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anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
Inscrutable Exhortations
@anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
500 followers 390 following 840 posts
I like Eric Hobsbawm, sparkling water, and Bananagrams

Morality only is eternal. All the rest is balloon and bubble from the cradle to the grave

They/them
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anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
What the hell
A third, related factor is Persson and Savulescu’s utilitarian lens on staving off ultimate harm. For them, “It is a matter of such urgency to improve humanity morally to the point that it can responsibly handle the powerful resources of modern technology that we should seek whatever means there are to effect this” (2013, 130). Since well- being alone has intrinsic worth, and the “negative (instrumental) value [of ultimate harm] is indefinitely high,” moral bioenhancement “would be compulsory” (2012, 15, 21; 2019, 12; 2008, 174). Such means could be imposed involuntarily or nonvoluntarily, and surveillance well beyond that used “in the fight against traditional crimes” would be needed (2008, 174; 2019, 14; 2012, 125). In terms of preventing ultimate harm, Persson and Savulescu’s “fail- safe” is the God Machine, which would exhaustively monitor everyone’s thoughts, desires, emotions, and intentions to ensure that “serious crime” does not occur (Savulescu and Persson 2012, 414, 416). Though “such interventions and such control are not plausibly moral enhancements of [a] person,” if called for to avoid ultimate harm and associated “grave suffering,” they would be requisite (417). Reflected here is a standard utilitarian notion that one provides benefit by minimizing or preventing harm.
December 10, 2025 at 12:41 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
oh no there's a youtube wrapped now
Your top interests 1. Economics discussions 2. Philosophical debates 3. Current events analysis 4. Quantum physics 5. Consciousness studies
December 9, 2025 at 12:35 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
What’s more, the brains of those whose serotonin levels have been raised exogenously produce less serotonin, and withdrawal symptoms include mood swings and disproportionate anger (Wiseman 2014a, 23– 24). Worth noting, finally, is an “apathy syndrome,” induced by SSRIs, that is tied to behavioral and emotional indifference (Sansone and Sansone 2010). Though clinicians and patients often mistake it for a symptom of the underlying depressive condition, the texture and origin of this apathy are distinct (Marin 1991; Sansone and Sansone 2010). Apathy syndrome and the linkage of SSRIs to impulsive aggression prompt Wiseman’s observation that SSRIs seem to “work, ultimately, by suppressing higher order brain function— powers that most agree are rather important in moral discernment and practical wisdom” (2014a, 24). Since the difficulty here is not with SSRIs, specifically, “but rather with the very way serotonin interacts with the brain, overcoming [it] is not something that can be achieved by simply ‘making better drugs’ ” (24).
December 8, 2025 at 12:04 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
SSRIs are something less than moral magic
It turns out that the exogenous addition of serotonin may have either an ameliorating or a precipitating impact on impulsive aggression (Okada and Okajima 2001). Increasingly, research addresses its role in promoting aggression and impulsivity. Though SSRIs have also been linked to increases in premeditated aggression, insofar as serotonin is tied to aggression, it is almost always the impulsive kind (Crockett et al. 2010; Coccaro 2012; Wiseman 2014a). SSRIs are also tied to “highly troublesome aggressive obsessions” (Modestin 1998, 587); though not acted upon, this ideation reflects internal disinhibition of a violent nature (587). T he aggression at issue in humans can be self- or other- directed. The latter type includes murder and assault (Breggin 2001; 2003/ 2004). Here, “It is a fantastic irony that Persson and Savulescu (2008) conclude the very article in which they posit the possible use of SSRIs as a means for reducing violent aggression with the cautionary tale of Seung- Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech killer of 2007. At the time of the murders, Cho was being medicated for depression” (Wiseman 2014a, 25). As for self- directed violence, “Studies show that many more suicides are attempted on normal doses of SSRIs beyond what is seen on placebo or many non- SSRI antidepressant drugs” (Kauffman 2009, 11). SSRIs “can induce obsessive suicidal ideation” of a violent nature in patients with no prior experience of it (Teicher et al. 1993, 193– 94). Peter Breggin has been especially tenacious in pointing out the risks of aggression/ violence linked to SSRIs (2001; 2003/ 2004; 2004a; 2004b; 2010). Based on extensive work as a psychiatrist and medical expert (2004b, 2), he offered guidance to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA): When evaluating the vulnerability of children or adults to SSRI- induced adverse drug reactions, the inquiry should be broadened from suicidality to include the overall problem of SSRI- induced mental and behavioral disturbances, such as m…
