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

@madsbrodt

You say “using JS, for example.” What else would one use?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@addyosmani @tobiasahlin

I've been wondering if that's the same thing as on the Stripe homepage?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@GavinNewsom

At whose expense?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

And here I was thinking I had to make the Berlin transpiler do it... Will be nice to remove some lines of unnecessary source code. twitter.com/denicmarko/sta…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@cloroussy

Exactly. It's a similar kind of asymmetry as the one Popper explains between confirmation and falsification.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

And that, right there, is why programmers are Popperians, even if they don't know it. twitter.com/catalinmpit/st…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

You want to learn about AGI, but where to start? Read these chapters from David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity for the cutting edge of AGI research:

blog.dennishackethal.com/2021/01/05/wan…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@iamFilos @ToKTeacher @DorfGinger @EpistemicHope @micahtredding @MatjazLeonardis @WorriedDenizen @Vivify705 @krlwlzn @reasonisfun @DavidDeutschOxf @bnielson01 @crit_rat

Brett wasn't calling Eli anything. If I understand correctly, he was characterizing the views some people hold, not any particular person. I think he was trying to be helpful by offering criticism.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @RamenRockets:
@EpistemicHope

Also, Dennis Hackethal @dchackethal is pretty good at explaining the critrat position on AGI.

https://t.c…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@__adamjohnson_ @TahaElGabroun

Ah, I mean "understood" as in "you objectively contain the knowledge of how to solve the problem," not as in "you subjectively experience having found the solution." You're right that the latter may not happen.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@__adamjohnson_ @TahaElGabroun

I'd go even further: to understand something is to program it, if only mentally.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@__adamjohnson_ @TahaElGabroun

I do think if you can program it, that means you've understood it. Sometimes we programmers stumble upon a working solution by accident, but that's rare. And even then we're not content until we find out why it's working.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

And today they would call it "artificial intelligence." twitter.com/PessimistsArc/…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@NickHudsonCT

Christ.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

FYI, since the request for refutation isn't being met, I may drop out of the conversation. (To be clear, I'm not saying it's your responsibility to come up with a refutation, I'm just letting you know that I may drop out and don't want to do so without an explanation.)

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

Like, one shouldn't drop a theory just because there is another one that's also hard to vary and explains more or less the same phenomena (if that is the case).

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

I think the NDTM is quite hard to vary as well. In any case, my point about the dinosaurs—or any arbitrary good theory—is just about what it takes to refute it, not about how hard to vary it is.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

That's true of any theory and its refutation. A refutation explains why it can't be true, not why it need not be true. No theory need be true.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

... just because there are infinitely many ways to explain fossils that don't involve dinosaurs and so one doesn't "need" them (so the argument goes).

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

...instrumentalist reasons, but the result is the same). Advocates of the reality of past dinosaurs are right to hang on to their theory until somebody explains to them why there couldn't have been dinosaurs. It's not surprising that they won't change their minds...

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

In this discussion, replace my theory with the dinosaur "theory" of fossils and it reads a bit differently, perhaps. There are those who say dinosaurs really existed. Then there are those who say dinosaurs are an unnecessary addition/interpretation of fossils (for different,...

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

because you could always find some way to add replication to a system

That's still thinking in terms of necessary/unnecessary, not possible/impossible. I won't keep adding replication back into the theory if it can be shown that it cannot contain replication.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

Ok. A refutation, not a replacement, will be needed to change my mind. On that note it would be good to know what would cause you to accept the theory.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@dela3499 @ella_hoeppner

Circuits are physical objects. Btw my theory isn’t about memes either.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@dela3499 @ella_hoeppner

I hadn’t seen this. Note that “neural Darwinism” and the neo-Darwinian theory of the mind are very different because (judging by a brief skim of the article) the former is about hardware only while the latter is about software only. The former also seems a bit empiricist.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

Scotland Police promoting a snitch tool in violation of freedom of assembly and association. twitter.com/PoliceScotland…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@EpistemicHope @iamFilos @micahtredding @MatjazLeonardis @ella_hoeppner @WorriedDenizen @DorfGinger @Vivify705 @krlwlzn

Note that you're explicitly stating a meme-replication strategy. Should that not give you pause that something has potentially hijacked your thinking so it can get itself replicated more?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@EpistemicHope @iamFilos @micahtredding @MatjazLeonardis @ella_hoeppner @WorriedDenizen @DorfGinger @Vivify705 @krlwlzn

Right, because it assumes that alignment is a worthwhile goal. Any way to convince you that that isn't the case?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

...that it gives you those things for free. And evolution doesn't use weights as far as I know...

