Study Notes: Nov 30-Dec 31, 2015

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading in this time: 

• Post, "Scholarship: How to Do It Efficiently", by Lukeprog
• Post, "Why startup founders have mood swings (and why they may have uses)", by Anna Salamon and Duncan Sabien
• Article, "How to Be an Anticapitalist Today", by Erik Olin Wright
• Post, "The Confucian heuristic", by Harold Lee
• Post, "Some Practical Writing Advice From Douglas Coupland", by Douglas Coupland
• Post, "Ten brutally brutal writing commandments", by Phil Jourdan
• Article, "10 Ways to Launch Strong Scenes", by Jordan E. Rosenfeld

Other notes: 

• Regarding "Saber Smiths"
• Notes on Antarctic research stations

Homework for the future:

• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Read Fenrir's Shrine. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 
• Also, don't forget to flesh this section out a bit more with goals in general, and maybe include a section on which of those goals were accomplished since the last update.

Notes on Antarctic research stations

Notes to: 

• "A day in the life of an Antarctic scientist", by Jessica McGovern
• "Life in the polar regions"
• "Daily Life in Antarctica"
• "Living and working in Antarctica"
• "Cool Antarctica"

Also: 

• Check out Jeffrey Donenfield's "Getting a Job in Antarctica: My Long Journey 2009-2012" if the job search end becomes relevant. 

Study Notes: Nov 16-29, 2015: "English is not normal"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading in this time: 

• Post, "What Does Mormonism Say About Animal Rights?", by Tariq Khan
• Article, "The town where it literally pays to be a criminal", by Nick Whigham
• Post, "Analysis: Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better"
• Article, "Great pretenders", by Alexa Clay
• Post, "On Consensual Power Dynamics", by Ozy
• Paper, "America's Unjust Drug War", by Michael Huemer
• Article, "The Evolution of Diet", by Ann Gibbons

Other notes: 

• Notes to: Anarchy--Never Been Tried?
• Notes to: Yvain's "Priming" Sequence
• Notes to: "Alien Species... Active in Earth's Evolution"
• Notes to: The Technocracy Wiki
• Notes to: "The Tao of Pooh"

Also check out: 

• "A modest proposal for renewed imperialism", by Nick Rowe. If serious in its talk of "competitive government", as Arnold Kling puts it, then this is a lot like Moldbug's "patchwork state." Related, I might want to look up Arnold Kling. 

Homework for the future:

• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Read Fenrir's Shrine. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 
• Also, don't forget to flesh this section out a bit more with goals in general, and maybe include a section on which of those goals were accomplished since the last update.

Notes to: "The Tao of Pooh"

Notes to: The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff

I don't normally write marginalia. This got me in the habit of it. Mostly by saying "BULLSHIT" over and over, and crossing things out. 

Foreword

• "That was after some of us were discussing the Great Masters of Wisdom, and someone was saying how all of them came from the East, and I was saying that some of them didn't, but he was going on and on, just like this sentence, not paying any attention, when I decided to read a quotation of Wisdom from the West, to prove that there was more to the world than one half, and I read..."

Notes to: The Technocracy Wiki

Material covered: The Technocracy Wiki

Technate

• "A region over which a technocratic society would operate using thermodynamic energy accounting instead of a price system (money) method. All resources and industry of this land region would be used to provide an abundance of goods and services, within a sustainable ecological context, to its citizens..."
• "A technate cannot simply be set up anywhere like a modern-day country; it has several requirements that must be met in order for it to operate: 
• "There must be sufficient natural resources.
• "There must be an existing industrial and scientific base from which to operate the Technate.
• "There must be a sufficient amount of trained personnel for its operation." 
• "According to Technocracy, Inc., present the North American continent is known to be able to fully meet the basic requirements needed to operate a Technate, although other land areas could attempt it, with varying results, depending on the required conditions of energy conversion." 
• "The plan includes using Canada's rich deposits of minerals and hydro-electric power as a compliment to the United States's industrial and agricultural capacity...The North American Technate would be composed of all of North America, Central America, the Caribbean, parts of South America, and Greenland, encompassing some 30 modern nations (as well as numerous Non-Self-Governing Territories). If the Technate were set up today, it would contain nearly 600 million citizens and its total land area would be over 26 million square km... Its territorial claims would stretch from the North Pole in the north, to the Equator in the south, and from the Caribbean in the east, to the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean to the west." 

