jmcmichael

12 ms·

61.
by jmcmichael 10y ago
It's this kind of delusional faith in 'free market' capitalism and its profit incentive that has led us to the climate disaster that we face.
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by jmcmichael 10y ago
Two words: 'event calculus'. A type of predicate logic constructed to precisely specify the types of relationships that we use language to do with law and contracts: 'Formalizing Legislation in the Event Calculus': http
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by jmcmichael 10y ago
Yes, our social institutions treat the poor reprehensibly, and it does present a huge problem that doesn't get addressed as often as it should. The fact still remains, though, that our social institutions treat poor black folks much
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by jmcmichael 10y ago
> why should the public pay for safety testing of products? Because private companies have strong counter-incentives to ignore or obfuscate safety issues with their products? Counter-incentives that have been shown repeatedly to have cau
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by jmcmichael 10y ago
> Regulation has never fixed anything. ... > And especially when it comes to science, we need to remember that innovation and regulation are opposite ends of the same spectrum. So, regulation has never protected us from the negative e
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by jmcmichael 10y ago
Satire.
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by jmcmichael 10y ago
In sentence preceeding the one you've quoted, the author refers to Eisntein's laws of general relativity and the Standard Model, and with that context the sentence makes sense. These 'classical' models do indeed suggest
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by jmcmichael 10y ago
"Every person can make a living doing something they love" is the "Let them eat cake" of the 21st century.
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by jmcmichael 10y ago
> Yes, Strong corporations and public rights, are necessary to ensure, that government does not becomes too powerful. And there is at least some balance of power. Are you suggesting here that corporations are a meaningful brake on state
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by jmcmichael 10y ago
> Being racist That word doesn't mean what you appear to believe that it means. I do not hold the belief that one race is superior to another, nor do I hold the belief that society should exploit or disadvantage individuals based on
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by jmcmichael 10y ago
If one has ever been cuffed or had a weapon pointed at them, they're far less likely to be so cavalier in dismissing another's similar experience. Given that African Americans are far, far more likely to be unjustly detained in su
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
Medicine as practiced now has both scientific and non-scientific parts. Original research, as in bioinformatics, drug discovery, etc. constitutes the scientific part as it uses systematic experimentation, logic, statistics, etc. to deduce u
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
> If not, by what means to propose that we do so? >> Quite easy really. Whether a person is a danger to society or not, should be determined by a court jury based on his previous actions. A couple of problems with this solution com
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
Yeah, I agree that psychiatry's value rests less on its categorization as science or not but rather its ability to reliably reproduce valid and accurate knowledge of use to society and individuals. I have began to push back against the
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
Do you believe that psychiatry provides us valid knowledge that allows us to identify, study, and treat individuals who have mental influences that cause them to be a danger to themselves or society? If not, by what means to propose that we
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
Do you believe that mental disorders exist? If so, how would you go about identifying and treating them? If not, what empirically verifiable means do you know of to identify people who are a danger to themselves or society, and treat them?
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
word != phrase
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
Singularitarianism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singularitarianism EDIT: I agree with the parent reply that Elizer's writings do not rise to the level of good philosophy, but don't believe that 'singul
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
We treat our universities like sanctuaries of learning, and the best ones shield their students from many of the uncertainties and dangers of life while they (ideally) spend their time learning to be valuable members of society. Some of the
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
It may not be illegal, but it has a few negative secondary effects, among them: 1) reduces the value of US hardware on the international market, as businesses want to use equipment without backdoors installed by foreign intelligence service
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
No, I think what the author of the article means by 'secret' is not the very complex processes themselves, but the secrecy those complex processes provide to the wealthy - secrecy and privacy that the hoi polloi do not enjoy. Also
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
Cars do not rely on science, primarily. The existence of cars is primarily due to engineers developing technology (a different process than that of science), not scientists doing science. If you believe that science can explain everything,
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
But the original assertion does not mention any specifics: "it fails to mention how exactly philosophy of science has been or is to be useful to scientists" It just says "useful to scientists". I feel that my argument sh
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
I attempted to address this above, in a reply to a sibling of your request.
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
The scientific process, since it is based on empirical observation, can only address entities and phenomena that possess a position in time and space[1]. Asking it to directly address subjective subject matter is like asking a flashlight to
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
Yes, updated. Sorry to have (hopefully temporarily) made this thread look like a Guardian comment section...
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
> He might have changed the way a few scientists and a few more philosophers think about science but most people including most practising scientists don't think about such things at all. The general public, I suspect, isn't ev
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
> Clear your thought, before you clothe it in fancy words, otherwise you get confused. Your prose is clothed in finery that would make Louis XIV cringe.
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
The event calculus could be used to specify the behavior of the agents instantiated by ethereum smart contracts. This formalized description of the smart contract (e.g. a legal system) could then be used to verify its actual behavior in the
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by jmcmichael 11y ago
Given that narratives form the backbone of history, literature, justice, religion, science, and virtually every field of human study one could imagine - as well as one's internal conceptions of the past, present, future, and one's

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