Written here are Declarations of Reasoning, authentic statements of my epistemology so that you, dear reader, may know my mind. When Pursuing Reality, open-mindedness and transparency are key. Therefore, new declarations will be added regularly, and they will be updated annually to reflect new information that is uncovered and new facts that emerge. These changes will be documented publicly to demonstrate the evolution of my thinking.

What are Declarations of Reasoning?
              – They are a section of essays dedicated to detailing how I think about certain existential subjects of philosophy, ethics, faith, and other broad concepts. They are my first principles, which form the framework to how I analyze new information and reach conclusions on any topic from current events and politics to history, science, and technology. My Declarations of Reasoning will give the reader a window into my ideals and my priorities, which are the DNA at the foundation of all my positions.

What is the goal of publishing Declarations of Reasoning?
              —The goal is transparency. I do not intend to try to persuade you to think like I do, but rather to provide you with a roadmap as to how I analyze new information and how I arrive at conclusions. In so doing, I hope to also provide a heuristic by which anyone else can evaluate their own conclusions. In our society of mass-moral and logical confusion, it is critical to double-down on seeking the truth and doing the hard work of constantly maintaining one’s own mind—the rooting out of fallacious thinking and the introspective clearing of cognitive dissonance. Unfortunately, in a marketplace of ideas dominated by aggressive panhandlers of opinion and idealogues selling their agendas, it can be difficult to sift through the noise and grasp the facts that underly the matter. Journalism is a cloud of obfuscation and selectively applied principles, and the exercise of accounting for the hypocrisy of views has proven much less desirable than simply ignoring their message or choosing a narrative and accepting everything that it gives. There is a reason that hypocrisy is not a desirable quality, and these declarations are essentially a personal account of my attempt to root out my own hypocrisy.

For example:
              —The issue of the ethical implications of emerging technologies, such as social media and artificial intelligence, has become increasingly entangled with the idea of freedom of speech. The landscape of writing on these technologies is full of persuasively written arguments that only make sense to readers who already fundamentally agree with the author’s philosophy toward free speech. These philosophies are usually foundational to the author’s analysis, but either intentionally or as a symptom of an obsession with brevity, they are rarely enumerated transparently. It is increasingly rare to find people who will present their arguments side-by-side with confessions of their biases. My Declaration of Reasoning On Freedom of Speech clarifies exactly the rationale that underpins my thinking anywhere that fundamental freedom is at issue.

And though perhaps I put myself at a bit of a disadvantage by exposing my mind to you in this way, reader, I hope you take me in good faith. It is incumbent upon every person to define the good life for themselves, to ensure that the destination is a moral one, and to ensure that they consistently apply their philosophy in their decision-making. I do not believe in God, nor do I believe in utopias, and I certainly fall short of my own ideals, but I am sincere in offering to you these, my guiding principles, in the hope they will be of use to you.