> if I don’t understand what is or isn’t hurtful, then I’ll defer to the leading intellectuals in my culture to tell me
This essay was so promising, and then turned out to be a pledge of allegiance to the thought police.
The Kolmogorov option
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Re: The Kolmogorov option
#22A bit of game theory might be useful - https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/c... Riots and revolutions are difficult to start because of a number of obstacles: * It is not clear how many sympathizers you have. * Even if you believe you have the numbers, being the first to act may result in you being made an example of by the authorities. It's smarter then to rely on more ambiguous signals. Playi…
Since I presume you're a techie, it's funny that you overlook the main reason for Luther's success, which was technological—the invention of the mass-printed pamphlet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_during_the_Reformat...
I would also urge you to resist the lure of game theory in analyzing human behavior. It's a toy model that gives toy insights.
Re: The Kolmogorov option
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Texas.
Huh. I must have missed the bit where there were secret police rounding up dissedents and sticking them in camps where they were worked to death in Texas. I'm surprised I haven't heard more about it.
The question is where he's blogging from, which is probably Texas since he's a professor at UT Austin. The beauty of his blogpost is that depending on your perspective you can choose to read as pertaining to Texas (probably going to ban most insurance coverage for abortion) or "gender stuff" (Google manifesto fallout)
Re: The Kolmogorov option
#24What's the hinted present-day ideology he dare not challenge?
He previously got caught up in an internet drama. It's hard to summarize, but he made a comment about how being a nerdy straight male was harder than being a woman or gay and how reading feminist books made him suicidal. He got a bit of blowback on that and so probably a reference to that: http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2091#comment-326664
To add a bit more context, his comment is highly personal and deals with how he felt ashamed of his sexuality during his childhood and teenage years. His self-loathing was apparently so bad that he asked a doctor to chemically castrate him. His comments need to be read in the context of his life, because unlike the infamous memo they were highly personal, and that makes them hard to summarise fairly.
I really like his blog, even if it's mostly beyond me. It would be a shame if anyone drew a negative conclusion about Scott without first reading what he wrote.
Re: The Kolmogorov option
#25Re: The Kolmogorov option
#26Re: The Kolmogorov option
#27> if I don’t understand what is or isn’t hurtful, then I’ll defer to the leading intellectuals in my culture to tell me This essay was so promising, and then turned out to be a pledge of allegiance to the thought police.
Yeah, god forbid a person thinks for themselves instead of referring to some cultural intellectuals for judgement.
What kind of arguments are these? How to be more compliant? What happened to all those enlightenment ideals of being LESS compliant, judging for yourself, etc?
And when did "hurtful" (as in feelings) became some huge consideration in public discourse?
Re: The Kolmogorov option
#28The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
-- Carl Sagan, "Broca's Brain"
Re: The Kolmogorov option
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
He previously got caught up in an internet drama. It's hard to summarize, but he made a comment about how being a nerdy straight male was harder than being a woman or gay and how reading feminist books made him suicidal. He got a bit of blowback on that and so probably a reference to that: http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2091#comment-326664
To add a bit more context, his comment is highly personal and deals with how he felt ashamed of his sexuality during his childhood and teenage years. His self-loathing was apparently so bad that he asked a doctor to chemically castrate him. His comments need to be read in the context of his life, because unlike the infamous memo they were highly personal, and that makes them hard to summarise fairly. I really like hi…
Scott Aaronson is a wonderful human being, and seeing the attacks against him, and how they have changed him, has been very painful.
Re: The Kolmogorov option
#30Besides ideological self-righteousness, Aaronson left out one important component of oppressive regimes, which I think is actually far more important: it takes a relatively large amount of people to topple a regime, while small groups as well as individuals do nothing but expose themselves by rebelling. So no individual with any regard for his own personal safety has any incentive to rebel, and will instead go along with the flow for as long as it's tolerable to him.
But this, on the other hand, would create an odd situation where actually the vast majority of people might actually wish for rebellion, but none of them actually acts out on that wish. Which I also think is actually much more likelier than what he's putting forward. True crusaders are rare, most of people are "just following orders".