# What boundaries are When we put together everything everyone is entitled to do, we have a set of barriers that demarcate each individual's [philosophical](philosophy.md) "territory". Boundaries are the various divisions between ourselves, others, and our environment that create a convergence of everyone's rights. While the fringes of these boundaries have plenty of gray area up for debate, some things inherently within the sole [control](decisions.md) of a living being are non-negotiable. Those things are called "rights". ## Rights There are *many* human rights: - Complete equality of their [soul](humanity.md) with all others of like souls (i.e., all humans have equal standing, all dogs have equal standing). - Freedom from [unfair discrimination](image.md), which includes not being [enslaved](slavery.md) or experiencing [arbitrary legal persecution](mgmt-badsystems.md). - The right to consent or decline to any medical procedure or practice of their body. - The [safety and security](safety.md) that they will stay alive, without additional unnecessary pain imposed onto them. - Freedom to act without fear of others sabotaging many of their things: - Able to move about freely, rest, and have an adequate living arrangement. - Able to [think](understanding.md) and [believe](understanding-certainty.md) what they want (which includes being wrong). - They can freely pursue their [identity](identity.md), [change](people-changes.md), and [learn](understanding.md). - They can express their ideas through [language](language.md). - They can [communicate with others](people-conversation.md) and to privacy. - They can [have a family](people-family.md), [marry](gender.md), and [be in a community](groups-member.md). - They have title to their property, both owned and [possibly](imagination.md) owned. - They can maintain their [honor/reputation](image.md). - Legal recognition and [equality](morality-justice.md) before [the law](rules.md): - They're [presumed](imagination.md) innocent until proven guilty. - They will get a fair [public](groups-large.md) hearing. - They can develop their [national identity](groups-large.md), get their government's [protection](safety.md), and can [participate in government](groups-large.md). - They're informed about any reports or communications about them with others. - They can choose not to [say things](language.md) that would otherwise [incriminate them](rules.md) (i.e., "Miranda rights"). - They're not discriminated against or favored based on their race, [gender](gender.md), [age](maturity.md), [political belief](politics-conservativeliberal.md), or [religion](religion.md). - They can get [asylum](safety.md) from prosecution if others are abusing *their* rights. - Freedom to profit from things they've [created](creations.md) or [thought of](legal-ip.md). Animals have rights as well, but only proportionally to their sentience. This isn't the limit to human rights, and there's technically no end to what can be demarcated as legitimate implicit rights. Rights are derived from the [responsibilities](meaning.md) that they're connected to, and those responsibilities determine the scope of what a person must do to maintain those rights. - Don't [lie](people-lying.md). - Don't steal from others. - Notify affected parties of relevant changes. - Honor what you say you'll do. Privileges are expansions on our rights, but have further responsibilities associated with them. - The freedom to travel across public spaces without harassment. - The ability to use assets, such as [technology](technology.md) or [information](information.md). - The ability to use *others'* assets, including their [ideas](legal-ip.md). - Every other [form of power](power-types.md). ## Rights vs. rights The complicated part about each person's rights is that it applies to *everyone else*. Most [interpersonal conflicts](people-conflicts.md) are grounded on either [misunderstanding](understanding.md) boundaries or trying to [assert privileges](power.md) as if they were rights. The [laws of a territory](rules.md) *should* abide by everyone's inherent rights, but they frequently don't. However, the people in [power](power.md) have the privilege of doing anything they want within the limits of their [power](power-types.md), so rights will be violated as long as we have people with [power](power.md) who can abuse their privileges. Further, since [power dynamics](power-types.md) are biologically configured to be uneven, and we're not always [loving](people-love.md), almost every person has abused another's human rights at one point or another. Some part of it is [upbringing](people-family.md), but most (if not all) [human souls](humanity.md) have [evil](morality-evil.md) in them that [will entertain](imagination.md) the desire to violate others' rights for self-interest. Our [upbringing](people-family.md) can also communicate to us that we don't have certain rights when we legitimately do. Even though our [intuition](mind-feelings.md) will disagree, we'll often sabotage our [understanding](understanding.md) of the world to accommodate or fight what we're taught. The only way any one person can reliably satisfy another's human rights is through [loving](people-love.md) them. Otherwise, we usually won't consider others' mental rights, even with elaborate [social engineering](mgmt-badsystems.md). In the absence of love, the only way people can ever make sensible [decisions](decisions.md) is through rebelling against a common enemy. This is [the only way](people-conflicts-war.md) that [large-scale groups](groups-large.md) will band together, though they will often turn on each other when that outside enemy is destroyed. One of the trickiest debates about freedoms includes the right to [speak](language.md). By speaking, we express our [souls](humanity.md) onto our [environment](creations.md). While it's the only way for us to stumble through the trial-and-error method of [discovering truths](understanding.md), it can also be abused to [immorally](morality.md) gain [power](power.md) or [distort truths](image-distortion.md), especially via [influence](influence.md). Thus, a government's [regulations](rules.md) about free speech will dictate how much they [trust](trust.md) the average citizen. ## Privileges Beyond rights, we also have privileges. Rights are things we ought to have, but privileges are things we *can* do even when we have no inherent right to them because they're part of *others'* rights. Many times, people believe their privileges *are* rights, often from a privileged [upbringing](people-family.md) or [cultural](culture.md) indoctrination: - Being believed isn't a right because that would infringe on others' rights to think and believe what they want. - Any physical possession or property isn't a right if it significantly harms other individuals. - [Love](people-love.md) isn't a right, since that would require others to desire differently than they prefer. Unfortunately, we can set [implicit contracts](people-contracts.md) with privileges used regularly that abuse others' boundaries. This can create situations where a violated right is certainly [unethical](morality.md), but is entirely [legal](rules.md). ## Privacy Privacy is a specific type of [safety](safety.md) with others. Most protections give others safety to [do things](results.md), but privacy is the specific safety of *not* having others access something, which may include [communicating](people-conversation.md) information. It's the ability to say "no" to others' [understanding](understanding.md). The information individuals may obstruct from others is a very specific list, though people may interpret *anything* as private depending on their [culture](culture.md): - Observing a person while they're not fully clothed. - Knowledge of what a person possesses or may possess. - Past events tied to someone. - Ability to do specific things or with a specific [tool](technology.md). Our [feeling](mind-feelings.md) against others violating our privacy is usually [irrational](logic.md). We tend to [imagine](imagination.md) that all violations of our [safety](safety.md) represent a risk: - If everyone knew where you lived, most people wouldn't care. - Where you ate lunch or spent last Friday isn't typically relevant to most people. - Your music preferences can't do much if everyone else knows. Most privacy concerns over small things are associated with others' ability to [predict](imagination.md) your behavior. However, people keep making [decisions](decisions.md) that shift their [habits](habits.md) around, so those behaviors are only approximate. We're all [somewhat predictable](humanity-universals.md), but it's impossible to predict people with enough precision to accomplish a [purpose](purpose.md) as long as we're [changing](people-changes.md), even with an [algorithm](technology.md). This privacy sometimes extends to everyone, but more often only applies to outsiders of a [group](groups-member.md). Typically, there's someone responsible for managing that privacy, so they usually have disproportionate [power](power.md) over that information. Often, in a [larger group](groups-large.md), the leader doesn't have the time to keep close track of everything. In that case, the manager will often assign "keys" to everyone who's in that group (e.g., ID cards, [passwords](encryption.md), physical keys). Unfortunately, there's no easy way to keep track of those keys. The manager must [trust](trust.md) everyone's ability to keep track of them. And, if any of them are stolen, it creates two possibilities: 1. Everyone had the same key, so they must get new ones. 2. Everyone had a different key, and the stolen keys are rendered invalid. Unfortunately, every single security idea requires a comparatively [unsafe](safety.md) "door" or entryway that someone could theoretically enter without official authorization. Power and [understanding](understanding.md) *always* tempts our [human nature](humanity.md), so every effective privacy measure is complicated, ridiculous, and time-intensive. [Technology](technology.md) magnifies our results, so it also magnifies the role of privacy against intruders. We can make elaborate [security](safety.md) systems, but it allows elaborate invasions of those systems. ## Reputation A person's reputation is the composite of everyone else's [image](image.md) of that person. It's extremely fickle and chaotic because it's what other people [feel](mind-feelings.md) about someone, which changes constantly. While having a reputation isn't a direct boundary, there is a certain type of [morality](morality.md) to a society thinking appropriately of someone. [Evil](morality-evil.md) people given honor is as much a perversion of [justice](morality-justice.md) as good people who are [condemned](mind-feelings-shame.md). All reputation is nothing but [sentiments](mind-feelings.md) about past events. Those sentiments, however, are [powerful](power.md), and define entire [cultures](culture.md). Because reputation is built around feelings, it's rarely [rational](logic.md). At its farthest extreme, a celebrity will make one social media remark that generates 1,500 comments, with each person feeling their single comment will [make a difference](power-influence.md). Reputations prove beforehand to others about what they should [expect](imagination.md). It usually indicates what someone [has legitimately done](results.md) and implies how much they [understand](understanding.md). While a reputation is always interpersonal, a sufficiently advanced society will create a set of data-generated reputations in different domains (e.g., [credit score](money-2_debt.md), [insurance score](insurance.md)). The limit of [power](power.md) from a reputation is what that entire [group](groups-large.md) can provide, so most people [pursue](purpose.md) at least some reputation with others. To [communicate](language.md) a reputational image is *highly* contextual and will bestow honor or shame on a person depending on the situation. Most of the value people feel from their honor and shame comes through a third party observing it, which is why [group leaders](groups-small.md) have more [power](power.md) to bestow honor and shame than [members](groups-member.md). To be famous is to have so much attention on you that you have no medium to sufficiently respond to the people who [communicate with you](people-conversation.md). Because of how much [power](power.md) a reputation can give, people will [work hard](results.md) to [distort and tweak their image](image-distortion.md). Most people do it a little (which is essentially [lying](people-lying.md)), but some people are experts at claiming honor and redirecting shame. When people are [skillful enough with others](people-4_friends.md) or [familiar enough with someone](people-friends.md), it's *impossible* to hide reality from them. Since most of our actions are made of [habits](habits.md), and [feelings](mind-feelings.md) flavor our habits, any alteration to hide [reality](reality.md) from someone who knows what to [expect](imagination.md) will betray their ulterior [motive](purpose.md).