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
Yes. Just re-read part of the chapter on man’s rights in VoS.
"A report by academics at the University of Exeter said health passports could interfere with fundamental rights, including the right to privacy, the freedom of movement and peaceful assembly, as well as lead to inequality and discrimination."
Look at all the things Newsom lets us do. twitter.com/GavinNewsom/st…
No government knows how to rise without stealing from its and other states’ subjects. But China is a particularly perverse version of this.
Are the pronunciations of that word on the following site correct? forvo.com/word/v%C3%A4st…
@SlaytonBenjamin
Maybe it’s a privilege, dunno.
If things are so bad at home that the child would rather be in school that means he wants to be in school. But a real solution wouldn’t be replacing one evil with another, albeit a lesser one.
*Get your kids out of any school they don’t want to be in. twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/s…
The consonant-to-vowel ratio seems higher overall in German, but those consonants need not be intimidating. :)
Both in English and German the “trick” is that several consonants are used to convey a single sound and/or one is dealing with compound nouns anyway, so one just needs to say words one already knows in a row.
Sometimes German words have more than four consonants in a row, but again we find that English can have just as many, e.g. “catchphrase.”
Some of these are compound nouns, but that’s usually the case in German, too. And all of the above words only have three consonant sounds in a row. E.g. the “ch” in lunchtime is two letters but one sound.
People are sometimes surprised about German words containing four consonants in a row. But English has those words, too: “lunchtime,” “trickster,” “birthday”...
“[...] it’s almost as though Mother Nature has sent us to our rooms for bad behavior to really take a moment and think about what we’ve done.”
Spaceship earth, attributing agency to nature, blaming covid on people, and timeouts. Hard fitting more bad ideas into one sentence. twitter.com/nypost/status/…
RT @ThomasEWoods:
Imagine thinking that the other side of the debate is, "I don't think saving lives is reason enough to wear masks."
Indeed. On the reasons why people live for others: blog.dennishackethal.com/2020/11/12/the…
People and businesses are leaving CA in droves. Many will falsely attribute that to the virus and the fires. It is, first and foremost, the state government that is driving people away.
I don’t agree with everything in this thread, but the development that freedoms would be granted rather than be the default is indeed bad. twitter.com/naomirwolf/sta…
How could one convince you that animals don't suffer? Is there a way?
It’s an interest they developed. It comes from within them, from their creativity.
Und schon damals hatten sie Werbung auf den Stufen, wie nett!
Good. Leave CA while you still can. Hit local and state government where it hurts: fewer taxes. twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/…
RT @undertheraedar:
Here's the final version of the global population density graphic I made, because another one that is circulating was l…
"[...] protein folding isn’t the end goal of DeepMind, as the project’s efforts with complex games and protein folding are all in the pursuit of true artificial intelligence."
What does protein folding have to do with how the mind works? @DeepMind
What appears to be Popper's full lecture is available now: twitter.com/popper1902/sta…
"We're all in this together." Translated: we may force you to do what we think is right, and if you resist, you are selfish and don't care about people getting sick and you will be branded as such.
I don't care about sports, but I hope this will hit @SCCgov where it hurts: less taxes. twitter.com/NBCS49ers/stat…
Residents should note that their right to protest is being protected, albeit restricted to 100 people. So, consider going to the streets over this before they find a way to take that away, too.
The tacit assumption in all this is that it is not only everyone's job to keep cases down and hospital availability high, but that it's okay to force them to that end. @SCCgov is doing disgusting, immoral things. I hope they will soon be held accountable for their actions.
"[...] businesses are allowed to open to the extent allowed under the State’s Blueprint [...]"
Well, thank you again for your generosity, oh wise Health Officer, and for protecting us and sharing some of your endless wisdom. What would we do without you?
"Leisure and non-essential travel are strongly discouraged, and a new Mandatory Directive on Travel will require people to quarantine for 14 days upon return to the County from travel of more than 150 miles."
