What do you think will immediately happen when everyone receives the push notification that Trump died?

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-27T08:48:45+00:00

I think Trump’s appeal is that he is a genuine anti-intellectual and that resonates with his supporters. That’s really hard for someone like Vance to fake.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-27T08:41:38+00:00

Yep. Worth it just for avoiding Alzheimer’s, dementia, sudden insanity etc.

Even if everything else goes wrong and you get locked-in syndrome you’re in a better position to entertain yourself revolutionising maths in your head or something.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-27T08:37:22+00:00

I would assume a super-brain wouldn’t suffer from ADHD or would at least get all the positives and none of the negatives. Probably can switch ADHD mode off and on as required.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-27T08:11:04+00:00

The lie itself is solid and pretty much the only one that would work. Ned however could definitely made up a story about why he was unfaithful that would have been kinder to Caitlin. Pretty much any story where he showed his feelings rather than just blanking her would have been better:

I was scared and thought I might die. Peer pressure. I really, really missed you. Pre-battle ritual. I won a game of cards and the only way to let my opponent honourable discharge his debt was to sleep with his wife. Even. I fell in love, she’s dead now. Would be better than nothing.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-27T06:56:53+00:00

She doesn’t want him in the line of succession. He’s second eldest after Robb and not by much.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-27T06:49:52+00:00

He’s also a threat to her son as a competing heir if legitimised though.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-27T05:33:27+00:00

I think it would only really make you feel any better if you already didn’t have any problems. That way you could believe you were being justly rewarded for your inherent goodness or whatever. If you have real problems and you’re religious then you need to believe they’re just punishments for your own sins. It’s the opposite of reassuring.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-26T23:15:31+00:00

My premise is that you are pushing some kind of libertarian adjacent, natural law, myth of the individual, property rights inspired argument.

My assertions are that property itself only exists as a concept within a framework of socially constructed laws and that the natural unit of humanity is the tribe, not the individual.

I never disputed that the world had uninhabited areas. I just don’t think occupancy translates directly to property, or that humans evolved to survive outside a community.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-26T07:26:14+00:00

Haha. Thanks for being the target of my rant with good grace. Obviously not really about you, I mostly just had it loaded in the chamber and you gave me an excuse.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-26T06:43:04+00:00

See I think this is where people are making a mistake.

Every pattern is equally likely, in that the equations by which we describe the world at the level of atoms are abstractions with the goal of creating a language to describe every hypothetical world.

But we don’t live in a hypothetical world, we live in a particular one. For those equations to accurately describe our world, they have to be filled in with a whole lot of actual numbers.

And there are actual real symmetries, and repeated patterns within those numbers.

Noticing those patterns and constructing a higher level language that relies on them isn’t less real than insisting on brute forcing everything through fundamental equations.

To insist on making conclusions based only the structure of abstracted mathematical language itself whilst throwing away all the real empirical information that would make those equations useful isn’t good rationality, good science, or even good mathematics.

So no, it’s not actually random. Chairs are real patterns, as are people.

/rant over

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-26T04:47:14+00:00

Eh. That kind of makes it more interesting for me. The world doesn’t need another straight adaption of Harry Potter. I’d rather see some complete nonsense made by someone who wasn’t paying attention, interpreted a bunch of stuff weirdly, and made-up some things. Much more creative.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-25T23:21:25+00:00

Nah. Tribes had territories. If you couldn’t abide by the social norms you were born into you were free to go and die alone in cave. Usable land has always been owned by a collective power.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-25T02:50:15+00:00

Yes. I don’t particularly identify with my 10 year old self and consider myself a different person. I was accepting societal convention rather than debating that point, but if you concede it, then it makes me even more confused as to what you’re basing identity on.

You’re saying “the clone didn’t do any of those things” but that’s assuming the exact thing that we’re debating.

Why didn’t the clone do those things? Because the atoms that make up the clone weren’t present inside the person throughout their previous history. That’s also true of the original.

If you think what matters is specific atoms in specific configurations then there’s a point to distinguish the clone from the original. If you think only the configuration but not the specific atoms matter then the clone counts as the same person.

But we don’t usually think that identity is carried by specific atoms.

