name aside from her Law (Vitality)!! Because I can.

Rowana is actually incarnated physically as the second known instance of Rian's species!! Which is a kind of parasitic plantlife that assimilates life around it to make its own livable biome. She finds it incredibly funny that she's in hot water with the Universal Commission because Rian exists. Its not her fault evolution decided to be terrifying :3

[mikurulucky]

They literally just be like "peace out, y'all. if you need me, i'll still be here as a ghost of some sort"

[little-eye-guy]

well i guess i’m awake now

[jacklesraised]

see the reality is i post on my rps usually when nobodys been there a bit and nobody is probably online, but the mental illness in me keeps saying its bc everyone secretly hates me and i dont deserve love, and when i tell a gov doctor that, they basically just say ‘take your antidepressant’s and shut up’ which is also funny when said gov doctor wont refill my fucking antidepressants in the first place

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Scared of Leaving?

HWDYKYM got this in our ask box about seven years ago:

“I’m a second gen from Australia, and I’m currently questioning the beliefs and customs of the unification church. I just wanted to ask, when you left the church, did you feel scared at all? Did the thought of ‘what if all they taught was right’ ever cross your mind? I’m currently stuck between leaving the church or staying, and am currently exploring other more ‘normal’ religions. Many thanks.”

I decided to share this with some other second generation who left the church and here are some of their responses:

I legitimately wondered if I was going to get struck by lightening or run over by a car for the first year or so. My mom had had a spiritual child that left and then drowned a few months later, so as a kid she drilled into me that that’s what happens when you leave. Plus I was terrified to tell people about where I “came from” because I thought I would be judged or thrown out (like in so many establishments on STF) so it took me a long time to develop my family of choice.

When I was younger I had told my parents that I wanted to explore other religions, and they all but forbid me from doing it. They explained that since they knew that following the church was the right path, there was no point in me exploring others. My response was, “Well if it’s right, then there’s no harm in looking elsewhere, because I’ll obviously find my way back,” but they wouldn’t have it. Whether out of fear or just plain stubbornness I still don’t know. To me that is evidence of the total control the church exerts over its members. It forbids them to have empathy or open-mindedness, and it prevents them from experiencing all the goodness this world has to offer. The Divine Principle teaches that the purpose of life is to attain happiness, and I was anything but happy in the church. Yes I terrified for months before and after I “left,” although I can’t pinpoint an exact event or time. It was more of a series of lifestyle changes that gradually brought me away, but also made me happier and improved my quality of life. As things got better, my fear eventually subsided. My advice? Go explore! Committing to a life of faith is a big decision and should be taken seriously. Land in a place where you are comfortable to be free, express yourself, and explore your unique potential.

I always come back to this answer to the original question: ‘If your parents got to choose their own faith that their parents probably didn’t agree with, why can’t you?’ Isn’t that part of growing? Would they have discovered the UC if they didn’t explore other religions, different from their own parents’? Also the “pure blood lineage” scenario runs through some sects of the Jewish, Muslim, and basically Judeo-Christian teachings, so the UC is not special in that sense. That’s how the church kept me in fear of disbanding. It’s a false-privileged old way of controlling someone, and it’s the very definition of conditional love. I would let this person know that practically all of 2nd gens I know have left the church, because we found that the world is bigger than the narrow confines of the UC. It’s okay to question things just like Martin Luther did with starting the Protestant Church, and Rev. Moon did with the UC, and what the Pope is doing right now.

Something I find comfort in is the idea that good people are good people, that goodness is goodness, regardless of affiliation or belief. It’s  your character and your actions that matter, that determine the quality of your life and the impact you can have on the world, much more than your creed. Even the DP teaches that people with good hearts are the ones actually closest to God, rather than “whitewashed tombs” of people who claim the truth. Even if it turns out that you’re “wrong” in what side of the fence you decide to jump down on, it doesn’t really matter as long as you live your life well. It’s hard to know or sure what’s true. We just have to do our best with whatever knowledge and certainty we do have. If there is a Heaven, I think all the people who are truly loving, generous, and courageous are the ones who will end up there – be they atheists, Hindus, Mormons, or even Unificationists.