Do you have an explanation not for why mental evolution need not involve replication, but for why it can't, i.e., a refutation?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

Well, we've discussed this before, but IIRC, at least two things can't be explained without replication in a mind: memory and the evolution of people. We could always fix that by coming up with an ad-hoc solution like adding weights, but the nice thing about neo-Darwinism is...

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@EpistemicHope @MatjazLeonardis @iamFilos @micahtredding @ella_hoeppner @WorriedDenizen @DorfGinger @Vivify705 @krlwlzn

I usually take them at their word and stop arguing with them, but yes, sometimes they're wrong about that. :)

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@EpistemicHope @MatjazLeonardis @iamFilos @micahtredding @ella_hoeppner @WorriedDenizen @DorfGinger @Vivify705 @krlwlzn

Yeah to be clear this wasn't meant as a comment on your stance, just as an example.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@EpistemicHope @MatjazLeonardis @iamFilos @micahtredding @ella_hoeppner @WorriedDenizen @DorfGinger @Vivify705 @krlwlzn

Yes. Also, when someone doesn't know what would change their minds, it's even harder for you to find that out.

Worse, they might say "nothing could change my mind", in which case you've saved a lot of time by not arguing with someone whose mind can't be changed.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@MatjazLeonardis @EpistemicHope @iamFilos @micahtredding @ella_hoeppner @WorriedDenizen @DorfGinger @Vivify705 @krlwlzn

For example, somebody could be convinced that "alignment" philosophies aren't bad by convincing him that coercion isn't bad. That doesn't mean he already thinks coercion isn't bad—he's just offering some way to open the door into his mind.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@MatjazLeonardis @EpistemicHope @iamFilos @micahtredding @ella_hoeppner @WorriedDenizen @DorfGinger @Vivify705 @krlwlzn

No. It could be nobody has made that argument yet, or you think the argument is false but would change your mind if it were shown to be true and nobody has shown that yet.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@EpistemicHope @iamFilos @micahtredding @MatjazLeonardis @ella_hoeppner @WorriedDenizen @DorfGinger @Vivify705 @krlwlzn

IIRC, you think that the default outcome of AGI is certain doom.

If so, how could one convince that that isn't the case?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ToKTeacher

It is rather reminiscent of those scenes from WALL-E. Although it is a gorgeous movie, it promotes the spaceship-earth idea—despite depicting people as having succeeded in leaving this rock.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@denicmarko

It’s also useful for converting form data into a map.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@dhh

Yes. Governments need to stop imprisoning people in their homes and shutting down their businesses.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

.@ChipkinLogan and I are trying out a tool. Join us as we talk about lockdowns, libertarianism, philosophy, and whatever else we feel like talking about. A fun Saturday night chat.

konferenzing.herokuapp.com/rooms/5384c7b7…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

Everyone out and about voluntarily decides to take the risk. Others are free to isolate. Sounds like Montgomery says unless you ensure the health of others by sacrificing your life, you have blood on your hands.

That's not how this works. Let people manage their health. twitter.com/RichardDawkins…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @michaelmalice:
this is completely untrue
the majority and possibly vast majority do twitter.com/ErikRHarris/st…

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@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

Re multiple copies of ideas seeming pointless: I’ve argued that this feature allows us to explain things we couldn’t explain as well otherwise (memory, conviction... Ella is familiar). And why not claim that gene replication in the biosphere is pointless as well?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

And then there are plenty of people accommodate contradictory ideas, are aware of the conflict, but don’t set out to solve it.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ella_hoeppner @dela3499

Having only read the three preceding tweets:

Minds don’t reliably reject ideas that cause contradictions. Rational minds often do, and even they don’t always reject all conflicting ideas—sometimes they resolve the conflict in favor of one of the conflicting idea.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@SimonHoiberg

Are that fancy arrow and triple-equals valid JS?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@vonprond @kreuzberged

Doesn’t sound like a bad idea. But at least they put the colon in “Berliner:innen”!