Notes to: "Alien Species... Active in Earth's Evolution"

Material covered: "Alien Species...Active in Earths [sic] Evolution"

Arcturians

• "Arcturus... is a fifth dimensional civilization which, in reality, is like a prototype for Earth's future." 
• "Its energy... is also an energy gateway through which humans pass during death and rebirth. It functions as a way station for nonphyiscal consciousness to become accustomed to physicality." 
• "The book, 'The Keys of Enoch'[,] has described it as the mid-way station or programming center used by the physical brotherhoods in our local universe, to govern the many rounds of experiments with physicals on our end of the galaxy. Their total focus in every aspect of their society to the path of God realization." 
• "The Arcturians work in very close connection with the Ascended Masters whom they refer to as the brotherhood of the all. They also work very closely with what they refer to as The Galactic Command."
• "The Arcturians travel the universe in their starships, which are some of the most advanced in the entire universe. One of the reasons that Earth has not been attacked by the more warlike negative extraterrestrials has been these civilizations' fear of these advanced starships of the Arcturians." 

Notes to: Yvain's "Priming" Sequence

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

A four-part "sequence" or series on "priming" by Yvain (AKA Scott Alexander).

1. Never Leave Your Room
2. Bogus Pipeline, Bona Fide Pipeline
3. The Implicit Association Test
4. Fight Biases, or Route Around Them?

Notes to: Anarchy-- Never Been Tried?

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

A six-part series on anarchist societies throughout history.

The greatest flaw is the lack of citations. As someone who likes to check sources, this is extremely disappointing to me.

Part I: Moresnet
Part II: Emerald Anarchy
Part III: Fire and Ice
Part IV: In the Beginning
Part V: Anarchy in the U.S.A.???
Part VI: The Living Anti-Nation

Study Notes: Oct 25-Nov 15, 2015: "The Ethics of Respect for Nature"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading in this time: 

• Paper, "The Ethics of Respect for Nature", by Paul Taylor
• Post, "The World Is Mad", by Ozy
• Post, "Steven Pinker is wrong about the Cuban Missile Crisis", by Topher Hallquist
• Article, "Disrupting the Cycle of Urban Violence With Arts and Culture", by Brentin Mock
• Article, "Strange but True: An Elemental Quest for the Building Blocks of the Universe", by Jack El-Hai
• Article, "Let Me Tell Y'all A Little Bit About the Mohists", by Max Gladstone
• Post, "The Galileo affair: who was on the side of rationality?", by Val
• Post, "Vegetarianism for Meat-Eaters", by Scott Alexander
• Post, "The Perfect Machine Versus the Art Monster", by Chuck Wendig
• Article, "THE EMPIRE NEVER ENDED. Philip K Dick, Valis, and the Psychopathology of War", by CJStone
• Post, "Nanowrimo Survival Guide: How I Write 50K(-ish) Every Month", by Chuck Wendig
• Post, "How to Write a Novel in 30 Days", by Catherynne M. Valente
• Post, "Predator Novel Process", by Jeff Vandermeer
• Post, "Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth", by Scott Alexander

Homework for the future:

• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Read Fenrir's Shrine. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 
• Also, don't forget to flesh this section out a bit more with goals in general, and maybe include a section on which of those goals were accomplished since the last update.

Study Notes: Sep 20-Oct 24, 2015: "Beware Systemic Change"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading in this time: 

• Post, "Beware Systemic Change", by Scott Alexander
• Article, "The dimming of the light", by Sudhi Hazareesingh
• Post, "Contra Caplan on Mental Illness", by Scott Alexander
• Article, "Murder she wrought", Melanie McGrath
• Post, "Baltimore, Leaderless; The Mafia Could Run Things", by Bob Parkinson

Homework for the future:

• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Finish the reading for "Notes to: Anarchy: Never Been Tried?"
• Finish the reading for "Notes to 16 Articles on Writing"
• Read Fenrir's Shrine. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 
• Also, don't forget to flesh this section out a bit more with goals in general, and maybe include a section on which of those goals were accomplished since the last update.

