Dennis Hackethal’s Blog
My blog about philosophy, coding, and anything else that interests me.
Tweets
An archive of my tweets and retweets through . They may be formatted slightly differently than on Twitter. API access has since gotten prohibitively expensive – I don't know whether or when I'll be able to update this archive.
But in case I will, you can subscribe via RSS – without a Twitter account. Rationale
"Sinophobic" is such a lazy, blanket response meant to shut down dissent and signal one's moral superiority at the same time. As if criticism of China's policies implied hatred of their people.
I recently learned that in Germany, lockdown skepticism is immediately associated with far-right extremism. It’s weird.
Gross. You’d think that with all the destruction around, there would have been other priorities.
@parkerm @ReachChristofer @reasonisfun @Crit_Rat @ToKTeacher
While unfortunately not everything written about me is true, I think it's important to make sure the credit for the ideas that supported my work is clear. Borrowed ideas have since been attributed thoroughly, clearly and in-text. I hope this helps and you enjoy my book!
@parkerm @ReachChristofer @reasonisfun @Crit_Rat @ToKTeacher
Hi, thanks for asking. I took this very seriously and did a meticulous, line-by-line review of my book after carefully reading these comments, with the gracious help and support from other CRists (who shall remain nameless to protect them from any potential retaliation).
@jpr41411 @MichaelPSenger @naomirwolf
High copying fidelity is a property of memes that are good at spreading. Hence the semantic identity. Agreed that it's chilling.
.@codinghorror When I see websites using SVGs for company logos, my heart beats a little bit faster.
RT @CodeWisdom:
🧞♂️ "A computer is like a mischievous genie. It will give you exactly what you ask for, but not always what you want." — J…
Those screenshots are interesting, because the phrasing is different in all of them, from what I can tell, whereas in previous examples the wording was always pretty much the same. Did the bots get more eloquent or are they actually people?
And if something is 50% likely to happen, that’s also a statement of fact.
Those are epistemological claims. They’re false. There are facts, and there are likelihoods. Nothing can infallibly be proven true or false.
If there weren’t any facts, one couldn’t understand your tweet as a statement of fact either—though presumably it was intended as such.
Learn Clojure. Build things you haven’t built before.
You use big terms and complicated sentence structure. Why not use clear and simple language that is easier to criticize? Care to rephrase that?
I think if our knowledge grows, we recognize more problems, meaning there are more challenges. Are you suggesting that progress justifies bigger government?
Here's an alternative I would prefer: Biden and Harris completely stay out of healthcare and let Americans manage their health by themselves. They can issue actual guidances if they like, but they SHOULD NOT coerce people.
Also, his COVID task force is supposed to become a permanent institution. Goes to show that government tends to grow, not shrink.
This is all the kind of stuff I was worried was going to happen under a Biden presidency. Then again, president-elects lie all the time about their grand visions. One can hope that he won't be able to do any of this.
"COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force" is woke nonsense creeping into socialist medical planning.
"Evidence-based guidance" is really evidence-based coercion. Bad epistemology -> coercive measures
"Implement mask mandates nationwide by working with governors and mayors and by asking the American people to do what they do best: step up in a time of crisis."
"mandates" is NOT "asking"
"At the end of this health crisis, it will transition to a permanent Infectious Disease Racial Disparities Task Force."
He also wants to "establish a COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force, as proposed by Vice President-elect Harris, to provide recommendations and oversight on disparities in the public health and economic response."
Biden plans to enact "evidence-based guidance for [...] when to open or close certain businesses [and] when to issue stay-at-home restrictions."
@__adamjohnson_
You're right—I changed it from "likewise" to "in other words."
I’ve written more about this here: blog.dennishackethal.com/2020/11/08/bal…
Legislation forcing companies to have boards or workforces representative of the general populace is not only counterproductive, but mathematically impossible. Read why:
The ends don’t justify the means. You can advise people to stay home without forcing them to stay home. No coercion required (nor morally ok).
... one valid hiring strategy: qualification. But to those who think representation in the workforce is important, surely being mathematically proven wrong will change their minds?
Due to these paradoxes, wokesters who demand hiring practices that result in workforces "representative" of the general populace are contradicting themselves. Of course, those of us who are individualists and don't believe in group grievances already know that there is only...
... i.e. an employee of one color whose population has grown being replaced by an employee of another color whose population has shrunken, all in the name of "representativeness." Alabama paradox also applies, as should all others.