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

Telling. But it’s misleading to put the virus at the 2020 mark—it’s government that is causing these upticks. twitter.com/johanknorberg/…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @MarkSShenouda:
Me tonight at 12:00😂😂😂😂😂
#100DaysOfCode #javascript https://t.co/aqr8Wunjp2

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@Carnage4Life @codinghorror

If this is aimed at justifying locking people into their homes to care for the health of others: it’s not analogous at all.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@ClimateWarrior7

I’ve been advocating the use of burkas in our fight against Covid. But those #covidiots just won’t listen... #followthescience #fauciforpresident #grandmakillers

blog.dennishackethal.com/2020/10/31/thi…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@Neuro_Skeptic

As if Popper had never lived.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

I plan to attend. Cynical prediction: no mention of Popper or computational universality. Let’s hope I’m wrong. twitter.com/royalsociety/s…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @TheAtlasSociety:
Never More True Than Today....What Will YOU Seek? #AynRand #Liberty #America https://t.co/dL7pSnoR9q

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@GavinNewsom

At whose expense?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @RichardDawkins:
If lions were discovered weaving antelope-catching nets ten lion-lengths wide, it would be headline news. Yet spiders w…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@scarygary21 @nanogenomic @nadinbrzezinski @abbysimons @GavinNewsom

Not surprising. SF is full of authoritarian folks, I’m afraid.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@pmddomingos

Software engineering in the wider sense has. Lots of people claiming software engineering is classist and sexist etc with straight white make gatekeepers. Complete nonsense.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jennypotts

Cite the law?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@oliverjumpertz @madsbrodt

Poor color contrast, almost impossible to read.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@chrisLmuc @EGermroth @c_drosten

Und nur um das klarzustellen: du findest es nicht egoistisch sondern verantwortungsvoll, wenn du alle anderen dazu zwingst, für deine Gesundheit zu sorgen?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@chrisLmuc @EGermroth @c_drosten

Wie kann es verantwortungsvoll sein, wenn es nicht frei entschieden ist?

Und wieso ist es egoistisch, wenn man nicht will, dass Leute zu Dingen gezwungen werden, die sie nicht machen wollen?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@JillWohlner @WatchRatio

lots of people trying to fit as many SJW terms into tweets about software engineering as possible these days. Despite the fact that software engineering is one of the most egalitarian fields ever, with a low bar to entry. Nothing “classist” about it.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

Time to settle this question once and for all: is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@MichaelPSenger

You’re doing important work. Godspeed.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@astupple

Not meant that way, see twitter.com/dchackethal/st…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@housecor

Not really, only the code the compiler thinks is affected. And sometimes not even that when it comes to types because people use ‘any’ a lot.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @ElonBachman:
1\ This thread commemorates those brave politicians who didn't let lockdowns slow them down

Send me other examples by DM,…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@Susand21 @GavinNewsom

“Deadly” is a strong term when the vast majority of people who get it end up fine.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@AugustaDorman @MyovichOFFICIAL @GavinNewsom

People who don’t want to take the risk are free to stay at home if they think that means they won’t die. That’s the point.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@MyovichOFFICIAL @GavinNewsom

Then don’t go to work. Why does everyone else have to be forced to do what you want to do?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@GavinNewsom

Why haven’t you concluded yet that masks and stay-at-home orders don’t work?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@moiMeru @sashintweets @iamFilos

Natürlich sollen Menschen rücksichtsvoll sein - das bestreitet ja keiner. Die Frage ist, ob man Menschen zur Rücksichtnahme zwingen darf. Zur Gesundheitsversorgung anderer.

Jeder ignoriert diese Frage. Vielleicht weil alle bereits wissen, dass die Antwort “nein” lautet.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@moiMeru @sashintweets @iamFilos

Die Bedingungen in den Krankenhäusern mögen schrecklich sein, aber das bedeutet nicht, dass man Bürger dazu zwingen darf, dazu beizutragen, dass sich diese Bedingungen verbessern.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@moiMeru @sashintweets @iamFilos

Wieso soll ich—oder sonst jemand—verhindern, dass es in den Krankenhäusern schlimmer wird? Vielmehr: wieso sollen Leute dazu gezwungen werden?

