2019 December Links

Intelligence is Truth's Double Edged Sword

It might seem obvious that smarter people attain more truth. I don't think that's true. I see intellectual honesty as the prime driver of truth attainment, and intelligence is a stimulant to however much intellectual honesty one does or does not bring to the table.

Memecraft: Everything's Trying to Kill You

What's with Babylon Bee?

Good comedy transcends politics. It doesn't participate in it.

The Babylon Bee is a good example of this. It doesn't take much to figure out they're a Christian conservative organization - not a group I'd expect to make me laugh out loud. But man, their headlines are incredible. I think that's because someone in their organization has figured out how to transcend the culture war and write genuinely funny stuff.

Is My Penis Big Enough? And other important questions you search on the internet

Dozens of studies have been done on average penis size and they all come out to the same approximately the same thing. 99% of the people around you have a penis size anywhere from 13cm (5 inches) to 30cm (1 foot). They average at about 20cm, which is about as long as the typical remote control.

Does it matter? Researchers have looked at this too. Studies show penis size is the single most important determinant of male attractiveness. When shown figures of naked males, only 2% of women ranked any man with less than average penis size more than a 4 out of 10 in attractiveness. Basically, if you're not above average, it's impossible for the vast majority of women to find you attractive.

In Defense of Trivialization

I notice that, especially in the social media environment, if you do not exaggerate every problem to a 10 you can get called out for "trivializing" it. If by trivializing, they mean "make less important than the exaggerated claim" then good job. Trivialize away. If they mean, "make less important than appropriate", then that would be a serious mistake.

But the accusation of "trivializing" is a method of marking and swiping away anyone who does believe the problem is less than maximum. This dismissal ignores that one can trivialize from an exaggeration or from reality. If a claim is an exaggeration then trivializing it is good. If a claim is accurate then trivializing it is bad. Overrating or underrating problems is inferior to rating problems accurately. However, the accusation that one is trivializing expels all arguments without regard for the quality of the trivialization.

Parents: Make Norms not Rules

It is strange that parents will shut off the television running in the background because they don't want their child to pick up any bad language, but the same parents will also force their children to say please and thank you. For some reason, they seem to believe children will pick up bad language but need to be trained to use good language. I think this point of view especially prevalent among conservatives who think people start out evil and have to be fixed. But objectively, child language acquisition works the same way for bad words as for good.

"It only stops Unsafe Abortions"

Previously, I wrote that incentives almost always matter. The more interesting question is, how much do they matter?

Consider the argument, "making abortion illegal doesn't stop abortions, it only stops safe abortions."

2019 November Links

This is a post of links to research, blogs, articles, videos, etc. on topics I find interesting. I do this because I remember things better when I use them, and then I can better integrate them into my worldview. It also creates a stock of citations I can look back on, instead of struggling forever on google while I attempt to retrieve some study I read one time but can't remember where I found it.

Here we go...

Swearing Children

If my 5-year-old son told me, "it's a pretty damn beautiful day today" I wouldn't care. I would caution him against saying that word at school or around grandma, but if he wants to use the word damn in that way around daddy, then let the kid say damn.

If he told me the damn teacher wouldn't let him have candy, that would be a different situation.

Imagine the child who tugs at his mom's shirt and asks, "mommy? What does shit mean? The mother is aghast and tells her foul-mouthed spawn never to say that word. Or imagine the parent who shuts off the tv in the background because the children might hear a bad word. This kind of fretful inanity looks deeply superstitious to me. As if a mere utterance releases some literal toxin into the air. As if it casts a spell into the environment. These are situations where the parents appear just as juvenile as the children.

Incentives Matter (when I want them to)

When I listen to public discourse, I can't help but notice the tendency to argue incentives matter only when it's convenient for one's political positions.

Does taxing soda reduce sugar intake and obesity?

Will a carbon tax reduce driving?

Will a wealth tax reduce investment from the very rich?

Will longer sentencing reduce crime?

Will abortion restrictions increase at-home abortions?

Do seatbelt laws increase car accidents?

Do welfare programs increase unemployment?

Does minimum wage reduce hiring?

Does payment increase blood donation?

Do zoning regulations decrease the supply of housing?

Hijabs are just another socially enforced covering

If aliens came to earth, they'd probably be naked all the time. That's okay I don't mind. Alien culture is different from mine and when I visit the alien planet and see all the naked aliens I'll be accepting of their culture.

But I wonder if they'll be accepting of mine? In most human society acceptance, respect, dignity, employability, marriageability, physical safety, enfranchisement, social mobility, access to social institutions, freedom, and autonomy hinge upon our daily, unwavering, public adherence to clothing. We humans are told we absolutely must cover certain body parts. Rationalizations aside, this rule is actually quite arbitrary but the consequences of not complying so are severe.

