ebullientocelot's comments

ebullientocelot | 5 years ago | on: Ask HN: Learning about philosophy

So a lot of philosophical writing references a sort of general canon, at least as far as western thinking is concerned. Other traditions I'm sure have their own details but I can't speak intelligently to them. The field is enormous, and without more specific information regarding your goals it is difficult to pinpoint the classics in subfields that may interest you. That said, there are a few highlights I think you're bound to come across reference or allusion to in many, many other works that would benefit you to get some exposure to. I am strongly biased toward a western analytical philosophy tradition--you'll want to check into things far more broadly than I'm recommending to find your own path. My little list is not meant to be exhaustive and is coming from personal memory of "aha!" moments in my own life, but will perhaps serve as a useful beach head for your own investigations:

* Descartes' Meditations

* Locke Essay Concerning Human Understanding

* Hobbes Leviathan

* Kant Critique of Pure Reason

* Kant Prolegomena

* Kuhn Structure of Scientific Revolution

* Hegel Phenomenology of Spirit

* Foucault Discipline & Punish

* Sellars Epistemology and the Philosophy of Mind

* Sellars The Scientific Image of Man

* Quine Word & Object

* Davidson On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme

* Nagel What is it like to be a bat?

* Searle Minds, Brains, and Programs

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [0] has a ton of great summary articles and bibliographies that could definitely keep you busy for a few decades or so. I've never been tremendously into ancient or non-western philosophy, which is a deficiency I aim to correct one day, but there are a ton of great essays there as well.

[0] https://plato.stanford.edu/

ebullientocelot | 5 years ago | on: China becomes second nation to plant flag on the Moon

While not as cool as getting this done in 1969 with people I think it's nice to see that this sort of thing is happening at all these days. As contentious as things have been lately at ground level I'm encouraged any time I read about people getting things done in space for some reason, even if it isn't some novel event.

ebullientocelot | 5 years ago | on: Joe Gould’s Teeth: The long-lost story of the longest book ever written (2015)

I wouldn't normally click into an article with this title/source but your comment led me to do so on a whim. I don't often finish reading long-form and think "that was a great way to spend 30 minutes" but this time I did. Thank you!

ebullientocelot | 5 years ago | on: A Ransomware Attack Has Struck a Major US Hospital Chain

Here is UHS statement: https://ir.uhsinc.com/news-releases/news-release-details/uni...

ebullientocelot | 5 years ago | on: The US military is using online gaming to recruit teens

You need to be motivated more than athletic. Basic PFT standards are not extravagant; not everyone in the army is in a Ranger Battalion.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: Beware the data science pin factory: The power of the data science generalist

Please post some contact information. No idea what your geography is but I am very interested in chatting with you about some roles that I have that may be very well aligned to the skills and interests you are describing.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: The Banality of Empathy

I don't know that the purpose is promoting understanding of popular political issues, but it definitely seems to me that work of this kind is fashionable to celebrate in literary circles. Take my view with a grain of salt, though--I'm neither fashionable nor in literary circles.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”

No argument with what you're saying, but on a personal level I can't stand Anna, the character. Reminds me too much of a rather unfortunate ex, and ruins the story for me.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: Worst Union in America (2012)

:facepalm:. Yea that makes much, much more sense. My bad.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: Tip-off from a Nazi that saved my grandparents

Definitely seemed intentional--see also the bit about all of the patrol boats getting painted at once when they figured out that water was the primary avenue of escape.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: Worst Union in America (2012)

Your comment is literally the first time in my life that I have seen the words "teachers get paid well" in what seems to me to be a serious fashion. Someone quoted below that the highest paid teachers are pulling something like 68k.. I'm east coast, and not smack dab in a major metro, but still--calling 70k "well-paid" seems pretty unrealistic.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: I'm a millionaire who creates zero jobs. Why do I pay less tax than you?

I think it's possible for an additional tax dollar to help people, for sure. But it seems unreasonable to assume that a positive tax revenue delta will manifest in useful or well-managed social programs. Additional money in the public coffers is a necessary precondition for expanded social programs of value, but there are still problems of management, possibilities that the money will be spent on unjustified wars, etc.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: Dear Developer, the Web Isn't About You

I largely agree with the points you are making, however I think there's a fundamental difference in the carpenter analogy: regardless of the type of screwdriver used there is no material difference in the UX of the cabinet, whereas that does not hold for web development decisions.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: Four Days Trapped at Sea With Crypto’s Nouveau Riche

There's something positive to be said for intellectual honesty--if not on the cruise ship, in the writeup.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: Tumblr will ban all adult content on December 17th

I came across "elsagate" the other day and was unpleasantly not surprised by what it means. As a father of two young children this is a tough one--I'm 100% pro free speech, especially the speech I don't agree with, but have a hard time with deceptive messaging designed to harm vulnerable populations. I don't have an answer, but it sure is a damnable problem.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: Battling Entropy

I know, right??

Some real gems:

pg. 21: Emotive forces shape the gestalt of the brand identity.

Actually no, the whole thing is patently absurd. Wow. What the fuck?

Apparently this presentation earned a million dollar fee:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pepsis-nonsensical-logo-redesig...

In fairness it is marked as WIP.. I suppose it could have been completely scrapped and redone before presenting to the client :P

Edit:

AdWeek was less convinced at the time:

https://www.adweek.com/digital/the-pepsi-logo-design-pdf-emb...

Can't find anything definitive on what this actually was, seems like a lot of "hoax or not?" type pieces with no conclusion that I can see.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: East German secret police guide for identifying youth subcultures (1985)

While this is true, I still experience a little of that early-exposure-to-the-Internet sense of wonder when I stumble across a community that's off the beaten path technologically. sdf.org's Gopher service was such an experience in the past couple years.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: East German secret police guide for identifying youth subcultures (1985)

I don't think your two points are mutually exclusive, and suspect they are both correct to one degree or another. I live in a second-tier city working for a second-tier company and my daily life is already fairly cyberpunk! During the day I actively work on the advertising economy surveillance state, and at home I do things like install the Pi-Hole for my family and try to help anybody who will listen reduce their target profile for the eye in the sky. I mention this, particularly that my city and company are second-tier, because you don't have to work at FAANGM in SV to experience these things.

There is definitely a sense in which I would be interested in at least checking out a cyberpunk community, but as other have mentioned, it's more or less culture now.

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: Why We Need Difficult Books

In a way--my question boils down to why this was written in the first place. Engaging with literary criticism is an invitation to perpetuate literary criticism :P

ebullientocelot | 7 years ago | on: Why We Need Difficult Books

This seems silly to me--if an idea or subject _is_ difficult, then so be it. If something difficult to read is worth it to somebody, then that person will read it. I don't understand the fascination with difficulty--whatever that means, as an independent metric. To me, the value of writing is the idea or set of ideas the writing expresses.