Bessere Alternative: all denjenigen, die zu Hause bleiben wollen, steht dies bereits frei. Alle anderen sollen frei leben dürfen.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@micsolana

Great, well written article; spot on. Let us know how you decide. I myself am leaning “flight” right now, having been very patient throughout 2020 with my beloved CA but nothing seeming to get better and no opportunity to change any of it. It’s a real shame what’s been happening.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

“They were created by the men and women who, for the tremendous, historical wealth they brought [...] to the Bay Area, have in turn been demonized, scapegoated, and punitively targeted by a land lording political class of leeches who have themselves built nothing.”

Indeed.

2/2

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

“For the last half century, entrepreneurship in tech has been positive sum, which is to say almost everyone who participated won. For decades, new companies and technologies were built almost from nothing. They were not discovered, and they were not mined from the earth...”

1/ twitter.com/micsolana/stat…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@sGinole @c_drosten

Sie wissen, dass mein Kommentar ironisch und aus der Sicht von Lockdown-Befürwortern gemeint war? Ich selbst bin gegen Lockdowns.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@elscheud

Abgesehen von Corona zwingt der deutsche Sozialstaat bereits alle zur Versorgung aller anderen - das ist gar nichts Neues.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@elscheud

Wenn Leute zur Schließung ihrer Geschäfte gezwungen werden, dient das (angeblich) zum Schutze anderer.

Der Kollektivismus basiert genau auf dieser Art Zwang - es macht keinen Sinn, den Kollektivismus zu verteidigen und gleichzeitig zu behaupten, es gäbe keinen Zwang.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

Quick, lock down Antarctica!

twitter.com/i/events/13414…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@micahtredding

Actually, it may be chapter 12... either way, both are important.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@micahtredding

Make progress, quickly. Then others will see that progress is possible, which they want to make, too, no matter how loudly they may deny that. (cf Deutsch's "The Beginning of Infinity, ch. 9)

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@elscheud

Ich meinte damit, dass “die Gesellschaft” keine eigenständige oder kohärente Entität ist, der man Attribute wie “gesund” zuschreiben kann, außer metaphorisch.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@elscheud

Wann habe ich behauptet, dass es sich nur um eine Grippe handle?

Lockdowns sind übrigens eine Erfindung des 21. Jahrhunderts, die gab es früher noch nie.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@EGermroth @c_drosten

Das ist mit einer Waffe nicht vergleichbar.

Jedem, der sich selbst zu Hause einschließen will, steht das frei. Er kann sich damit schützen, egal, was andere tun. Und jedem, der das Risiko eingehen will, mit anderen Leuten zu interagieren, sollte dies daher ebenso frei stehen.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@elscheud

Nicht zur Versorgung der Gesundheit anderer gezwungen werden zu wollen heißt nicht, dass man alles jederzeit haben möchte.

Der Wunsch nach der Freiheit vom Zwang ist keine Egoismus, sondern ein einfaches Grundbedürfnis, das der kollektivistische Ansatz überrollt.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@moiMeru @sashintweets @iamFilos

Hoffe ich auch. Panik mache ich jedoch keine - das tun die Befürworter des Lockdowns.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@Nina55550192 @c_drosten

“Gesundheit der Gemeinschaft” gibt es nicht. Nur Individuen können krank oder gesund sein.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

No. https://t.co/ZFCyCSEHHs

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@EGermroth @c_drosten

Ist es nicht egoistisch, andere für die eigene Gesundheit einsperren zu wollen? Den anderen dazu zu zwingen, für die eigene Gesundheit zu sorgen?

Und es ist nicht menschenverachtend, den “Ignoranten” die Krankheit zu wünschen?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@skye66985497 @c_drosten

Nein, es hackt nicht.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@c_drosten

Na prima, dann haben wir trotz Impfstoff also doch wieder einen Grund, weiterhin Leute zu Hause einzusperren.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

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