Notes to: Cosmic Pessimism

Material covered: Cosmic Pessimism, by Eugene Thacker

• "I like to imagine the idea of pessimist self-help." 
• "In raising problems without solutions, in posing questions without answers, in retreating to the hermetic, cavernous abode of complaint, pessimism is guilty of that most inexcusable of Occidental crimes--the crime of not pretending it's for real. Pessimism fails to live up to the most basic tenet of philosophy--the 'as if.' Think as if it will be helpful, act as if it will make a difference, speak as if there is something to say, live as if you are not, in fact, being lived by some murmuring non-entity both shadowy and muddied."
• "The very term 'pessimism' suggests a school of thought, a movement, even a community. But pessimism always has a membership of one--maybe two. Ideally, of course, it would have a membership of none, with only a scribbled, illegible note left behind by someone long forgotten. But this seems unrealistic, though one can always hope." 

Study Notes: Sep 13-19, 2015: "Effective altruism and mistakes of globalization"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading in this time: 

• Post, "Effective Altruism and mistakes of globalization", by Topher Hallquist
• Article, "You Ain't Seen Sustainable Dining Until You've Eaten Here", by Rebecca Flint Marx
• Article, "Origins", by Jacob Mikanowski
• Post, "DBT Sequence: Radical Acceptance", by Ozy
• Post, "Cardiologists and Chinese Robbers", by Scott Alexander
• Article, "A happy state", by Benjamin Radcliff
• Post, "Artistic greatness, according to my brain: a first pass", by Luke Muehlhauser

Homework for the future:

• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Finish the reading for "Notes to: Anarchy: Never Been Tried?"
• Finish the reading for "Notes to 16 Articles on Writing"
• Read Fenrir's Shrine. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 
• Also, don't forget to flesh this section out a bit more with goals in general, and maybe include a section on which of those goals were accomplished since the last update.

Study Notes: Aug 30-Sep 12, 2015: "Perfect genetic knowledge"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading in this time: 

• Article, "The V.C.s of B.C.", by Adam Davidson
• Article, "Dark Matter May Be More Complex Than Physicists Thought", by Liz Kruesi
• Article, "Cover of darkness", by Jamie Bartlett
• Article, "Perfect genetic knowledge", by Dawn Field
• Article, "The Limits of Language", by David Auerbach
• Post, "DBT Analysis: Chain Analysis", by Ozy
• Post, "Specific vs. General Foragers & Farmers", by Robin Hanson
• Post, "Identities Are Not Arguments", by Ozy
• Article, "Clothes and daggers", by Rafia Zakaria
• Article, "Think Like A Tree: A New Kind of Eco-Friendly Concrete Inspired By Coral", Shara Tonn
• Article, "How to Write Convincing Death Scenes", by Bianca Nogrady
• Article, "Book Review: Manufacturing Consent", by Scott Alexander

Homework for the future:

• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Finish the reading for "Notes to: Anarchy: Never Been Tried?"
• Finish the reading for "Notes to 16 Articles on Writing"
• Read Fenrir's Shrine. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 
• Also, don't forget to flesh this section out a bit more with goals in general, and maybe include a section on which of those goals were accomplished since the last update.

Study Notes: Aug 9-29, 2015: "Homes for the homeless"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading in this time: 

• Article, "Decoded octopus genome reveals secrets to complex intelligence", by Katherine Harmon Courage
• Article, "Canon of taste", by Jill Neimark
• Article, "The hacker hacked", by Brett Scott
• Post, "Mysticism and Pattern-Matching", by Scott Alexander
• Article, "Homes for the homeless", by Susie Cagle
• Post, "Effective Altruism, spending habits, and Burning Man", by Topher Hallquist

Other notes: 

• Notes to: 4 articles on writing scientific papers

Homework for the future:

• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Finish the reading for "Notes to: Anarchy: Never Been Tried?"
• Finish the reading for "Notes to 16 Articles on Writing"
• Read Fenrir's Shrine. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 
• Also, don't forget to flesh this section out a bit more with goals in general, and maybe include a section on which of those goals were accomplished since the last update.

