Form: Critique

  • Defending Molyneux Again

    Context: Molyneux’s claim that he’s most influential philosopher working today. Is Molyneux Influential among philosophers, Intellectuals, Politicians – or among common people? Some of us work in R&D (like Research Academics), and some in Education (like Teaching Academics). Stefan is by far the most popular Teacher reaching the most people – by far.

    By that logic,shouldn’t Mark Dice,Crowder,Shapiro,Peterson be put above Stefan in reach according to ur criteria”—Checkov Pavlov @slimshadyrap98

    There is, empirically, a demarcation between philosopher/philosophizing the demarcation is a) the internal consistency (grammar of constant relations) that the speaker relies upon for his arguments and b) the publication of a work of at least one novel idea in that grammar. There is a demarcation between a philosopher and public intellectual, in the USE of that grammar of constant relations. My specialty is the disambiguation of science (operationalism), natural law, rational philosophy, justificationism, sophism, pseudoscience and supernaturalism. You just engaged in conflationa and sophism in the Abrahamic  model (GSRRM, Pilpul, Critique). And it’s unlikely that the others you mentioned know the difference. Peterson practices science but relies on suggestion using wisdom lit rather than operationalism. It’s Borderline theology. You can claim that Stefan didn’t produce a durable work of philosophy – and that would be true (Zizek either). And that it is difficult to disambiguate from self help (wisdom) rather than decidability (truth). But he practices the grammar of philosophy, and has produced a work.

  • The Constitution of Political Conspiracies

    THE CONSTITUTION OF POLITICAL CONSPIRACIES

    —“The purpose of policy is to destroy the family?”— A Twitter Critic

    [I] think you, like most victims of 20th C pseudoscience attribute greater agency to our intentions, and stated intent over external consequence. Conspiracies of common cognitive bias, common interest are endemic even if common intent isn’t – outside of those with such agency. Learn the technique of false promise, baiting into moral hazard, pilpul (via positiva), critique (via negativa), and its common thread in the three monotheistic religions, marxism, pomo, feminism, and political correctness – but insightfully, the female strategy of undermining. To say its a conspiracy of intent would require intentionality of female anti-social expression (psychosis, promiscuity, undermining, reputation destruction). Instead, social super-predation (undermining) is instinctual for most; a political strategy some & deliberate for others. Useful idiots constitute the vast majority of the population (I know, I have iffy followers too.) For whom the portfolio of sentiments need be satisfied, not the central object of stated policy. Humans account for calories(consumption), and status(opportunity) almost exclusively. Just as economic policy consists of pulling a small number of levers to produce externalities by design, social and political policy consists of many more levers which produce direct objective and external objectives. Rarely if ever is the stated policy the central objective. This is why the declaration, constitution, and bill of rights are an adequate attempt to restate norman,anglo-saxon, germanic traditional law as natural law, expressed in specific rights. But lacking strict construction from the foundations of that law, the constitution was weak. The anglo constitutions from which our prosperity originates were written for people of shared moral and ethical intuition, with a shared history of means of dispute resolution,with limited power distance,and limited difference in means of production of family, goods, & services. The industrialization of lying by sophism and pseudoscience, denialism, and deceit using new media in the 19th 20th, and the capture of ‘preaching’ in school, academy, and media by profiting from use of this technique has left the 20th a repeat of the first-second century. Hayek and Poincare were right: the 20th will be remembered as a repeat of christianization and islamization of the ancient world – this time with sophism, pseudoscience and denial,instead of sophism, supernaturalism and denial:false promise of reversing the consequences of genes. I don’t err. It’s my job not to. -Cheers.

