Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 08/10/2026"Super Stupidity" or "SS" would be a better description of DJT's clownish approach to AI (and everything else). 010
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Moran talks absolute rubbish throughout the interview because he is mired in marxist propaganda. No we aren't getting poorer. In fact the world s in the midst oof the greatest economic boom since the planet was created and incomes have risen astronomically around the world in the past 25 years. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Cahal Moran is a behavioral economist who obviously knows nothing about economics. He starts this interview by saying he doesn't know how wealth is created but it's complicated. It's no mystery how wealth is created just take a job in a business, on Wall Street or in private equity and find out. 100
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Every individual is different in drive, ability, intelligence, knowledge, appearance, goals and energy. So how is it unfair that people have different levels of income? Is there some universal moral principle that everyone should be equal in wealth? tedtillichfarris.substack.com/p/why-everyo...tedtillichfarris.substack.comWhy Everyone Claims to Want “Equality” Until They Understand What it MeansBe Careful What You Wish For 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 26/09/2026No two people are alike and every person is separate from every other. We are all born unequal in appearance, energy, intelligence, ambition, sociability, personal goals and drive. So how is it that inequality of income or wealth is in itself "unfair?" tedtillichfarris.substack.com/p/why-everyo...tedtillichfarris.substack.comWhy Everyone Claims to Want “Equality” Until They Understand What it MeansBe Careful What You Wish For 010
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 20/09/2026looked at as just a way people live. He says you can't understand people unless you see things through their eyes. But we can't see through anyone's eyes but our own, without violating the laws of physics. I've never heard a philosopher so obstinately inclined to say nothing at all. But he succeeds. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Soft spoken, tousle-haired Christopher Hoyt spent this entire conversation without making a single definitive statement about anything. He says absolutely nothing about religion. I'd guess he's religious as Hoyt thinks religion should be protected from charges of falsity & myth making and should be 101
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 14/09/2026People who claim that equality is our biggest problem have no idea what it means. tedtillichfarris.substack.com/p/why-everyo...tedtillichfarris.substack.comWhy Everyone Claims to Want “Equality” Until They Understand What it MeansBe Careful What You Wish For 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 13/09/2026There's more than meets the eye to calls by OpenAI & Anthropic CEOs for a slowdown of AI development, namely unsustainable cash burn rates & delayed IPOs. Claiming to be an existential threat to humanity isn't the greatest fund raising pitch. Or is it? tedtillichfarris.substack.com/p/why-open-a...tedtillichfarris.substack.comWhy OpenAI and Anthropic CEOs are calling for an AI Slowdown While Racing to Accelerate AI and Go PublicOr How I Learned to stop Worrying and Love AI 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 02/09/2026TRIX are for kids. But leave collectivist utopias, hive minds, global brains and communitarian super-organisms for termites, ants, bees and other eusocial insects. They aren't for adult humans. tedtillichfarris.substack.com/p/why-commun...tedtillichfarris.substack.comWhy Communitarian Utopias Are for the Birds, the Bees and the TermitesThe Dangerous Utopian Belief in a Hive Minded Collectivist Super-Organism 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 30/08/2026important and largely unknown implications for how evolution by natural selection actually works in practice. And we do not yet have an equivalent theoretical model for it. But it is no algorithm, software or blueprint. Congratulations to Philip Ball on a ground-breaking article. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 30/08/2026Important insightful article on the genome. Genomes are not like blueprints, algorithms or computer software, they are complex dynamic systems that interact with the environment, and in the case of the human genome with culture, to produce beings that are in each case uniquely individual. This has 100
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 30/08/2026There has never been the slightest doubt about insect sentience. Just try catching a fly in your hand. It'll evade your clumsy efforts over 90% of the time. There is no theory or hypothesis for how insects could not be sentient. But it's nice that science can figure out what is self-evident. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 25/08/2026If you think you have had a transcendent mystical or spiritual experience that has taken you out of your body or self, think again. You cannot transcend yourself you can only be yourself. tedtillichfarris.substack.com/p/why-transc...tedtillichfarris.substack.comWhy Transcendence is a Meaningless or Paradoxical ConceptionThe cheapest product to sell has always been something that doesn’t exist. 010
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Every attempt to revive Marxism from Adorno and Horkheimer on down has failed and will fail because Marxism's underlying premises are entirely wrong. Marxism no longer exists outside academia, as every Marxist government except Cuba has disappeared or converted to capitalism. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 25/08/2026are as false as Phlogistan. Tossing an underlying “ethical” framework into this imaginary Marxist stew does nothing to improve its flavor. Marxism is at its heart deterministic & amoral, not ethical. And Marx was dead wrong about history being deterministic. 100
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Marxist utopian piffle. Wills tries to rescue Marxism from oblivion by arguing for its Ethical Vision. The problem with Marxism is that the forces of historical materialism Marx regards as articles of faith, the alienation of labor, class struggle & the idea of a proletariat with common interests, 100
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Yet, the two books disagree on more than just math. Stewart-Williams strongly emphasises traditional sex differences while Lents takes a much more woke-like Augustin Fuentes perspective, emphasizing diversity and overlap of male and female sex similarities despite the biological sex differences. 001
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Funny that this June 2026 book by Steve Stewart-Williams has almost the same title as Nathan Lents 2025 book, except that the Stewart-Williams book claims "one billion years of sex differences" and Lents a mere 500 million. But who's counting? www.thriftbooks.com/w/a-billion-...thriftbooks.comA Billion Years of Sex Differences: How... book by Steve Stewart-WilliamsBuy a cheap copy of A Billion Years of Sex Differences: How... book by Steve Stewart-Williams. According to an old joke, everyone knows that men and women are different... except social scientists. In... 100
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Chinchilla Persian Mutzie Putzie watched every episode of the English Version of #RickyGervais #AlleyCats and is now anxiously awaiting the cat language version. Meow!! 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 21/08/2026This very informative talk with @wiringthebrain.bsky.social is worth more than one listen. Mitchell demystifies the current hype around epigenetic and explains how it actually works. The talk also shows the limitations of claims about the modularity of minds and touches on other important issues. 061
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 21/08/2026dynamics (BDSM etc). He is suggesting that Republicans fantasize about violating family values, democrats fantasize about violating equality values and churchgoers have more same sex fantasies. Go figure. But a good talk with Lehmiller! 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 21/08/2026According to Dr. Lehmiller sex fantasies tend to be focused on cultural taboos. He says religious people have higher levels of homosexual sexual fantasies. Republicans on average have fantasies about adultery, threesomes and multi partner sex. Democrats on average fantasize more about power 100
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Even if a universal objective morality existed, no one would have any means of knowing what it was. tedtillichfarris.substack.com/p/the-fairy-...tedtillichfarris.substack.comThe Fairy Tale of Universal “Objective Morality”One of the most reliable sources of philosophical nonsense is the idea that somewhere floating in the heavens just out of view is a pristine set of universal rules for objective moral truth. 011
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Why is altruism is so elusive? Because it doesn't exist. tedtillichfarris.substack.com/p/the-myth-o...tedtillichfarris.substack.comThe Myth of Altruism--Why Altruism is a Scam, a Fraud, and a Mockery of a ShamDebates over altruism pervade moral philosophy, politics and social groups. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Omer Bartov's remarkable interview on Israel and how it transformed from a refuge for Europe's Jews into an authoritarian etho-nationalist state. Bartov gives the facts in the context of the history in clear and convincing manner. Despite sometimes immoderate language, he is right on target. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 03/08/2026In fact, pro social behavior is often highly self interested. Humans must cooperate to survive so it is not at all surprising they are often highly pro social and both personally and culturally value pro social behavior as "ethical." 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 03/08/2026Cooperative groups clearly outperform less cooperative groups (look at Goldman Sachs for a great example), although self-interested free riders perform better within groups (eg party crashers at high end benefits). But one could argue with the premise that pro social cooperation is "altruistic." 100
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 03/08/2026Superb talk by @davidsloanwilson.bsky.social a staunch but thoughtful advocate of the importance of multilevel selection (including group & cultural selection) in evolutionary biology. His view of group selection ties in with his views on altruism (effectively, in his view, pro-social behavior). 110
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 01/08/2026People are neither rational or irrational. They act based on subjective self-interest, not rationality. As I explain clearly in the attached substack, people do what they want in the moment based on their own preferences whether they be personal or cultural. open.substack.com/pub/tedtilli...open.substack.comWhy the Question of Human Rationality is Meaningless RubbishThis substack is largely focused on exposing philosophical nonsense. 110
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 29/07/2026numerous Aegean civilizations, eg, the Hittite Empire in the 12 Century BC in an orgy of violent destruction until stopped in a final battle led by Pharoah Ramses III in 1175 BC. The Sea Peoples themselves then disappeared or were absorbed by other populations. Such collapses were not a good thing. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Kemp seems to thing that "civilizational collapse is a good thing" because it gets rid of old leaders and elites. Quite a harsh verdict. But sometimes civilizations collapse from external forces like invasions/migrations. Rome destroyed Carthage and the Sea Peoples invasion & migration destroyed 100
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 25/07/2026Sea Peoples attacked Egypt after destroying the Hittite and other Aegean empires and were finally defeated by Ramses III in a decisive naval battle around 1175 BC. But it fits with Nolan's depiction the Fall of Troy as an orgiastic and apocalyptic explosion of violence. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 25/07/2026This is an interesting take on the Odyssey. But A Wilkinson of #nytimes misses Nolan's suggestions that Greeks returning from Troy were the "Sea Peoples" who raided other civilizations bringing the collapse of the Bronze Age. This is historically inaccurate as the www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/m...nytimes.comIn ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Oppenheimer,’ Nolan Knows Civilization Is at Stake (Gift Article)In very different films, the director’s penchant for playing with time is in service to a larger concern about human bonds across eras. 210
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 18/07/2026can't be supported by evidence. He is much better at analyzing humans pro sociality based on interdependence than he is at theorizing about what is "uniquely human." 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 18/07/2026don't have emotions. Has he never seen an angry fish or alligator? Or flocks of birds & school of fish in action? Tomasello is quick to fall into "the humans are unique" trap. He also claims that "all infants are the same" & makes a false distinction between "natural" and "cultural" morality that 100
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 18/07/2026Very interesting talk with Tomasello correctly identifying the origins of morality in interdependence, self-interest & the need for cooperation. But his belief that humans/mammals are unique in coordinated pro social behavior is wrong. He baldly asserts that fish & reptiles (& by Implication birds) 100
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 08/07/2026Applying "objective morality" to dangerous art, is bizarre when every group, tribe & culture has widely varying moral standards all of which are subjective & community based. In fact all moral standards are subjective, contextual & constantly evolving, with no existing source of objective morality. 030
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 08/07/2026Dixon @daisydixon.bsky.social tries for a nuanced & fair minded approach to "depraved" or dangerous art. But curiously she is a moral objectivist. While her personal feminist values are evident, it is very unclear what objective morality could even mean, when there's no way to find out what it is. 230
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 30/06/2026A superb review of the biggest problems in cosmology and physics with @phalpern.bsky.social covering everything from the origins of the universe, inflation, accelerating expansion of the universe, string theory, multiverse theories and much much more. Listen to it and then listen again. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 20/06/2026Organisms are self-interested, genes are not. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 20/06/2026The selfish gene metaphor does not capture any biological reality. Organisms are the unit of evolution, not genes. Organisms have biological interests and goals, including survival. Genes don't have any interests or goals. Dawkins simply mythologized them through the selfish gene metaphor. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 12/06/2026Four authoritarian Nationalist leaders control over 40% of the World's population. Xi, Modi, Putin and Trump. The dangers are manifest. 110
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 12/06/2026Great talk with Dutch Nationalism expert Eric Storm of Leiden University on the history & resurgence of nationalism. Storm shows a clear relationship between Nationalism, racism, religion, anti-immigration & imperialist national policies, and culturally exclusionary political policies. Insightful. 010
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 07/06/2026"Somethingism?" For Dr Palmqvist, something is out there, but he doesn't know what it is. 000
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 05/06/2026things don't exist, will never exist and have no coherent meaning. You could never tell if they came about as the words don't refer to anything concrete. They are merely names for speculative conceptual fantasies designed to make people feel that "Nirvana is just around the corner." 010
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 05/06/2026Correct but there's much more to be said. Tech bosses & bros are doing everything to hype fictional AI governed futures using meaningless utopian buzzwords like superabundance, superintelligence, AGI, ASI, and the like. These are not actual things but just synonyms for speculative AI Nirvana. Such 110
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 26/05/2026This 5 year old conversation is as spot on today as when it was first recorded. @melaniemitchell.bsky.social has a deep understanding of what AI is and how it actually is. There is no doomer slop or wild AI consciousness claims in this thoughtful and still accurate and relevant conversation 010
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 26/05/2026Perhaps the best conversation @thedissenteryt.bsky.social has ever done. Tim Maudlin may be the greatest mind working in philosophy & physics today. This wide ranging discussion proves it & it's well worth listening to again. Tim disposes of string theory in a single sentence & goes on from there. 010
Ted Tillich-Farris @tillichfarris.bsky.social · 24/05/2026Jennifer Nagel is a philosopher of knowledge who doesn't know what knowledge is. She naively believes that knowledge is always a recognition of "objective" truth. But all human perspectives are subjective and almost everyone thinks they "know" things that have been routinely proven wrong. 000