Monthly Archives: October 2014

Michigan Meetup 11/9

There will be a Michigan rationalist/LW/SSC meetup at my house, halfway between Detroit and Ann Arbor, on Sunday, November 9th at 2 PM. You can find my address and directions here. If you’re reading this and interested in rationality and … Continue reading

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Open Thread 7: The Hunt For Thread October

I’m spending today being anxious and intimidated and shouting at my brain “QUICK! SAY SOMETHING INTELLIGENT! FAMOUS PEOPLE ARE LOOKING!”. But nothing is coming out except, as always, terrible puns. So probably time for another of the semimonthly open threads. … Continue reading

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Alcoholics Anonymous: Much More Than You Wanted To Know

[EDIT 10/27: Slight changes in response to feedback; correcting some definitions. I am not an expert in this field and will continue to make changes as I learn about them. There is a critique of this post here and other … Continue reading

Book Review: A Future For Socialism

A boot, stamping on a human face – forever! No! Wait! Sorry! Wrong future for socialism! This is John Roemer’s A Future for Socialism, a book on how to build a kinder, gentler socialist economy. It argues for – and … Continue reading

In The Future, Everyone Will Be Famous To Fifteen People

[Epistemic status: not very serious] [Content note: May make you feel overly scrutinized] Sometimes I hear people talking about how nobody notices them or cares about anything they do. And I want to say…well… Okay. The Survey of Earned Doctorates … Continue reading

More Links For October 2014

Bad Conlanging Ideas Tumblr, or best conlanging ideas Tumblr? No, Aristotle is not your dumb straw man opponent of empiricism. One thing you have to learn in every freshman biology course, and the better sort of freshman philosophy course, is … Continue reading

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Five Case Studies On Politicization

[Trigger warning: Some discussion of rape in Part III. This will make much more sense if you’ve previously read I Can Tolerate Anything Except The Outgroup] I. One day I woke up and they had politicized Ebola. I don’t just … Continue reading

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Five Planets In Search Of A Sci-Fi Story

Gamma Andromeda, where philosophical stoicism went too far. Its inhabitants, tired of the roller coaster ride of daily existence, decided to learn equanimity in the face of gain or misfortune, neither dreading disaster nor taking joy in success. But that … Continue reading

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Open Thread 6: Open Renewal

The research I’m doing now seems to be funging against blogging more than my usual work, so expect it to be quiet around here for a while. Here, have an open thread. 1. Comments of the month…let’s see…no obvious winner … Continue reading

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Tumblr on MIRI

[Disclaimer: I have done odd jobs for MIRI once or twice several years ago, but I am not currently affiliated with them in any way and do not speak for them.] A recent Tumblr conversation on the Machine Intelligence Research … Continue reading