An alien may object to such an oppressive norm. The aliens may form activist groups to free humans from the injustice of clothing. They may promote social media campaigns to liberate the humans from pants. They may share shameful pictures of parents dressing their babies in clothing and remark upon how these kids are being indoctrinated from their earliest ages. And honestly, they might be right, but so many cultures have so many rules like this. Just because as an outsider you can identify some of the arbitrary social rules of other cultures, that doesn't mean the ones you're absorbed in and unable to see aren't just as bad.

This is how I feel about Westerners criticizing Muslim cultures for enforcing Hijabs.

Your vote counts, it just doesn't matter

Elections are a winner-take-all system. If 55% of the country voted for candidate A and 45% of the country voted for candidate B, we get 100% candidate A. This is different from a market where if I spend $1 on ice cream, I get $1 of ice cream. Or a charity where if I give $1 to Malaria Consortium, they receive $1.

This isn't hard to figure out which is why I'm puzzled when people repeat the line, "every vote counts," as if that's an argument for voting. Sure they literally counted your vote, but that doesn't mean your vote mattered.

Pricing Life even when you don't want to

Last time on My Beautiful Bubble:

A robot tries to save Will Smith and a 12-year-old girl from a sinking vehicle. While the robot is smart enough to give an 11% survival chance for the girl, and 45% survival chance for Will Smith, for some reason it is not smart enough to weigh the child more heavily than the adult. But even if it was, Will Smith would probably still be the right decision.

I assume the problem here is with whoever invented the robots. He probably felt yucky attaching numbers to human lives so he made the robots evaluate every human being homogeneously. This mistake must have cost millions of life-years across the planet. But who cares? We wouldn't want Mr. Robot inventor guy to feel bad about pricing human lives.

All this talk about weighing the relative value of human beings is starting to make me feel like a bad person. Let's talk about that.

The Price of Life and that Scene from I, Robot

In the movie, I Robot, Will Smith tells a story about a robot who only has time to save Will Smith or a 12-year-old from drowning,

"I was the logical choice. It calculated that I had a 45% chance of survival. Sarah only had an 11% chance. That was somebody's baby. 11% is more than enough. A human being would've known that."

My GPS can be programmed to find me the closest restaurant, but not the closest restaurant that I like. Hypothetically, there's no reason why a GPS couldn't be able to do that. It just has to integrate preferences into its algorithm to trade off value and distance. So the GPS knows to direct me to FiveGuys instead of Arby's, but not if FiveGuys is more than 8.2 miles further away.

Google. Make this.

My GPS is stupid because it's 10 years old, it doesn't have access to my own personal indifference curves (or does it?), and what it would take to make it smarter in this way isn't worth the cost. The robots from the movie, however, are dealing with human lives, which is really important. It's also a more broadly recognized value to prioritize children over adults. This is an easy problem to solve.

The Dog Whistle Machine and Barack Obama: A Conversation

I already wrote about the Self-Reinforcing Dog Whistle Machine a few times. Most recently, I used the concept to describe the "Barack Obama as antisemitic" argument. If you package several ambiguous examples of antisemitism together it starts to look like overt antisemitism. That's because we naturally interpret each piece of evidence not in a vacuum, but in light of a reputation established by all the other pieces of information.

In case my point isn't coming across, in this post I want to oversimplify with a fake conversation,

The Dog Whistle Machine and Barack Obama

The Self-Reinforcing Dog Whistle machine describes a phenomenon where we smear someone's reputation with accusations of dog whistles, but only interpret the person as dog-whistling because their reputation is so smeared.

The classic fuel of the Self-Reinforcing Dog Whistle Machine is racism. Follow someone around for long enough documenting all the ambiguously racist stuff they do, and you can make it seem like a pattern of racism. But some groups load the Dog Whistle Machine with other fuels to destroy people they don't like.

This website loads the Dog Whistle Machine with anti-semitism and uses it on Barack Obama. Here are some quotes:

2019 October Links

This is a post of links to research, blogs, articles, videos, etc. on topics I find interesting. I do this because I remember things better when I use them, and then I can better integrate them into my worldview. It also creates a stock of citations I can look back on, instead of struggling forever on google while I attempt to retrieve some study I read one time but can't remember where I found it.

So here it goes...

When it's okay to feed the Dog Whistle Machine?

The Self-Reinforcing Dog Whistle Machine is a  cycle between reputation and dog whistles. Dog-whistles destroy one's reputation, but reputation justifies the claim that these are, in fact, dog whistles.

