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Dirk Meulenbelt

@dirk-meulenbelt​·​Joined Aug 2024​·​Ideas
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  Dirk Meulenbelt posted idea #4986.

Factory-farmed pork and chicken are bad choices. Sufficiently so that it's worth stressing, rather than saying their well-fed counterparts are tastier or somewhat preferable.

  Dirk Meulenbelt posted idea #4985.

Solid amounts of red meat are good or desirable

  Dirk Meulenbelt posted idea #4984.

Plenty of simple sugar from fruit, milk, honey, or juice, is good.

  Dirk Meulenbelt posted idea #4983.

PUFAs are generally healthy

  Dirk Meulenbelt commented on idea #3246.

~900m – 1,700m altitude.

#3246​·​Benjamin DaviesOP, 7 months ago

I have trouble with altitude and can barely breathe when I am in, e.g. Bogotá. But Mendoza was no problem for me and I went on morning runs without even noticing a difference.

  Dirk Meulenbelt commented on criticism #3249.

Argentina is not a tax haven. Becoming a tax resident (living >12 months) triggers a Global Income Tax (Progressive up to 35%), and a Personal Assets Tax (Wealth Tax) on worldwide assets.

#3249​·​Benjamin DaviesOP, 7 months ago

It's unlikely that an anarcho-capitalist president, if given enough time, will not lower these taxes.

  Dirk Meulenbelt commented on criticism #3249.

Argentina is not a tax haven. Becoming a tax resident (living >12 months) triggers a Global Income Tax (Progressive up to 35%), and a Personal Assets Tax (Wealth Tax) on worldwide assets.

#3249​·​Benjamin DaviesOP, 7 months ago

Currently Argentina is also very bad at collecting tax from you.

  Dirk Meulenbelt criticized idea #4823.

Agreed on both counts, but I think the bountied idea survives this...
Recognizing and criticizing ideas could be a requisite for tractably synthesizing any possible explanation (I suspect as much).

#4823​·​Tyler MillsOP, 3 months ago

Tractability is a consequence of creativity. It's a little like saying the difference between you and a rock, is that you can move faster.

  Dirk Meulenbelt criticized idea #4812.

We could say a person is a program that can synthesize any possible explanation in finite time, excluding memory limitations. But this would again grant personhood to RNGs. For that matter, a counting program could just enumerate all possible binary strings up to its memory limit, in finite time...

#4812​·​Tyler MillsOP, 3 months ago

Creativity isn't defined by its outputs but by its process. RNGs do not recognise or criticise ideas.

  Dirk Meulenbelt commented on criticism #4807.

Doesn't it? All explanatory knowledge is in the set of all possible programs, and a random program (or number) generator can generate any of those, given infinite time.

#4807​·​Tyler MillsOP, 3 months ago

You're right and I revised my criticism.

  Dirk Meulenbelt revised criticism #4781.

A random number generator does not create explanatory knowledge.

A random number generator does not have universal creativity, because it is not a universal explainer: it can only generate explanations by accident. Universal explainers seek good explanations through conjecture and criticism.

  Dirk Meulenbelt addressed criticism #4694.

By this standard, a random number generator has universal creativity as well, and is therefore a person. So there must be a standard for personhood other than: able to generate any possible explanation. Such as: can do that tractably.

#4694​·​Tyler MillsOP revised 3 months ago

A random number generator does not create explanatory knowledge.

  Dirk Meulenbelt commented on criticism #4405.

In that model, the final justification ends up serving as foundation.

#4405​·​Dennis HackethalOP, 4 months ago

If finality = foundationalism, then yeah they're the same and I was right all along. Justificationism and foundationalism are the same thing.

  Dirk Meulenbelt commented on idea #4400.

“Justification without finality is fake.” (#4391) In other words, if it doesn’t claim to be final, it’s not justification.

#4400​·​Dennis HackethalOP, 4 months ago

So? How is that foundationalism?

  Dirk Meulenbelt commented on criticism #4393.

But this sounds like you’re saying justificationism is necessarily the same as foundationalism. Whereas in #4392 you agreed it’s only a kind of justifiationism.

