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  Dennis Hackethal submitted criticism #710.

In the coming period, expect us to pick up on many of the talks’ subject matter.

False possessive

About 2 months ago · ‘Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’’
  Dennis Hackethal submitted criticism #709.

Zu- series of popup projects

That hyphen looks out of place.

About 2 months ago · ‘Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’’
  Dennis Hackethal submitted criticism #708.

The Honduran Supreme Court still needs to publish an explanatory addendum on the passed law to explain how (existing) ZEDEs will be dealt with after this ruling.

Passive voice hides accountability. Who will deal with ZEDEs? Use active voice accordingly.

About 2 months ago · ‘Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’’
  Dennis Hackethal submitted criticism #707.

Prospects for Próspera and other ZEDEs look dire and in a recent post […]

The alliteration threw me off a bit here. And if they’re dire they’re not really prospects. ‘Outlook’ might work better here.

About 2 months ago · ‘Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’’
  Dennis Hackethal submitted criticism #706.

lighter taxes and regulations

‘lower taxes and lighter regulations’ (I don’t think taxes can be ‘light’)

About 2 months ago · ‘Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’’
  Dennis Hackethal submitted criticism #705.

achieved via allowing

‘by allowing’

About 2 months ago · ‘Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’’
  Dennis Hackethal revised idea #702 and marked it as a criticism.
> made […] legally possiblepossible↵
↵
Just say ‘legalized’
About 2 months ago · ‘Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’’
  Dennis Hackethal submitted criticism #701.

Related to #700:

ZEDEs are SEZs in Honduras.

What are SEZs?

About 2 months ago · ‘Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’’
  Dennis Hackethal commented on criticism #698.

Honduran Supreme Court declares ZEDEs unconstitutional, putting Próspera and other ZEDEs in jeopardy.

Not everyone knows what a “ZEDE” is. Is it an acronym? What does it stand for?

#698 · Dennis Hackethal, about 2 months ago

I now see that the newsletter links to an explanation further down:

ZEDEs are SEZs in Honduras.

But that’s too late. May have already lost readers at that point.

About 2 months ago · ‘Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’’
  Dennis Hackethal submitted criticism #699.

Not a lawyer but reproducing the entire letter from Próspera Zede is presumably a violation of their copyright.

About 2 months ago · ‘Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’’
  Dennis Hackethal started a discussion titled Criticisms of ‘Based Brief’.

One of the people running ‘Based Brief’ has requested criticism, specifically of their latest newsletter titled ‘Honduras rugpulls Próspera and other ZEDEs’. These criticisms aren’t meant to be exhaustive.

The discussion starts with idea #698.

Honduran Supreme Court declares ZEDEs unconstitutional, putting Próspera and other ZEDEs in jeopardy.

Not everyone knows what a “ZEDE” is. Is it an acronym? What does it stand for?

About 2 months ago
  Dennis Hackethal revised idea #670. The revision addresses idea #695.
> Your subconscious is like a computer […]

She says “like” so the sentence is technically correct, but it would have been more correctbetter if she had said the subconscious is a program (or an amalgamation of programs). What she’s presumably getting at here is that the subconscious is *automatic* like a computer and unlike the conscious, which can stop and reflect and criticize and so on.
2 months ago · ‘Rand Quote About the Subconscious’
  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #670.

Your subconscious is like a computer […]

She says “like” so the sentence is technically correct, but it would have been more correct if she had said the subconscious is a program (or an amalgamation of programs). What she’s presumably getting at here is that the subconscious is automatic like a computer and unlike the conscious, which can stop and reflect and criticize and so on.

#670 · Dennis Hackethal, 2 months ago

more correct

Something is either correct it isn’t. There is no “more” correct.

2 months ago · ‘Rand Quote About the Subconscious’
  Dennis Hackethal commented on criticism #641.

I don’t think it’s “a lot like” doing science – the underlying logic is the same, science being just one particular instance of problem solving. This is then acknowledged in the subsequent sentence:

[...] Popper’s epistemology applies to all problem solving, not just to science.

So why mention science if you’re just going to generalize the restriction away regardless?

#641 · Dennis Hackethal, 2 months ago

I just found this related Popper quote underscoring my point:

Truth is hard to come by. It needs both ingenuity in criticizing old theories, and ingenuity in the imaginative invention of new theories. This is so not only in the sciences, but in all fields.

Popper, Karl. The Myth of the Framework: In Defence of Science and Rationality (p. 44). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.
2 months ago · ‘Children “Easily” Solving Family Problems’
  Dennis Hackethal revised idea #668.
> Your subconscious is like a computer […]

She says “like” so the sentence is technically correct, but it would have been clearermore correct if she had said the subconscious is a program (or an amalgamation of programs). What she’s presumably getting at here is that the subconscious is *automatic* like a computer and unlike the conscious, which can stop and reflect and criticize and so on.
2 months ago · ‘Rand Quote About the Subconscious’
  Dennis Hackethal revised idea #662 and marked it as a criticism.
> Your subconscious is like a computer […]

She says “like” so the sentence is technically correct, but it would have been clearer if she had said it’sthe subconscious is a program (or an amalgamation of programs). What she’s presumably getting at here is that the subconscious is *automatic* like a computer and unlike the conscious, which can stop and reflect and criticize and so on.
2 months ago · ‘Rand Quote About the Subconscious’
  Dennis Hackethal revised idea #661.

Fix separating punctuation

Ayn Rand writes:

> % source: Ayn Rand.Rand, *Philosophy: Who Needs It.*It*, chapter ‘Philosophy: Who Needs It.’↵
>It’↵
> % link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Objectivism/comments/1fnmccf/the_importance_of_conviction/
> Your subconscious is like a computer—more complex a computer than men can build—and its main function is the integration of your ideas. Who programs it? Your conscious mind. If you default, if you don’t reach any firm convictions, your subconscious is programmed by chance—and you deliver yourself into the power of ideas you do not know you have accepted.
2 months ago · ‘Rand Quote About the Subconscious’
  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #661.

