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freedom.md

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 Freedom denotes the possibility to act as one desires without suffering negative consequences. The opposite of freedom is [slavery](slavery.md) (being forced to do what one doesn't want to do). Clearly the word *freedom* is so vague, general and [culturally](culture.md) significant that whole libraries could be filled up to the roof only with books exploring this single concept. Aiming to describe what the word means in general we could say freedom is the size of the [set](set.md) of options an entity has available to freely choose from at given moment: the fewer option there are, the less freedom it has. Very important in this is to realize that options which are formally available but [de facto](de_facto.md) excluded must be treated as unavailable as long as we're interested in REAL freedom, as opposed to just "freedom on paper", i.e. if for example one has the legal right ("freedom") to criticize a mafia boss but the option is de facto excluded because doing so will lead to one being killed by mafia, there is no REAL freedom to criticize the mafia boss -- the freedom is only illusory.
 
-[Freedom](freedom.md) is an essential value of [less retarded society](less_retarded_society.md) which aims to increase happiness of all life: a living being having many choices can choose the one it really likes, as opposed to an enslaved being which [has to do](work.md) a thing it most likely dislikes.
+[Freedom](freedom.md) is an essential value of [less retarded society](less_retarded_society.md) which aims to bring happiness to all [life](life.md): a living being having many choices can choose the one it really likes, as opposed to an enslaved life form which [has to do](work.md) a thing it most likely dislikes.
 
-From the definition it can be deduced that **freedom can almost be equated with [minimalism](minimalism.md)** and those looking for genuine freedom start following minimalism very soon. At first it may not exactly be clear why, but in fact freedom and minimalism are inevitably connected: minimalism means [needing](dependency.md) a little; needing something enslaves us by FORCING us to satisfy the need and freeing ourselves of the need gives us the extra choice: to do something or not to do it, as it is now no longer obligatory. Therefore minimalism implies more choice and so, by definition, more freedom. Minimalism is not about having little, but needing little; a minimalist won't have a car or luxury house not because he couldn't achieve to have one, but because it's pointless to do so, just as it's pointless to buy something that will never be of any use or value. In the same fashion minimalist technology offers more choice: more people can understand it, repair it, improve it; minimalist software is less demanding and so there is more choice of where it can be installed and used, it is smaller so there is more choice in how to share it (unlike big software it may be shared via floppy disk, low bandwidth connection or even on paper), and so on. It is only natural that people who seriously look for attaining mental/spiritual freedom have often resorted to [asceticism](asceticism.md), at least for a period of time (e.g. [Buddha](buddha.md)) -- this is very commonly not done with the intent of actually giving up all materialistic pleasures forevermore, but rather to let go of the [dependency](dependency.md) on the them, to know and see that one really can live without them if needed so that one becomes less afraid of losing them, which is often what internally enslaves us. It's a way for attaining minimalism. Without even realizing it we are nowadays addicted to many things (games, social media, overeating, shiny gadgets, ...) like an alcoholic is to booze; it is not necessarily bad to drink alcohol, but it is bad to be addicted to it -- to free himself the alcoholic needs to abstain from alcohol for a long period of time. Our chains are often within ourselves: for example we often don't have the freedom to say what we want to say because that might e.g. ruin our career, preventing us from enjoying our expensive addictions -- once we don't worry about this, we gain the freedom to say what we want. Once you rid yourself of fear of jail, you gain the freedom to do potentially illegal things, and so on. Additionally going through the experience of letting go of pleasures very often opens up your eyes and mind, new thoughts emerge and one reevaluates what's really important in life.
+From its definition we can reason that **freedom can almost be equated with [minimalism](minimalism.md)** and those searching genuine freedom find themselves on the path towards minimalism. At first the reason may seem unclear and obscured by our primitive desire for satisfying needs, at first we tend to think of freedom as MAXIMIZING consumption and property to bring ever more pleasure and satisfaction of craving, but this couldn't lead us further from the truth. In fact freedom and minimalism are inevitably connected: minimalism stands for [needing](dependency.md) little; needing something enslaves us by FORCING us to satisfy the need and freeing ourselves of the need gives us the extra choice: to do something or not to do it, as it is now no longer obligatory. Therefore minimalism implies more choice and so, by definition, more freedom. Minimalism is not about having little, but needing little; a minimalist doesn't own a car or luxury house not because he couldn't achieve one, but because it's pointless to do so, just as it's pointless to buy things that will never be of any use or value. In the same fashion minimalist technology offers more choice: more people can understand it, repair it, improve it; minimalist software is less demanding and so there is more choice of where it can be installed and used, it is smaller so there is more choice in how to share it (unlike big software it may be shared via floppy disk, low bandwidth connection or even on paper), and so on. It is only natural that people who seriously look for attaining mental/spiritual freedom have often resorted to [asceticism](asceticism.md), at least for a period of time ([Buddha](buddha.md), [Diogenes](diogenes.md) etc.) -- this is very commonly not done with the intent of actually giving up all materialistic pleasures forevermore, but rather to let go of the [dependency](dependency.md) on the them, to know and see that one really can live without them if needed so that one becomes less afraid of losing them, which is often what internally enslaves us. It's a way for attaining minimalism. Without even realizing it we are nowadays addicted to many things (games, social media, overeating, shiny gadgets, ...) like an alcoholic is to booze; it is not necessarily bad to drink alcohol, but it is bad to be addicted to it -- to free himself the alcoholic needs to abstain from alcohol for a long period of time. Our chains are often within ourselves: for example we often don't have the freedom to say what we want to say because that might e.g. ruin our career, preventing us from enjoying our expensive addictions -- once we don't worry about this, we gain the freedom to say what we want. Once you rid yourself of fear of jail, you gain the freedom to do potentially illegal things, and so on. Additionally going through the experience of letting go of pleasures very often opens up your eyes and mind, new thoughts emerge and one reevaluates what's really important in life.
 
 By the same reasoning we'll find that **[generalism](generalism.md) and self sufficiency** increase freedom because, once again, they decrease dependence and reliance on others, opening up more possibilities and becoming harder to enslave. If one can grow own food, he can still choose to work and buy food for money he makes, but he also has up his sleeve the option to stop working and make his own food if for example the employer starts to abuse him, force him to work more for less money etc. So just BEING self sufficient alone may force the employer to treat the employee better, seeing he HAS the card and could leave if treated badly; a specialized robot however has no other option than to accept whatever conditions the employer establishes -- he is a slave. This is why [capitalism](capitalism.md) pushes people towards specialization: specialization comes at the cost of abandoning generalism and self sufficiency, making the individual depend completely on the system, becoming slave and someone who will be very easily blackmailed -- if you don't do what the system wants, you won't get what you need to live.