Daniel Elstein
@danielelstein.bsky.social
Philosopher at the University of Leeds, centrist dad. Research: meta-ethics, normative ethics, political philosophy.
And (arguably) this isn't even the worst thing that happened to a member of his family as a result.
October 6, 2026 at 7:27 AM
And (arguably) this isn't even the worst thing that happened to a member of his family as a result.
To be fair I think the article is focused on the case where you are remembering the dollar bill rather than looking at it, and in that case I'm not sure what if anything is in your visual cortex (may be variable because of degrees of aphantasia). But it's still a representation!
October 6, 2026 at 4:19 AM
To be fair I think the article is focused on the case where you are remembering the dollar bill rather than looking at it, and in that case I'm not sure what if anything is in your visual cortex (may be variable because of degrees of aphantasia). But it's still a representation!
But still, there is some way my brain is organised that represents (not very faithfully!) a dollar bill, and that is all it means to say that I have a representation of a dollar bill in my brain.
October 5, 2026 at 8:10 PM
But still, there is some way my brain is organised that represents (not very faithfully!) a dollar bill, and that is all it means to say that I have a representation of a dollar bill in my brain.
I think the basic error here is a crude view of representation. It is of course true that my inner representation of a dollar bill is nothing much like the way in which a computer might store an image of a dollar bill.
October 5, 2026 at 8:10 PM
I think the basic error here is a crude view of representation. It is of course true that my inner representation of a dollar bill is nothing much like the way in which a computer might store an image of a dollar bill.
Oh right, gotta get back to CK3!
October 5, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Oh right, gotta get back to CK3!
Oh I don't know, I'm remembering a thing that I glimpsed 20 years ago, the game must have had some objective (which wasn't really the thing I said, because I would not have played the game properly). But maybe it would be easy to recreate if I actually knew the rules!
October 5, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Oh I don't know, I'm remembering a thing that I glimpsed 20 years ago, the game must have had some objective (which wasn't really the thing I said, because I would not have played the game properly). But maybe it would be easy to recreate if I actually knew the rules!
Why are Aldi and Lidl so different??
October 5, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Why are Aldi and Lidl so different??
I vaguely remember a board game I wanted to play where you could make a custom version of Christianity from your favourite heresies. Not sure what a Jewish equivalent would be like.
October 5, 2026 at 6:11 PM
I vaguely remember a board game I wanted to play where you could make a custom version of Christianity from your favourite heresies. Not sure what a Jewish equivalent would be like.
I mean they all accepted the Nicene creed, which could easily be rejected on various grounds, so the similarities between them are certainly more significant than their differences.
October 5, 2026 at 3:55 PM
I mean they all accepted the Nicene creed, which could easily be rejected on various grounds, so the similarities between them are certainly more significant than their differences.
If the problem is that one nation/ethnic group is systematically oppressed by another in virtue of the latter's control of a state, it isn't unreasonable to respond to this by thinking, "hey, we should have our own state". It doesn't have to be the best solution in order not to be racist!
October 5, 2026 at 2:41 PM
If the problem is that one nation/ethnic group is systematically oppressed by another in virtue of the latter's control of a state, it isn't unreasonable to respond to this by thinking, "hey, we should have our own state". It doesn't have to be the best solution in order not to be racist!
What these people are really confused about is the distinction between ideal and non-ideal theory. Let's just grant that in ideal theory ethnostates are bad, irrational etc. But 19th century nationalism was often (usually?) couched as a response to existing injustice.
October 5, 2026 at 2:41 PM
What these people are really confused about is the distinction between ideal and non-ideal theory. Let's just grant that in ideal theory ethnostates are bad, irrational etc. But 19th century nationalism was often (usually?) couched as a response to existing injustice.
I think there really are a lot of people who defend the Z=R claim by insisting that 19th century nationalism is/was always racism. Obviously many such people are not sincere in saying this, but some are - they love to say that "ethnostates" are *obviously* racist and I kind of see what they mean.
