I have a distaste for mediocrity.
Humans are born with agency. By pure environmental and social luck, that potential either dissolves or flourishes. This produces a power law distribution: small group with developed agency, and masses with atrophied agency.
I bought into Nietzsche’s Übermensch because it empirically captures this split. But I’ve learned that empiricism alone isn’t enough - David Deutsch (learning from Karl Popper) reasons that good explanations that are hard to vary, and so here is my attempt at derivation:
Random environment inputs + agency potential = predictable variance in outcomes.
If objective beauty exists (which Deutsch argued in The Beginning of Infinity - flowers attract both insects and humans because beauty is universal, not species-specific) through evolution with random mutation and environmental feedback, then I believe we can also discover “objective intelligence” (aka truth) through conjecture and criticism to create explanations that are hard to vary.
I believe will to power is the human analog to random mutation - the driver that propels us toward this objective intelligence. Everyone has it. And you either keep creating better explanations of yourself and reality (self-overcoming), or you freeze your current explanation and rationalize it as final truth. Master and slave morality are how we justify which path we chose.
People moralize from their position, not from truth. The masses don’t just accept mediocrity; they dress it up as virtue and attack everyone still iterating.
“Ambition is toxic.”
“Success is a privilege.”
“Contentment is enlightenment.”
This isn’t analysis. It’s a pointless explanation defended as moral wisdom - rationalization that blocks honest inquiry.
My distaste isn’t for struggle. It’s for the moral defense of mediocrity that makes convergence on truth impossible. We get NOWHERE because every position is just someone’s upbringing dressed up as moral insight.
Strip away all the rationalization and we’re left with:
- Some people trying to improve/iterate their explanation.
- Most people stop and defend where they froze.
P/S: This was written out of spite of having to study for my finals in Fall 2025.