In an earlier posting, I set up a general attack on fields of study with an aim to being able to claim that they are “discredited” [stderr] – so that, at some point, we can say “phrenology is bunk” without having to endure a cascade of phreno-apologetics in response.
It’s hard to understand the bizzaro-world where authoritarians live. As a skeptical person, I tend to think about what authority figures say, and question their motives and whether what they’re saying even makes any sense at all.
I made a bad move when I used HJ Hornbeck’s posting on bayesian reasoning about Russian hacking as a jumping-off point for a critique of using bayesian reasoning to attempt to predict events.
This is a pretty fair view into what the high-end hacker’s existence is like. There are blurry lines everywhere, so it’s a bit hard to even say what is “hacking” versus “marketing” or “information operations” – it’s complicated.
The “big lie” is one of the most notorious propaganda techniques. It’s one that wasn’t invented by Edward Bernays, though it’s a logical outcome of his theories.
As I mentioned [stderr]: Fuck his highness Vajiralongkorn of Thailand.
Cardinal Pell has been charged with sex offenses. [bbc]
I love how humans try to get their hobbies turned into work. After all, that’s a perfectly valid objective, and it lets you “play” and get paid for it.
When I first stumbled across the works of Tatjana Van Vark, back in the ’90s, I was completely blown away. I still am, and I check her site every year or so to see if she’s published anything new.
In the thread about Bletchley Park, Dunc made a comment about the “foreshortening effect of living in a country with less history.” That reminds me of two stories about history, that my dad told me.