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Sisyphus - a reason to live.

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In the depths of my memory I remember seeing a black and white spiral on a cover of a book, one that made it look cheap and poorly put together, but it intrigued me. As I read the first page, I read the next and the next  and not any more than a few hours later I was finished. "L'etranger" was completed. My memory really is cloudy as there is not a spiral in sight.  Camus came to me at a time where I had a cloud over me, an existential crisis which the existentialists failed to solve. Absurdism seemed refreshing and explained the internal conflict I had experienced throughout my childhood. The desire for a cosmic meaning for being on earth, contrasted with the meaninglessness of existence. Absurdism not only acknowledges it but wants us to thrive off of it, which for me, is  an intellectually sexy version of nihilism. His philosophical interests in general are far more sexy than investigations into semantics, logic and other branches of philosophy because it is applicable

Careers

When I was young I used to believe that your career should be what you enjoy. I have revised that view since then. When I was about 16 I read Cal Newports So Good They Can't Ignore Yet which essentially said you should acquire skills, get good at things and then do what you're the best at, with domination comes enjoyment.  When you view it through this lens you quickly find jobs waiting for you that you'd want to do. Recently I realised I am most at peace when reading multiple sources and drawing conclusions from that. going down rabbit holes of research. this can be seen by the essay plans I have produced, perhaps my greatest intellectual feat.  That being said something that requires research now seems like a logical progression. How about becoming a political analysist, MI5, civil servant... it seems like more careers are open to me now.  Find what you're good at, do that and enjoyment will then follow.  "With domination comes enjoyment" I'm not that go

Why the replacement to the HRA (1998) is a terrible idea.

First of all, what will the Bill of Rights do? Well, in 1998, the Human Rights Act (HRA) passed by Mr Blair's government entrenched the ECHR (European Convention of Human Rights) into UK law, making it admissible in our own courts. The ECHR has protected rights and no matter what the government says the ECtHR only rules against the government if the rule of law is broken! Now, the Bill of Rights originated with Dominic Raab - now Deputy PM and Justice Secretary - in 2009 when he published the book " The Assault on Liberty: What Went Wrong with Rights" . The original idea of the removal of the HRA was of course before then, but lacked a replacement which Raab provides. Conservatives were not happy with the idea of prisoner's voting which the ECtHR have ruled for, stating that it infringes upon Article 3, Protocol No.1 "The Right to Free Elections". In the land of Westminster, have we seen prisoner's voting? No. Why? Because, de jure, we should allow them

The problem with A-levels

 A levels, examinations for sixth form/college students who typically aim to go to university. A levels suck out the creativity and imagination which comes with learning. Going down creative rabbit holes of research is referred to as being "in the weeds" rather than diving into the depths of the subject you are studying. Elon Musk said "You can have a Bachelor's degree, and still be an idiot". This summarises A levels, from the formulaic essays to tasks of memorisation. The criticism of memorisation applies to the humanities rather than STEM fields, take politics and want to get an A*? Memorise some essay plans which you didn't even create, or use the points and evidence you find in the textbook to formulate your own. The repetitive cycle of learn, memorise, test and forget is dangerous and a foolish way to structure education. Where are our creative thinkers going to be created? University? Potentially. But these skills should be developed from 16-18. If yo