iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 7h

It's 100%, without a doubt, doing things but ATM unsure exactly what those things are.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 7h

New rec: Screen "The bird with the crystal plumage" nonstop to recreate the original experience.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 7h

Should have done "Gospel according to St. Matthew" paired with "Salò". The Pasolini Pair.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 12h

"I mean, doesn't this follow from a more gen..." *gunshot rings out, echoing off the far hills.*

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 12h

The connection to Goodman seems apt. I'm curious, though, if there's a way to arrive at this picture through model theory/traditional semantics rather than categorical semantics. It seems to me there is, but I'd have to think further.

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Hadas Weiss @hadas.bsky.social · 18h

"i'm sure these discussions will continue over dinner" god i hope not

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Disney Prime Video + ᵖᵃʳᵒᵈʸ @disneyprimevideo.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

The Matrix (1999)

Trinity in Milwaukee Brewers gear holds a weapon towards i dunno, whichever Dodger had that Charlie Kirk Hat? she's saying "Dodge this"

Don't bother posting this to r/brewers, one of our team already did.

After the fact, we regret to inform we discovered the source image from the Matrix probably went through an AI upscale before we edited over top of it. We deeply apologize but we're not doing it over again.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I promise I will never help solve the hard problem. You will make me work on the hard problem over my dead body.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

It is, though, and this is maybe to your point, Hane, a position that I think is pretty easily _articulable_ within the framework of analytic ethics. So there is that.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Just to second this - I don't think, insofar as Devin and I are advocating something similar, this is a position that's really popular in analytic ethics. I generally feel like people look at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my ears when I discuss ethics.

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RationallyDense (they/she/he/any) @rationallydense.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

So much AI discourse on the left drives me insane because it's basically "If we let people use that metaphor, it will be treated as true by our legal and political system." We're supposed to be the ones who believe in material forces driving history! Bad things are not happening because of metaphors

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Marc Morris @marcmorris.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Today's the 960th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, so obviously I'm reposting my scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry in Playmobil.

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ava @avaminsky.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

not exactly a hot take to point out supposed 'progressives' will often shamelessly embrace rightwing talking points if it lets them dunk on ai (atheists talking about art requiring a soul to create, being happily ableist to disabled people saying ai helps them create etc) but it's still wild to see.

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Elixir of Progress @elucidating.extradimensional.space · 14/10/2026

You see, everyone else is using the video game that makes them crazy. Only Wesley Crusher is left, only he is smart enough and ethical enough to save the crew. Only he could resist the game.

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

The thing is it probably would have worked with any episode from those days, the lemon tree one would be funny enough, but it being this one was so perfect it was like the first painting you see being Starry Night

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

My parents thought the Simpsons looked grotesque so they didn’t let me watch it and one afternoon my mom was like ok fine we can try and it happened to be this episode and I remember vividly getting to the point where Homer sets fire to his GED and my mom literally crying with laughter

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

listening to it frequently for the reasons you give (or maybe it's actually other reasons but the fact persists). But if you reported being in the right mood, having enough time, etc., and then fell asleep, yeah, I'd doubt your self report (barring further evidence)!

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I think with both sexuality and opera, it's really important that the absence of evidence isn't evidence. For example, I can't claim that someone isn't bisexual, when they claim to be, because they only sleep with men or with women. Similarly, Wozzeck might be your favorite opera despite not

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

To the akrasia point, I'm pretty happy to say that it's conflating two preferences: The desire to do X and the desire to desire to do X. To the others, I'm being more thoughtful.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I might use whether or not I have a headache to guess at the weather, even quite successfully in some cases, but whether or not I have a headache is not a component in the weather.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

judgement), but in their absence I use/trust reports, including reports of attention, as an approximation of what you might choose and therefore what you value. But that doesn't mean they are an additional component in the act of valuing.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

And I think that's what I'd say is going on here - claims about attending to A are completely trumped by evidence you are choosing ~A when assessing your values. So I think that means I am still saying values are entirely choice determined (when I can assess choice, it's totally dominating my

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I agree it sounds reasonable. I was thinking about the skepticism of first order reports, because (sort of obviously) I'm not throwing them all out. What I think it amounts to is a kind of very strict hierarchy, where any first order report is trumped by evidence from choices more or less completely

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I also have a general suspicion, ala Neurath or Carnap, that having beliefs not grounded in something empirical tends to be bad. Or at least makes one susceptible to forming other beliefs that are extremely bad. So that's another motivation for arguing in some cases.

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USER WAS BLOCKED FOR THIS POST @blockedforthispost.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Happy birthday 🎂❤️🫂

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I agree that we _definitely_ have different experiences, and also that the appeals are in bad faith. But I'm more interested in the fact that the appeals generally succeed.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

But, it's good reason for not arguing against someone having the belief. Unless they are a philosopher or otherwise inclined, in which case, I will indulge in always arguing about beliefs.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

better choices is interesting. Those kinds of circles are something I struggle with. Presently my solution is something like the following: I would assume though that there's other means by which one can get to making those better choices, so that's not good evidence for the belief.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Well I'd say the relevant thing is only that your choices have become more compassionate. Those choices then indicate what you value. I guess to me, there's something of a Jamesian circle where "forming the belief that there's more to valuing something than the totality of my choices" then leads to

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

That sounds way better than an updated version of the N64 pod racer game lol. As long as the thing I am racing is (or can be) a pod racer, that gameplay loop sounds great.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Haven't played yet but your recommendation has me extremely interested.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

It follows from this that I, personally, don't think it exists, but that stronger claim isn't necessary for the point I want to make.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

bsky.app/profile/hane... Lol I wish I had read this before posting the whole thread. I think what I'm getting at is that - if there's something more to valuing, I don't see how to leverage it politically or personally in a consistent way, and therefore don't think it can be useful ethically.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

That this political strategy works is then, to me, clear evidence that many people (I estimate most people) value the lives of children over the lives of adults.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Much more relevant though is that I have political projects which are frequently upset by appeals to the sanctity of children, and my political enemies consistently rally support against the safety of adults through (usually fantastical) appeals to the safety of children.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

assessment of my phenomenology. And I would assess others similarly. I don't see how I can do anything else, given my fairly strong conviction that our self reports of motivations in ethical choice making are almost entirely post hoc.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I don't think I necessarily have a strong opinion on the relative value of adults vs. infants, but I might be kidding myself. If I found evidence through my choices that I consistently favored one or the other in some context, I'd take that as the only relevant evidence, and discard my present

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I have certain goals, ethically, personally, and politically, and I want to know what actions are consistent with and advance those goals. To me, that's where the story ends. Obviously exploring this alters the goals, and the process never stops. But this is the process.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Yeah good, that's a difference. I do reflexively conflate these two things though. Maybe I'd say I don't see value in anything other than the criterion, by the same line of reasoning above (anything else can and will be gerrymandered hopelessly and therefore can't be appealed to when living life).

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

So if someone does save the adult 9 times out of 10, not the infant, I assess that as their value judgement.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

And I have a very strong belief that people do in fact do this all the time. I mean that literally. We describe ourselves in such a way to as make sense of our actions to ourselves and others constantly. So if I'm going to make a _judgement_, I feel I need to appeal to something more grounded.

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Accounts of my phenomenology, like accounts of my intentions, _are_ things I can gerrymander, and indeed I am quite incentivized to do so if I want to believe I am doing the right thing. I'm so incentivized to do this I believe I would inevitably convince myself that I am not doing this!

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Philip Sink | Rorty Vindicator @thrillhouse1701.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Hmm. You're going to absolutely hate what I'm about to say lol, but I think there's something highly morally suspect about couching ones understanding of right and wrong in anything other than choice. The choices I make are the only thing I can't gerrymander post hoc to justify my actions.

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