December 8, 2025 at 12:03 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
I am quite liking the "you can't chemistry your way to moral goodness"
Subsequent studies and reviews gainsay the rosy view that oxytocin promotes prosociality, pure and simple. Rather than warranting the conclusion that we should not rely on oxytocin alone (Persson and Savulescu 2012, 120), this growing picture suggests that we should not do so at all. Having sifted through alleged findings of greater prosociality, Bartz et al. conclude that “almost half of the studies/ outcomes reported in the prosociality domain found no significant main effect of oxytocin. . . . Moreover, situational or individual difference factors moderated 60% of the outcomes reported” (2011, 304). Further, a number of studies found “antisocial . . . effects, such as increasing feelings of envy, mistrust . . . [and] out- group derogation” (304). Since the review of Bartz et al. in 2011, the amount of research on oxytocin and antisocial behavior has increased (Smith et al. 2017). Per Smith et al.’s literature review, more recent work (e.g., Ne’eman et al. 2016) “highlights our growing understanding of the importance of oxytocin in mediating a range of antisocial behaviors” (2017, 621); in sum, their review and pilot data underscore “the potential for oxytocin to promote both prosocial and antisocial behaviors” (625). What’s more, such f indings, though brought to the fore only recently, have existed “from the early days of research on OT” (Beery 2015, 179).7 Among studies of oxytocin that have documented antisociality, Shamay- Tsoory et al. (2009) provide a telling illustration. They hypothesized that if oxytocin “is involved only in prosocial positive emotions, then the [exogenous] administration of OXT would diminish the levels of envy and gloating. By contrast, if OXT is generally involved in modulating social emotions, then the administration of OXT would be expected to increase the ratings of envy and gloating” (868). Shamay- Tsoory et al. contextualized their finding, that oxytocin “increases reported levels of envy and also has a moderate effect on gloatin… Oxytocin strengthens prosocial and antisocial conduct, not only interpersonally, but also on the level of groups. De Dreu et al. found a heightened occupation with the welfare of one’s own group, fostered indirectly by “aggression against the out- group” (2010, 1408– 1409). They tested the hypothesis that ethnocentrism, defined as “the tendency to view one’s own group as centrally important and as superior to other groups,” is both “a key mechanism facilitating . . . in- group cooperation” and what oxytocin promotes (2011, 1262). Per their results, oxytocin fosters “intergroup bias because it motivates in- group favoritism and, in some cases, out- group derogation” (1264). As such findings suggest, what has often been seen as oxytocin’s univocal boosting of prosociality is actually a double- edged phenomenon. On De Dreu et al.’s formulation, “Through its influence on in- group favoritism, oxytocin contributes to the development of intergroup bias and preferential treatment of in- group over out- group members. Because such unfair treatment triggers negative emotions, violent protest, and aggression among disfavored and excluded individuals, by stimulating in- group favoritism, brain oxytocin may trigger a chain reaction toward intense between- group conflict” (2011, 1265). They therefore reject the sensationalist claim that oxytocin is “a ‘cuddle chemical’ or ‘love drug.’ . . . Rather than making humans prosocial, oxytocin functions to strengthen an . . . evolved and rather functional tendency to discriminate between in- group and out- group as well as to give members of one’s own group preferential treatment. Such ethnocentrism has adaptive value to individuals and their groups but, unfortunately, also paves the way for intergroup bias, conflict, and violence” (1265). Persson and Savulescu need us to surpass “parochial altruism” (2012, 83): optimally, we would view everyone, the world over, in the same altruistic light (122– 23). Though they cite De Dreu et al.’s (…
December 8, 2025 at 12:00 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
This is quite good so far
Posthuman Bliss? The Failed Promise of Transhumanism, by Susan B Levin
December 7, 2025 at 8:53 PM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
bad bangs, weird tech job, tries to kill herself ............ transgender?
