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
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.
@Demosthenes9 @Yascha_Mounk @SwipeWright
Yascha suggested people "not be fired from their jobs for having dumb opinions unless those dumb opinions directly interfere with their ability to do their job."
Dunno what he's trying.
Agree with the sentiment, but in a free society, employers are free to make any agreement with employees they like, which includes firing practices of both their choice.
What you're suggesting would prevent employers from making arbitrary contracts with employees. != freedom
Are there countries that aren't part of the West that do not tax people?
The things people come up with! worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/1961…
Some feedback: my eyes squinted and I felt a slight headache immediately upon trying to read that slightly lopsided text.
So... when a woman decides she’d rather work in, say, a leasing office than become a software engineer, that’s because of systematic oppression? Am I understanding you correctly?
For example, many consider the fact that software engineering has less than 50% women evidence that software engineering is somehow biased against them, when in reality, it could be any number of reasons that have nothing to do with "oppression" but just interests, say.
Also, wokesters mistakenly think that phenomena that aren't based on chance, such as sex distribution in a given category of job, would have the same outcome as chance in a "fair" world, and then demand (forced) equal distribution. twitter.com/pmddomingos/st…
RT @pmddomingos:
If you flip a coin six times and get four heads, that doesn't mean the coin is biased against tails. But the AI ethics cro…
^ The screenshot contains an example of the quest for certainty in business, presumably resulting from bad epistemology.
Check out this Jimmy McGill nail salon Office diorama! youtube.com/watch?v=L7_Flj… so cool! By Boylei Hobby Time :)…
Yeah. Or if links can’t be opened in new tabs by holding cmd while clicking on them.
Good idea but for non-technical things I think it's better to just put it on a good old blog where people don't need to know about things such as pull requests, commits etc. to contribute and where they can just post a comment instead.
That's not a half bad idea. I'll see if I have time to put such a list together and if so will post it on my blog.
@BennyChugg @ToKTeacher @DavidDeutschOxf
Many people don’t like fallibility. They want justified, true belief...
Here's a transcript of an older talk by David Deutsch I stumbled upon that you may not have seen before—at leaste I hadn't.
Domingos wasn’t arguing that people shouldn’t be allowed to buy non-GMO products. He was arguing they’re unscientific.
Tune in to San Francisco now and you’ll get a charming man talking on the “Islamic Bulletin” about how rotten children in the area are because the mosques don’t have enough personell.
Just lovely.
RT @ZubyMusic:
Remember to cancel your 1 year trial of communism before it auto-renews.
Been doing that. Sometimes they change the color of the logo and I only realize I bought a non-GMO product when I get home. :(
Ever notice how people who spew these nonsensical ideas have roses in their twitter names?
You should consider that critics of your ideas have addressed the problems you raise:
To wit: blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/libertar…
and
I suspect madeofmistake may be referring to internet memes specifically.
will help you round out your views on political economy
A bit condescending, don't you think?
I've skimmed the articles. But I didn't ask for what those thing are. I asked for a specific example you had in mind.
What's an example of a "collective action problem"?
Invert what they're doing: instead of accusing leading politicians of being grandma killers (a lie), accuse them of enslaving people (the truth). Etc.
Is anyone planning to beat the CCP at their own game by creating a large number of bots that post contra-lockdown tweets?
It's great that when you duckduckgo "scientific method" it shows a picture of @DavidDeutschOxf.
But wouldn't it be better if the text next to it were replaced with "the entry you're looking for doesn't exist"? With links to both Popper's and Deutsch's works. https://t.co/zS5ffzNtyS
All regulation agencies can be tempted by large sums of money from industry. Not all need succumb, but many do.
Beyond that, it's a crime to force people to pay for a service they do not want. But that crime is organized and legalized in Germany and most (all?) of Europe, so it's not surprising that most Europeans don't understand Americans who (correctly) oppose legalized theft.
What does the method look like? Can you write it down?
FWIW I think they're both criteria. If an explanation isn't hard to vary it cannot be scientific.
But yes, the hard-to-vary stuff is more than just a criterion. It does give meaning also.
Testability is necessary but not sufficient. Explaining the world well is. See BoI ch. 1.
RT @nixcraft:
Punny: Hi there! I am your server for today! https://t.co/avLXMvilBA