Study Notes: Aug 2-8, 2015: "What's a Bodhisattva?"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading in this time: 

• "A Neocon Bible: What Would Jesus Say?", by David Gibson
• "What are Jinns exactly made up of?", on Yahoo! Answers
• "What are Jinn or Spirits", by Shaykh Ibn Arabi
• "What's a Bodhisattva?", by Barbara O'Brien
• Article, "The radical 'Jurassic World' we didn't get to see: When 'starting from scratch' means 'starting from white'", by Imran Siddiquee
• Article, "Desert utopia", by Jared Keller
• Post, "Contra Hallquist on Scientific Rationality", by Scott Alexander
• Article, "The easy morality of Cecil the Lion: Our problem isn't too much outrage--it's that we can't summon enough", Arthur Chu
• Article, "Scholars are way more skeptical of war than the American public. Here's why.", by Zack Beauchamp
• Article, "Why So Many Countries Are Building Airstrips on These Remote Islands", by Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan
• Article, "It's never too early to start thinking about your own death", by Caitlin Doughty
• Article, "Secrets of the extreme religious right: Inside the frightening world of Christian Reconstructionism", by Paul Rosenberg
• Article, "This Wasp Mind-Controls Spiders Into Building It Cozy Webs", by Matt Simon
• Article, "The Deep Influence of the A-Bomb on Anime and Manga", by Frank Fuller
• Post, "DBT Sequence: Assumptions", by Ozy
• Post, "DBT Sequence: Dialectics", by Ozy
• Post, "Contrarians, Crackpots, and Consensus", by Scott Alexander

Homework for the future:

• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Finish the reading for "Notes to: Anarchy: Never Been Tried?"
• Finish the reading for "Notes to 16 Articles on Writing"
• Read Fenrir's Shrine. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 
• Also, don't forget to flesh this section out a bit more with goals in general, and maybe include a section on which of those goals were accomplished since the last update.

Study Notes: Jul 26-Aug 1, 2015: "Sex & Sexuality in the 19th Century"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading in this time: 

• Article, "Why Germany Has It So Good -- and Why America Is Going Down the Drain" by Terrence McNally
• Article, "Sex & Sexuality in the 19th Century" by Jan Marsh
• Article, "Russia's Terrifying 'Nuke Trains' Will Be Roving The Rails By 2018" by Tyler Rogoway
• Post, "BDSM Questions, Answered", by Ozy Frantz
• Article, "The Quest for an Archaeology of Sea Otter Tool Use", by Elin Kelsey
• Article, "French Design Firms Imagine An Arcology In the Sahara", by Andrew Liptak
• Article, "Portlander Ursula K. Le Guin is Breathing Fire to Save American Literature", by Taylor Clark and William Anthony
• Article, "This academic debate about worms has an important lesson for the future of global poverty", by Amanda Taub
• Article, "Dead Enough", by Walter Glannon
• Post, "Aromanticism: Defining Our Terms" by Ozy
• Article, "Could a Massive Collision Produce a Subsurface Ocean on Pluto?"; by Mika McKinnon
• Article, "Megapolisomancy, Or Why All Cities Are Haunted", by Annalee Newitz
• Article, "How to Use a Black Hole's Spin to Harvest Energy", by Esther Inglis-Arkell
• Article, "Why We Were Totally Wrong About How Boa Constrictors Kill", by Jason Bittel
• Article, "Snake proteins have gone through massive evolutionary redesign", by Ed Yong
• Post, "Non-Dual Awareness", by Scott Alexander
• Article, "Chimps Are Eating Clay to Detox Themselves", by Esther Inglis-Arkell
• Article, "NK Jemisin: the fantasy author upending the 'racist and sexist status quo'", by Noah Berlatsky
• Article, "The 7 biggest myths about abortion", by Kali Holloway

I planned on reading a post by Matt Walsh. Then I saw that it was written by Matt Walsh. I decided to not waste my time or give him another link.

Also check out: 

• "Useful Geographical Descriptors for writers"

Homework for the future:

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) "A Neocon Bible: What Would Jesus Say?"; (2) "An Aging God"; (3) "What are Jinns exactly made up of?"; (4) "What are Jinn or Spirits"; (5) "What's a Bodhisattva?"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Finish the reading for "Notes to: Anarchy: Never Been Tried?"
• Finish the reading for "Notes to 16 Articles on Writing"
• Read Fenrir's Shrine. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 
• Also, don't forget to flesh this section out a bit more with goals in general, and maybe include a section on which of those goals were accomplished since the last update.

Useful Geographical Descriptors for writers

via WriteWorld.