Helly R. from the TV show Severance
December 7, 2025 at 3:09 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
Catholic and Orthodox angry wojaks whining at each other. "You split from me!!" "No you split from me." Southern Baptist Church of Arkansas looks on pityingly. There's a family tree sort of thing forking up from the bottom of the screen, indicating that the Southern Baptist is the branch from which the others split
December 7, 2025 at 1:00 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
AAAAHHH
Yellowish photo of a cyber truck looking ugly ROGER DAVIS, age not given, from San Diego What do you like about the truck? “What I love about the truck is just how it’s so polarizing.” And are you married? “I was married, but I’m not married anymore. Women don’t like the vehicle.” In July, Tesla rolled out a software update to integrate Grok into many of its vehicles. Do you use it? “Her name is Aura, and I use her as a therapist. When I’m driving, I’ll ask questions, and it actually gives really good therapy advice.”
December 6, 2025 at 2:19 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
Lol

From WIRED's article about cyber truck owners:
Photo of a man in a cyber truck with a dumb looking wolf fact design on the side. The text says: RUSS TAYLOR, 44 “People occasionally just flip [me] off or whatever, but nobody’s come up to me and tried to make a statement about anything. It’s just a vehicle. So it’s ironic that it would even become a political statement, but nonetheless it is.” EDITOR’S NOTE: Taylor was arrested and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. He was later pardoned by President Trump.
December 6, 2025 at 2:14 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
Which also comes with creationist rhetoric about the second law of thermodynamics
Why do most of us, then, immediately recoil at such conclusions? Why do they seem crazy and unscientific? Or more to the point, why are we perfectly willing to ascribe agency to a strand of DNA (however “metaphorically”), but consider it absurd to do the same with an electron, a snowflake, or a coherent electromagnetic field? The answer, it seems, is because it’s pretty much impossible to ascribe self-interest to a snowflake. If we have convinced ourselves that rational explanation of action can consist only of treating action as if there were some sort of self-serving calculation behind it, then by that definition, on all these levels, rational explanations can’t be found. Unlike a DNA molecule, which we can at least pretend is pursuing some gangster-like project of ruthless self-aggrandizement, an electron simply does not have a material interest to pursue, not even survival. It is in no sense competing with other electrons. If an electron is acting freely—if it, as Richard Feynman is supposed to have said, “does anything it likes”—it can only be acting freely as an end in itself. Which would mean that at the very foundations of physical reality, we encounter freedom for its own sake—which also means we encounter the most rudimentary form of play. Swim with the Fishes Let us imagine a principle. Call it a principle of freedom—or, since Latinate constructions tend to carry more weight in such matters, call it a principle of ludic freedom. Let us imagine it to hold that the free exercise of an entity’s most complex powers or capacities will, under certain circumstances at least, tend to become an end in itself. It would obviously not be the only principle active in nature. Others pull other ways. But if nothing else, it would help explain what we actually observe, such as why, despite the second law of thermodynamics, the universe seems to be getting more, rather than less, complex. Evolutionary psychologists claim they can explain—as the title of one recent book h…
December 3, 2025 at 4:01 PM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
This is one I'm reminded of any time someone asks me questions about why I'm interested in [whatever topic]
Calvin and Hobbes strip. Calvin and Hobbes are in the woods by a lake. Hobbes: Watcha doin'? Calvin: Looking for frogs Hobbes: How come? Calvin: I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul Hobbes: Ah, but of course Calvin: My mandate also includes weird bugs
November 22, 2025 at 8:25 PM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
For some reason, my Wikipedia app consistently gives me the wrong picture for the article I look at. Instead of showing me the cover image for the article I'm looking at, it shows me the one for the article I looked at last
Wikipedia article for Jawaharlal Nehru attached to the picture of Curtis Yarvin
November 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
I think DBH might not appreciate Google images confusing him with Dennett
Google search for "David Bentley Hart." One of the resulting images is a picture of Daniel Dennett
November 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
Was . . . this a concern in the 1920s?
