r/negativeutilitarians

 

Brian Tomasik is a negative utilitarian philosopher. Negative utilitarianism is a kind of "algorithm" for reaching decisions on how to minimize suffering as much as possible, given any situation.

Jainism shares influences with the Vedic tradition while Utilitarianism is a product of the Enlightenment. They are separated by 2500 years and as such are informed by vastly different metaphysics. Despite that, there are many similarities in how they are practiced. Many suffering focused people for example practice non-violent communication, a communication approach that's invented by the clinical psychologist Marshall Rosenberg. He was of course, obviously inspired by Ahimsa. Perhaps, the most striking parallels can be found between Brian Tomasik and the Jain ascetics. Below is a table I made for illustration. Note that it's overly simplified, combining ascetics, laypersons and various sects across different time periods.

 

Brian Tomasik	Jains
Minimization of suffering is the final goal in of itself	Minimization of suffering is in service towards liberation from rebirth
Expansive moral circle that includes animals, insects, plants, microorganisms, AI	Expansive moral circle that includes animals, insects, plants, microorganisms
Moral weight is based on sentience	Moral weight is based on the number of senses. From microorganisms that only have the sense of touch to humans possessing five senses plus a mind
Childfree	Childfree
Lacto-vegetarian	Lacto-vegetarian
No alcohol as it impairs judgement	No alcohol as it impairs judgement
No honey and almonds; replace grains with beans, nuts and potatoes	No honey, multi-seeded fruits and root crops
Rinse the bugs off veggies into a container. Gently dump the water outdoors	No vegetables where the processing involves injuring many small organisms
Place food in the fridge instead of leaving it out to prevent fruit flies	No fermented and stale foods
Don't compost. Instead: avoid wasting food, dispose of food scraps in a sink grinder, or seal food in plastic bags and then put in the garbage	Fasting and consumption of unflavoured food known as ayambila
Limit water use to avoid killing zooplankton	Filter water and wear face masks to avoid ingesting microorganisms
Limit the use of light at night to avoid attracting bugs. Go solar to reduce killing of fish by power plants	No cooking at night. Skip dinner
Limit travel especially when the road is wet to avoid crushing worms, slugs etc.	Historically limited travel. A reason why unlike Hinduism and Buddhism, Jainism never spread to East and Southeast Asia
Avoid stepping on grass and move bugs stranded on roads out of the way	Paryushana — four month monsoon retreat intended to avoid stepping on creatures
Clean often to minimize food for organisms thereby curbing infestations	Sweep the ground to avoid stepping on insects
Use a bed sheet with very small holes to avoid accumulation of dust flakes which is food for dust mites; flush dust in the toilet so dead skin decomposes mostly via bacteria	The Digambara sect does not wear clothes
Pioneered the concept of Earning to Give, as in earning money to give away to charity	The laypeople is an affluent class, well known for philanthropy. Historically prohibited from farming so they became merchants
Austerity. Believes holiday gifts are a deadweight loss. If you want to give him a gift, he instead requests a donation to his preferred charity in his name	Some sects like the Sthanakavasis reject temple worship and it's rituals. Some ascetics only own a bowl and a broom
Honesty is a good policy	If honesty results in great harm, laypeople are to lie. Ascetics must remain silent even if there's a threat on their life
Reduce aggressive impulses	Equanimity is one of the six obligatory actions
Promote cooperation between different value systems	Anekantavada or literally non-one-sided. Note that tolerance and pluralism is a modern interpretation. Early Jain texts were polemical, with some exceptions like Haribhadra
Suicide should be a human right	Sallekhana — death by ritual starvation

 

By the way, this might encourage scrupolosity. In Jainism, there are different expectations for the ascetics vs laypeople. And Tomasik will probably say that charity and movement building is far more impactful so don't fuss and just do the best you can !

 

My main sources are Jains: An Introduction by Jeffery D. Long and The Jains by Paul Dundas as well as Brian Tomasik's website

There’s something almost admirable about the ability to create an entire ecosystem where perception matters infinitely more than reality. A place where appearances are polished, slogans sound inspiring, and everyone keeps repeating words like “vision,” “culture,” and “excellence” while actively suffocating the very people producing it.

I used to think leadership meant having the self-awareness to recognize talent, the maturity to accept criticism, and the courage to take responsibility when things go wrong. Turns out, in some places, leadership is mostly about protecting egos, rewriting narratives, and making sure the right people receive credit while the wrong people absorb the damage.

It’s genuinely incredible how often incompetence survives when it’s wrapped in confidence and hierarchy. Entire teams can underperform, miss obvious flaws, create avoidable chaos, and still walk around convinced they’re elite simply because nobody at the top has the honesty or backbone to acknowledge reality. Meanwhile, the people solving problems silently become inconvenient reminders that the emperor may not actually be wearing very much.

And what a fascinating experience it is to watch selective blindness operate in real time. Endless scrutiny for people actually trying to build something meaningful, but unlimited patience for mediocrity as long as it flatters the system. Standards become flexible. Principles become situational. Accountability becomes a one-way street. Somehow the loudest advocates of “high performance” often end up being the people most threatened by it.

The most disappointing part isn’t even the dysfunction itself. Every organization has flaws. It’s the sheer lack of honesty. The inability to look inward even once. The constant need to preserve an illusion so carefully that reality itself becomes unwelcome. When environments become that politically fragile, truth starts sounding offensive simply because it interrupts comfort.

Still, I suppose every experience teaches something valuable. Some teach inspiration. Others teach pattern recognition. And there’s no better education in hypocrisy than watching people preach excellence while systematically rewarding mediocrity, insecurity, and obedience over actual capability.

At least all the effort accomplished something important in the end: the optics stayed intact, the image remained premium, the mythology survived another quarter, and somewhere out there another expensive success symbol probably got justified by work done quietly by people who’ll never be acknowledged for it.

TL;DR: Some workplaces care more about preserving optics, hierarchy, and ego than recognizing actual competence or accountability. Eventually you realize “culture” is sometimes just branding for dysfunction.