The Wayward Axolotl

This essay is about the philosophy of efilism. Efilism is the view that life is bad. The term “efilism” is based on “life” spelled backwards. Efilism is the creation of Inmendham, an early YouTuber who promoted the philosophy on YouTube and other platforms. Most of his content is in video format. You can visit his website . Efilism is based on three premises: Hedonism: Pleasure and pain are the ultimate source of value. Experiencing pleasure has positive value. Experiencing pain has negative value. (By “pain” I mean all bad feelings, such as hunger, fear, etc., not just the “physical” pain of a stubbed toe. Likewise for “pleasure”.) Altruism: There is a moral imperative to do good for others. This applies to all others. Given (1), this means trying to minimize the pain and maximize the pleasure experienced by sentient beings. Sentient beings experience more pain than pleasure, on average. From these three premises, efilists derive the conclusion that sentient life has negative ...

Who wants a world in which the guarantee that we shall not die of starvation entails the risk that we will die of boredom? — Raoul Vaneigem, The Revolution of Everyday Life , 1967 This year is the 50th anniversary of the “Summer of Love”, the summer of 1967, when the hippie movement captured the hearts and minds of the young. The summer of love was a cultural tipping point. It was the point at which Western culture tipped from modernity to post-modernity. The sixties were the coming of age of the baby boomers. They had grown up in a period of relative peace and prosperity. The post-war years were a time of technological and economic progress. The US had defeated Germany and Japan in WWII. It was now the dominant military and industrial power in the world. Mankind was reaching into space. Diseases had been conquered. Food was abundant and cheap. People in the US, and the West in general, enjoyed unprecedented prosperity. The population was migrating from both the farms ...

In this essay, I will argue that the gap between blacks and whites in the US is almost entirely due to genetic differences. By “gap”, I mean all the race differences in behavior and social outcomes: income, crime, welfare use, single parenthood, etc. This is a strong position, obviously, but I will explain why it is the most reasonable position to take. I will also argue that most statistical differences between racial, sexual and economic demographics in developed countries are due to genes. Again, this is a strong position, but I believe it is the most reasonable one. Let me give the general outline of the argument first. It has two parts. Part 1. Modern civilization has created an environment of abundance. The material conditions of human beings have never been better than in modern, developed societies. Almost everyone has access to adequate nutrition, medical care and education. Modern civilization brings out the genetic potential of individuals. As a consequence, the ...