"But people whose coalition membership is constituted by their shared adherence to “rational,” scientific propositions have a problem when—as is generally the case—new information arises which requires belief revision." 2/2

"A political party united by supernatural beliefs can revise its beliefs without revisers being bad coalition members." 1/2

The legacies of Earl Warren: the Japanese internment, qualified immunity (Pierson), cops can claim to smell drugs (Johnson), cops dont need a warrant if they think someone "might" destroy evidence (Ker), "stop and frisk" (Terry).

The slippery argument is not a fallacy, it's a critique, a good one. Calling the slippery slope argument a fallacy is not a defense or a "debunk". It's an admission, and an illuminating one.

Just like "don't roll your own crypto", DO NOT roll your own certificate checker. You will screw it up. Every time, yes you will.

Making a thing is easy compared to making a factory that makes the things affordably.

El Día de Muertos hit kind of hard this year. I have a growing list of friends who will never reply to an IM again, and I have to face that that list will get longer over time, and get longer faster. One of them threw their own wake just a few months ago.

One of the best things about learning things via conversations with LLMs is it doesn do "so why are you asking?" Trying to learn things from people often turns into the annoying standard neurotypical dance.

Sometimes, when you send a perfectly valid complaint to a giant corp and hear nothing back, we are not ignoring you. We just can't say anything while we are fixing the problem that hit you. Sorry about that.

i had a realization last week: why midwits sneer at Walmart shoppers and at people who do the Costco Buffet. Because they are not so rich as to not shop there as needed, and that is the only place where they actually encounter working poor families.