  • The Constitution of Political Conspiracies

    THE CONSTITUTION OF POLITICAL CONSPIRACIES

    —“The purpose of policy is to destroy the family?”— A Twitter Critic

    [I] think you, like most victims of 20th C pseudoscience attribute greater agency to our intentions, and stated intent over external consequence. Conspiracies of common cognitive bias, common interest are endemic even if common intent isn’t – outside of those with such agency. Learn the technique of false promise, baiting into moral hazard, pilpul (via positiva), critique (via negativa), and its common thread in the three monotheistic religions, marxism, pomo, feminism, and political correctness – but insightfully, the female strategy of undermining. To say its a conspiracy of intent would require intentionality of female anti-social expression (psychosis, promiscuity, undermining, reputation destruction). Instead, social super-predation (undermining) is instinctual for most; a political strategy some & deliberate for others. Useful idiots constitute the vast majority of the population (I know, I have iffy followers too.) For whom the portfolio of sentiments need be satisfied, not the central object of stated policy. Humans account for calories(consumption), and status(opportunity) almost exclusively. Just as economic policy consists of pulling a small number of levers to produce externalities by design, social and political policy consists of many more levers which produce direct objective and external objectives. Rarely if ever is the stated policy the central objective. This is why the declaration, constitution, and bill of rights are an adequate attempt to restate norman,anglo-saxon, germanic traditional law as natural law, expressed in specific rights. But lacking strict construction from the foundations of that law, the constitution was weak. The anglo constitutions from which our prosperity originates were written for people of shared moral and ethical intuition, with a shared history of means of dispute resolution,with limited power distance,and limited difference in means of production of family, goods, & services. The industrialization of lying by sophism and pseudoscience, denialism, and deceit using new media in the 19th 20th, and the capture of ‘preaching’ in school, academy, and media by profiting from use of this technique has left the 20th a repeat of the first-second century. Hayek and Poincare were right: the 20th will be remembered as a repeat of christianization and islamization of the ancient world – this time with sophism, pseudoscience and denial,instead of sophism, supernaturalism and denial:false promise of reversing the consequences of genes. I don’t err. It’s my job not to. -Cheers.

  • Oversight? Or blindness?

    by ‎Daniel Jordan‎ A simple historical oversight? Or blinded by axiomatic first principles of ethics? [T]he distinguishing factors between Hayek and even Friedman in terms of ideas vs Rothbard, Mises, Rand is that they understood the importance of rule of law. Yes they wanted a limited government and distributed power but they wanted that government to be very well funded in its appropriate roles, judiciary, military, police, penal system. I think Friedman got it except on one thing – he was right to say that mass immigration with a welfare state is a bad idea but he didn’t realize that mass migration even without one would also pose a threat. The challenge here is that the benefit of a wealthy and functioning, lawful society produces commons of such value that this cannot be demarcated neatly from what we commonly label as ‘welfare’. It’s still a free rider problem even if some individuals can contribute on the whole. The longer the time horizon stretches out the more uncertainty there is. I wonder how receptive these individuals would have been to looking at history through a biological framework. Mises, Rothbard, and Rand, all had their insights but that crucial element of not understanding that rule of law had to precede the advent of market capitalism means that their ethics of non aggression principal were built on a foundation of quicksand. When we look at history from a natural scientific perspective it makes more sense and we don’t have to assume as much and can explain a lot more to say hey, rule of law (backed by force) was a further refinement and distribution of power among the polity that came after its even more primal stage of ‘law of rules’ arbitrary, came from ‘God’ and then used monarchs as a transition. We had ‘markets’ from the beginning, it didn’t bring the innovation or the wealth because the powers that be did not stamp out parasitism, the powers that were, were a form of parasitism. Our laws were the whims of who was in charge. Modern markets and wealth, and sovereignty are what happens when order is established. Force predates wealth. Historically and practically. If we don’t regard this as a natural phenomena we are going to forget what really formed the west.’

  • Oversight? Or blindness?

    by ‎Daniel Jordan‎ A simple historical oversight? Or blinded by axiomatic first principles of ethics? [T]he distinguishing factors between Hayek and even Friedman in terms of ideas vs Rothbard, Mises, Rand is that they understood the importance of rule of law. Yes they wanted a limited government and distributed power but they wanted that government to be very well funded in its appropriate roles, judiciary, military, police, penal system. I think Friedman got it except on one thing – he was right to say that mass immigration with a welfare state is a bad idea but he didn’t realize that mass migration even without one would also pose a threat. The challenge here is that the benefit of a wealthy and functioning, lawful society produces commons of such value that this cannot be demarcated neatly from what we commonly label as ‘welfare’. It’s still a free rider problem even if some individuals can contribute on the whole. The longer the time horizon stretches out the more uncertainty there is. I wonder how receptive these individuals would have been to looking at history through a biological framework. Mises, Rothbard, and Rand, all had their insights but that crucial element of not understanding that rule of law had to precede the advent of market capitalism means that their ethics of non aggression principal were built on a foundation of quicksand. When we look at history from a natural scientific perspective it makes more sense and we don’t have to assume as much and can explain a lot more to say hey, rule of law (backed by force) was a further refinement and distribution of power among the polity that came after its even more primal stage of ‘law of rules’ arbitrary, came from ‘God’ and then used monarchs as a transition. We had ‘markets’ from the beginning, it didn’t bring the innovation or the wealth because the powers that be did not stamp out parasitism, the powers that were, were a form of parasitism. Our laws were the whims of who was in charge. Modern markets and wealth, and sovereignty are what happens when order is established. Force predates wealth. Historically and practically. If we don’t regard this as a natural phenomena we are going to forget what really formed the west.’