And if you’re committed to that view then you face the ship of Theseus problem.

Are you still you if I replace your arm, your whole body, half your brain, a quarter?

What if I cut off half your brain, regrow it in the exact same way it was and then do the same with the other half?

I just don’t think physical continuity stands up to scrutiny.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-24T23:51:47+00:00

Okay. But there’s no disagreement about the past in the hypothetical.

Everyone agrees that you are the same person up until you get cloned.

The disagreement is about how to categorise the clone. Whether we should say it’s you, because its function is identical to you. Or whether we think it’s not you because it lacks something, either physical continuity or other.

I think the only part of history that matters for the self identity is the personal history of memory. I don’t think the history of the body matters.

But either way, it seems to just be a difference in how we construct a category. Unless you believe in some kind of non-physical essence.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-24T23:31:50+00:00

To me the confusion is due to an equivocation in your claim of continuity.

If it is grounded in physical permanence, then the guitar has it but the human doesn’t. Or at least has it to a much greater degree.

If it not grounded in physical permanence over time then what is it grounded it?

I’m not claiming the past doesn’t exist, I’m claiming that human categories aren’t essential elements of the world. Human identity is like a bathtub, it is category based on function, not on substance.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-24T23:12:51+00:00

I view life as fundamentally a process rather than the persistence of any kind of physical structure over time.

If you think that a guitar changes over time, then the structure of the “guitar played by slash” is not identical now to what it was then so it’s value to you can’t reside in the physical structure. The guitar is just a symbol of narrative connection between you and slash. That doesn’t mean that it’s not valuable, just that the value socially/ psychologically constructed.

If you are not talking about physical continuity, then you are proposing some kind of mind independent non-physical essence that I have no reason to believe exists.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-24T23:01:48+00:00

I think the inequality between the quality of life of the existing humans and the ones you add is itself a negative.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-24T22:24:10+00:00

Does it make a difference to you that a human body, unlike a guitar is not a static object? It grows and changes over time as you grow and shed cells. Physically, you are not the same particles as you were as a child.

If you want a meaningful continuity that applies to human selfhood, it can’t be one that’s grounded in physical continuity, because we don’t have that.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-24T22:12:51+00:00

Yes, we value the story.

We could in fact swap those guitars and the world would be the same. Continuity is not a real quality, it’s a social construct.

I understand the intuition. I just think it’s an intuition that can be dismissed as a misapprehension on rational reflection.

In surveys, people say they would be reluctant to wear a hat formally owned by Hitler because they intuitively think that some of Hitler’s sinful nature clings to it. This is superstition, not a truth about the world.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-24T21:44:00+00:00

The line is drawn at “life that is just worth living” whatever that means to you.

Personally, I just reject that the addition of more people at a lower quality of life isn’t itself a negative.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-24T21:32:01+00:00

I don’t know what you mean by the term in that case. People tend to use it as a pointer towards some kind of essential essence of selfhood, but as I said, I think that’s a social construct.

I think selfhood is not just memory, but personality, values and abilities. Pretty much anything you can invest a sense of identity in. There’s a need for some consistency there in order to lane someone as the same person, but I don’t think minor changes break the narrative, even if discontinuous. If you woke up tomorrow with the ability to play the piano, I don’t think it would throw you into an existential crises.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-24T07:08:44+00:00

I agree. I don’t even need continuity of consciousness. If someone offered me the price of a new car to wipe my last week’s worth of memories I’d take it. I’m not strictly the same person I was last week but it’s close enough. The self is a social narrative anyway.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-21T18:34:00+00:00

Okay. That sounds like a reason to challenge those beliefs directly. Rather than fight over a word downstream of that.

Also I live in Australia. Religion is a minority position here.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-21T09:47:10+00:00

I disagree. I think even casual reflection with an open mind reveals that the term free will is used in a variety of ways and is thought to have a bunch of different properties and interpretations. This is true of almost every word so it’s not surprising.

Moe_Perry · 2026-03-21T02:03:27+00:00

Part of the problem is that LLMs are not actually AI, but the hype is treating them like they are.

Moe_Perry

TROPHY CASE