Or else what?
-> Government forcing businesses into their enforcers
"All recreational activities that involve physical contact or close proximity to persons outside one’s household, including all contact sports, will be temporarily prohibited."
How about no?
- "All facilities open to the public must establish a “metering system” to ensure that the applicable capacity limits are not exceed by, for example, posting an employee at the facility entrance to track the number of people entering and exiting."
Well, thank you for this kind concession for access to food, oh Health Officer.
From the linked order summary:
- "Stores and other facilities open to the public will be limited to 10% capacity indoors."
- "Grocery stores, drug stores, and pharmacies, however, will be allowed to operate at 25% capacity indoors to ensure adequate access to food and medicine."
This top-down decision affects roughly two million people. There appears to be no outrage in the general populace, no unrest, no demonstrations. People are just taking it.
"Also effective today, you must quarantine for 14 days after traveling more than 150 miles from Santa Clara County. For more information, visit sccgov.org/cv19summary."
Santa Clara County residents today received the following "emergency alert" on smartphones:
"COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise. The Health Officer has issued updated risk reduction directives to slow the spread and protect hospital capacity, effective today."
That's smart to put an arrow in the location pointing at your website. I'll borrow that. :)
@giovannibenussi @SimonHoiberg
The get fn would do the requisite checks using either question marks or null/undefined checks.
@giovannibenussi @SimonHoiberg
I think it would be better to simply declare a get fn and then pass it the object and an array of nested properties. Fewer question marks that way.
Has the additional benefit of being able to map/filter/reduce over the nested properties before using them on the object.
That's cool JS has that shorthand, but yikes, the syntax...
To question and challenge, sure, but not to dismantle and disrupt, but to explain the world.
As I’ve said before, when lockdown measures don’t work, lockdown advocates can always claim that measures aren’t strict enough. If they do reduce cases, advocates can claim it’s because of the lockdown. Either way, advocates don’t learn anything. twitter.com/danielkotzin/s…
Right, yes. Plus, a fallibilist epistemology will readily grant that one may be mistaken about it being fundamental, and that something else may come along that takes its place/is more fundamental.
@terrymorse @phuctm97 @profulsadangi
Very cool. Reminds me a bit of one of Brett Victor's talks where he presented (a prototype of?) an app that would show the user the value of variables at each step.
It also aligned outputs. Importantly, it tabulated when a single line produced multiple results. Useful for loops.
It's still logically possible for an epistemology that rejects foundation to effectively be a foundation.
That statement doesn't, but if everything is downstream of epistemology, how is epistemology not a foundation?
@Man_ne_quinn @kyotolover89 @MichaelPSenger @freeeastturki
Yes. Important to note that the title is a bit misleading because it's not necessarily meant as an endorsement. Though they might well be endorsing the people mentioned above.
It's what I meant, and I think so, too.
Does that mean epistemology runs the risk of being a foundation?
Are there any fields that aren’t downstream of epistemology?
@Radhakr08781352 @profulsadangi
Arrow functions have scope. They handle context differently.
There’s no property “twitName” on “this”, which is why it prints “undefined”. Depending on which “twitName” you want to use, you need to either say “twit.twitName” or just “twitName” in the function “a”.
RT @JedLeaHenry:
Happy to be launching the Popperian Podcast. And no better way than with our first guest, the indomitable David Deutsch @D…
RT @michaelmalice:
"I intend to hold you captive in your home" is not the pretext for a civil discussion
It is a declaration of war
RT @MurraySuggests:
Government breaks your legs, hands you a crutch, and says, "If it weren't for the government, you wouldn't be able to w…
@RealtimeAI @ReachChristofer @DavidDeutschOxf @Crit_Rat
I'm guessing Christofer is referring to Popper's concept of objective knowledge, and that explanations exist independently of people and their psychological states in what Popper called "world 3."
For climate change see the entry on externalities: blog.dennishackethal.com/2020/11/28/lib…
Mask-wearing and guns could be interesting to add... will think about it.
