Operating system of me.

This post summarizes a few ideas which I hold to be true, while not necessarily endorsing them from an ethics standpoint, and which you can assume I take for granted in any piece of opinion I write.
Being one of those people who are never entirely comfortable with certainty, and live with the nagging feeling that confidence is mostly about overlooking stuff — the paradox is only apparent — there isn't much I take for granted.

This list is intended as a helper resource for whoever decides to enter a discussion with me: if any of those seem too deeply flawed to you, you'll save us both time and frustration by first correcting me on those postulates you deem broken before you try to skin any other beast — either that or drop it.

Thanks.

[For lack of a more sensible ordering (that I can figure), entries are organized by growing character count.]

• Less is (often) more.
• You can't un-fry things.
• Diversity is inherently desirable.
• The passing of time has no purpose.
• 90% of any human production is crud.
• A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
• Convenience beats quality under most circumstances.
• The map is not the territory — don't get caught in metaphors.
• Hard work and steadfastness can't alone salvage flawed designs.
• Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
• Those who most tend to seek power are less likely to exert it wisely.
• Our brains don't naturally grasp statistics, not even simple percentages.
• Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
• Ideas should not be held responsible for the people who claim to defend them.
• It's unlikely there is a god… even more unlikely it cares in the least about you.
• Evolution is not a perfecting principle, it works on the just-good-enough principle.
• Concepts should not be judged based solely on the success or failure of their implementations.
• In most competitions, the optimal strategy is to hamper opponents' ability to compete whenever possible.

• New one-line-beliefs will be added as they come, if/when applicable.

• These one-liners each ought to link to a full entry eventually, but as usual, don't hold your breath, this blog is a low-priority item as far as I'm concerned.

• Catchy zingers that happen to be corollary to any of the above have been purposefully omitted from this short list, and will be covered — if ever — in the full-entry versions.
Ex: I strongly support the notion that "Universal Suffrage is a scam", but it doesn't warrant an entry in the list above, as it is merely a corollary of several of other listed postulates (primarily but not limited to) "the optimal strategy in most competitions…", "convenience beats quality…", "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." and "those who most tend to seek power…".
Ditto for: "Don't wait for your afterlife to make something of your time, there is no respawn for you noob."