  • They’re getting conservative postmodernism from Schmidt (authority) and Eric Gan

    They’re getting conservative postmodernism from Schmidt (authority) and Eric Ganz (social construction). And boy do they get mad when I (correctly) reduce Schmidt’s entire edifice to one statement, and state it’s simply because they were so far behind developmentally.


    Source date (UTC): 2019-10-03 16:11:00 UTC

  • Did you make that leap with me? Well, then follow me. Taleb is a Charlatan who a

    Did you make that leap with me? Well, then follow me.

    Taleb is a Charlatan who at first glance popularized Mandelbrot’s insights through humorous ego-inspiring essays making us feel smart like it made him feel smart. But the reality is, we have been smart for 5000 years: …


    Source date (UTC): 2019-10-03 15:40:40 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1179783331346571264

    Reply addressees: @clairlemon

    Replying to: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1179782863631376385


    IN REPLY TO:

    Unknown author

    @clairlemon (b) rule of law and involuntary warranty must be extended from commercial goods and services to all information in the marketplace. yes that’s right. We gave license to people to not warranty their words in the 20th, and that’s the reason we are where we are today. Period.

    Original post: https://x.com/i/web/status/1179782863631376385


    IN REPLY TO:

    @curtdoolittle

    @clairlemon (b) rule of law and involuntary warranty must be extended from commercial goods and services to all information in the marketplace. yes that’s right. We gave license to people to not warranty their words in the 20th, and that’s the reason we are where we are today. Period.

    Original post: https://x.com/i/web/status/1179782863631376385

  • Yet Taleb’s entire literature is devoted to lionizing scamming while ridiculing

    Yet Taleb’s entire literature is devoted to lionizing scamming while ridiculing those who hold positions of privilege (influence) precisely because they are not in the scamming business. Now, this analysis will expose the primary difference between middle eastern and western…


    Source date (UTC): 2019-10-03 15:18:37 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1179777781967806464

    Reply addressees: @clairlemon

    Replying to: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1179777503549898753


    IN REPLY TO:

    Unknown author

    @clairlemon So taleb is missing the whole point: that he is only able to use his techniques of via-negativa risk invstment, becuase he is in the only high trust polity, using IMMORAL MEANS OF GAIN, and so is his alter ego “Fat Tony”. These men are, by western ethics and morality ‘Scammers”.

    Original post: https://x.com/i/web/status/1179777503549898753


    IN REPLY TO:

    @curtdoolittle

    @clairlemon So taleb is missing the whole point: that he is only able to use his techniques of via-negativa risk invstment, becuase he is in the only high trust polity, using IMMORAL MEANS OF GAIN, and so is his alter ego “Fat Tony”. These men are, by western ethics and morality ‘Scammers”.

    Original post: https://x.com/i/web/status/1179777503549898753

  • I don’t want to be the front man on this subject but he’s not trying to take dow

    I don’t want to be the front man on this subject but he’s not trying to take down psychology, he’s trying to justify arab immigration to the west, and satisfy the chip on his shoulder as a christian arab. His empirical work was a dead end, and he can’t tolerate the truth: Trust.


    Source date (UTC): 2019-10-03 15:10:18 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1179775691165962241

    Reply addressees: @clairlemon

    Replying to: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1179562851305848832


    IN REPLY TO:

    @clairlemon

    Taleb, like Gould, is trying to demonise mainstream psychology–but he’s only successful in creating a folk demon for the lay public. He knows that anyone with any technical expertise thinks he’s a clown. But he doesn’t care, because accuracy is less important to him than fame.

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1179562851305848832

  • TALEB AS SCAM ARTIST UNDERMINING WESTERN CIVILIZATION (tough talk from twitter)

    TALEB AS SCAM ARTIST UNDERMINING WESTERN CIVILIZATION

    (tough talk from twitter)

    (read at your own risk)

    —“Taleb, like Gould, is trying to demonise mainstream psychology–but he’s only successful in creating a folk demon for the lay public. He knows that anyone with any technical expertise thinks he’s a clown. But he doesn’t care, because accuracy is less important to him than fame.”—Claire Lehmann @clairlemon

    I don’t want to be the front man on this subject but he’s not trying to take down psychology, he’s trying to justify arab immigration to the west, and satisfy the chip on his shoulder as a christian arab. His empirical work was a dead end, and he can’t tolerate the truth: Trust.

