Posts

What is Wokism?

“Wokism” or “wokeness” is often used as a label for leftist identity politics. “Becoming woke” is analogous to “taking the red pill” or “seeing through the matrix”. It implies that we exist within an oppressive system, which is hidden from most people. The “unwoke” do not see the oppression, because they have internalized it. The “woke” have become aware of the oppressive system, and are now fighting against it by awakening others. This narrative pattern is common among ideologies. An ideology claims that the status quo is oppressive, and that the oppression is hidden behind a grand deception. The ideology exposes the deception and reveals the hidden truth. If enough people become “woke”, then the system will collapse, and a utopia will emerge. There are different flavors of wokism, but all situate evil in whites, men, Western civilization, or some combination of those three. The term “woke” and its derivatives “wokism” and “wokeness” are often used ironically and pe

Goodhart’s Law and Emotions

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. — Marilyn Strathern Goodhart’s law is an important principle about using a measure to drive action. Imagine a city that is trying to reduce crime. The mayor tells the police chief to “Get the crime rate down!”. But what is the crime rate? It is a statistical metric of crimes per capita. The police measure the crime rate by making reports about crimes. Knowing that his job is on the line, the police chief tells his officers to go easy on crime reports. “Don’t file a report unless it is serious.” he tells them. So, the crime rate (as measured) goes down, while the actual number of crimes goes up, because criminals learn that they are less likely to be punished, and citizens learn that there is no point calling the police over minor crimes. Eventually, word gets back to the mayor, and he fires the police chief. He hires a new police chief, and gives him a different instruction. “I want to see more arrest

Debunking the Selfish Gene

In this essay, I will explain the core error in Richard Dawkins’ notion of the selfish gene, and explain how it is related to group selection theory. This is about biological purpose: what it is, and what has it. I will compare and contrast three theories of biological purpose: Phenocentric Theory: The organism (more precisely, the reproducing unit) is the locus of biological purpose. The purpose of life is to reproduce. An organism is a reproducing machine. Species-centric Theory: The species is the locus of biological purpose. The purpose of life is to perpetuate the species. An organism is a species-perpetuation machine. Genocentric Theory: The gene (nucleotide sequence) is the locus of biological purpose. The purpose of life is to perpetuate genes. An organism is a gene-perpetuation machine. The selfish gene concept is part of the genocentric theory, which is Dawkins’ view. He believes that organisms are gene-survival machines. The species-centric theory is often called

Response to my RatWiki Entry

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RationalWiki, better known as “RatWiki”, is one of the more ironically named websites on the internet. Essentially, it is an advocacy site that defends secular humanist dogmas and attacks opposing views. It is full of fallacies and lies. There is nothing rational about it. Someone created an entry for me on RatWiki: Blithering Genius . This is my response. I won’t bother responding to everything, but I will respond to most of it. It’s worth mentioning that this person came to my discord server to gather information under false pretenses, once as “Electric Gecko”, and a second time as “Shieldmaiden”. I will refer to the author as Liam, because his username on RatWiki is LiamM32 . Keep in mind that wikis allow for multiple authors, and the entry could change after I write this. The quotes were pulled at the time of writing. Now let’s get to the response. TK Van Allen, known online as Blithering Genius,[1][2] is a writer, blogger, and YouTuber[3] with some alt-right characteristic

Parasites, Emotions and Identity

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Image source. Sacculina is a strange parasite of crabs. It is an arthropod in the subclass Cirripedia (the barnacles). The female Sacculina larva swims around, as all barnacle larvae do. Instead of attaching itself to a rock, however, the Sacculina larva attaches itself to a crab. It then injects its soft body into the crab. The parasite grows inside the body of the crab. It sends out “roots” to various parts of the crab’s body, to absorb nutrients and to control the crab. The parasite consumes the crab’s genitalia, making it infertile. Eventually, the parasite partially emerges from the crab’s body, as a sac on the bottom of the crab. If the crab is male, the parasite secretes feminizing hormones, which cause the crab to develop female traits, including a broader abdomen and female behaviors. A male Sacculina larva (like most males) roams around seeking a mate. If it finds a mature female on the body of a crab, it deposits some of its own cells into a special pocket of t