RT @royalsociety:
#OnThisDay in 1964, the Mariner 4 spacecraft was launched, the first to send back images of Mars from space. The first di…
@ReachChristofer @DavidDeutschOxf
That does sound a bit reductionist, as it seems to picture the causal chain always to go from bottom to top, never the other way round.
In reality, software instructs its underlying hardware top-down (IIRC BoI ch. 5 mentions this), and there’s feedback going in both directions.
That’s gross overreach of the police.
In a well-functioning society, the only job of police is to protect people from violence and coercion.
Submitting people to coercion, allegedly to ensure their health, is not only not the police’s responsibility, but it is counter to it.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
Yes, I was asking that. I still don't know what you want me to prove.
I highly doubt planes would starting dropping from the skies the moment aviation is deregulated.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
Dunno. By "any other way?" I meant "is there any other way to change your mind?"
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
Probably not entirely without ends, but there is definitely a focus on the morality of the means, and the (real or imagined) importance of certain ends is not considered a justification for coercion, exploitation, etc.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
See this entry: blog.dennishackethal.com/2020/11/28/lib…
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
There has never been a libertarian society. I suspect the US is the closes to it but still pretty far from.
It's important to note that I'm not striving for some "ideal society," nor do I think such a thing could exist. See the corresponding entry here: blog.dennishackethal.com/2020/11/28/lib…
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
I think many libertarian societies may well end up safer, more just, healthier, etc. It's the ensuring of those things that gets one in trouble and leads to coercion.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
That said, is libertarian society is much better equipped to solve problems of any kind, including healthcare, life expectancy, etc, because of the absence of coercion and the freedom to create and solve problems.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
Probably not, because "ensuring" access to anything as a positive right needs to be financed somehow, and that is always done by exploiting productive members of society. A libertarian society wouldn't ensure any of that.
Liberty is not about outcomes. It's about methodology.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
Yeah I've seen those. "Equity" is just a new buzzword "liberals" use to make their destructive demands sound more reasonable and fluffy and cute.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
Equity can itself only be achieved through coercion because people are naturally different and develop in different directions and at different speeds.
So this won't work. Any other way?
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
The morally reprehensible act enforced in parts of Australia is, effectively, house arrest, from what I understand. That clearly passed. It is morally utterly disgusting and coercive, life-destroying. They might as well force people to gouge their eyes out.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf @TheIPA @RDNS_TAI
That still doesn't refute anything the article wrote because the article didn't make claims about any specific outcomes.
"just, sustainable [...] society" are words commonly used to defend coercion and extortion of peaceful people.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
You seem to be in favor of coercion because "it works" and is in the "public interest" (which can't exist, see Arrow's theorem).
How could I change your mind about coercion?
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
I had given a clear example of a democratically sanctioned, yet morally reprehensible and coercive act when enforced. You responded with a technicality saying it's not the legislation that coercive, it's the police enforcing the legislation. As if that made a difference.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
You tend to argue from "it works" and "it's democratically justified." Those aren't moral arguments. They're attempts at justification based on outcomes.
What's required is a moral explanation for why coercion is morally okay. Nobody has ever given that explanation.
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
So now you're saying governments are coercive?
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
That doesn't refute anything written in the article. Or does it?
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
Yes. Btw, I never claimed that the legislation was coercion. It is coercive, though.
So do you agree that if a policeman forced you to gouge your own eyes out, on the basis of some legislation, that that's still coercion, even if democratically "legitimized"?
@jcnz88 @paulg
This reminded me to add the traffic thing to these libertarian FAQs: blog.dennishackethal.com/2020/11/28/lib…
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
I don't doubt that. But can you answer the question? Would that coercive, yes or no?
@CognitiveVerb @RanoCeros @naomirwolf
If your Australian representatives enacted legislation forcing you to gouge your own eyes out at the threat of murder, and everyone voted for it, would that not be coercive?