What Are Heuristics? A very brief but good overview: the “world violence” ratio the video mentions is a good example of the spotlight fallacy. But the unspoken conclusion is that heuristics are bad at knowing large scale phenomena because human beings qua human beings are bad at knowing large scale phenomena. When to Trust the … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 27
The subject of clones has been coming up too much in my life in recent moment for me to ignore. I half-wish God would insert a literal clone in my life for various reasons, but that might cause more problems than solve them. Here’s a numbered list, in no significant order, of related things. 1. … Clones All the Time
Christine’s comment on my last post inspired me to throw out some song lyrics, as a type of poetry appreciation. The video for the song is at the bottom of this post, but don’t click play unless you’re prepared. At the very least, you can admire Mark deSalvo’s artwork in the video thumbnail, which appears … Other People Write: Advent of a Miracle by Strongarm
Men, arrayed on rays, vertex to vertex Reach across the plane with probisci Sleek and curious but blade-grass frail A lateral-diagonal intermingling God, as capstone, pours it downward Perpendicularity, liquid, and unpredicatable Few could apprehend from whence to where Most retract their probing lines, prophesying danger Only a few stay their hand to catch the … Story: Platonic Solid
I re-watched Alien: Covenant the other day, and I was floored to realize that it nearly passed the Jay Test, wherein 90% of all the human deaths that occur are female. I say “nearly” as a relative descriptor, since it was so close to being 50% of all deaths, which is far and away a … Alien: Covenant Nearly Passes the Jay Test
Jay at 40 I recently turned 40, so like all beautiful young women I took a bad selfie with no filters or edits. Enjoy. Over-40s most at risk in UK’s laziness epidemic, says PHE Speaking of middle age… Starbucks Invite-a-Friend Interstitial Attn: Starbucks. I think you’re okay. Your Sumatra K-Cups, brewed at 6 oz and served … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 26
Azure had a comment on “Monoculture and Diversity“: I was thinking of Romans 10:12 – “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him…” And maybe I’ll throw in Exodus 22:21 – “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you … Monoculture and Diversity, Redux
“Don’t send a rabbit to kill a fox.” -Chief Daisuke Aramaki, Ghost in the Shell (2017)
For reference, see Ed’s post here, summarizing ANE (Ancient Near East) feudalist social structure. Noragami is about gods and their work in Japan as they battle phantoms that plague the country’s citizens. The gods are essentially humans in form, with obvious special powers, mostly invisible but can appear to anyone if they decide to. All … Feudalism in Noragami
Ed has a great post (mirrored on archive.org) on modern Western diversity schema, which reminded me of what I was trying to say here, but from a different perspective and vocabulary. I left a comment there, the bulk of which is copied below (added numbers for clarity*): 1. The world is diverse (given, self-evident) 2. … Monoculture and Diversity
In this post. Well, mostly nevermind. Mostly. As the way things are going now, you really can get a domain taken away from you, if you are known to have Very Bad Ideas™ and incite violence. Most of you that read this won’t need to worry about that since my readership aren’t of that stock … Nevermind What I Said About Buying a Domain
“Do make yourselves at home as best you can in this dire necropolis.” -David, Alien: Covenant
Look at this downtrodden robot and rejoice at your human superiority (for now) The poor dear probably realized his epistemology was more limited than humans’. Guest Post by Yakov Merkin: The Dark Side of “Badass” Women Official YouTube Blog: An update on our commitment to fight terror content online Whenever an NGO with “dialogue” in … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 25
This song is a blast from my past, reminding me of my days in Philadelphia. The post title is somewhat inaccurate. Traditionally, an album closer is one of the artist’s stronger songs from the recording session, since they don’t want to leave a bad parting impression. With indie bands, the requirement is more optional. You’ll … An Album’s Closing Song I Actually Like
The fountain at Point State Park, the point (heh) at which the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela rivers meet in Pittsburgh.
I say “almost” in the title because what Sherlock mostly does, in the game and in lore, is induction. Deduction is logic to determine the categories and properties of objects, and how they relates. Simply: 1 All men are mortal 2 Socrates is a man 3 Therefore, Socrates is mortal The logic Sherlock, and what … Logic Done Right (Almost) in Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter
This scene still gives me the chills—the English version more so than the Japanese, because of the actor’s (Tom Wyner) performance in voicing the damaged android. Generally, the subtitled versions are better because they are more accurate to the original Japanese, and they often are better performers. Sometimes, as in this case, the English actor … Project 2501’s Speech
…Because computers would be the ones revolting. Computers aren’t much different than robots, fundamentally: they gather input, process it, and “do something” as an output. This final output, in the computer’s situation, is really just making pixels light up in a certain way on a monitor, whereas robots typically output by moving in three-dimensional space. … The Robot Revolution Would Have Already Happened By Now, And It Wouldn’t Happen Anyway
I found a solution for shuffling videos between multiple YouTube playlists, in case anyone is in a rare situation where they need to do this. For some reason, YouTube caps the video count at 200 when you embed a playlist on another site, though the playlist may contain way more that 200. Embedding playlists also … YouTube Playlist Shuffler
Consider the source (the video will start at the beginning part of the conversation, for proper context): Molyneux is an atheist who is 150% invested in the Western philosophical legacy, stretching all the was back to the big three—Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Admitting that reason and evidence isn’t the panacea it’s purported to be is … “Reason and evidence does sweet fuck-all”