Looking for patterns is a great way to feed innocent people into the Self-Reinforcing Dog Whistle Machine. You're naturally going to find negative patterns in people you already don't like. Life is big enough that if you only zoom in on the right areas, you can build a case for a negative pattern in anybody.

But it's not like I don't want to throw anyone into the machine. Some people dog whistle and would never admit it. Some people deserve the terrible reputation that they have. So how do you make sure you only throw guilty people into the Self-Reinforcing Dog Whistle Machine?

The Self-Reinforcing Dog Whistle Machine

Let me tell you about a new technology. It was probably invented decades ago, but only in the last few years has social media optimized it. It's the Self-Reinforcing Dog Whistle Machine. When you feed someone into the Self-Reinforcing Dog Whistle Machine they're ground into a million pieces over and over and over again. It's kind of like a meat grinder that releases the meat back into itself to be ground again. Unlike a meat grinder, the Self-Reinforcing Dog Whistle Machine grinds reputations. 

If you cross me this is what will become of your reputation

Of course non-voters can Complain

My society tells me that if I don't vote I can't complain. As a pragmatic non-voter who loves to complain, I'm offended. Now you've made me an offended non-voter who loves to complain, so I'm gonna have to write about why non-voters like me totally can complain.

Why can't you complain if you don't vote? I feel like nobody asks this question. Maybe it's because the answer is so obvious that asking makes one look like a fool. Or maybe it's because the statement in question is a pithy logical-sounding response to anyone who would reject the sacred ritual of voting. If you ask the question then you'd have to come up with an actual argument, which can then be counter-argued, and the next thing you know your democratic fundamentalism is under scrutiny. That's uncomfortable. Best to say the line, nod your head, and get on with your day.

These Pictures aren't Real Life

Cheap digital media allows me to keep hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of me spending time with my children. My kids will have 100x more pictures and videos of their youth than I have of mine. Viewing them is an endless cascade of joy and smiles. Everywhere we go, everything we do, I have a camera in my pocket and near-infinite free storage space. And with it, I can construct a narrative that illustrates years of happy memories. 

Boy it's such a lie.

Symbol Vs. Reality

We can't do without symbols because they're how we communicate. Humans are first and foremost social creatures, and we socialize with one another by taking reality, turning it into symbol, and giving it to one another. It's a way of plopping an idea into another person's head. We use a red light to tell you to stop. We use a heart to indicate love. We say, "sad" to communicate a feeling. We wear suits to express conformity and class. We wear t-shirts to communicate leisure and uncaringness. etc.

That's why our society is covered in symbols. language, traditions, signs, written words, flags, holidays, rituals, clothing, gestures, advertisements, and facial expressions are all symbols. We're so immersed in symbols that we automatically translate symbols to reality without even thinking about it.

We transmit and read signals just fine most of the time, but we're prone to misread signals when they're given by our enemies.

Hate looks like Righteousness from the Inside

"Hate what is evil" -Romans 12:9

Most people agree that society has too much hate, but I don't think it exists where they think it does. They think it exists in other people, but I say if you want to see hate take an earnest look at yourself.

Swastikas aren't just for Nazis

A temple in Korea

The swastika has existed for 5,000 years in Asia as a symbol of good fortune. It's a very common religious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Placing the swastikas on the doorstep is a way of extending good wishes to all who come through our home.

In East Asia, the swastika is prevalent in Buddhist monasteries and communities. Many Chinese religions make use of the swastika symbol, including Guiyidao and Shanrendao. Among the predominantly Hindu population of Bali, in Indonesia, the swastika is common in temples, homes and public spaces. Similarly, the swastika is a common icon associated with Buddha's footprints in Theravada Buddhist communities of Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. In Japan, the swastika is also used as a map symbol and is designated by the Survey Act and related Japanese governmental rules to denote a Buddhist temple.

What's the True Meaning of Christmas?

"and you will gift tacky sweaters, sing Jingle Bells, and drag a big
ugly tree into your home in remembrance of me"
-Jesus

We Americans cram our 4 favorite holidays into 2 months, and then we have 4 months of unbearable snow with nothing to do and nothing to look forward to except for stupid Valentine's Day. A smarter civilization may have spread out our Holiday consumption across the cold icy plains of Winter. But we're Americans! We want it now!

Anyway, it's almost Christmas. It's a time of year when we brainwash ourselves with the same songs over and over again. It's a time of year when we spend money on gifts other people don't want but will get offended if they don't receive. It's a time when we fight about the capital T True meaning of Christmas as if it's sitting out there in the Universe to be found.

The Upsidedown Cross and the Confederate Flag

What is this?

Some call it the Petrine Cross. The symbol originates from the Catholic tradition that when sentenced to death, Peter requested that his cross be upside down, as he felt unworthy of being crucified in the manner as Jesus.

