Failing to consider

Failing to consider second- and third-order consequences is the cause of a lot of painfully bad decisions, and it is especially deadly when the fist inferior option confirms your own biases. Never seize on the first available option, no matter how good it seems, before you’ve asked questions and explored.

slip:4a734.

The arbiter of truth

What is the arbiter of truth? Some things might be unknowable, and some questions might be unanswerable. But for everything else, what is the arbiter of truth?

The really big questions— Why are we here? What’s the meaning of life? The really big questions may not have answers. But for everything else, what is the arbiter of truth?

How do you decide if you have the correct answer to a question?

How do you decide what to do next? You just finished something and time is marching on; what will you do with the next moment?

How do you decide what to not do? Suppose some topic interests you; how do you decide how much time you should spend on it?

Difficult questions, certainly. Can you think of any questions which are more important than these?

If not, what are you doing to work on finding answers to these questions?

ɕ

“The stock market can remain irrational a lot longer than you can remain solvent.” — Gary Shilling, SEMI Information Services Seminar (January 1983)
#BOTD #GaryShilling #QOTD #Quotation #Quote #Rationality #StockMarket

https://yahooeysblog.wordpress.com/2026/05/25/quote-of-the-day-5502/

I've got mixed emotions about Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks on anti-Enlightenment grounds.

https://philosophics.blog/2026/05/23/black-skin-white-masks-chapter-5/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

#philosophy #psychology #books #blog #podcast #blm #postenlightenment #enlightenment #reason #rationality #writing #reading #humancondition #decolonialism #history #choice #fanon #bookreview #language

Est provocationem

Today, I’m drawn to considering refinement of an idea I’ve mentioned a few times.

It’s clear to me that it’s impossible to be happy if my mind is unable to focus. Years ago, I regained my ability to intentionally focus, by disempowering the world—disabling as many as possible of the pathways for everything and everyone to actively grab my attention. Then I set about railing against everyone who has not yet regained their own ability to focus, (or perhaps, has never learned to focus.)

Internally, I often use an idea which I believe I stole from mathematical analysis. When facing some question, the idea is to find the largest contributor, and get a handle on that first; that’s the first-order item. Then find the next largest contributor, and get that second-order item sorted. And so on.

A few decades ago, the largest impediment to my being able to intentionally focus was external distraction. Having now sorted that first-order item, I can turn to the second-order item: Everyone’s inability to focus is polluting my attention. I remain easily distracted by others’ inability to focus.

Est provocationem!

ɕ

Anything at all

It would be wrong for anything to stand between you and attaining goodness—as a rational being and a citizen. Anything at all: the applaus of the crowd, high office, wealth, or self-indulgence. All of them might seem to be compatible with it—for a while. But suddenly they control us and sweep us away.

slip:4a727.

Je m'accuse, on s'accuse – a reaction piece I published on Substack on the misguided moral outrage of LLMs.

👉 https://brywillis634737.substack.com/p/je-maccuse-on-saccuse

#philosophy #moraloutrage #rationality #freespeech #aiethics #llms #surveillancecapitalism #criticaltheory #scapegoating #blog #substack #podcast #aisafety #enlightenment #mythos #bigtech #airegulation #philosophyofmind #moralpanic #artificialintelligence

A quotation from Mark Twain

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Essay (1906), “The Gorky Incident,” Letters from the Earth (c. 1909; pub. 1962) [ed. DeVoto (1939)]

More about this quote: wist.info/twain-mark/84113/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #marktwain #twain #thegorkyincident #custom #irrationality #law #morality #penalty #publicopinion #publicpolicy #punishment #rationality #scandal #socialconventions #taboo #tradition #transgression

The Rational Conclusion of Doomerism Is Violence

https://www.campbellramble.ai/p/the-rational-conclusion

#HackerNews #Doomerism #Violence #Rationality #Debate #Society