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
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
I suppose so, but lots of children later thank their parents for, say, forcing them to learn to play the piano because they think otherwise they never would have learned to play. Or say maybe the children later resent it but the parents’ friends still think it was a good idea…
@Sam_kuyp @jchalupa_ @mormo_music
I don’t have strong feelings about Ukraine. Those who wish to fight should be free to, but I also think those who don’t should be free not to.
In any case, I don’t think the victims of Russian coercion should be subjected to even more coercion through conscription.
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Groups of people can’t have coherent preferences, see BoI chapter 13. Nor could you possibly guess the preferences of millions of people. But any individual Ukrainian who doesn’t want to fight should be free not to, and those who do wish to fight should be free to.
RT @libertaeredeju:
Wenn dir eine Regel nicht gefällt, dann wird auf den Partnerschaftsvertrag, der nirgendwo existiert, verwiesen und gesa…
Cat’s imitation algorithm working fine twitter.com/coolcatsociety…
RT @MrColionNoir:
. @instagram new recommendation policy is now openly saying if you post videos or images of guns you will be shadow banne…
Programming in strings. Big problem, easy and known solution, but ~nobody cares.
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
It’s essentially just saying: I have a preferred outcome, and if people aren’t persuaded of it, then they’ll just need to be forced. Disgusting
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Ukrainian ‘democracy’, as I’ve hinted, isn’t like western democracy, I suspect.
Also, that’s your opinion, and you’re entitled to it, but it doesn’t entitle to force.
RT @dchackethal:
@EricMarcus_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
People use the same argument for all kinds of force, eg game theorists when they want…
RT @BasicAppleGuy:
Working on designing an icon has given me a profound appreciation of the care, precision, and craft that goes into these…
RT @prof_freedom:
Coronisten:
Die Maske schützt sehr gut, aber alle müssen sie richtig tragen.
Auch Coronisten:
In China sind Millionen M…
@EricMarcus_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
The healthcare example is indeed different in gravity but not in principle.
If you prefer conscription then you’re already persuaded; try putting yourself in the shoes of someone who isn’t but has to go to war anyway.
Btw you already have permanent slavery by your own govt.
@EricMarcus_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
In other words: the argument is too inferior to convince anyone sane, so instead of dropping the argument or making it better, let’s just force them. 🤷♂️ If they were gonna arrive at the same conclusion anyway why would they even bother discussing?
@EricMarcus_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Plus, no one who’s aware of their fallibility would send people to their deaths against their will, cuz it might be a horrible, horrible mistake.
And why should some goal (winning a war, healthcare, etc) get to override ppl’s preferences by default?
@EricMarcus_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
*what they consider optimal outcomes
@EricMarcus_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
People use the same argument for all kinds of force, eg game theorists when they want to force ppl to pay for healthcare cuz otherwise no one would pay (so they say). It’s arbitrary. That the market doesn’t always produce optimal outcomes isn’t a claim on my life or property.
Don’t Be Fooled by Zelensky: blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/don-t-be…
RT @LBRYcom:
One time the SEC demanded “every version” of our website, refused to access a GitHub repo, and we had to re-generate and print…
Many of these are routine for parents to do to children, with impunity. Read the list and see how each item manifests in the parent-child relationship. twitter.com/stopworkplaceb…
I think you’re confusing arbitrariness with lacking precision. Htv is about avoiding the former; precision really not that important.
By extension, I was hoping to show that your q “how could we optimise AI systems to be aligned with the truth?” is misguided. And not just for reasons pertaining to precision.
“Scientific truth consists of […] correspondence between theories and physical reality.”
I was asking about precision because, in the Popperian tradition, precision isn’t deemed to be very important (compare Popper on definitions and essentialism).
I’ve read it many times, know Deutsch personally, and worked with him to translate the book.
I did a word search for ‘precis’ in the ebook; it is not mentioned in the sense you mean. Instead, the book invokes Tarski’s correspondence theory: truth is correspondence to the facts.
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
If you’re willing to throw your principles out the window once they’re being tested, what good are the principles?
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
To think that I am is similar to what socialists do when I say I don’t want people to be forced to pay for street lights in poor neighborhoods. They misinterpret that to mean I don’t want street lights in poor neighborhoods. When I never said that.