    West and east used tests successfully to filter out corruption for positions in government. Same for military, then same for academy. Wealth is available across the bell curve, with complexity (IQ) determining your market. You need conscientiousness to accumulate that wealth.

    What taleb is attempting to obscure is west can create large complex organizations because of trust and trust under rule of law, and rule of law by filtering out corruption granting privilege to IQ. He can’t face that because levantines cannot create trust, rule of law or …

    … large complex organizations, because they thing lying is a tool, cunning is of merit, outwitting by cunning superior than outwitting by increase in productivity, quality, or innovation, and that the commons is to be pilfered rather than invested in at every opportunity.

    So taleb is missing the whole point: that he is only able to use his techniques of via-negativa risk invstment, becuase he is in the only high trust polity, using IMMORAL MEANS OF GAIN, and so is his alter ego “Fat Tony”. These men are, by western ethics and morality ‘Scammers”.

    Yet Taleb’s entire literature is devoted to lionizing scamming while ridiculing those who hold positions of privilege (influence) precisely because they are not in the scamming business. Now, this analysis will expose the primary difference between middle eastern and western…

    … people and it will explain why certain groups profit in certain industries: because they are immoral, and westerners are not.Morality requires reciprocity: productive, fully informed,warrantied, voluntary transfer, free of imposition of costs by externality against interests.

    It is quite profitable to engage in immorality among moral people, just as it is less so among immoral people. And the finance business is by and large unproductive. In other words a westerner would never engage in the tactic used by Georg Soros, which was extractive. He did.

    So whether you cast these people as amoral or immoral, intentional or unintentional, or genetically or culturally different,the reality is that only westerners practice material Reciprocity and verbal reciprocity Truth,and because we do we produce high trust and large complex …

    … disproportionately productive organizations from the family to the enterprise to the state. And lower trust people that do NOT sort for trust and grant privilege to people who have ability in complexity to PRESERVE that TRUST. That is what the chinese and the west did.

    What institutions did the middle east foster instead? Cunning, Cheating, Lying, Rent seeking, taxing trade routes rather than producing. They lauded inbreeding, familiasm, tribalism, and not trust and productivity – and they rewarded dogmatists not talent.

    As such they could not produce a middle class, middle class majority population, and middle class ethics, and as such they could not push trustworthiness down into the middle, working, and lower classes. Which is why they remained poor despite taxing world trade and …

    … consuming the genetic, cultural, institutional, knowledge and aesthetic capital of five great civilizations and reducing them to ignorance, poverty and dysgenia.

    So yes you can make money if your conscientious at every point in the IQ curve …

    … but you cannot push trust, reciprocity, truth, and duty, judge and jury, contract and rule of law, down into a population and produce the multiples of scale, unless you FILTER upward for both intelligence (complexity) and conscientiousness, and you reward the combination …

    … with status and income, forcing a status hierarchy that must be imitated. And that’s before we get to the fact that smarter people are better at suppressing error – which strangely, Taleb, as another proponent of via-negativa seems to overlook. And that as we scale …

    … opportunities are not scarcer, but more plentiful, but so are the increasing cascades of error.

    So you know, basically, Taleb has been trying to teach the west how to devolve into a low trust bunch of middle eastern scam artists and calling it ‘smart’. …

    Meanwhile, he fails to grasp that those ‘educated but unintelligent people’ are in their position to eliminate error and low trust, not to maximize profits. Which if you have been following along this argument I’m making, means that not maximizing personal profit maximizes ALL.

    So let me reduce Taleb’s life’s work as an essayist in ridicule of western civilization to its foundations: (a) Mandelbrot was right that the stock market is just noise so w/o inside information just invest in funds. … (and here comes the big one) …

    …. (b) rule of law and involuntary warranty must be extended from commercial goods and services to all information in the marketplace. yes that’s right. We gave license to people to not warranty their words in the 20th, and that’s the reason we are where we are today. Period.

    Did you make that leap with me? Well, then follow me.

    Taleb is a Charlatan who at first glance popularized Mandelbrot’s insights through humorous ego-inspiring essays making us feel smart like it made him feel smart. But the reality is, we have been smart for 5000 years: …

    … warranty of one’s words, martial testimony “reporting” in all walks of life. The RETURNS ON COMMONS make Private returns possible, and commons require high trust and that’s why europeans are the only people to have produced them.

    We call it the civil society.


    Source date (UTC): 2019-10-03 11:51:00 UTC