From a young age, I knew the cost of being a Unificationist was big, especially if you really believed in it. I’m not one to half-ass anything, and if Moon was the messiah, I wanted to get matched by him, do at least two years of STF, convert all my friends, make the Principle known, create a perfect heteronormative family under the reign of Cheon Il Guk, and pay indemnity for my Japanese sins. But for some reason, I was always suspicious of it all. I felt like I didn’t have enough reasons to believe. I would do conditions of 210 bows for 40 days, cold showers, fasting, etc., to receive an undeniable confirmation that Moon was truly the Lord of the Second Advent, like the myths we heard from early UC history. Nothing ever came. What kept me in for so long was the fact that I never experienced a love like I did among church members. That was my testimony and the reason I put my faith in Moon. Eventually, when I discovered the atrocities done in the name of Moon and by Moon, especially after I read Nansook Hong’s book “In the Shadow of the Moons” I knew I couldn’t stay much longer. I was scared of leaving because of my parents, of course, but also because I thought I’d never have friends like I did in the UC. We constantly heard that rhetoric that friendships outside the Church are pointless and what BCs share is unique, etc. After I left, though, I developed deeper friendships than I had in the church. I had friends who loved me no matter what my views on spirituality were and loved me when I fucked up and I found out what true love—that unconditional love we were told about at camp—was really about. I somehow ending up forming convictions in God, Jesus, etc., that I couldn’t ignore, and despite my cynicism and fear of organized religion, I ended up in a progressive Christian community that could support me in my faith (and me with theirs) and live out these convictions presented by Jesus together. All that to say, it may be really hard leaving, but it will be worth it. Explore your convictions, your ideas, and be the best you. It fucks with Moonies’ heads when they see somebody so clearly living out true love and not buying into their crap—and outright rejecting it.

First I would tell he or she that “religion” should not be perceived as a social group that one just joins. Even though, that’s basically what it is on the surface. You should look deeper inside yourself. Find something you truly believe in. For me it’s God. I’m not religious. I’m spiritual. Which is something all religions can help you discover within your self. But you should not have to need/depend on a religious group to find/keep your spirituality. I mean that’s just my perspective. Just be an open person. Be infinite. Take everything in. And live your life. I was horrified at the beginning. But then you’re just free. And that’s awesome.

I was afraid whenever I’d go against the church’s rules, but I found that more often than not I wouldn’t feel the repercussions of sin that were promised. The more I went against the church, ultimately the less afraid I became. There was a lot of questioning and doubt, I certainly wondered what would happen to me, and what if they were right. I think it’s good to seek out truth for yourself. Ultimately if you find the church is your answer then you can go back. They’re desperate for more members anyway.

While I was questioning my beliefs, I felt a lot of shame and guilt about being ungrateful for TP, and doubting them so much. I feared God would be disappointed in my lack of faith. But the more evidence I found that the faith itself was inconsistent and false, the more boldly I was able to think for myself and discover who I am. It’s terrifying at first to think that everyone you know and all the adults you’ve looked up to are wrong. But it also gives you freedom, when you can ascertain your own beliefs instead of just checking in with what “Father says”.

There are a million and one religions that purport that they are “right” and “the one”. I don’t think God (if you believe in God) would screw the rest of the groups based on what religion they belong to or what specific traditions they encourage, but rather the love we offer to others. Isn’t that unconditional love?

For me leaving the church was a very big deal. I would say that the fear was more to do with losing something I had invested my time, energy and person into. Eventually the cognitive dissonance becomes too strong and the overwhelming conclusion that what the UC teaches is not true just becomes your new normal. The process is real, it takes time though. Joining other religions can help as a kind of a ‘step down’. I’ve explored a few Christian churches and found that in some circles, having been part of another religion that I believed in and left, has made me far more skeptical than most of the congregation. In others I’ve met people who have had a similar journey from conservative faith into something more complex (and liberal).