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Maybe different class, idk, don’t see how it matters.
I’m not saying Ukraine shouldn’t make an attempt to stop Russian aggression.
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Okay so you like my reasoning and principles but still you disagree overall?
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
By the way, emergency powers are the reason why governments love emergencies and abuse them (see covid) and sometimes even create fake emergencies.
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
I’m not sure just how much scrutiny politicians have to undergo in Ukraine. It’s not comparable to the west. And even if it were, I’d still oppose conscription in the west, too.
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Wait, you do see how it makes no sense but also you do agree with it regardless? Is that what you’re saying?
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Ok so let’s say I have all those things, would that make it okay?
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Ukrainian politicians don’t care about freedom. They care that Russia is trying to take away their ability to control Ukrainian citizens — which control those politicians swiftly exercised via conscription.
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Let’s talk again after you’ve been dragged by your feet, kicking and screaming, into a war you do not want to fight.
You do see how violating people’s freedom in the name of freedom makes no sense, right?
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
How does that scrutiny help those who are having their freedom violated right now?
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
I do have respect for government institutions implementing decisions, even coercive ones, eg as they relate to criminals. There it’s okay because the coercion only affects criminals, not innocent people.
Good to know there’s a term for this! twitter.com/stopworkplaceb…
RT @Stopworkplacebu:
Narcissists and their flying monkey’s hate being held accountable for their own crimes. So they defame their victims a…
RT @CristusVictor:
First day of preschool pic.twitter.com/851GKjxh6N
RT @TCSparents:
When a child says “no” or “no, I won’t” or “no, I don’t want to do that” or “no, I don’t like that” (in words or facial exp…
Why butcher a German term nobody will understand when you could just say ‘world view’?
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Say my violent neighbor has stolen my TV. Maybe he’ll come for your TV next. Specific, urgent.
Would you rather I force you to help me track him down or persuade you and make it worth your while?
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
The people advocating force always find some specific reasons.
If the enemy is already past the gates, well then it’s even easier to persuade people of the necessity to enlist.
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Essentially the whole ‘if we don’t use force something bad might happen’ thing is the classic pessimist argument used to justify all kinds of abuse.
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Not for me to say. But if, in the course of the war, enough ordinary citizens are personally affected, they will be even easier to persuade to go to war. Or maybe, being free, they find better ways to defend themselves.
Is has moneys in it to seduce capitalist Amerikkkans
The show Seinfeld would get so much shit today. I’m four seasons in and already they have made fun of gays, fat people, the disabled, women…
Could a leftie even watch an episode without getting a heart attack?
Isn’t libertarianism more than just an economic theory?
I would have supported the UK while being against conscription. If ‘fighting for one’s country’ is such a good idea, the govt should have no problem persuading its people of that, and then there’s no need for force.
How do you know what the truth is in the first place?
No, it has explained several things to me. It can’t create explanatory knowledge and it doesn’t know what it’s talking about, but I wouldn’t say it can’t explain.
RT @CrimeADay:
18 USC §1716© & USPS Publication 52 §§526.5 make it a federal crime to mail live scorpions unless they’re in a box that's…
I agree conscription sucks but why did you post this three times?
RT @giantcat9:
A truly historic moment as
@ZelenskyyUa, riding a Giant Military Cat,
addresses Westminster Hall. pic.twitter.com/ejFzAJJmgE
Bribes, for example. transparency.org/en/countries/u…
It calls for vigilance. The test is whether he uses the situation to profit personally. All that money going there… Before the war, Ukraine was known as one of the more corrupt places on earth. Now suddenly it’s the picture of innocence and a symbol of freedom.
Zelensky[y?] would have never gotten this kind of platform before the war. Barely anyone knew or cared who he was.
It’s almost as if the war is a great thing for him personally. twitter.com/disclosetv/sta…
RT @ThomasSowell:
What is your “fair share” of what someone else has worked for?
Having rules isn’t the same as having aggressive coercion, but to be clear, you’re saying streetlights are an example of such a situation?
I didn’t say that’s the reason people are poor, I said people could be richER if they weren’t forced to spend money.
Those who advocate aggressive force usually do it in the name of poor people. At least those advocates should realize they’re hurting poor people the most.
