James Hudson

Retired philosopher with utilitarian/libertarian/market-monetarist tendencies, amateur sports fan and bridge player; grandfather

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@Noahpinion He seems more intelligent than Kamala, which would make him *more* dangerous.

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@79illwill Or may we should chill about a little racism, and focus or more serious issues.

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@johannesmkx And East Asians used cooking even earlier than West Eurasians did?

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@GarettJones Greater virtue -> lower interest rates. I would think that, in addition, greater wealth -> lower interest rates: the richer people are, the less painful they find *waiting*.

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@ModeledBehavior Yes, the world now is even the *distant* future, compared to the world of my youth. I have mostly pleasant memories of that earlier world, but (fortunately) no wish to continue living in it.

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@robinhanson But when you say “which specific people,” you make the question easy, even for someone who does not think there are too many people: he just names some mass murderer or other vicious criminal, or some malformed baby (perhaps nameless) who dies in agony not long after birth.

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@robinhanson If you think there are too many people, you (presumably) think the loss to a representative person from either killing him or preventing him from having come into existence would be outweighed by avoiding the negative effect he has on *other people*.

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@mikejgr @MarkHalperin / indefinite to permit an answer, but I the number seems to me to be disappointingly small. Why can’t more people agree with me?

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@mikejgr @MarkHalperin Isolated statements of mine will draw the assent of tens of millions, but the totality of my views—the grand conjunction—is surely held by only one person. How many people agree with me about *all the very important political matters*? The notion of *the very important* is too /

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@mattyglesias @asymmetricinfo The voters reward liars; blame the voters.

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@captgouda24 @tylercowen Here is the picture I get: Rationality is a matter of degree, 0 to 100%. The cutoff for “rationalism” is (say) 95%—95% rationality or more is what makes one a “rationalist.” *Interestingness* tends to increase up to 95% rationality, then starts to decline. (But why believe this?

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@ThatEricAlper If you’re planning to live off the land, that’s a pretty rugged terrain in which to do it.

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@Steve_Sailer @JacobAShell And trees without brutalism—that’s the ticket!

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@saletan Politics is depressing in so many respects. But things could be (and usually have been) even worse!

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@1Nicdar Yes, I voted for this *and more*. (But I did not vote for Trump.)

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@Frederi81545084 @Aristotle7777 Has threre never been a gulf between English and Welsh? How about English-Irish (and Welsh-Irish)? But of course different ethnic groups can, and often do, get along well, and so the claim that democracy requires ethnic homogeneity is obviously mistaken.

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@mattyglesias / Security system. In the end, I paid in for fewer than 40 quarters. As a result, I get no benefits whatever: the money I paid in was simply confiscated. That does seem unfair.)

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@mattyglesias “Everyone”? No, many people will judge that forcing people who will never receive Social Security payments to nevertheless pay into the system is *unfair*.

(I was forced to pay FICA taxes when young, but then for most of my career I had a job not covered by the Social /

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@TheChiefNerd Not taxpayer money—we’ll borrow it instead.

[James Hudson @Philonous]

@SenGillibrand Take no thought for the morrow—let alone for six [!] years from now—but seek ye a Senate majority for your party.