Third Thoughts
@thirdthoughts.bsky.social
Jewish Educator. ABD political economy/theory. Queer & Enby. SF&F (especially Pratchett, Trek). Nuance > Hot Takes. Silliness is good.
Youtube vids on political history and philosophy - https://www.youtube.com/@ThirdThoughtsYT
Youtube vids on political history and philosophy - https://www.youtube.com/@ThirdThoughtsYT
Pinned
Third Thoughts
@thirdthoughts.bsky.social
· Jun 22
Was Machiavelli Really a Teacher of Evil?
YouTube video by Third Thoughts
youtu.be
New from me: Was Machiavelli really a Teacher of Evil?
Everyone gets him wrong - especially on YouTube, where all the fake-stoic podcast-bros portray him as a scheming manipulator. But many political theorists get him wrong, too - especially Strauss and Mansfield. So who was Machiavelli, really?
Everyone gets him wrong - especially on YouTube, where all the fake-stoic podcast-bros portray him as a scheming manipulator. But many political theorists get him wrong, too - especially Strauss and Mansfield. So who was Machiavelli, really?
This is an excellent conundrum and now I am tempted to email a couple rabbis lol.
And now I am wondering what the actual consensus here because never castrating a domestic animal makes no damn sense but requiring offerings to be "perfect" and thus unmodified does make theological sense
September 21, 2026 at 12:41 AM
This is an excellent conundrum and now I am tempted to email a couple rabbis lol.
I've heard enough. I'm issuing a moratorium on AI and philosophy of mind discourse unless the poaster had graduate training in *both* philosophy and statistics including latent variable models.
The rest of y'all just can't be trusted with the discourse.
The rest of y'all just can't be trusted with the discourse.
September 21, 2026 at 12:15 AM
I've heard enough. I'm issuing a moratorium on AI and philosophy of mind discourse unless the poaster had graduate training in *both* philosophy and statistics including latent variable models.
The rest of y'all just can't be trusted with the discourse.
The rest of y'all just can't be trusted with the discourse.
Seeing a couple people claiming Jordan's retirement was a tacit suspension - which seems to be at least borderline conspiracy - so leaving this here.
Obviously dude had a gambling problem, but there's basically no evidence he was forced out. And I can buy wanting a change after my dad is murdered.
Obviously dude had a gambling problem, but there's basically no evidence he was forced out. And I can buy wanting a change after my dad is murdered.
Debunking the Michael Jordan Gambling Conspiracy
Michael Jordan's first retirement from the NBA has led to conspiracy theories over the years to explain why he left the Chicago Bulls in October 1993.
www.si.com
September 20, 2026 at 11:56 PM
Seeing a couple people claiming Jordan's retirement was a tacit suspension - which seems to be at least borderline conspiracy - so leaving this here.
Obviously dude had a gambling problem, but there's basically no evidence he was forced out. And I can buy wanting a change after my dad is murdered.
Obviously dude had a gambling problem, but there's basically no evidence he was forced out. And I can buy wanting a change after my dad is murdered.
There is a third position, which is basically the "Blindsight" position - AIs have intelligence, but they do not have agency/sentience (i.e. independent will) - which may require some general, competing impulses and direct control over their own sensorium.
Ultimately you get backed into one of two positions:
1) the AIs are, by any reasonable standard, thinking and understanding, albeit in a way very different from us
2) “thinking” and “understanding” require a soul, which we have and they do not
The territory between these has basically collapsed
1) the AIs are, by any reasonable standard, thinking and understanding, albeit in a way very different from us
2) “thinking” and “understanding” require a soul, which we have and they do not
The territory between these has basically collapsed
September 20, 2026 at 8:24 PM
There is a third position, which is basically the "Blindsight" position - AIs have intelligence, but they do not have agency/sentience (i.e. independent will) - which may require some general, competing impulses and direct control over their own sensorium.
Reposted by Third Thoughts
old enough to remember when "able to win at chess" was still where the ball was at on the field
Generally, the way people ARE coming up with those lines is to look the capability of AIs and humans, figuring out which ones we have that they lack (there are many!), and then saying “that’s the dividing line.” But that’s not honest, it’s a criterion specifically selected to achieve a result
September 20, 2026 at 8:08 PM
old enough to remember when "able to win at chess" was still where the ball was at on the field
Powerful. Lander is one of the good ones.
