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
You're just judging ideas compared to the principle, not justifying. You can remain aware of your fallibility and be principled. One instance of that is being a principled fallibilist.
Another name for being principled is to take ideas seriously. blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/taking-i…
Being principled sounds justificationist or not being does?
When somebody tells you not to follow principles in a matter, that’s very bad advice because they’re telling you to act on whim. Also, that advice is itself a principle, so it cancels itself out.
Wie sieht's mit dem Wort "Nachfolger" aus? Klingt nach dieser Logik ebenfalls doppelt gemoppelt, ist aber doch ein feststehender Begriff...
RT @ClimateWarrior7:
This "delicious" desert is made entirely from the rectal effluent of a small goat.
In the future, to save the planet,…
RT @RonPaul:
Ron Paul response to reports President Biden may restrict interstate travel
We can certainly speculate, but even the evolution of existing technology is impossible to predict in principle. People think of genuinely new things to do with existing technologies. One cannot predict something that has never been thought of without thinking of it first.
Your system to order parts has been down for weeks. There is no website to check availability. People need to call, select options and hold for minutes every time they want to check.
What are you doing to make this better?
Quoting David Deutsch from his The Beginning of Infinity: “People in 1900 did not consider the internet or nuclear power unlikely: they did not conceive of them at all.”
That explains the existence of microprocessors retrospectively, but nobody could have predicted them before their invention. That would have taken knowledge nobody had yet.
Can we go from the descriptive to the prescriptive? From the status quo to how things should be? Again, we're in agreement about how things are right now.
You don’t get a personal veto on taxation.
Correct. Again, I agree that that is currently the case.
with a personal veto [...] anytime your “property” is involved
I had just given an example where one shouldn't get a veto, even in a libertarian society.
We will see re lockdowns. Hopefully not. But the precedent has been set. twitter.com/TheAtlasSociet…
The reason that is an exception is that defensive force is okay in response to aggressive force.
Do you have any refutations of that, instead of just trying to disparage me? Your attacks have gotten subtler, but not necessarily less mean.
I think you mean “affects” not “effects.”
I don’t think it means liberty means that. Eg if you use your knife (your property) to attempt to harm someone that knife may be removed from you and you don’t get a veto.
RT @TextSkizzen:
#Praxistipp: „nachfolgend“ ist übrigens doppelt gemoppelt. Formulierungen wie „folgende Mitteilung“ reichen vollkommen aus…
I don't disagree with what's currently the case. I had already said that I agree that one doesn't currently get a veto. And I'm also saying that one should get a veto.
Yeah, since all three examples presuppose the existence of "public" property, it's no wonder one doesn't get a veto.
What you're describing is what is currently the case. I was describing what should be the case, based on moral principles of freedom and property.
You should make your comments children of each other instead of siblings. Would be much easier to read.
Fixed that: "Parliament should insist that no legal restriction stays in place unless there is a good moral explanation not only that it is people's obligation to ensure availability of health services, but also that its effectiveness is worth sacrificing freedom over."
RT @SwipeWright:
A member of the NZ Parliament, human rights lawyer, and self-proclaimed feminist apologizing for saying "women's rights ar…
Kann es auch "hofmeisterische" heißen? Also mit i?
@nalryns @TheHarryPainter @billhabicht @GavinNewsom
As you can see, that question has been asked (and answered) before.
RT @ClimateWarrior7:
All gatherings are against the law.
Do not try to make your own pub.
Do not meet up with friends.
Meeting up is…
I should be entitled to be consulted on and get a veto on every decision that involves my property, yes. And so should everyone else for their property.
It doesn't indicate that. Somebody can understand how it works and still bemoan the fact that they don't get a say.
Btw, I didn't bemoan that I don't get a say in how the money is spent. I bemoaned the fact that the money is forcefully taken in the first place.
Also, why are you being so condescending and mean? Can I convince you to turn this into a more matter-of-factly, calm conversation?
U don’t get a veto
That's what I'm saying. Consent implies an opportunity to say "no."
And, while you could move to another city or state, moving to another country is different because you need travel documents. Over which the government has a monopoly.
Please tell me that’s not a Bundesverdienstkreuz.
