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
Change the font size to 12 and it’s perfect!
RT @BrennanColberg:
forever grateful I didn't discover this one the hard way 🙏 pic.twitter.com/cVpZBUtuKh
RT @Culture_Crit:
"Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are n…
“black people are more likely to be victims of police brutality”
Didn’t Sam Harris debunk this claim on his podcast years ago?
RT @libertyrecap:
"Today, the people who would use guns to violate rights have little trouble getting them, while those who would use them…
RT @calithameridi:
holy f*cking moly blue origin just made a solar cell from moon rocks blueorigin.com/news/blue-alch… pic.twitter.com/pRm3uf5fFG
Eh, I’m sure it’s well-intentioned but it seems to carry the seeds of authoritarianism. Saying that social media is bad for teens and talking about what they really need can lead down bad roads.
@flawedgenius777 @WomenPostingLs
Men don’t need to be coddled.
RT @t_woelfer:
Die roten und grünen Sozialisten werden weitermachen und zum regieren auch wieder die Mauermörderpartei mit ins Boot holen.
RT @mormo_music:
the ukrainian state is kidnapping civilians to send to the front line. more videos at this search: twitter.com/search?q=ukrai…
RT @NickTaber:
Happens to children in families, then the children get pathologized.
RT @elonmusk:
Starship Super Heavy pic.twitter.com/DgufvqgWCC
RT @mtaibbi:
Why, for instance, would an entire field office of FBI agents be scanning Twitter looking for TOS violations? Does that fit th…
RT @LPNational:
“A military draft violates the principle that individuals have inalienable rights that no government should violate."
- @…
RT @AdamAlbilya:
Meet Arafat Arfaiah, the terrorist who murdered Ori Ansbacher, smiling while sentenced to life in prison last week
Why sm…
Yes. Another reason to be suspicious of those calling for ‘AI alignment’, and to suspect ulterior motives. twitter.com/paulg/status/1…
@Sam_kuyp @jchalupa_ @mormo_music
*maybe the queen was technically the biggest parasite, or the royal family, I don’t know how they’re financed, but w/e your point stands
@Sam_kuyp @jchalupa_ @mormo_music
I agree with all three statements but that does not collectively make them a reductio ad absurdum, as you seem to imply.
Churchill was right to fight the Germans, wrong to use taxes and conscription to do it, wrong to be a parasite.
I think we’re going back to the beginning: twitter.com/sam_kuyp/statu…
RT @TCSparents:
“[W]hat we really taught children was to respect power, authority, and violence—but not other human beings.”
- Jesper Juul…
@reason_wit_me @TimothyDSnyder
I’ve always enjoyed Sebastian Haffner’s books on those subjects, eg a.co/d/5nfJvxW
@jchalupa_ @mormo_music @Sam_kuyp
I doubt this is a fight for the independence of Ukrainians, it’s a fight for control over them: blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/don-t-be…
@jchalupa_ @mormo_music @Sam_kuyp
Wouldn’t the ability to flee Ukraine pretty much guarantee independence from Putin? Then why are the borders closed for male conscripts?
Aren’t you basically just saying ‘those people need to be coerced for their own good’ even when they disagree with what’s ‘good’?
Etc pp
@jchalupa_ @mormo_music @Sam_kuyp
“[Ukraine's] government owes the people of Ukraine the guarantee of their independence from Putin”
Did every subject of conscription agree to be the enforcer of this debt?
Even if they did, why are they the subject of coercion and not its enforcer?
RT @TCSparents:
Is your child deeply, genuinely free to say ‘no’ to you?
Does your child fear that their ‘no’ will be overriden?
If conse…
These instructions are all great giveaways for hackers. twitter.com/pr0grammerhum0…
PSA: Stay away from @Apple’s new M2 and M2 Pro product line for now, WiFi not working reliably. Wait for Apple to acknowledge and fix issue. Many new Mac Minis affected. My new MBP as well. Spent hours debugging it, useless without WiFi. Had to return like many others.
@mormo_music @jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp
…that some desired outcome (helping Ukraine, learning math, w/e) need be enforced if necessary.
@mormo_music @jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp
Great article. The Caplan quote is a bit ironic since he thinks coercing children is bad except when it comes to math cuz otherwise they wouldn’t learn math (ridiculous). Like when Sam says problem solving usually requires absence of coercion but not always, and so implies… twitter.com/sam_kuyp/statu…
@jchalupa_ @mormo_music @Sam_kuyp
AFAIK the socialists’ condemnation of ‘wage slavery’ rests on an equivocation of two different concepts of ‘force’, hence is simply mistaken.
Don’t see how that applies to conscription. Or am I missing something?
RT @hubertus_knabe:
Meine Trauer um Hans #Modrow hält sich in Grenzen. Der ehemalige Kämpfer im nationalsozialistischen #Volkssturm war ni…
RT @fasc1nate:
The Schienenzeppelin was railcar that resembled a Zeppelin airship in appearance. Propulsion was by means of a pusher propel…
At first I thought Kramer was overrated. Then he tried to stop a bris and now I like him a lot more.
Fostering a safe community is what guns are for, @instagram. twitter.com/mrcolionnoir/s…
So then… “multiplying e by itself π times” DOES make sense?
@jchalupa_ @Sam_kuyp @mormo_music
Does that mean the parents were right to force their kids? How could the morality of an action possibly depend on its popularity?
@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(c) & 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.