Month: June 2019

Grandma and Griffin

Grandpa and Kate

I have a few conspiracy theories myself and see many others daily. Debunking conspiracy theories can be done with Hanlon’s Razor.

Hanlon’s Razor says never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity or neglect.

For example, if a doctor prescribed the wrong medicine to your child, they are not secretly trying to kill your child.… read more “Debunking Conspiracy Theories”

Jeremy Bentham had an interesting idea. How can we apply Occam’s Razor to prison systems?

Occam’s Razor is a theory which says the simplest explanation is the best.

Jeremy Bentham thought that applying this to prison systems means that we should prevent more suffering than we cause through penalties.

For example, jailing a murderer for life might make sense as preventing another murder would save a lifetime of suffering.… read more “Occam’s Razor Applied to Prisons”

In 1939, a boat of 900 persecuted Jews fleeing Germany arrived in the United States and asked for refuge. They were turned away. After trying and failing to get refuge in several other countries, this ship had to return to Europe. It is now known as “The Voyage of the Damned” as 254 of those people were murdered in the Holocaust.… read more “American Immigration Policy”

Until humans are replaced as a species by machine intelligence, humans will be the best and most efficient artificial intelligence. It takes the same amount of calories to operate a 60 light bulb as it does to run a human body for a day. Humans are incredibly efficient at turning calories into intelligence. Even when machine intelligence surpasses us in total intelligence, humans will still probably be more efficient.… read more “Humans Are the Best AI”

https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/12/24/how-bad-are-things/

I have a pet conspiracy theory that voting machines are compromised as are the people who count votes. This is probably done by enemies of freedom such as Russia, Saudi Arabia.

I strongly believe voting machines and every person’s voting record should be public and easily verified by the people who voted themselves.

I believe the concept of limited liability in terms of business structure corrupts free market ideals. It gives cover and plausible deniability to people that want to profit at the expense of society. It allows oil and tobacco companies to knowingly engage in activities harmful to people and take the profits and not worry about having to repay the damages they cause.… read more “Eliminate Limited Liability”

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20266878

The limited liability business concept is extremely damaging because it removes accountability for externalities and bad behavior. I myself and an owner of a limited liability company so ending this Would not be to my benefit. However the benefit has society would be massive. Shareholders and owners and directors and managers should all be held personally financially liable and there should not be a time limit to this liability.… read more “End Limited Liability Companies”

https://prospect.org/article/insulin-racket

Patent ownership does nothing to encourage innovation. Most of the innovations are based on prior research, and most are done in publicly funded labs that would do the research regardless of the profit motive. Allow full competition to work or you end up with a corrupt version of capitalism.