In Balinski & Young's theorem, replace "state" with, say, "race," and "seats" with, say, "no. of employees." There is no "apportionment rule" that companies could follow that doesn't result in a population paradox...
Update—I think there is, even within a single dimension (as long as there are three or more alternatives): math.stackexchange.com/questions/3898…
Correction: that's actually Arrow's theorem, not Balinski & Young's.
Don't forget filling out form dreifachzeitmachgutnichtschmaken 55a and normfüllhalterdreieckbahnbekundungszuschlag 19.
@SamHarrisOrg @wakingup @10percent @calm @Headspace
"very stressful moment" reminds me of San Franciscans in 2016 having "healing parties."
@ToKTeacher @bnielson01 @HeuristicAndy @DavidDeutschOxf @reasonisfun
"What could?" Neo-Darwinism could be falsified “if an organism was observed to undergo only (or mainly) favourable mutations” or “[i]f organisms were observed to be born with new, complex adaptations – for anything – of which there were no precursors in their parents” BoI ch. 4
@HeuristicAndy @DavidDeutschOxf @ToKTeacher @reasonisfun
This may help: ncse.ngo/what-did-karl-…
Many successful people give to charities to "give back." But they never took anything in the first place!
People like Steve Jobs, through the production and marketing of computers, have done way more to lift people out of poverty than charities, without even trying to do that.
Charity is overrated. It doesn't create anything new—it's just a transfer of existing wealth and is a zero-sum game. Trade, on the other hand, results in the creation of value for both parties.
I suspect for other items, the factor is even starker. How much would someone have to pay you never to use clothes again? Or salt? Or cars?
Let's say people spend an average of $10,000 on computers in a lifetime. Those $10,000 are effectively worth $10 million to them and computers outperform their cost 1000x.
I had a sense that this would be the result, but it's still worth thinking about what it means. For one, it means that computers are extremely valuable. For two, it means that entrepreneurship is much more helpful to people than even extremely generous charity.
“Sie sind beide in Brüssel untergetaucht und haben dort überlebt.” ??
Looks like he’ll need to win all of Fla, Ga, Iowa, mich, nc, nev, Ohio, and Texas if Biden gets the remainder. Doable. But if he loses a single one of those, he loses overall.
Not according to politico.com/2020-election/… if Biden wins all remaining states.
School kids in France stood for a minute of silence to acknowledge the beheading of Samuel Paty by an islamist terrorist.
"A minute of silence means nothing if it’s forced. If we’re serious about freedom, we need to stop forcing kids to go to school."
Macron is doing the right thing standing up to islamists—unfortunately, it's ironic that children are learning about freedom in a classroom setting they are forced to attend.
Would you accept $10 million on condition that you never use any computer ever again (including smart phones, tablets etc)?
What are the consequences for Newsom and the CA government as a whole? Do they at least have to pay damages?
It’s a great day for California!! twitter.com/KevinKileyCA/s…
@MatjazLeonardis @DavidDeutschOxf
Then again, we’re not after justification, so maybe this isn’t such a big problem?
RT @DavidDeutschOxf:
@richard_landes @SamHarrisOrg
Don't analyse it as a policy, where it is obviously nonsense. Analyse it as a general-pu…
To be clear, I'm not looking to weigh pros against cons. I'm looking for a single con that would refute the entire thing.
RT @MurraySuggests:
“Whenever someone starts talking about 'fair competition' or indeed, about 'fairness' in general, it is time to keep a…
“It’s about giving people the resources and the help they need...” doesn’t that sound lovely! If only she shed light on the theft and violence that are silently happening to “give people what they need.”
The idea may not explicitly encode that feature, but it's part of its reach (albeit a bad kind of reach). And yes, I think that for some ideas, it's the associations that make it troublesome.
This casts doubt on the possibility of persuading you with outcomes alone, as there may always be "other potential benefits" you can mention. It would be better to pinpoint and offer one specific criticism that would definitely change your mind.
@cziscience @ChanZuckerberg @WatchRatio
This whole account is a social-justice treasure chest.
Whenever an idea seems so obviously true that you cannot imagine yourself possibly finding a flaw with it—when it makes you think that it must be true—that in itself is a flaw with the idea.
@tiffanyiwaddell @podia @WatchRatio
coach offering services to recruit and promote based on skin color
To illustrate this point, imagine you eat cake all day and never exercise. If somebody then forces you to eat healthier and exercise every day, you'll get in better shape (i.e. better outcome). But forcing you would still be wrong and the better outcome doesn't make up for that.