Study Notes: Apr 19-Jul 25, 2015: "On Measuring Tradeoffs In Effective Altruism", &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading in this time: 

• Page, "The Old Ones: The Time Before Sumeria"
• Article, "Ursula K. Le Guin, Fyodor Dovstoevsky, and the Snuggly Comfort of Evil", by Charlie Jane Anders
• Article, "The most convincing argument for legalizing LSD, shrooms, and other psychedelics", by German Lopez
• Article, "Why Does This Ice Look Exactly Like Hair", by Maddie Stone
• Post, "On Measuring Tradeoffs In Effective Altruism", by Ozy Frantz
• Post, "The General Factor of Correctness", by Scott Alexander
• Article, "The Genesis Engine", by Amy Maxmen
• Post, "Bemundolack wrote..." by Medievalpoc

Other notes: 

• Notes to: 11 Articles on Polyamory
• Notes to: The Great Conversation: Kierkegaard and Marx (& other chapters)
• Notes to "Wrestling with Scriptural Violence: A Primer for Peaceful Followers of Jesus Christ"
• Notes to: Arms and Armor-- Common Misconceptions and Frequently Asked Questions

Also check out: 

• "Conceptions Of Soul In Old-Estonian Religion"
• "The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot"
• "The Campaign Survey"

Homework for the future:

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) "Why Germany Has It So Good -- and Why America Is Going Down the Drain"; (2) "I don't agree with your parenting choices. Now let me explain how you should raise your own children."; (3) "Sex & Sexuality in the 19th Century"; (4) "Yes, We Should Clone Neanderthals"; (5) "Russia's Terrifying 'Nuke Trains' Will Be Roving The Rails By 2018"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Go through the various essays at Fenrir's Shrine, because there are a lot and they are interesting. 
• Kitsune, Kumiho, Huli Jing, Fox is also rather big. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 

Notes to: Arms and Armor-- Common Misconceptions and Frequently Asked Questions

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

Notes to: Arms and Armor--Common Misconceptions and Frequently Asked Questions

"Armor was worn only by knights.--Wrong."

• "Knights rarely fought alone, nor did medieval and Renaissance armies consist entirely of mounted knights." 
• "It is wrong to assume that every nobleman was a knight. Knights were not born but created, by other knights, feudal lords, or sometimes priests. And, under certain conditions, people of non-noble birth could be knighted (although the knighting was often regarded as their admission into lower nobility). On some occasions, mercenaries or civilians fighting as ordinary soldiers could be knighted for exceptional displays of courage and valor, while in later times a knighthood could be bought." 

Notes to "Wrestling with Scriptural Violence: A Primer for Peaceful Followers of Jesus Christ"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

Notes to the agora talk Wrestling with Scriptural Violence: A Primer for Peaceful Followers of Jesus Christ, by David Pulsipher, who was teaching "American Foundations" and "History of Peace" this past semester. Given January 21st, 2015.

Notes to: The Great Conversation: Kierkegaard and Marx (& other chapters)

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

"The Great Conversation," by Norman Melchert (sixth edition)

Chapter eighteen: "Kierkegaard and Marx"

• "The authorship of Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is exceedingly varied and diverse. For one thing, about half of it is pseudonymous (written under other names-- and quite a number of them, too). Why? Not for the usual reason, to hide the identity of the author; nearly everyone in Little Copenhagen knew Kierkegaard, and they knew he had written these books."
• "A solution is worked out in one's life by the choices one makes, thereby defining and creating the self one becomes. His pseudonymous authors 'present themselves' to the reader as selves in the process of self-creation. They thereby function as models for possibilities that you or I might also actualize in our own lives; they awaken us to alternatives and stimulate us to self-examination."
• "Kierkegaard calls this technique 'indirect communication.'"
• "We are not honest with ourselves about the categories that actually structure our lives. He attempts to provoke the shock of self-recognition by offering characters with which the reader may identify and then revealing slowly, but inexorably, what living in that way really means." 
• "The fond desire of A's life is simply to be something. His ideal is expressed in a line by the twentieth-century poet T. S. Eliot: 'You are the music while the music lasts.'"

Notes to: "Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

Material covered:

""Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication" by John V. Pavlik and Shawn McIntosh

Chapter one: Mass Communication and Its Digital Transformation

• "One concern critics have long had about the internet and digital media is our ability to create 'The Daily Me,' a highly personalized digital news stream that contains only information of expressed interest to the user. The problem with The Daily Me is that we may self-select such a unique range of interests that it leaves us unable to discuss in a meaningful way with others matters of broader public importance." 
• Thomas Friedman: "At its best, the Internet can educate more people faster than any media tool we've ever had. At its worst, it can make people dumber faster than any media tool we've ever had."

