zeke5123
5mo ago
It is funny how many people believe themselves smarter than Musk yet he is probably the most accomplished person in human history in pursuits that clearly require a lot of intelligence.
zeke5123
7mo ago
Are Jews overrepresented? Of course. Is that a problem? I don’t think so. Could that cause jealously? Naturally.
zeke5123
7mo ago
It seems terrible in that allegations are enough to demonetize someone who earns income from the internet meaning their ability to fully defend themselves (legally and in court of public opinion) is curtailed.
I hope Dame Caroline is accused of something, loses her income streams as a result, cannot defined herself, and goes to prison for something of which she is innocent.
Edit: I don’t know if Brand is innocent, guilty, or somewhere in between. I do know that what Dame is doing is wrong.
zeke5123
7mo ago
Most of those things are much easier to model than the climate because there are thousands and thousands of inputs into the climate. GIGO
zeke5123
10mo ago
I actually think that is most people’s gripe. They know something is wrong but have trouble sorting it out so they latch onto things like “not historically accurate” or “ruins the immersion” when in reality it is that the creator of this new work hates you the white consumer and therefore wishes to vandalize works you love with vulgar political displays.
zeke5123
6mo ago
If Palestine is from the river to the sea that means Israel does not exist. Now does it mean the necessary genocide of Israelis? No but in practice it will
zeke5123
1yr ago
I read a lot in the months following the election. The attempt to refute the water main break story never passed mustered.
zeke5123
10mo ago
The physics argument is also wrong. It would be akin to saying that a chain link fence can stop a mosquito. Once we understood that aerosol transmission was how covid spread and not droplets the logic for masking was over.
Also, masking was not low cost but high cost. It retarded development in kids, caused psychological issues for all who wore them (ie reinforced the idea one should panic), and seemed to create build up of CO2.
It is also funny because masks have been studied in a lot of other situations and they routinely don’t demonstrate efficacy. Thus the prior should’ve heavily been “masks don’t work.”
zeke5123
11mo ago
First, I don’t really value democracy qua democracy. Second, the point isn’t just affirmative action (which is wrong) but actual dislike and disgust toward whites and specifically white males. That hatred will eventually lead to big problems for white males.
So while China sucks, strategical strengthening an enemy may in fact be beneficial. Granted, I wouldn’t strengthen since it believes in Han superiority. But the basic concept of strengthening the enemy of a regime that despises you isn’t a crazy idea.
zeke5123
1yr ago
Someone posted a while back that justice really should be two tiered. You have your normal clearly criminal street criminals whom you should deal with harshly. Then you have your more normal member of society. This person should receive the Blackstone Formula benefit.
That is why I strongly support three strike laws.
zeke5123
1yr ago
New Twitter file dropped that I think touches on a few live wires of the culture war.
First, media quality. Scott, Richard H., and Bryan Caplan all somewhat recently have posts out relating to the media. Only Caplan has taken a really negative view. In the new Twitter files, it seems that media without much scrutiny amplified Hamilton68; a project that appears to without evidence slander mostly anti right political opponents as Russian agents. This was a big complaint against Scott and Richard — when the media gets something wrong, it is generally a big thing and seemingly in one direction. This was big because it was used to tar (or further tar) many political actors with links to Russia; notably the then President of the US.
Second, misinformation. The argument presented by and large by progressives is that misinformation must be caught back against aggressively by social media because it pollutes our political system. Yet this article shows how easily “misinformation” is really short hand for “political beliefs I disagree with.” Matt T. compared it to McCarthy. The biggest difference I see is that Joe was actually correct about his targets being communists (doesn’t follow that Joe’s actions were correct). Here, it seems the factual claim (Russian bots / agents) are just wrong.
Third, Robin Hanson just produced a piece discussing the difference between elite and expert. The expert focuses on details and logic; the elite looks for the trees and how to navigate social (ie political) situations. The internal Twitter debates see the expert class somewhat at war with the elite class.