Add an integrity attribute to the script tag in embedded tweets so that other sites can't get xss'ed when your script gets hacked?
I didn't say it does or doesn't exist. I said it's possible.
Civilization is possible without taxes.
Congratulations to everyone involved.
Before launch, I signed up to have my name etched onto a microchip on the rover alongside thousands of others, in writing thinner than a human hair. For now, that's as close as it gets to going to Mars in person. :)
[...] even ideas that are similar across soups can, in principle, arise.
Correction: they do all the time in separate minds, of course, through faithful meme replication.
When it comes to people and ideas, there are close to eight billion soups on earth right now that all arose separately :)
And technically, different soups can arise independently (and must have if there's RNA-based life elsewhere in the universe), and even ideas that are similar across soups can, in principle, arise.
It'd be a bit like finding tiger genes in another galaxy. Not impossible...
Possibly—but according to a colleague at a previous job, one of them would have overtaken by now, with the others most likely being extinct, or at least the entire thing being a single big soup by now.
Either way, once you have a single soup, similar ideas can arise indpndtly.
Check out @PanData19's website for statistics on the futility of lockdown measures.
That's a choice they should be able to make, and do make all the time when it comes to driving, sex and STDs, smoking, drinking, etc.
And it isn't even clear that hundreds of thousands would die. Death rate seems close to regular flu. But it wouldn't change my argument if so.
Letting people manage their own health is a solution, because everyone who prefers to self-isolate is already free to do so, no force needed. And everyone else should be able to go about their business normally, knowing full well they may pay with their health.
Harming people by taking their livelihoods away "for their own benefit" is not an option because one cannot trade one evil for another and make any (moral) progress. That people don't know what's best for them has been used as an excuse to do things to them since time immemorial.
Borrowing from Hans-Hermann Hoppe, right now the government is causing the fire (shutting down businesses) and pretending to be the firefighter rushing to extinguish it (handing out checks with stolen money). It's all very twisted and evil and dishonest.
It was a great pleasure giving this talk. The recording is now available online, linked below. twitter.com/OxfordPopper/s…
@TonyGMendoza @AgentCo09259883 @billhabicht @GavinNewsom
Isn't it possible for some people to understand what it is and to have identified problems with it at the same time?
@Mr_Wills_Stats @billhabicht @GavinNewsom
I don't think you know what reductionism is.
It's okay.
One idea is that government should immediately stop forcing business closures so that people can continue to make a living.
@orsoscrabble @billhabicht @GavinNewsom
$17 for $1? That sounds like a good deal. How does it work?
An example of immunization against criticism (Hans Albert): "You questioning the theory is evidence that the theory is true and that you are ignorant."
A woke mind is a trapped mind. twitter.com/mariyaivasilev…
I don't know that different sense inputs end up at different parts of the mind. Different parts of the brain, definitely. Mind—not sure.
That said, it's definitely possible, albeit unlikely, for similar ideas to arise independently in the soup, for all sorts of reasons.
@engmac18 @al284159 @DragonNexus @gaybunnypup @GavinNewsom
Your money is your property. It is taken from you by force. If you resist, you end up in jail or worse get shot. How is that not stealing?
@al284159 @engmac18 @DragonNexus @gaybunnypup @GavinNewsom
Bien dicho. Aparte de unas excepciones, los socialistas nunca quieren trasladarse a un país socialista. En cambio, desean hacer su país socialista.
@NJGeneralsUSFL @Yascha_Mounk @SwipeWright
That “power disparity” isn’t that clear cut. Employers often depend on employees. And when employees are in high demand, they can and often do have the upper hand in contractual negotiations.
In fairness to them, it seems that the article is putting the word “force” in their mouths. No quote of those affected uses the word “force.”
They’re choosing to pray and then bemoaning the absence of a service (prayer rooms), labeling that force. If any force is involved it is that of oppressive religious memes not giving them the option not to pray.
Common equivocation of the word “force.” It’s not like anyone is physically placing them in bus stops and yelling “pray!” with no way out for them. twitter.com/BBCNews/status…
RT @diemauerthewall:
Berlin Wall in 1962.
