Do the Gods Have a Plan for You?

To what extent do you have “fate?” And no, I’m not talking about free will and determinism. I mean the expectation that your experiences are going to follow a certain trajectory. You can experience a bit of existential dread: you are not the character of a movie or novel, and nothing is going to happen … Continue reading Do the Gods Have a Plan for You? →

Political Freedom is Really Only About Managing Recursion

Part 1: Free Speech Almost all free-speech-advocates make the argument for free speech in a flawed way. It’s understandable; the complete case for free speech is more complex than even what I will provide in this essay. I think the right case for free speech is from a “political freedom” frame.A good, popular, short-form argument … Continue reading Political Freedom is Really Only About Managing Recursion →

12 Rules for Life

So, in proving that I can do whatever the most prominent thought leaders of our time can do, except better (ok, you be the judge), I present to you

Maximum Realism

Preface I don’t believe everything written here. The point of this article is to shock you with something sufficiently far outside of your normal sensibilities that you may momentarily jump-start your moral outlook. If you had a negative reaction to that last sentence, you should stop reading now, because you probably won’t like my writing … Continue reading Maximum Realism →

I commissioned an Audiobook

I present, The Gig Economy. I didn't write it, but I made this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsUi7MaYqwc&t=4840s And, what would be more interesting to readers of this website, I made video versions of my adaptive valley series. In 3 parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91bMrQyRJ60 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wDpFSXTUlc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vGCYZXiXg&t=151s

The 10 Most Society-Damaging XKCD Comics

Everyone in physics and/or computer science reads XKCD. People in these fields frequently reference and link to it. I'll admit I have done so. The vast majority of the comic strips (from here on just "comics") are basically mundane. Some are kind of interesting. A small number are legitimately objectionable. Over the last 2 days, … Continue reading The 10 Most Society-Damaging XKCD Comics →

Against Outside Work Restrictions

I oppose restrictions outside work. That is to say, I believe in the policy that a company should not fire or discipline an employee in response to something that the employee did in their personal life. Strictly speaking, everything done outside of the office and outside of official work hours should not be taken into … Continue reading Against Outside Work Restrictions →

What’s the Catch?

There was a year or two in high school when I was aware of ad blocking browser extensions but did not install them. Today, I can’t even imagine the experience of browsing the internet with ads everywhere. Or, for instance, sitting through youtube ads waiting to skip them. Sometimes a friend, coworker, or family member … Continue reading What’s the Catch? →

What is Autism?

Let me start from the beginning. The younger you are, the easier it is for you to learn things, in an evolutionary psychology sense. The name for this ease and desire to learn things is “curiosity,” and children are very curious. Toddlers will put things in their mouths, out of curiosity, because their mouths are … Continue reading What is Autism? →

On Santa Movies

I have the impression that narratives in Santa movies are cynical. Intentionally or not, almost all of these movies are premised on the attempt to “demystify” Santa. That is, they simultaneously attempt to justify that Santa’s existence is logical, while also implying that it’s not. These stories generally fall into one of three categories: Santa … Continue reading On Santa Movies →