Toward t’shuvah this Yom Kippur: An honest reckoning with our transgressions
Toward t’shuvah this Yom Kippur: An honest reckoning with our transgressions
It’s a classic Yom Kippur joke: During Kol Nidre services the rabbi raises his arms to the heavens and cries out, “Oh God, before You I am nothing!” The cantor, upon seeing this, beats his chest and s...
bradlander.substack.com
September 20, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Powerful. Lander is one of the good ones.
Officially awake too early for my morning cartoons to be on Crunchyroll 😭
September 20, 2026 at 10:54 AM
Officially awake too early for my morning cartoons to be on Crunchyroll 😭
Reposted by Third Thoughts
It rules we discovered the vaccinate against any disease technology
A cancer vaccine succeeded in a clinical trial in preventing the recurrence of melanoma, a result experts say is a breakthrough for mRNA-based treatments.
Trials for lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and other diseases' vaccines are also underway.
Trials for lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and other diseases' vaccines are also underway.
A melanoma vaccine was hailed as a breakthrough. Which cancers are next?
Trials investigating mRNA vaccines for lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and other diseases are already underway.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 19, 2026 at 9:49 PM
It rules we discovered the vaccinate against any disease technology
This pirate ballad is legally not about Monkey D. Luffy. I want to make that very clear. No Devil Fruits were eaten in the making of this song.
Bound by a Dream
YouTube video by RepeatTwiceDaily - Topic
music.youtube.com
September 19, 2026 at 10:13 PM
This pirate ballad is legally not about Monkey D. Luffy. I want to make that very clear. No Devil Fruits were eaten in the making of this song.
Alright. We need a fan trailer of Murphy returning in the Dresden Apocalypse, set to this song...
Get on it, One-Eye!
Get on it, One-Eye!
Flame Returns
YouTube video by Frost Valkyra - Topic
music.youtube.com
September 19, 2026 at 8:01 PM
Alright. We need a fan trailer of Murphy returning in the Dresden Apocalypse, set to this song...
Get on it, One-Eye!
Get on it, One-Eye!
So, maybe I'm weird here but I get a lot more of a Handmaid's Tale or Happy Science vibe from this than a Klan vibe.
Something about the star and the lack of an anchor for a noose makes me think "cultish ascenscion" rather than lynching.
Obviously very bad vibes either way, so boycott away.
Something about the star and the lack of an anchor for a noose makes me think "cultish ascenscion" rather than lynching.
Obviously very bad vibes either way, so boycott away.
As a long, long, long, long, long time Converse buyer, I will never buy a Converse product ever again. I am sick of the virtue signalling to racists. I see this and I see a man hanged, a white robe that could be a klansman's robe and light shaped like a KKK hat. What the actual hell!?!
September 19, 2026 at 6:36 PM
So, maybe I'm weird here but I get a lot more of a Handmaid's Tale or Happy Science vibe from this than a Klan vibe.
Something about the star and the lack of an anchor for a noose makes me think "cultish ascenscion" rather than lynching.
Obviously very bad vibes either way, so boycott away.
Something about the star and the lack of an anchor for a noose makes me think "cultish ascenscion" rather than lynching.
Obviously very bad vibes either way, so boycott away.
This. So hard, this.
The Discourse around transsexual identity allows no space for people who would like out of their supposed gender but are not seeking any other. Why the fuck does gender matter. I was told that gender doesn’t matter, you can do and be anything. ABANDON GENDER. What has gender ever done for you.
September 19, 2026 at 11:28 AM
This. So hard, this.
Reposted by Third Thoughts
New agreement with Denmark falls short of Trump's previously stated goal of US 'ownership' of the island https://aje.news/2vmi7h
September 19, 2026 at 10:30 AM
New agreement with Denmark falls short of Trump's previously stated goal of US 'ownership' of the island https://aje.news/2vmi7h
Reposted by Third Thoughts
I still remember someone interviewing a hundred year old woman to ask her what the biggest change in her lifetime was, assuming she’d say computers.
“Electricity.”
“Electricity.”
September 18, 2026 at 8:15 PM
I still remember someone interviewing a hundred year old woman to ask her what the biggest change in her lifetime was, assuming she’d say computers.
“Electricity.”
“Electricity.”
Yud: *rips bong* What if we used Happy Science sex trafficking theology but applied it to the War in Ukraine?
Or maybe it’s more of a “what if the FPV drones they’re flying into people in Ukraine had feelings, and also since more drones are being destroyed in combat than people are dying, we should therefore be more worried about the welfare of the drones” metaphor
September 19, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Yud: *rips bong* What if we used Happy Science sex trafficking theology but applied it to the War in Ukraine?