Notes to: 11 Articles on Polyamory

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

There's just one more on my list: "A Critical Examination of Popular Assumptions About the Benefits and Outcomes of Monogamous Relationships" by Terri D. Conley, Ali Ziegler, Amy C. Moors, Jes L. Matsick, and Brandon Valentine. I'll have to tackle that one later, since it's rather long and deserves its own entry.

I went through a lot more than 11 articles and papers (somewhere between 20 and 30), but these are the ones which didn't provide redundant information that I had already nabbed somewhere else.

Material covered:

• Paper, "On Triparenting. Is having three committed parents better than having only two?" by Daniela Cutas
• Article, "Polyamory works for us" by Angi Becker Stevens
• Article, "Polyamory: When three isn't a crowd" by Emanuella Grinberg
• Article, "Polyamory-- Not Healthy For Children" by Dr. Karen Ruskin
• Article, "Children, Stigma, and Polyamorous Families," by Dr. Elisabeth A. Sheff
• Article, "5 Myths About Polyamory" by Stephanie Pappas
• Article, "Real Polyamorous Families" by Robyn Trask
• Article, "Polyamory and Children: Is polyamory harmful to children?" by Dr. Deborah Anapol
• Article, "Is Polyamory Bad for the Children?: The benefits and drawbacks of polyamory on kids" by Dr. Bella DePaulo
• Article, "Free love gets a fit of the wibbles" by Steven Alexander

Study Notes: Apr 12-18, 2015: "Hope for a Lumpy Filter" &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "Economics of Star Trek" by Surplus Economics
• Article, "Technologies of Abundance and the Fairytale of Jobs" by Extropia DaSilva
• Post, "Hope for a Lumpy Filter" by Robin Hanson
• Article, "What Wide Origins You Have, Little Red Riding Hood!" by Rachel Hartigan Shea

Homework for the future:

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) "The Old Ones: The Time Before Sumeria"; (2) "Conceptions Of Soul In Old-Estonian Religion"; (3) "Runes"; (4) "Fenrir's Shrine"; (5) "Kitsune, Kumiho, Huli Jing, Fox"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Also need to do some reading on polyamory. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 

Study Notes: Mar 15-Apr 11, 2015: "The Culture of Violence in Joseph Smith's Mormonism" &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Article, "How To Turn Real Science Into Great Science Fiction" by Charlie Jane Anders
• Article, "Why Did The Doctor Start Eating Meat Again On Doctor Who?" by Charlie Jane Anders
• Post, "The Visual Intelligence of Pacific Rim" by Sam Keeper

Homework for the future:

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) "The 'Monkey Master' Fable"; (2) "Economics of Star Trek"; (3) "Technologies of Abundance and the Fairytale of Jobs"; (4) "Hope For A Lumpy Filter"; (5) "What Wide Origins You Have, Little Red Riding Hood!"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Also need to do some reading on polyamory. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 

Philosophy 313 Readings: March 3-30

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

Material covered:
"Second Treatise on Government" by John Locke, and edited by Jonathan Bennett
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr.
"A Theory of Justice" by John Rawls
"Existentialism is a Humanism" by Jean-Paul Sartre

Study Notes: Mar 8-14, 2015: "How long until North Korea collapses?" &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "A Non-Biblical Dating for the Jaredite Migration" by Daymon Smith
• Paper, "Prophets, Kings, and Swords: The Sword of Laban and Its Possible Pre-Laban Origin" by Daniel N. Rolph
• Article, "Here's One Genre That Could Replace Post-Apocalyptic Stories" by Charlie Jane Anders
• Article, "Noah's Ark is a Sustainable Floating City for a Post-Apocalyptic World" by Bridget Meinhold
• Article, "How long until North Korea collapses? Eleven defector perspectives" by Chad O'Carroll
• Post, "You Don't Have to Read That Text Tonight" by Sam Keeper
• Post, "The Girls Who Walk Away From Kyubee" by Sam Keeper

Homework for the future:

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) "The Culture of Violence in Joseph Smith's Mormonism"; (2) "Study Theology, Even If You Don't Believe in God"; (3) "The 'Best Arguments for God's Existence' Are Actually Terrible"; (4) "How To Turn Real Science Into Great Science Fiction"; (5) "Why Did The Doctor Start Eating Meat Again On Doctor Who?"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Also need to do some reading on polyamory. 
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 