Not so much fear for me. Maybe little fleeting twinges of it early on. But it was a slower transition and more gradual over time which I’m sure made it easier. Two points to remember: 1)  I’ve never seriously considered that I could permanently lose my relationship with my mother. We’re related by blood. We disagree at times, but if anything threatened my life. She’d only be closer to me, no matter what had divided us. She’s my mother. She loves me. How much more would that apply to my father in heaven. Who not only gave me physical life, but a spiritual nature as well. 2)   Would it make sense, if you invested in my business, that I would tell you…  "Don’t trust information from anyone else but me. Because only my information will help you understand my stock and make the right choice about investing in it. The more you trust my information, and ignore all other information, the better financial decisions you will make!” That doesn’t work for ANYTHING you can name in life! The more diverse information you receive, the more thoroughly you will understand something, and the better decisions you will then make. So why is it that the ones who claim to have the highest, most important truth want to prohibit you from getting information from anyone but them? What are they afraid of? People that have FACTS on their side, never fear any information that would seem to contradict them, because if they have enough facts on their side, they can easily handle any challenge offered. But the UC fears such challenges, and wants you to believe that being fully informed is even “evil” and can undermine the supposed greatest truth there is! But that is ridiculous of course, seeing as how, in ANY question in life—finances, house purchasing, medical issues, intimate relationships, science…  ANYTHING…  the more informed I am, the more thoroughly I understand something, the more I can make the best informed decision!   Hope this helped.  God bless!

Fear is not a good reason to stay in the UC

Indemnity is a Moon Trap

conformity

Bending Truth – Cognitive Dissonance

Sun Myung Moon’s theology used to control members

Fear and Loathing at Cheongpyeong

Where Sun Myung Moon got his theology

The Korean background of Sun Myung Moon’s church

The Moon church is unequivocally not Christian

[cleocatrablossy]

Y’know what fuck UC Santa Cruz if I can’t figure out what fucking careers are linked to a course without it getting so confusing and overwhelming I start to fucking Cry I have very little interest in that school

[humanspaceflightday]

NEW ZEALAND - Yuri’s Night 2024 International Space Event at the Air Force Museum.

Yuri’s Night 2024 at the Air Force Museum of NZ, an International Space Celebration; Come along and see Canterbury’s Aerospace on display, completely free; Turn up any time throughout the day (below for some workshop times)

– Planetarium tours – Mars Rover display – Build-Your-Own-Rocket workshops – Static Rocket displays – Giveaways (from stickers to aerospace collectibles) – Astronomical displays – Wind Tunnel exhibit – Build a Shuttle – Send a postcard to space (Really!) – watch a rocket launch (weather dependant) – Touch a piece of rocket that’s returned from Space! – Spot Prizes of cool aerospace swag! – and so much more!

Yuri Gagarin became the first human in Space on April 12th 1961. Fast forward 40 years and “Yuri’s Night” was created as an international space party, celebrating everything aerospace!

– Rocket Workshops at 10am and 2pm (spaces limited) – Rocket Launch at 1pm weather dependant – Planetarium tour numbers subject to space constraints

– Therese Angelo Wing of the Museum (hang a left and go past the cafe upon entering)

Proudly brought to you by the Christchurch Rocketeers, Royal Aeronautical Society of NZ, and the Air Force Museum of New Zealand

Event displays volunteered by: – Christchurch Rocketeers – Royal Aeronautical Society of NZ – Air Force Museum of NZ – Canterbury Astronomical Society – Aerospace New Zealand/ Aotearoa Aerospace Academy – House of Science – UC Aerospace Club – SpacewardBoundNZ – Canterbury Astronomical Society

Yuri’s Night 2024 International Space Event WHERE: 2024-Apr-13 @ 09:30 AM - 2024-Apr-13 @ 04:00 PM WHEN: Air Force Museum of New Zealand Harvard Avenue, Wigram, Christchurch, New Zealand

[feminist-space]

"Balaji’s death comes three months after he publicly accused OpenAI of violating U.S. copyright law while developing ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence program that has become a moneymaking sensation used by hundreds of millions of people across the world.