#Berlin #GDR #ColdWar
#berlinermauer #berlinwall #diemauerthewall
Photo: Franz Hubmann https:…
@engmac18 @gaybunnypup @GavinNewsom
Why should I debate someone this condescending, who ignores my questions but expects me to answer his?
I have, but I'd much prefer to have the option to use infrastructure funded with voluntary money.
@engmac18 @gaybunnypup @GavinNewsom
I doubt you understand my position because you keep arguing against things I never argued for. I also never said privatization was the state's fault.
@beer_ninja6 @DustinSkenando @GavinNewsom
The collective does not have needs, only individuals do
Police won't help defend against aggressive state force because the state has the monopoly on police force.
@engmac18 @gaybunnypup @GavinNewsom
You didn't answer my question.
@Mr_Wills_Stats @billhabicht @GavinNewsom
My background is irrelevant to the issue.
Why are taxes not theft?
Nobody ever gave you an opportunity to agree to pay for those things. Nor, more importantly, an opportunity to disagree.
@engmac18 @gaybunnypup @GavinNewsom
Also btw many of the things you correctly bemoan are because of the state.
@cybergoethe @czthaday @GavinNewsom
czthaday asked for instances of Newsom using force. I provided two instances.
@engmac18 @gaybunnypup @GavinNewsom
You're arguing against things I never argued.
Can you think of an industry that the state monopolizes?
@jwatte @Yascha_Mounk @SwipeWright
You may help as much as you like but nobody should be forced to help.
And yes it's okay to defend against those who infringe upon your freedoms. Otherwise leave them alone.
Aggressive force is bad, defensive force is fine.
@DustinSkenando @beer_ninja6 @GavinNewsom
Can't do that without travel documents which the government has a monopoly over and which are financed by tax money.
@cybergoethe @czthaday @GavinNewsom
That's separate. Taxation gets money into the hands of government. And government shut down businesses. Both instances of force.
@loose_fur @czthaday @GavinNewsom
Not wanting to have money stolen from oneself is selfish? And the government taking money against one's will isn't?
@djrobstep @czthaday @GavinNewsom
Those are different because people agree to pay rent whereas they do not agree to pay taxes. Also a landlord won't put you in a cage if you don't your rent he'll just kick you out.
@jwatte @Yascha_Mounk @SwipeWright
Everyone knows what jobs and opinions are, but I'll grant that freedom is less clear because people equivocate the term. Freedom from want is something quite different than freedom from violence e.g.
Shouldn't "our" job be just that: our job? And to stay out of people's lives?
@engmac18 @gaybunnypup @GavinNewsom
What don't libertarians understand about it?
I've said it before and I'll say it again: don't take the money. I know it's tempting, but know that this is blood money.
Earn the money instead. Be mad at Newsom for making it difficult for you to earn money. But do not sell your freedom by taking this stolen money.
No, those checks are not from the state of CA, they're from peaceful people from whom you have forcefully ext…
@GabrielTapiaCu1 @iam_thesonofman @GavinNewsom
Right. You asked "Then how did we build the fucking roads dumbass." I just answered the question. No reason to insult me.
You don't know anything about me. And even if true, how does that make theft okay?
And what about all the businesses he forcefully shut down because of the virus? You don't recall any force?
@VVRabbi @itaisher @Yascha_Mounk @SwipeWright
This is exactly the kind of thinking I was warning about. And just because something is done all the time doesn't mean it's right.
@GabrielTapiaCu1 @iam_thesonofman @GavinNewsom
The government builds the roads with the stolen money.
What do you think happens to you when you don’t want to pay your taxes?
No, those checks are not from the state of CA, they're from peaceful people from whom you have forcefully extracted the money.
@itaisher @Yascha_Mounk @SwipeWright
"people should not be fired" sounds more prohibitive to me than "employers should not fire" but maybe you're right. Yascha could settle this one easily, of course.
@Demosthenes9 @Yascha_Mounk @SwipeWright
Right. And those kinds of thoughts usually lead to some third party (the government) stepping in and telling peaceful people what they can and cannot do. And then forcefully extracting money from them "in return." Which all goes against freedom Yascha says he wants.