The Most Good You Can Do

[tcpip]

In recent days I have been thinking about the requirements of an ethical life, based on the principle of how to minimise suffering to human and non-human animals. Both have been a life-long interest that motivates, far more than anything else, my practical political activism and even employment choices as much as anyone has a choice in that. There are many changes to law and political economy which can make substantive and ongoing improvements to the lives of others, even if some may seem at first blush quite orthogonal (explaining the astounding benefits of land-tax is something that requires essays on a topic that would put normal people to sleep). But of course, political involvement is not the only way that one can meaningfully contribute to bettering the world. One can also do this on a personal level as well, at no cost to social activism. The reverse, I must mention, does not apply - if one concentrates only on the personal, then a system remains in place that perpetuates violence and suffering. It's like being a pacifist and ignoring a war; whatever personal virtue one has is lost in the lack of social action.

Recently I raised the matter of whether on The Ethical Eating Of Sentient Life. Is It Possible?. Of course, there are ethical situations where it is possible, and there is certainly also a continuum of sentience, expressed a punctuated equilibrium, and I am rather fond of the ancient Hellenic term, apochí empsýchon (ἀποχὴ ἐμψύχων) - abstaining from the consumption of beings with a psyche. The sting in the proposition I put is whether there are arguments for making it compulsory; there's the social aspect. There is a victim involved, even if they do not have political power themselves. Sensible, pragmatic, contributor to the discussion have noted that whilst this is a worthwhile project, it would require an exceptional cultural shift. At best the majority opinion today has concerns for animal welfare in husbandry practises and euthanasia in slaughter. I acknowledge that this is at least a start.

In other news, I became a first-time blood donor today - apparently, my O+ blood type is somewhat useful. The process took a surprisingly long time, but it certainly a worthwhile thing to do. On Saturday the Victorian Secular Lobby had its annual general meeting with associate professor Luke Beck talking about the federal government's "religious freedom bills"; yours truly is president once again. Currently marking assignment for Unimelb's Cluster and Cloud Computing course, and will be conducting training courses for the next three days with classes over 30 over Zoom. Should be interesting given my home bandwidth.

Comments

[helvetica]

We're blood type buddies! I'm O+ too! I am a regular donor, I think that the more you go the quicker it gets. Drink heaps of water during the day before your donation it helps a lot :)

[tcpip]

We're not quite the universal donor, but we're pretty close. So it makes sense to give what we can.

Thanks for water-the-day-before recommendation, I didn't know that. The process was slowed down for being a first time donor (goodness, at 52), but mainly because they were so busy!

Getting out of the house with our movement restrictions in place may be part of the uptick in attendance.

[leecetheartist]

They should have advised you as to how to prepare. Tsk.

I am approaching my 200th donation, as I go every 2 weeks to donate plasma. I am somewhat familiar with the process. Here's a handy recap of how to prepare.

Get a good night’s sleep the night before.
The day before you donate, drink plenty of fluids, especially in warm weather.
​Eat salty foods in the 12 hours before and eat a substantial, preferably salty, meal or snack in the 3 hours before you donate.
In the 3 hours before donating, drink at least 3 good-sized glasses of water or juice.

More info here https://www.donateblood.com.au/welcome#anchor1

[tcpip]

Well, they did say breakfast etc, but not that it would make a difference in output speed. But your checklist is awesome, absolutely awesome.

And you deserve a medal of some sort for what you have done.

[leecetheartist]

It's their checklist, but it's helpful to have it to refer to.


I will get something but it is the sense that I am helping many people improve their quality of life, sometimes just by giving life itself that is key for me.