Study Notes: Feb 22-Mar 7, 2015: "How Deaf People Think" &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "Horror, the Grotesque, and the Macabre: A Christian Appraisal" by SDG
• Article, "How Deaf People Think" by Daven Hiskey
• Article, "Multilinguals Have Multiple Personalities" by Alice Robb
• Article, "Raising Backyard Chickens for Dummies" by Jason Price
• Post, "Multiple Systems FAQ" (& other pp) by Living Plural (Blog)
• Post, "Hermione Granger Versus the Methods of Rationality" by Sam Keeper
• Post, "Hunger Metagames" by Sam Keeper

Notes to: The Great Conversation: Unmasking the Pretensions of Reason (& other chapters)

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

"The Great Conversation," by Norman Melchert (sixth edition)

Problems of Identity

Let's talk about identity.

By "identity" I don't mean some part of a person which remains ever-constant. I mean "that by which one person identifies another person, or even zemself."

Some people will say that the body is the root of identity. As the body is in a constant state of transition, they will say that continuity is important. Others will say that it is the spirit by which identity is assigned. To go with either of these approaches is to say that identity is based on substance. In practice, however, it appears that most people care about something else.

Study Notes: Feb 15-21, 2015: "Weirdest Solutions to the Fermi Paradox", &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "Into the (Mind of the) Dalek" by David Selby
• Post, "Good Works?" by Eric Peters
• Thread, "Definitions Master List" on Asexuality.org
• Article, "11 of the Weirdest Solutions to the Fermi Paradox" by George Dvorsky
• Post, "Our Love is Synthesis: Marx, Muse, and 'Madness'" by Sam Keeper
• Post, "A Company of Heroes: Pacific Rim, Iron Man, Cloud Atlas, and the Power of Ensemble Casts" by Sam Keeper

Notes: "From the Ashes of Angels"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

Material covered:

"From the Ashes of Angels: The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race" by Andrew Collins

An interesting piece of pseudohistory. Lots of good stuff for worldbuilding. Feels like the base for a Lovecraftian paper. 

• "There is the angel who wrestles all night with Jacob at a place named Penuel, or those which he sees moving up and down a ladder that stretches between heaven and earth. Yet other than these accounts, there are too few examples, and when angels do appear the narrative is often vague and unclear on what exactly is going on. For instance, in the case of both Abraham and Lot the angels in question are described simply as 'men', who sit down to take food like any mortal person." 

Notes: "Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals"

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

Material covered:
"Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals" by Immanuel Kant

Study Notes: Feb 8-14, 2015: "Religion in the Age of Cyborgs", &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "Religion in the Age of Cyborgs" by Egil Asprem
• Post, "Making Sense of the Tenth Doctor's Regeneration" by Morgan Gudgin
• Post, "A Study of Regeneration: The Mind Problem" by Andrew Bohman
• Post, "The Children of the Night, What Music They Make: Horror in Music" by Sam Keeper 
• Post, "The World is a Cruel Place: Theme in Attack on Titan" by Sam Keeper

Study notes: Feb 1-7, 2015: "6 Tips for Writing an Epistolary Novel" and others

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "6 Tips for Writing an Epistolary Novel" by Traci Marchini
• Post, "How to Write Like a Mother#^@%*&" by Elissa Bassist & Cheryl Strayed
• Page, "Veitzu, Hve Soa Skal? (Know How to Sacrifice?)" by Harvald Odinson Jones
• Article, "Forget the Quantified Self. We Need to Build the Quantified Us" by Matthew Jordon & Nikki Pfarr
• Page, "How Flattr Works"
• Article, "Heywood Jabrony, or, Notes from the Center of a Fandom's Implosion" by Sam Keeper
• Article, "Across the Sea of Faces: Music and the Roar of the Crowd" by Sam Keeper

Philosophy 313 Reading: "The Meaning of Life" and others

Material covered: 

"The Meaning of Life" by Richard Taylor
"Euthyphro" by Plato
"Natural Goodness" by Philippa Foot
"Moral Motivation and Human Nature" by Joel Feinberg
"The Ethics of Emergencies" by Ayn Rand
A portion of "Moral Thinking" by R. M. Hare
"Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism" by J. J. C. Smart
"The Singer Solution to World Poverty" by Peter Singer

Notes to: "Your Inner Fish"

Material covered: 
"Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 Billion Year History of the Human Body," by Neil Shuman (ch. 1-3, 5-6, 11)

Some Meditations on the Light Side and the Dark Side

"Liberalism does not conquer by fire and sword. Liberalism conquers by communities of people who agree to play by the rules, slowly growing until eventually an equilibrium is disturbed. Its battle cry is not 'Death to the unbelievers!' but 'If you're nice, you can join our cuddle pile!'" Scott Alexander, In Favor of Niceness, Community, and Civilization

In order to avoid political debates and to, perhaps, extend the idea a little further, let's replace "liberalism" with "the Light Side."

