Eight Suggestions

Back in 2014, Lex Bayor and John Figdor had a go at creating a new version of the ten commandments. They did this by organizing a contest where there would be ten – 1000 $ prizes. The contestants had to submit their ten commandments and the reasoning for each of them. They had a panel of thirteen judges; so, essentially they crowd sourced ideas. Not sure how many entries they got, but two thousand odd rings a bell.

And here are the results reproduced. They are not bad and if I may say so an improvement on the Abrahamic version.

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.
2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.
3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.
4. Every person has the right to control of their body.
5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.
6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.
7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.
8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.
9. There is no one right way to live.
10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.

Anyway a little bit of commentary on the new ten commandments. Generally I have no major problems with them; but, perhaps a few quibbles. Points 1 through 3, no problem, I have them more or less in my set. I get number 4, but do prisoners who have been convicted have a right to control their body. Somebody who is locked up do they have the requisite control? Number 5 while true, is not terribly relevant. I don’t have a belief in God and not sure what is meant by “good”. And here I am referring to a philosophical good. Take responsibility in number 6? This needs clarification. I am responsible for my actions in that I am a proximate cause for my actions. This is implicitly assuming free will. The Golden Rule in number 7 by all means is a useful guideline; similarly number 8. Number 9 implicitly assumes there are right and wrong ways to live. And the last commandment assumes the world needs improving. While I get it, I think philosophically it is problematic.

Just as an aside on the original, when I was seventeen I was going to Lutheran confirmation classes. Getting confirmed was partly cultural, as much as a religious thing. Anyway when studying the ten commandments, I came to the understanding that the commandments 2 to 10 were more or less a restatement of the first commandment. In that we should not covet our neighbour’s wive’s asses before God, so to speak. After a little while, the Cardinal asked me if would consider a life in the clergy. I told him, I wanted to be a chemist, and he said he had trained to be a chemist. I remember thinking what a waste, and politely declined.

Back then in 2014, I had go at my own “ten commandments”, but I only could come up with eight suggestions. Here they are:

1. Be aware of ourselves, our environment and how we interconnect.
2. Make an attempt to understand this interconnectivity and its ramifications.
3. Be aware of our desires and the likely consequences of their implementation.
4. Avoid thinking in terms of right (good) and wrong (evil).
5. Remember we came into this world as stardust; we will leave in the same way.
6. Our access to existence is incomplete, so cut ourselves and others some slack.
7. Evaluate our beliefs by corroborating them with observation using logic; it is an iterative process.
8. Be a little uncertain in our personal beliefs.