October 5, 2026 at 2:41 PM
I think there really are a lot of people who defend the Z=R claim by insisting that 19th century nationalism is/was always racism. Obviously many such people are not sincere in saying this, but some are - they love to say that "ethnostates" are *obviously* racist and I kind of see what they mean.
And then the narrative was overtaken a few months later by the Hungarian revolution. So we might say that the understanding that the Soviet project was a continuation of Russian imperalism was solidified (except among tankies) in 1956, but maybe the deportations played only a modest role in this?
October 5, 2026 at 8:53 AM
And then the narrative was overtaken a few months later by the Hungarian revolution. So we might say that the understanding that the Soviet project was a continuation of Russian imperalism was solidified (except among tankies) in 1956, but maybe the deportations played only a modest role in this?
As I understand it, the reaction to Secret Speech in the West was in part due to the national deportations that Khrushchev exposed and condemned. It's just that this was alongside stuff about the purges etc., so the particular crimes against the nations didn't get a separate reckoning.
October 5, 2026 at 8:53 AM
As I understand it, the reaction to Secret Speech in the West was in part due to the national deportations that Khrushchev exposed and condemned. It's just that this was alongside stuff about the purges etc., so the particular crimes against the nations didn't get a separate reckoning.
Maybe you think leftists should be (and should have been) more bothered by how much hypocritical bullshit the Soviets produced on the subject of nationalism and racism.
October 5, 2026 at 8:53 AM
Maybe you think leftists should be (and should have been) more bothered by how much hypocritical bullshit the Soviets produced on the subject of nationalism and racism.
Is it just that Russian oppression of the nations within their imperium is seen as independent of communism - a line running through the whole of modern Russian history?
October 5, 2026 at 8:53 AM
Is it just that Russian oppression of the nations within their imperium is seen as independent of communism - a line running through the whole of modern Russian history?
The worst version of this is where there's a performative announcement of victory: "look this person was rude to me [let's not mention what I said to them first], so you can see that they are bad and wrong and cannot defend their opinion rationally".
October 5, 2026 at 7:15 AM
The worst version of this is where there's a performative announcement of victory: "look this person was rude to me [let's not mention what I said to them first], so you can see that they are bad and wrong and cannot defend their opinion rationally".
Theory choice when theory is underdetermined by data (i.e. always) is still part of science, not some Bayesian alternative to it. Maybe competing views about theoretical virtues can be modelled as different priors - is that the idea??
October 3, 2026 at 9:41 PM
Theory choice when theory is underdetermined by data (i.e. always) is still part of science, not some Bayesian alternative to it. Maybe competing views about theoretical virtues can be modelled as different priors - is that the idea??
Oh this annoys me! You can see this is a false dichotomy by reflecting more on the QM example. To say that the Everett interpretation is more elegant than the Copenhagen interpretation is just to say that it is more parsimonious in one way, and the question is just what kind of parsimony matters.
October 3, 2026 at 9:41 PM
Oh this annoys me! You can see this is a false dichotomy by reflecting more on the QM example. To say that the Everett interpretation is more elegant than the Copenhagen interpretation is just to say that it is more parsimonious in one way, and the question is just what kind of parsimony matters.
Influential under their real name, or just under a social media pseudonym?
October 2, 2026 at 4:35 AM
Influential under their real name, or just under a social media pseudonym?
But I don't think we're talking only about stuff that is poorly made. Something that perfectly conforms to its genre conventions can still be low art, guilty pleasure etc. Think of a very well-made slasher movie.
October 2, 2026 at 4:30 AM
But I don't think we're talking only about stuff that is poorly made. Something that perfectly conforms to its genre conventions can still be low art, guilty pleasure etc. Think of a very well-made slasher movie.
The real capitalists are the ones who think there should be no private property.
September 28, 2026 at 9:53 AM
The real capitalists are the ones who think there should be no private property.
A thousand times this. When I was a student I found unlimited time assessments hugely stressful. I've tried to argue that exams are better for many students, but I think the students who hate exams are louder.
September 26, 2026 at 9:04 PM
A thousand times this. When I was a student I found unlimited time assessments hugely stressful. I've tried to argue that exams are better for many students, but I think the students who hate exams are louder.