To explain the Light Side by saying what it is not, here is the defining characteristic of the Dark: No matter what its professed goals may be, it is always the Dark Side that seeks to conquer by fire and sword.

Study notes: Jan 25-31, 2015: "Technical debt," &C

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Post, "Technical debt and the making of payments on it" by Denise Paolucci
• Article, "Friedrich Nietzsche on Why a Fulfilling Life Requires Embracing Rather than Running from Difficulty" by Maria Popova
• Article, "Nietzsche, the Overhuman and the Posthuman: A Reply to Stefan Sorgner" by Michael Hauskeller
• Post, "Liberal from a Distance: DC's ARROW and Faux Leftism (Part One)" and "(Part Two)" by Sam Keeper
• Post, "Fluttershyness is Nice" by Sam Keeper
• Paper, "The Mormon Myth of Evil Evolution" by Michael R. Ash

Study Notes: Jan 18-24, 2015: "Parafanfiction and Oppositional Fandom" &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Article, "Have We Been Interpreting Quantum Mechanics Wrong This Whole Time?" by Natalie Wolchover 
• Article, "New Quantum Theory Could Explain the Flow of Time" by Natalie Wolchover
• Article, "Dream Machine: The mind-expanding world of quantum computing" by Rivka Galchen
• Article, "Five Practical Uses for 'Spooky' Quantum Mechanics" by Nicola Jenner
• Post, "Parafanfiction and Oppositional Fandom" by Sam Keeper
• Post, "Creating as the World Falls Down" by Sam Keeper

Homework for the future: 

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) 
• "Technical debt and the making of payments on it"; (2) "Marxist Feminism / Materialist Feminism"; (3) "Ninth-Century Muslim Anarchists"; (4) "Friedrich Nietzsche on Why a Fulfilling Life Requires Embracing Rather than Running from Difficulty"; (5) Nietzsche, the Overhuman and the Posthuman: A Reply to Stefan Sorgner"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically. 

Study Notes: Jan 11-17, 2014: "Star Trek and Moral Judgment," &c

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

What I've been watching and reading this week: 

• Article, "5 Unconventional Ways to Become a Better Writer" by Belle Beth Cooper
• Post, "Star Trek and Moral Judgment" by Joe Holbo
• Article, "Less Thinking, More Doing: Develop the Action Habit Today" by Daniel Wallen
• Essay, "Serpent Symbols and Salvation in the Ancient Near East and the Book of Mormon" by Andrew C. Skinner
• Article, "Choosing the Right Name for Your Story" by John Floyd
• Post, "Queerness in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell," by Sam Keeper
• Post, "Night of the Living Fandom," by Sam Keeper
• Book, "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins (Ch. 2 only)
• Book, "Evolution? The Fossils Say Yes!" by Donald Prothero (Ch. 9 only)

Homework for the future: 

• Go through at least five entries in in my "P Articles" bookmark folder. Let's go with: (1) "Have We Been Interpreting Quantum Mechanics Wrong This Whole Time?"; (2) "New Quantum Theory Could Explain the Flow of Time"; (3) "Dream Machine: The mind-expanding world of quantum computing"; (4) "Five Practical Uses for 'Spooky' Quantum Mechanics"; (5) "Quantum Physics Just Got a Tiny Bit Easier to Understand, As Two Oddities Merge Into One"
• Read the posts linked to by "Responses to the Anti-Reactionary FAQ.". Eventually. 
• Still on the to-do list: studying the Austrian School of Economics.
• Also on the to-do list: All of those themes that I decide I want to play with, and cool bits that attract me, and things like that? Let's get systematic about that, put them into a single document (might be public, might not) and work with at least one of them every week. Systematic. Systematic. I do it best when I do it systematically.