Ayn Rand writes:

Your subconscious is like a computer—more complex a computer than men can build—and its main function is the integration of your ideas. Who programs it? Your conscious mind. If you default, if you don’t reach any firm convictions, your subconscious is programmed by chance—and you deliver yourself into the power of ideas you do not know you have accepted.

#661 · Dennis Hackethal, 2 months ago

[…] your subconscious is programmed by chance […]

This sounds as if chance was the programmer. The word ‘randomly’ might have been better. But that presumably still isn’t quite what she meant; I think she meant something like ‘haphazardly’, with no clear direction, by uncritical integration, ie osmosis, of ideas from the surrounding culture, as I believe she put it elsewhere.

2 months ago · ‘Rand Quote About the Subconscious’
  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #661.

Ayn Rand writes:

Your subconscious is like a computer—more complex a computer than men can build—and its main function is the integration of your ideas. Who programs it? Your conscious mind. If you default, if you don’t reach any firm convictions, your subconscious is programmed by chance—and you deliver yourself into the power of ideas you do not know you have accepted.

#661 · Dennis Hackethal, 2 months ago

[The] main function [of your subconscious] is the integration of your ideas.

Isn’t it the conscious mind that does the integrating, and then the subconscious stores the integrated ideas and executes them in applicable contexts?

2 months ago · ‘Rand Quote About the Subconscious’
  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #661.

Ayn Rand writes:

Your subconscious is like a computer—more complex a computer than men can build—and its main function is the integration of your ideas. Who programs it? Your conscious mind. If you default, if you don’t reach any firm convictions, your subconscious is programmed by chance—and you deliver yourself into the power of ideas you do not know you have accepted.

#661 · Dennis Hackethal, 2 months ago

[…] more complex a computer than men can build […]

It’s not clear to me that the basic building blocks of the subconscious (as opposed to its components at runtime) are necessarily all that complex. Why couldn’t they be simple?

2 months ago · ‘Rand Quote About the Subconscious’
  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #661.

Ayn Rand writes:

Your subconscious is like a computer—more complex a computer than men can build—and its main function is the integration of your ideas. Who programs it? Your conscious mind. If you default, if you don’t reach any firm convictions, your subconscious is programmed by chance—and you deliver yourself into the power of ideas you do not know you have accepted.

#661 · Dennis Hackethal, 2 months ago

[…] more complex a computer than men can build […]

Unclear what exactly “can” means here. More complex than we can build today? True. More complex than we could build in principle? Not true: we could build it, given the right knowledge.

2 months ago · ‘Rand Quote About the Subconscious’
  Dennis Hackethal commented on idea #661.

Ayn Rand writes:

Your subconscious is like a computer—more complex a computer than men can build—and its main function is the integration of your ideas. Who programs it? Your conscious mind. If you default, if you don’t reach any firm convictions, your subconscious is programmed by chance—and you deliver yourself into the power of ideas you do not know you have accepted.

#661 · Dennis Hackethal, 2 months ago

Your subconscious is like a computer […]

She says “like” so the sentence is technically correct, but it would have been clearer if she had said it’s a program (or an amalgamation of programs). What she’s presumably getting at here is that the subconscious is automatic like a computer and unlike the conscious, which can stop and reflect and criticize and so on.

2 months ago · ‘Rand Quote About the Subconscious’
  Dennis Hackethal started a discussion titled Rand Quote About the Subconscious. The discussion starts with idea #661.

Ayn Rand writes:

Your subconscious is like a computer—more complex a computer than men can build—and its main function is the integration of your ideas. Who programs it? Your conscious mind. If you default, if you don’t reach any firm convictions, your subconscious is programmed by chance—and you deliver yourself into the power of ideas you do not know you have accepted.

2 months ago
  Dennis Hackethal commented on idea #628.

I agree that Veritula deserves to scale to something huge.

Looking through the history of Wikipedia, I see that its core concept is that of “compiling the world's knowledge in a single location […]”. To be clear, I think the core concept of Veritula is to be a programmatic implementation of Popper’s rational discussion methodology; it then becomes a dictionary for ideas as a result. It’s also less about listing facts and more about listing ideas and their logical relationship (though criticisms do provide built-in fact-checking mechanisms). That said, with enough users, Veritula could become a place with a lot of knowledge.

The linked site traces some of the success of Wikipedia to volunteers: “The use of volunteers was integral in making and maintaining Wikipedia.” So early adopters such as yourself are crucial.

In addition, 9/11 apparently played a role in making Wikipedia famous:

The September 11 attacks spurred the appearance of breaking news stories on the homepage, as well as information boxes linking related articles. At the time, approximately 100 articles related to 9/11 had been created. After the September 11 attacks, a link to the Wikipedia article on the attacks appeared on Yahoo!'s home page, resulting in a spike in traffic.

Veritula could be a place where people break news stories and others can quickly fact-check and improve upon reports by revising them. An urgent story would draw a lot of users to the site, too.

Something like Wikipedia’s arbitration process could be interesting, too.

Something similar to Wikipedia’s page-protection feature to combat “edit warring” and “prevent vandalism” could address the issue of people posting criticisms in rapid succession to protect their pet ideas.

Your suggestion to look to Wikipedia for inspiration is spot on. Thanks.

#628 · Dennis Hackethal, 2 months ago

To prevent edit warring and vandalism, maybe Veritula could have a reputation system similar to that of Stack Overflow, where you need to earn enough reputation before you can edit someone else’s post, say.

2 months ago · ‘Veritula – Meta’