Eight principlesfor now.

NOTE Narration is an AI voice of Andrew (ElevenLabs "Andrew Solid"). Under almost every argument, there's the same quiet starting point. Everybody wants less suffering. There is only one primary rule in Humanism: try to advance Goodness by increasing well-being and reducing suffering. Pull your hand back from a hot stove and you've cast your vote. Yes, we picked that. Yes, that means it's not literally objective. But it's close enough to build on. Parents fighting over phones in schools all want the kids to be okay. Start there, and ask which choice leaves kids less anxious and better rested. Same goal. Now you're arguing about how to get there, not about who's on which side. Try it today: facing a decision, ask which option leaves less suffering, and count your own. Reduce suffering. That's the rule. humanist.com.

Would you still be good if no one was watching? Humanism is secular: not religious, and not anti-religious either. Think back to the playground. Remember being told, be nice to others, without also being told, because a god will punish you if you're not? That worked on your instinctive empathy, not your fear of damnation. Goodness came first. Nobody had to be watching. Parts of Humanism can be found in the cores of all of the world's religions. Take any religion and strip away the dogma, and what's left are the purely reasonable Humanist ideals. Not anti-religion. Honor the good at the core, and leave the dogma. There is only one primary rule: try to advance Goodness by increasing well being and reducing suffering. Yes, we picked that. Yes, that means it's not literally objective. But it's close enough to be our line in the sand. It puts both sides on the same side: people solving one problem together. No one needs to be watching. Just one goal: less suffering. Try it today: do one kind thing that nobody will ever find out about. humanist.com.

Not good enough. Too late. You should have known better. We've all heard that voice. Usually, it's our own. Your thoughts can be more powerful than you. You are not your thoughts. Your thoughts are downstream from things you can't even articulate, and you can't really understand what those are until you quiet your mind. Then you find something pure and beautiful. Sleep. Stress. Old fears. They flow in long before the words show up. Think about how you'd treat your best friend if they'd done what you did. You'd console them. Assure them. Now treat yourself at least that well. Our guilt isn't telling us we are bad. If we were bad, we wouldn't feel guilt. Guilt is your informer, not your prison guard. Try it today: when a cruel thought about yourself shows up, call it a thought, and say what you'd tell a friend. Heal yourself first. humanist.com.

One sharp reply. Then a sharper one back. Then a pile-on. By day three, both sides are sure the other started it. We now dehumanize by default; there often has to be a reason not to dehumanize someone. Dehumanization begets dehumanization, to an ever larger degree. Every time we write someone off, they write us off back, a little harder. The internet made that the default. So breaking the cycle has to be on purpose. The cycle can be stopped. Someone just has to go first. Try it today: skip one jab, online or off, and notice what doesn't come back at you. Break the cycle. humanist.com.

NOTE Narration is an AI voice of Andrew (ElevenLabs "Andrew Solid"). Cop. Christian. Boomer. Liberal. Conservative. A badge, a church, a bumper sticker, and we think we know everything that matters. We don't. Dehumanization usually starts here: we define people by an identity instead of by who they are. Nobody is just another cop, just another Christian, or just another anything. Every one of them was born into a situation, raised in a situation, and has made decisions based on all of those situations. Their identity is one part of that story, never the whole person. Take your uncle at Thanksgiving, the one who votes for a politician you can't stand. Maybe he just has different priorities, and that politician promised to deliver on the issue he cares about most. For the most part, people don't do bad things to be bad; they do bad things in a misguided effort to be good. Try it today: swap one label for one specific detail about the actual person. See the person, not the label. humanist.com.

Landing zingers feel good, especially when your echo chamber applauds. The problem is, it doesn't work. Responding to rage with rage entrenches your opponent. So when a stranger comes at your post, hard, try this. I get that you are trying to do what you think is the right thing, and I respect it, even if I fight against you politically. None of this was expected by the commenter, who has just been simultaneously validated as a nice person and rebuked politically. Civil discourse is not yielding a position. It's wielding a weapon! It disarms your opponent. Deflects their attempts to dehumanize you. Deflates their hate. Defeats their arguments, for real. Use truthful, even blunt or painful words, but attack the ideas while you humanize your opponent. For years, I've tried to get left and right to actually talk to each other. If your position is strong, civil discourse is your best weapon. Try it today: in your next disagreement, say their point back fairly before you make yours. humanist.com.

We have all done something we know was wrong. We're human. We have all been wronged by someone else. They're human too. Picture apologizing online. Someone screenshots it: Hah! He did it, and he admits it! So we fear apologizing. No apology, so no forgiveness. Each side writes the other off. Here's the secret: forgiveness helps the forgiver at least as much as the forgiven. Holding a grudge extends the harm that was done to you, by your own hand. Forgiving isn't forgetting, and it isn't condoning. It's putting the anger down. Refusing to allow redemption without due consideration is an act of dehumanization. Try it today: forgive one small thing, without announcing it. Forgive, and the cycle breaks. humanist.com.

You do an A/B test, and whatever made more money, you just do that. Picture your feed at midnight. Version A: a friend's new puppy. Version B: a stranger you can't stand. B keeps you up an extra hour. So B wins. Nobody chose outrage. The test just counts what keeps us there. Their business rewards everyone dehumanizing everyone else, because their real product is our attention. The algorithm can prioritize anything, and right now it's not prioritized for your benefit. The power of the algorithm is our biggest worry right now, because it runs all the way to AI. So guard your attention, and spend it on what holds people up: craft, art and community. Try it today: when an app leaves you angrier than you arrived, close it for the night. You get more of whatever you measure. So measure what makes us human. humanist.com.