16 ms·

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_what_it_does https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_wha...

eru 6mo ago
Compare and contrast https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/come-on-obviously-the-purpose-of https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/come-on-obviously-the-purpo...
- viccis 6mo ago
  >The purpose of the Ukrainian military is to get stuck in a years-long stalemate with Russia. >These are obviously false. The purpose of the Ukrainian military is to exhaust the Russian army's materiel and test out our weapons. "Years-long stalemate with Russia? Yes, please." -the US. Seems like an overwhelmingly common Scott Alexander L.
  - eru 6mo ago
    > The purpose of the Ukrainian military is to exhaust the Russian army's materiel and test out our weapons. Since when does country A decide what the purpose of country B's military is?
    - viccis 6mo ago
      Since country A pays for country B's military.
      - eru 6mo ago
        It's not even applicable here.
        viccis 6mo ago
        I wish my tax dollars weren't being used to murder Russians on the other side of the globe, but sadly they are.
      - verzali 6mo ago
        So the EU is deciding?
    - TeMPOraL 6mo ago
      In practice, always. It's similar to the claim that during the cold war, US basically controlled USSR economy, and vice versa, and that US won because USSR economy just couldn't keep up. On smaller scale, this is the (in)famous "fire and motion"[0], which works in business as much as it does in military tactics. Make a move, forcing competitors to respond to it. If you're better at it than them (and lucky), you can choose your moves to make their responses go to your advantage. -- [0] - https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/
  - verzali 6mo ago
    Scott Alexander often seems surprisingly unaware of his priors, especially when speaking about things beyond the American shores.
- vasco 6mo ago
  Is the purpose of replying to Wikipedia with random substack drivel to get downvoted? Or is it a byproduct of the system?
  - eru 6mo ago
    Well, that's not what the system does. So it can't be its purpose, I guess. In any case, the blog is well regarded in these circles.
- actionfromafar 6mo ago
  I was shocked at how shallow that take is. I expected more.
- Orygin 6mo ago
  Why does the page have a non-removable blue filter? Feels like a popup shadow that doesn't go away...
- khimaros 6mo ago
  thank you for sharing. i typically like his writing but didn't find this one terribly insightful. however, from his follow-up post https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/highlights-from-the-comments-on-posiwid https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/highlights-from-the-comment...: > When people insist on the confusing and inappropriately-strong version, I start to suspect that the confusingness is a feature, letting them smuggle in connotations that people would otherwise correctly challenge. i find this comical because it reads like a slightly-differently-worded POSIWID argument :)

eru 6mo ago

Compare and contrast https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/come-on-obviously-the-purpose-of https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/come-on-obviously-the-purpo...

viccis 6mo ago
>The purpose of the Ukrainian military is to get stuck in a years-long stalemate with Russia. >These are obviously false. The purpose of the Ukrainian military is to exhaust the Russian army's materiel and test out our weapons. "Years-long stalemate with Russia? Yes, please." -the US. Seems like an overwhelmingly common Scott Alexander L.
- eru 6mo ago
  > The purpose of the Ukrainian military is to exhaust the Russian army's materiel and test out our weapons. Since when does country A decide what the purpose of country B's military is?
  - viccis 6mo ago
    Since country A pays for country B's military.
    - eru 6mo ago
      It's not even applicable here.
      - viccis 6mo ago
        I wish my tax dollars weren't being used to murder Russians on the other side of the globe, but sadly they are.
    - verzali 6mo ago
      So the EU is deciding?
  - TeMPOraL 6mo ago
    In practice, always. It's similar to the claim that during the cold war, US basically controlled USSR economy, and vice versa, and that US won because USSR economy just couldn't keep up. On smaller scale, this is the (in)famous "fire and motion"[0], which works in business as much as it does in military tactics. Make a move, forcing competitors to respond to it. If you're better at it than them (and lucky), you can choose your moves to make their responses go to your advantage. -- [0] - https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/
- verzali 6mo ago
  Scott Alexander often seems surprisingly unaware of his priors, especially when speaking about things beyond the American shores.
vasco 6mo ago
Is the purpose of replying to Wikipedia with random substack drivel to get downvoted? Or is it a byproduct of the system?
- eru 6mo ago
  Well, that's not what the system does. So it can't be its purpose, I guess. In any case, the blog is well regarded in these circles.
actionfromafar 6mo ago
I was shocked at how shallow that take is. I expected more.
Orygin 6mo ago
Why does the page have a non-removable blue filter? Feels like a popup shadow that doesn't go away...
khimaros 6mo ago
thank you for sharing. i typically like his writing but didn't find this one terribly insightful. however, from his follow-up post https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/highlights-from-the-comments-on-posiwid https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/highlights-from-the-comment...: > When people insist on the confusing and inappropriately-strong version, I start to suspect that the confusingness is a feature, letting them smuggle in connotations that people would otherwise correctly challenge. i find this comical because it reads like a slightly-differently-worded POSIWID argument :)