Gregory Salmieri

I teach philosophy at The University of Texas, Austin and co-edited: *Foundations of a Free Society*, *A Companion to Ayn Rand*, & *Two Philosophers*.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

A beautiful post by @PNikmand about finding what’s truly sacred in an environment dominated by religious oppression.

https://t.co/kzAbpz5r9F

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

ST:TNG was great, but the fact that several of its episodes (and other pieces of 90s sci-fi) feel so current to today’s AI discourse, doesn’t show the series’ prescience.

It shows how little our discourse is informed by anyone’s experience with this developing technology.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

@VarunGodbole Yes, but not specifically because of their relevance to AI. “Who Watches the Watchers” is a great first episode to watch. (In general, one should skip to Season 3 on a first viewing.)

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

@gab_ackerman55 @annezoutsos @jeffrsebo What would it mean to be in a relationship with an LLM?

I use several pretty intensely, but I assume you mean something else.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

@annezoutsos @jeffrsebo LLMs are very unlike Lt. Cmdr. Data, but almost exactly like the shipboard computer.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

@jasoncrawford @NatPurser @timminchin ‘s adaptation of @Groundhogdaybwy was fantastic. It didn’t get the audience it deserved on Broadway but was a hit in London. His version of Matilda was also pretty good, with a few memorable songs.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

I’m doing a panel discussion with @Paul_Taske on Tuesday (10/20) about “Freedom of the Press in the United States Today”. Tara Smith is moderating. Hope to see some of you there: https://t.co/X1B8Bjf8PT

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

1 and 2.

Re 1: There’s no reason to think that functionalism is true (and the burden of proof is on those who think it is). A function’s being essential to a conscious state isn’t equivalent to an identity between the function and the state, nor is it evidence for the identity.

Re 2: At present there’s no computer that’s anything like functionally equivalent to any organism known to be conscious.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

@jvzmoyer @AynRandInst Their primary difference in morality isn’t over selfishness (which both think is good); it’s whether man’s life is one of contemplation or productive achievement. See: https://t.co/ZF7cQUSawR

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

Thanks. I agree that Islamist subcultures in free countries are a real problem that needs to be better addressed. The problem has different dynamics in Europe and the US and one can debate the role of immigration policies in causing it and/or solving it. But that’s not what this piece by Murray is about or what I was objecting to in it.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

@DouglasKMurray opens an article by asking: “Can a country allow mass lawbreaking and retain its integrity? For almost any crime you can think of, the answer is no.”

Evidently he can’t think of jaywalking, moderate speeding, or failing to report cash tips to taxation authorities, and he’s never heard of a dead-letter law.

He also seems to have somehow forgotten that gay sex remains illegal in much of the world—or else perhaps he thinks that his country lost its integrity in the years when it had ceased vigorously enforcing the laws against private consensual homosexual acts, but hadn’t yet repealed them.

Some crimes are trivial. And many criminalized human activities are such that criminalizing and prosecuting them is itself a breach of any decent country’s integrity.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

That’s not what he means in the specific passage I quoted from a specific article. He is also concerned about cases like the one you describe, and he may think there’s some relation between them and what he’s arguing in this article. But, if so, it’s besides the point. People are capable of having more than one idea and of being right about some and wrong about others.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

It only seems nit-picky to you because you’re not thinking. If, instead of letting yourself get triggered by words in the sentence that are associated with things you’re frightened of or angry about, you thought about what the sentence meant and how you could tell whether it was true, then you’d see why where my mind went here is where a mind that’s oriented towards determining what’s true and achieving what’s good would have to go.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

@shekfu @DouglasKMurray What I quoted is the tagline at the beginning of the article, and is meant to be intelligible without special context. If you think that it’s somehow ambiguous it doesn’t mean what it says, you can read the whole piece and assess its meaning in context:

https://t.co/gbHVqbYCnD

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

Murray means exactly what he says. It’s a premise that he’s using in this article. to argue that the US (not the UK) should continue working to deport all illegal immigrants (even those who have not committed any crimes other than entering or remaining in the country illegally).

What you pretend is my “splitting words” is using words to identify and communicate facts, rather than in the way you’re using them—to signal willfully bind allegiances.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

I’m not saying I don’t know what he means. I think I know exactly what he means and I’m saying that it’s foolish.

As for the present immigration laws these are precisely the sort of laws that everyone knows people disagree about and hardly anyone approves of them just as they are.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

There’s a lot of good questions about immigration in Europe. But this piece by Murray is about the USA, and in any case it begins with a transparently foolish premise. Murray or others might elsewhere argue from better premises to plausible conclusions about other countries, but that doesn’t make what he’s doing here any less foolish or dangerous.

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

Murray is fantastic and courageous on the Israel/Palestinian issue, but he’s superficial and conventional in his understanding of Western culture and so, like most people who see themselves as defenders of the west, he often accepts and advocates for some of the ideas that have been destroying it.

For a better sense of where he and I agree and disagree see this panel we did together some years back: https://t.co/yOTfk5inWh

[Gregory Salmieri @GSalmieri]

@Romello4x4 @DouglasKMurray Yes, he’s setting up an argument that America should continue in the project of trying to deport every illegal immigrant. I’m pointing out that his major premise is as foolish as can be.