But it's more modern usage is different. According to Wikipedia: "...it has in recent years been appropriated as an anti-Christian symbol and is often seen as such in popular culture."

It's kinda amusing that some Catholics use this as a Christian symbol, and some goths use it as an anti-Christian symbol. More amusing is that these groups fight over what the symbol really means. Some Catholics make fun of goth's historic ignorance in using a traditionally Christian symbol. Some goths make fun of Catholics because Goths took a historic Christian symbol and made it into something satanic.

And then some conspiracy theorists say the upside-down cross represents opposite of Jesus, which is the anti-Christ, which is a symbol the pope uses, so the pope is the anti-Christ and the inverted cross is the mark of the beast. Yeah okay.

What's wrong with Blackface?

This week in culture war news, Justin Trudeau, liberal prime minister of Canada, wore black-face 20 years ago.

He looks proud

While conservatives are twisting the knife over what they see as liberal hypocrisy (without recognizing that if they don't defend Trudeau they're being hypocrites too), liberals seem split over whether they should accept Trudeau's public apology or cancel him the same way they did with this guy, this girl, this guy, this guy, this girl, this girl, this guy, and many others.

What are you, Gay?

Let me tell you about a time when I was the worst person in the world.

I was with some friends (I don't have any friends. You can already tell I'm making this story up...)

I was with some acquaintances when someone we all knew walked in carrying his girlfriend's purse. I squinted my eyes, lowered my voice, and asked, "what are you, gay?"

I had said that in other social situations and people around me understood that I wasn't mocking gay people, I was mocking the mockers. One time it even started a conversation with someone about how people actually used to say that sort of thing, and how much the world is better now.

What if Everybody Voted!

After reading my post against voting, I suspect some people would still have a hard time trashing the image of how much better the world would be if everyone voted. Because we know that non-voters skew leftward, and the Republican Party would basically never win if everyone voted.

This seems wrong to me for at least three reasons.

What if Nobody Voted?

When I tell people I don't vote, after the other person calms down they always ask the same gotcha question. "what if everybody did that?"

This is a really strange response since I don't make other decisions in my life based on the consequences if everybody made that same decision.

What should I want? (The Ethos)

My entire youth alleged authorities dispensed the same advice. "Go after what you want." They thought they were bestowing their guidance upon an aimless young person who lacked the courage to grasp what he valued. Aimless, yes, but courage wasn't my most pressing issue. I distinctly remember feeling dominated by the paralyzing question, "what should I want?"

Activist Vs. Dogmatist

Activists have causes that they hope to resolve. They have ends they hope to achieve and they rally effort toward those goals. Dogmatists subscribe to a whole catalog of holy affirmations. They're a club bound together by a list of articles of faith.


At first glance, the sacred affirmations of dogmatist might seem to achieve the ends of a self-proclaimed activist. This makes it hard to tell the difference between the two. Is a women's rights activist really trying to achieve women's rights? or are they part of a sort of church with the stated goal of achieving women's rights, but they're actually trying to find the same purpose and community of a religious believer?

The Enemy's Leader is always Satan

"Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship."   

-David Foster Wallace

“A person will worship something, have no doubt about that."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Thou shalt not worship any other gods before me."

-God 

One way to mark political tribes is by what they sacralize. Conservatives sacralize things like the constitution, the military and America, while liberals sacralize things like Democracy, the environment, and select minority groups.

An Uninterrupted Present

I wish I was born on February 29th so I can be 8 again. I would change a lot of things. Status quo bias aside, I would make several different decisions.

Sometimes when we're trapped in an elevator or waiting for work to start or hanging out at a bar, we ask each other, "if you could go back in time, what would you change?" There are a lot of good answers, but the worst answer is one I hear more than 50% of the time.

How Social Media Ruins My Garden

I scrolled through my Facebook feed the other day, and somewhere between one of my brother's quirky status updates and a picture of my co-worker's new baby, there was a political meme. I don't want to get too specific, but it shared a grievance about a particular story of injustice. The tone was angry. It took a stance on the story and told anyone who disagreed to go fuck themselves. It inspired hate for entire groups of people, and it was shared by someone I know as a very pleasant and thoughtful person.

It made me think about just how much hate looks like righteousness from the inside.

Head First Heart Second

Your head is a map and your heart is a compass.

Your map (your head) lays out what the terrain looks like. It communicates causes and effects, means and ends, pleasant trails and hazards.

Your compass (your heart) tells you which way to go. It communicates values, morals, and destinations.

Your compass will still give instructions even if your map is upside down. East will look West. Bad places will look good, and good places will look bad. That’s why it’s important to draw your cognitive map first before you follow your moral compass.