Inside Out: Yud Edition, where all the emotions are characters from HPMOR
this could also be the premise of a super fucked up Pixar movie
September 19, 2026 at 12:33 AM
Inside Out: Yud Edition, where all the emotions are characters from HPMOR
Reposted by Third Thoughts
So, Merry and Pippin, then.
Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Mordor:
September 19, 2026 at 12:21 AM
So, Merry and Pippin, then.
Reposted by Third Thoughts
"what if all world decisions were made by weird amoral nerds like me instead of--"
okay. stop. i say this as a weird nerd: think harder, weird nerd
okay. stop. i say this as a weird nerd: think harder, weird nerd
September 18, 2026 at 10:02 PM
"what if all world decisions were made by weird amoral nerds like me instead of--"
okay. stop. i say this as a weird nerd: think harder, weird nerd
okay. stop. i say this as a weird nerd: think harder, weird nerd
Reposted by Third Thoughts
So-called “effective altruism” actually just cuts the global poor out of the conversation entirely. Great piece:
dear-humanity.org/effective-al...
dear-humanity.org/effective-al...
EA is worse than traditional philanthropy in the way it excludes we the poor.
Effective altruism is worse than traditional philanthropy in the way it excludes the extreme poor in the global south. By Anthony Kalulu @KaluluAnthony | December 3, 2022: —- I have spent the v...
dear-humanity.org
September 17, 2026 at 1:39 PM
So-called “effective altruism” actually just cuts the global poor out of the conversation entirely. Great piece:
dear-humanity.org/effective-al...
dear-humanity.org/effective-al...
Counterpoint: I will sleep under the School of Athens like a baby.
The room next door with Raphael's "Vision of the Cross" on the other hand....
The room next door with Raphael's "Vision of the Cross" on the other hand....
yeah you can stay in the guest bed room dw it’s pretty chill you’ll sleep fine
September 18, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Counterpoint: I will sleep under the School of Athens like a baby.
The room next door with Raphael's "Vision of the Cross" on the other hand....
The room next door with Raphael's "Vision of the Cross" on the other hand....
Reposted by Third Thoughts
Dear Silicon Valley cultists: no, I’m not getting paid by a shadowy they/them cabal to be mean to you.
I’m being mean to you because your sicko culture has helped destroy mainstream international aid funding (which is killing people), usher in Trump 2.0, and pervert technology and innovation.
I’m being mean to you because your sicko culture has helped destroy mainstream international aid funding (which is killing people), usher in Trump 2.0, and pervert technology and innovation.
September 18, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Dear Silicon Valley cultists: no, I’m not getting paid by a shadowy they/them cabal to be mean to you.
I’m being mean to you because your sicko culture has helped destroy mainstream international aid funding (which is killing people), usher in Trump 2.0, and pervert technology and innovation.
I’m being mean to you because your sicko culture has helped destroy mainstream international aid funding (which is killing people), usher in Trump 2.0, and pervert technology and innovation.
Reposted by Third Thoughts
Today's essay is the 26th that we have published by @gawattia.bsky.social. The topic is John Maynard Keynes, whose brand of liberalism is worthy of recovery, "morally serious, hopeful for a better future, and yet reconciled to the compromises necessary to preserve the fragile liberal order."
You Should Read Keynes
Keynes was a liberal for our age: morally serious, hopeful for a better future, and yet reconciled to the compromises necessary to preserve the fragile liberal order.
www.liberalcurrents.com
September 18, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Today's essay is the 26th that we have published by @gawattia.bsky.social. The topic is John Maynard Keynes, whose brand of liberalism is worthy of recovery, "morally serious, hopeful for a better future, and yet reconciled to the compromises necessary to preserve the fragile liberal order."
This is a real pollster. Anyone in Kansas - vote! It matters!
Kansas Senate (Emerson)
🔵Adam Hamilton: 45%
🔴Roger Marshall: 43%
🟡David Graham: 4%
9/15-16
Link: emersoncollegepolling.com/kansas-2026/
🔵Adam Hamilton: 45%
🔴Roger Marshall: 43%
🟡David Graham: 4%
9/15-16
Link: emersoncollegepolling.com/kansas-2026/
September 18, 2026 at 1:09 PM
This is a real pollster. Anyone in Kansas - vote! It matters!
Reposted by Third Thoughts
Pope Leo XIV has been gifted a massive green orb and honestly not now massive green orb
September 18, 2026 at 3:17 AM
Pope Leo XIV has been gifted a massive green orb and honestly not now massive green orb