Also, outcomes aren't everything. The methodology matters, too. For example, coercive methodologies should be avoided in favor of non-coercive methodologies.
What about if someone convinces you that income inequality and consolidation of power aren't bad per se? Would change your mind about UBI, too?
Affected by corporate wokeism? Here are some tips on how to counter it:
To be clear, if that's what you were referring to, the fact that UBI wouldn't alleviate poverty by printing money is true even if printing money is not coercive.
In any case, have you given any thought to how one could change your mind and get you to reject UBI?
Ok but I don't think you've refuted the notion that printing money is theft. And if it's theft it's still coercion.
Assuming that printing money is not theft, printing money does not create wealth because the USD is not a consumer good, and so it won't help abolish poverty.
All employment and company actions are already voluntary. No UBI needed for that.
You're confusing the necessity of work with coercion (a common mistake). Relieving the necessity of work does not impact the presence or absence of coercion.
Given that this presents an inconsistency with my "world view," why does that lead to disagreement with my previous two tweets?
@vharrelle71 @TragerSteele @EthicalSkeptic
Once you read Popper, you will encounter good criticism of Wittgenstein, too.
How UBI could possibly help avoid coercion at work I do not know, but it would also be a case of "coercion to fight coercion," since we have already discovered that UBI can only be brought about through coercion.
I kindof like the concept of everything being voluntary, but I think it's important that employees are not coerced into doing anything that they don't want to do either.
The "but" doesn't work there, it's like saying "we need coercion to fight coercion."
All of that is non-coercive so it's fine and their prerogative.
We can find voluntary measures to discourage bad actors. Trade associations, rules, competition, etc.
“In theory we should have more of a say in how the govt functions and that would be our route to have a say in how private companies function” is code for coercing companies into doing things they do not want.
Yeah it’s voluntary. Also hospital has a PR incentive not to do something like that or lose customers. And even if it didn’t, “sometimes bad things happen” and “bad actors exist” is no excuse for institutionalized theft.
There's no reason to think a free society couldn't solve those problems. Also there’s currently little in place to prevent governments from exploiting people.
BTW voluntary trades cannot be exploitative, unless one of the parties commits fraud.
It would reduce its activities to essential services, slowly hand over more and more of that to private corporations, first through collaboration, then through handoffs, and steadily reduce taxes until they're 0 and the government has been fully replaced by voluntary alternatives
@IdkMike @ValaAfshar @AndrewYang
Again, poverty cannot be regulated away. I understand the urgency, and poverty sucks, but politics won't help. Let the free market continue to lift people out of poverty and in a few decades we may see the end of poverty. Keep interfering and that will only slow things down.
@IdkMike @ValaAfshar @AndrewYang
Not really, no. Inflation artificially reduces the value of everyone's money. It's just a sneakier way to steal.
That's the problem: government has two primary ways of procuring money. Theft through taxation or theft through inflation by printing money.
Na, wenn er so "bedeutend" ist, rechtfertigt das sicherlich den Entzug der Freiheit!
Made my day. I love changing people's minds. twitter.com/vharrelle71/st…
You're welcome. On the topic of science and evidence, this book's chapter 1 may interest you: amazon.com/Beginning-Infi…
And Karl Popper's books, particularly "Conjectures and Refutations" and "Objective Knowledge."
@IdkMike @ValaAfshar @AndrewYang
Yes, taxes, exactly. Meaning the "contribution" would not be voluntary. Meaning you would forcefully burden one part of the population to finance another. That's immoral.
As I said in another tweet, the end of poverty will come, if we don't ruin it through regulations.
@DeliberateZero @IdkMike @ValaAfshar @AndrewYang @ChipkinLogan
In time, poverty will be a thing of the past. But it takes time. One can't regulate poverty away in a snap.
Worst thing that can happen is for politicians to come in and mess it all up through regulation. Best thing that can happen is for politicians to just stay out of it.
@DeliberateZero @IdkMike @ValaAfshar @AndrewYang @ChipkinLogan
Also, to @IdkMike's point, all private citizens of the world are already working on abolishing poverty through trade. There have never been fewer poor people in the world than today, thanks to capitalism.
@DeliberateZero @IdkMike @ValaAfshar @AndrewYang
Yeah, exactly. As @ChipkinLogan has said, why doesn't the government just declare "all problems are hereby solved"?