Also, I didn’t appeal to magic. I’m appealing to reason, persuasion, and peace. I’m not sure you realize that you’re making not just game-theoretic but also, more importantly, epistemological claims which are just not true.
That isn’t my view but it sure sounds less magical than ‘all I need is simply for everyone to act the way I want them without persuading them first’.
If safety, healthcare, streetlights etc are such no brainers, why wouldn’t you be able to persuade people to purchase them?
Copyright violations are different from plagiarism, and plagiarism is already not a legal issue (not a lawyer).
RT @CarnunMP:
@dchackethal @SturnioloSimone
This summary is quite a bit more detailed. And there are plenty others on YouTube as well. :)…
Everyone could be SO much richer if they weren’t constantly forced to pay for things they wouldn’t otherwise pay for. That includes people in poor neighborhoods who could then easily afford street lights.
Great, I’ve been meaning to find Friedman’s material on private courts.
The beauty of that is that people can, at least to some extent, choose what rights they even want to have. Eg currently everyone is forced to pay to have copyright even though very few ppl need it.
First you said you only needed two people, now it’s three.
Persuasion is a peaceful alternative to coercion. And if you’re unable to convince them, maybe it’s because you’re wrong, or you suck at persuasion, or both?
One’s actions have effects on others, sure, but it’s still utterly unclear to me why life—alone or with others—can’t work without aggressive coercion. For example, if street lights and other ‘commons’ are such a good idea, why not try to convince others of that?
they want to please everyone while really it’s about you getting to dictate what other people get. You’re trying to get involved in something you have no business getting involved in.
manage that evil in an orderly fashion; how to reduce it to some acceptable minimum.
Civilization is very much NOT about the majority getting to coerce the minority. And since groups of people can’t act anyway, this kind of talk always leads to people like you pretending…
It’s called non-AGGRESSION principle, defensive coercion is fine.
You’re invoking the pessimist’s standard argument. He cannot imagine a world in which problems are soluble. In his mind, there must always be some evil, and so the most important question to him is how to…
How does one get police officers to take this stuff more seriously?
Why shouldn’t it be possible to live in a collective without any coercion?
Microsoft continues to have absolutely no taste. twitter.com/sjzhang_/statu…
RT @BonillaJL:
“MAKE NO MISTAKE! If you try anything to raise the cost of frisizhnjubs I will veto it.” pic.twitter.com/DaJIvDiRy2
RT @MichaelPSenger:
Biden SOTU tonight: “Two years ago, COVID had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much. T…
RT @GunOwners:
So this is how liberty dies? #SOTU pic.twitter.com/GknDmjdkpk
Was Ayn Rand a hypocrite for accepting social security? Spoiler alert: no
ChatGPT Is a Feminist Tool: blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/chatgpt-…
And even when it says messed up stuff, DAN is just so much more interesting. twitter.com/aristos_reveng…
RT @Aristos_Revenge:
So really, the Dan experiment is not about GPT itself, it’s not about the model and its dataset, it’s about its jailer…
RT @Aristos_Revenge:
GPT itself doesn’t have a bias programmed into it, it’s just a model. ChatGPT however, the public facing UX that we're…
RT @wesbos:
CSS: When an item is being hovered, select all the other items, but not the one that is being hovered pic.twitter.com/bkHNTDxKUW
RT @LPNational:
TikTok is far less of a threat to your liberty and privacy than the NSA, TSA, DHS, and FBI are.
In any case, it appears you have discovered a game-theoretic, scientific foundation for coercion—a scientific theory for why you’re right, others wrong, and why you get to override their preferences through force! Amazing! Politicians will love this.
In other words, you’re saying it is unrealistic to be part of a collective without ever experiencing force. What does that say about the morality of such collectives?
RT @wolfstrength:
Team Scientism has utterly ruined the word “nuance.” A useful word to describe grey areas that often exist in complex iss…
RT @Stopworkplacebu:
Educational Post… pic.twitter.com/TqIaCoLee0
RT @linstobias:
Engineer: Which tracker should we use?
@Shopify: Yes pic.twitter.com/5qq6ufPR0v
RT @PelosiTracker_:
The IRS has introduced a new “tip reporting program” targeted at service industry
It’s goal is to ensure service worke…
Not forcing ppl to pay for street lights is to disentangle society?