Anyhow, let me know your thoughts! Link to the story. https://www.racket.news/p/move-over-jayson-blair-meet-hamilton
zeke5123
1yr ago
I concur. This is shaping up to be the biggest American scandal ever — or at least it should be but won’t.
zeke5123
4mo ago
Care to wager? SCOTUS need only say “the law is not self executing; congress passed a law saying what insurrection is, Trump wasn’t found guilty, therefore he is eligible.”
That is of course the prudential thing to do. The Baude argument is and remains silly.
zeke5123
7mo ago
This is just an incorrect statement.
They have found plenty of evidence. They haven’t found a smoking gun. But they also haven’t had complete access to bank records.
zeke5123
10mo ago
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On balance Russia is wrong. But the cartoon cut out of “Russia bad” is over the top.
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There was on-going anti Russian people attacks in the Donbas. If there were a community of Americans living in Mexico that came under attack I imagine Uncle Sam might have something to say.
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The 2014 coup and Ukraine buddying up to Nato suggests Ukraine was in some sense threatening Russia’s interests (the same way the US flipped out re Cuba and the USSR and the same way the US will flip out over PRC and Cuba).
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Now I do think these issues, while influencing Russia, were not the principal reasons behind the Russian war (ie imperialism). So on balance I think Russia is the bad actor. But it isn’t the carton some people pretend.
zeke5123
10mo ago
Re Africa — judge them by their fruits. Either intelligence isn’t really helpful to building prosperity or the Africans aren’t that intelligent.*
*On a large enough time scale.
zeke5123
1yr ago
Well, there was a Georgia official who attempted to refute the story. However, there was clear documented statements made at the time that directly contradicted the later story.
zeke5123
1yr ago
But isn’t the goal in dating to find a partner; not appeal to the modal partner?
So differentiating yourself even if it turns off the modal user may maximize chance of matching with relevant partner. Could be the same in business.
zeke5123
6mo ago
I think there is a different argument. When one bombs a target, one knows there may be collateral damage. When one purposefully attempts to kill a toddler, the death of the toddler isn’t a side effect.
zeke5123
7mo ago
When actually challenged to explain how, say, conventional arms delivery meaningfully risk nuclear war despite an entire cold war to the contrary, that doesn't seem to be a particular close-held belief when put into context by even casual inquiry.
The Cold War isn’t even close to analogous. Now because of advanced weapons, the US can give Ukraine weapons that easily and frequently do hit Russia’s territory (including Moscow). That never happened during the Cold War as far as I know.
zeke5123
10mo ago
While a somewhat interesting idea, I think it falls pray to missing the point. The opposition to trans isn’t solely rooted in a logical question about categories; it is rooted in the concept that trans ideology imposes social costs (often by harming girls and youngwomen), can be a fetish the person is making others play out with him, and doesn’t lead to human flourishing.
Step moms often can be pro social and therefore the debate about “are they a mom” isn’t really important in the same way.
zeke5123
1yr ago
I don’t understand the defamation risk with Epps. What is his argument? Yes, I did incite J6 and then lied under oath; I didn’t do it as a plant and therefore I’ve been defamed. I’m not a fed; I’m a criminal seems like…an interesting argument.
zeke5123
1yr ago
The question isn’t what sentencing guidelines say. The question is what does the average person get. For example, certain protestors without authorization got into private areas for senators to protest Kavanaugh. Were those persons even arrested let alone stuck with 41 months? The context of these statutes do suggest some degree of violence.
Moreover the elements of the crime require that it be unauthorized. Yet here the defendant is thanking the police for letting them in and was escorted by 9 police officers when there was no one else around; these police officers even tried to unlock doors for him. This is at least a mitigating factor.
He should’ve gotten jail time but 3.5 years seems excessive given that other protestors probably received zero jail time and the context muddies the water.
As a RDS voter, I’m pretty much RDS or bust (covid heavily influenced my political choice coupled with RDS’ general competence such as in Ian).
I have a decent preference for Trump over Haley mainly because while I think both would suck Haley reminds me too much of Bush. So maybe I fall in that camp?
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