#4393​·​Dennis HackethalOP, 4 months ago

Why does this sound like I am equating them?

  Dirk Meulenbelt commented on criticism #4383.

Dirk writes:

Foundationalism, or justificationism, is the idea that beliefs can be fully justified, proven true by some final authority beyond question.

I’m not sure foundationalism and justificationism are quite the same thing.

From BoI ch. 1 glossary:

[Justificationism is t]he misconception that knowledge can be genuine or reliable only if it is justified by some source or criterion.

Whereas foundationalism describes a prerequisite for knowledge to grow (properly). As in, needing a secure foundation or else the whole edifice falls apart.

I could see foundationalism being a flavor of justificationism, but not the same thing.

#4383​·​Dennis HackethalOP revised 4 months ago

I’m not sure foundationalism and justificationism are quite the same thing.

You are right. Foundationalism is a kind of justificationism. The secure foundation is a kind of justification.

I will have to rewrite this in my article.

  Dirk Meulenbelt commented on criticism #4386.

Just because Dirk’s notion of justificationism breaks with BoI’s doesn’t mean Dirk is wrong. BoI could be wrong.

#4386​·​Dennis HackethalOP, 4 months ago

Indeed. Justification without finality is fake.

"X is true because of Y, but we can discuss Y"

Is functionally the same as

"X is true and we can discuss why"

  Dirk Meulenbelt posted idea #4372.

Explanatory knowledge consists of statements. Statements are at least in part explicit. Therefore inexplicit explanatory knowledge is not possible.

Entirely explicit explanatory knowledge is not possible either, as all knowledge refers to other knowledge implicitly.

  Dirk Meulenbelt addressed criticism #4359.

Not all cases of wanting more of something are cases of addiction.

I want to buy a second chair because I enjoy the first one, not because I cannot help but buy another.

Getting customers addicted means making it so they cannot exercise their free will (or have serious trouble doing so). They’re effectively unable to criticize ‘buy another’ as a course of action.

#4359​·​Dennis Hackethal, 4 months ago

Getting customers addicted making it "so they cannot exercise their free will" denies human creativity, and opens the door for all sorts of draconic laws where people are "protected from themselves".

  Dirk Meulenbelt criticized idea #4068.

Those who advocate making most/all drugs illegal tend to think alcohol should remain legal, despite alcohol having many of the same problems as drugs.

#4068​·​Benjamin DaviesOP, 5 months ago

Making alcohol illegal has been tried and was disastrous. Drugs are already illegal, which is arguably also disastrous. Those who advocate MAKING most drugs illegal but not alcohol are, I think, people who want to outlaw weed.

  Dirk Meulenbelt posted idea #4343.

Drugs are currently illegal, and though drug-related deaths have gone down recently, in the US, they were at an all time high. Drugs being illegal does not seem to deter drug use enough, to off-set drug user's ability to use legal recourse, proper testing, and other such benefits of (legal) society.

  Dirk Meulenbelt addressed criticism #4137.

Drugs are a net negative for society.

#4137​·​Benjamin DaviesOP, 5 months ago

Drugs are too broad of a category. Is widespread cocaine use the same as occasional magic mushrooms? The latter is suggested to have neuro-protective benefits.

  Dirk Meulenbelt addressed criticism #4131.

Getting someone hooked on an addictive substance to get repeat business is predatory. It’s not an honest way to do business. Even if consuming drugs was legal, maybe the selling of drugs should still be illegal.

#4131​·​Dennis Hackethal, 5 months ago

Subjectively applies to every good product that makes its purchasers want to buy more of it. Like good food, video games, comfortable chairs.

  Dirk Meulenbelt commented on idea #4067.

Not prohibited by law.

#4067​·​Benjamin DaviesOP, 5 months ago

To produce, purchase, sell, or to use?

  Dirk Meulenbelt addressed criticism #4060.

If they violate rights they should be punished by the law, that applies regardless of if they take drugs or not.

#4060​·​Benjamin DaviesOP, 5 months ago

If the drug + violation becomes a pattern, it's rational to outlaw it. (Assuming the outlawing works.)

E.g. alcohol is prohibited for drivers, even for drivers who are great drunk drivers.