Its public release in late 2022 spurred a torrent of lawsuits against OpenAI from authors, computer programmers and journalists, who say the company illegally stole their copyrighted material to train its program and elevate its value past $150 billion.

The Mercury News and seven sister news outlets are among several newspapers, including the New York Times, to sue OpenAI in the past year.

In an interview with the New York Times published Oct. 23, Balaji argued OpenAI was harming businesses and entrepreneurs whose data were used to train ChatGPT.

“If you believe what I believe, you have to just leave the company,” he told the outlet, adding that “this is not a sustainable model for the internet ecosystem as a whole.”

Balaji grew up in Cupertino before attending UC Berkeley to study computer science. It was then he became a believer in the potential benefits that artificial intelligence could offer society, including its ability to cure diseases and stop aging, the Times reported. “I thought we could invent some kind of scientist that could help solve them,” he told the newspaper.

But his outlook began to sour in 2022, two years after joining OpenAI as a researcher. He grew particularly concerned about his assignment of gathering data from the internet for the company’s GPT-4 program, which analyzed text from nearly the entire internet to train its artificial intelligence program, the news outlet reported.

The practice, he told the Times, ran afoul of the country’s “fair use” laws governing how people can use previously published work. In late October, he posted an analysis on his personal website arguing that point.

No known factors “seem to weigh in favor of ChatGPT being a fair use of its training data,” Balaji wrote. “That being said, none of the arguments here are fundamentally specific to ChatGPT either, and similar arguments could be made for many generative AI products in a wide variety of domains.”

Reached by this news agency, Balaji’s mother requested privacy while grieving the death of her son.

In a Nov. 18 letter filed in federal court, attorneys for The New York Times named Balaji as someone who had “unique and relevant documents” that would support their case against OpenAI. He was among at least 12 people — many of them past or present OpenAI employees — the newspaper had named in court filings as having material helpful to their case, ahead of depositions."

[adhdclownfromhell]

Uh oh...

[chungledown-bimothy]

I cannot overstate how much I love Tom Lehrer's story. It sounds so fake but is entirely real.

He's a goddamn genius- he started studying mathematics at Harvard when he was 15 and graduated magna cum laude. He worked at Los Alamos for a few years before being drafted and working for the NSA, where he claims to have invented jello shots to get around alcohol bans.

He then went back to Harvard for a couple years before starting to teach political science at MIT.

Through all of that, he was writing and performing both some of the funniest shit you'll ever hear (Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, Masochism Tango) and absolutely scathing political satire (Who's Next, Wernher von Braun, Send the Marines). Until the mid/late 60s counterculture gained momentum. He didn't like their aesthetic, so he stopped making music.

Shortly after, he moved to California and started teaching math and musical theater history at UC Santa Cruz for the next 30 years.

I don't know if non-Californians understand just how goddamn funny that is. It's where stoners and math (and now computer science) kids who couldn't get into Berkeley go. Leaving Harvard/MIT for UCSC is peak academic phoning it in. And by all accounts he had a blast.

Plus the whole putting all of his music in the public domain thing. That fucked.

[hollow-keys]

In 2020, BLM protestors burnt down the 3rd precinct in Minneapolis in response to the murder of George Floyd, and polling showed that 54% of Americans thought it was justified at the time.

In 2022, Yamagami Tetsuya murdered Abe Shinzo, the former Prime Minister of Japan and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, in broad daylight because of his ties to the Unification Church, a predatory cult that ruined his and many others families' lives, which led to the entire country basically saying "this guy has a point," increasing scrutiny of the UC and its ties to the LDP, and the subsequent backlash contributed to the LDP's worst election result since 2009.

In 2024, a currently still free assassin murdered Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, one of the largest health insurance companies in America, and also the one with the highest claim denial rate, leaving the words "deny, defend, depose" on the bullet casings, likely in reference to this, and the people appear to be almost unanimously behind him.

Propaganda of the deed is back, baby.