Last night we went to a friends 40th birthday party. We had a great time and it was really good to meet a bunch of new people. Most of the people were drinking and being merry. As I circulated and conversed with the party people one of the guys explained his conspiracy theories to me.

I am going to respond to some of the claims he made, but not necessary contradict him, but let me lay out some of his claims. He said, 911 was an inside job to cover up some other conspiracy, the world is controlled by 7 people, the US government is a puppet of something, there is a new world order coming, income tax is illegal, "they" are coming to take my guns, and of course the whole Kennedy assassination thing was some sort of cover up.

Whoa... guess this guy's rabbit hole goes really deep. While I was listening to this I realized that I could care less. Maybe when I was younger and looking for meaning in the world I would have cared, but now I tend to only care about things are are relevant to me.

It sounds selfish, and it is, but acting in your own best interest is the only truly pure thing you can do. Do I think the world is coming to an end? No! But, I have a lot of extra food on hand and emergency plans. Its called covering you bases. People need to take a pragmatic look at their lives and plan from there.

I joke about the nazis showing up or the zombie apocalypse. Its my way of making fun of the people who have examined their world and have selectively chosen evidence that supports their wild ideas. Not to alienate all my readers but looking for evidence of a world controlling power is about the same as looking for evidence for God. (Really I would probably become religious before I started fearing the nazis, because at least God is usually a good news story)

Now before you go thinking that I am just as cynical as conspiracy guy... well I probably am... Anyway, we live in a chaotic and irrational world filled with people who make psychopathic choices. Ultimately, its this pure chaos that keeps us all safe and moving forward. If we all acted like machines, on a micro level, things like communism would work out great. So if I believe in one overarching principal, its evolution. In essence we all make choices that work out for us, their correctness can only be judged in the context of our own survival.

Zooming out to the macro, we need society to lay down foundational laws and principals that keep us moving in an upward direction rather than descending into anarchy. (if you like anarchy move to western Africa, personally I like it here in the States)

In closing, remember what Keynes said, “In the long run, we are all dead.” I find that keeps shit in perspective.

Or you could look at humanity like this: