Infinite Quack

Have you had that feeling before, that your brain's on fire? I hope so. Everyone should, from time to time. The first time I can remember feeling it was when I was six, and discovered computers. I've written about this before , briefly: My grandparents left a TRS-80 at our house while going off to travel, and they also left the manual. As a kid I was a precocious little snot, already able to do some reading by the time I was in kindergarten. The computer's manual explained how to program it in BASIC. I picked up the book and started reading it, trying out the examples. Then I started improvising, mixing and matching the pieces, writing entirely new programs. I don't think my grandparents had any idea what they'd set in motion, quite by accident. I was obsessed . I was enamored of this mysterious machine, that could be given instructions in a language vaguely like English but with much stricter rules, and would dutifully execute with absolute faithfulness. When I tr...

Karl Popper made a big stink about falsifiability . If you’re making a statement about the real world, there had better be some way to disprove (falsify) your statement. Let’s say your statement is “It’s raining”. I should be able to open my window and stick my arm outside and see if it gets wet. Writing as a software developer, I might use the shorter word “testable”. If your assertion is testable, it may be right or it may be wrong. I and others are empowered to figure that out. If the assertion is that life continues after death, how does one render that assertion testable? We must say more. “Ghosts exist”, for example, is testable, as long as your definition of “ghost” includes that they have some observable impacts on the living world. It should be possible to take a picture of a ghost, record a ghost saying something or moving an object. People make ghost hunter TV shows, of course, but the wider scientific community remains unconvinced because this “evidence” doesn’t meet the hi...

Here’s the problem with Superman as a character: He’s boring. Sure, all the Superman movies are packed with exciting drama. He’s facing off against world-ending threats, the odds always seem stacked against him, and though he ultimately triumphs, it always seems to have been a close call. Dramatic plots, no question. Superman movies are exciting, but Superman himself, as a character, generally isn’t. The trouble is that Superman is, traditionally, perfect: a demi-god, who always turns out to have whatever power he needs to defeat whatever enemy he faces. He can fly, he brushes off bullets and explosions, he can survive in the vacuum of space, and he’s always optimistic and kind. The trouble with a perfect character is that it leaves no room for character growth. We may admire people who seem to have it all, but (as Superman literally is) they also strike us as rather alien. They aren’t relatable. We look up to people who can face any challenge. We love people who have flaws. Making us ...

In dissent from Monday’s order, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, said the majority had ignored a federal law that requires due process. ... Justice Sotomayor wrote that the majority had endorsed lawlessness. "The government has made clear in word and deed that it feels itself unconstrained by law, free to deport anyone anywhere without notice or an opportunity to be heard," she wrote. Here's a paywall-free link to the New York Times article .  Due process, also known as habeas corpus , is a fundamental right. Without it, we don't have a system of laws: we have an authoritarian system . If habeas corpus is quelled, the rule of law is threatened or extinguished because it removes the fundamental safeguard against arbitrary detention, allowing the state to imprison individuals without legal justification or accountability. Democratic Representative Al Green of Texas recently introduced articles of impeachment against Pre...