What even is this?

This is that project that you've always been meaning to get to, but you haven't found the time. Do you remember? All those important things got in the way, and you forgot a bunch of stuff that mattered. It still matters. It will always matter. If you open a browser in your mind and search for "That thing I forgot," it will direct you to this site, because that's what it is.


You'll probably be tempted to ask "Who made this?" and "Why should I listen to you?" The answer to both of those questions are part of why it needs to be here, though: if it's meaningful to you, then it you made it, and if it sounds important, you should listen. Sometimes, it's that simple.

So, Aristotle was this Greek dude, but that's really not important. You may have seen the above image somewhere, and read about the history of it, and you may feel free to scour the Internet for more sources on it, but Ancient Greece has been memed as much as anything at this point, and the likelihood for getting distracted by arguments over it is fairly high, so I'd recommend you just file that investigation away for the moment and take a look at it.


The top triangle there? That's Ethos. Traditionally, it relates to the idea of a person who speaks to an audience, and calls into question their reputation and credibility as one who is worthy of addressing you on whatever topic is being brought up. Orators have wrestled with it since the beginning of human history, because it deals with issues of authority, and thus raises the underlying question: who has the right to determine truth?


Well, here's the bombshell: it's nobody and everybody at the same time. You already know this, but where things got screwed up for the Greeks (and basically every other civilization both before and after) is the idea that authority comes from a person who has power over others. It's sort of a sticky wicket, because it's pretty tough to organize a society without that foundation, but any honest consideration of the matter will reveal that at a certain point we all have to admit that when it comes to superiority of one human over another, there's just no suitable hierarchy we can look to for rankings and stats. Think about it: if there were some essential principle of authority that could be conferred through bloodline or learning, then there would be a stable ruling family or group throughout human history on which everyone would clearly agree as the arbiter of truth: does that sound like the kind of history you're familiar with? Hellz to the naw: we are sitting at the tail end of thousands of years of war, struggle, in-fighting, toxic group dynamics, manipulation, control, hostage-taking, petty vengeance, power-plays, pissing matches, and all types of vicious skullduggery... and that's just the part we know about from written records.


The good news is this, though: you are conscious. You have the ability to act on things you think are true as well as spread the message of your truth to others, and therefore you are already the only authority on truth that you need.


Are you thinking "wait - that's a paradox: you telling me I am my own authority is you claiming authority"? Good - that's the kind of critical thinking we need right now, and it is a problematic situation. But here's the thing that resolves it: you don't believe in your own authority because some stupid website is telling you; you believe it because you know it to be true.


Here's how Ethos really works: it's a test. If the message depends on the credibility of the speaker, then it's subjective, and not true for everyone. But if literally anyone at any time, from anywhere - even randomly written things on walls (digital or physical) - can say it, and it's still valid, then... that's what truth is. The paradox of authority only exists when you place a limit on the speaker and still claim that the truth being stated is universal.


So, I guess that's what the idea behind the title of this site is: this is Ethos... Unlimited.