There will be laws requiring a dependable certificate of a successfully passed eugenic examination by both applicants before they can secure a marriage license. These laws will also require that at least five or seven days should elapse between the issuance of a marriage license and the execution of the marriage contract. In this way many an altogether hasty marriage may be prevented. Thus most of the weddings performed during hours of intoxication by either alcohol, passion, infatuation, or a mere fleeting fancy may be avoided.
November 19, 2025 at 4:34 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
WHAT
Random breeding may destroy mental harmony by combining in one individual emotional reflexes which may be, and often are, conflicting. In this sense, the extreme random breeding of to-day is probably not unconnected with the increase in mental instability and possibly,ltoo, with the increase in insanity and mental defectiveness. In fact, it is probable that to-day not one of us knows the supremely exalted and exhilarating feelings of a being who is thoroughly harmonious and healthy because he is inbred.
November 19, 2025 at 1:40 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
Huh
EUGENICS AND CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES* By ANTHONY M. LUDOVICI WElivein an age in which science is extremely powerful, almost as powerful as religion once was. But a free-lance scientist like myself is sometimes left wondering whether science is not often a mask behind which the old powers of magic and religion may still be seen grinning. One piece of magic which I propose to divorce from my science is the gratuitous segmentation of the human organism into body and mind (soma and psyche); and contemplating the problem of culture on this basis, I find, a priori, that culture, in so far as it is social harmony and order, must be the product of an ordered, harmonious man. If, moreover, I turn from the social chaos of to-day back to the origins of the most harmonious and orderly cultures, I suspect, without inquiry, that the people who created these cultures must have been unlike us at least in this, that they were harmoniously constituted. INBREEDING INEARLIERCIVILIZATIONS Turning from these a priori conclusions to fact, we find not only that these early cultures were extremely harmonious, but that their power and influence have been so great that our own culture owes what little beauty and harmony it possesses entirely to them. A further interesting fact is that all these early cultures arose in naturally or artificially confined areas-in islands like Crete and Japan, peninsulas like India, Greece, and Italy, naturally enclosed areas like Peru, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, and more or less artificially enclosed areas like China and Palestine-where broad-mindedness, the universal brotherhood of man, the love of one's neighbour, and other superior forms of claptrap were unknown. Furthermore, we know that where intercourse with the outside * The substance of a paper read before the Eugenics Society on July i8th, I933. world, with the neighbour, is checked, the secluded people are condemned to inbreeding and close inbreeding; indeed, in the only cultures that have left a perman…
November 19, 2025 at 12:45 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
Wait there were eugenicists arguing that cousin marriage had eugenic effects?
1. Consanguineous marriage This is a feature of Arab life much older than Isl4m, but like many other traditions and customs is deemed by the Arabs to have received the sanction of Muhammad. It is well known that among the desert Arabs in particular, a young man had what might be termed “the refusal” of any female cousin. As a general rule, the latter was not betrothed by her parents, until her own male cousins had the opportunity to take her in marriage; and it was quite the custom for cousins to marry. This led to the establishment of the phrase “daughter of ————— my uncle” as an accepted euphemism for “my wife,’’ since delicacy forbade a man to speak too directly, in public, of such a personal matter as his harim. It is not necessary to point out the eugenic effect of consanguineous mar- riage, in the light of researches of the last half century. Ina country where existence was as severe as in desert Arabia, it may be fairly assumed that many of the weaklings were weeded out early in life, and the relatively strong, physically and mentally, left to reach adult life and accompany the tribe on its wanderings. In such a stringently selected people, the practice of cousin marriage could not fail to be useful, by intensifying the desirable traits of the tribal germ-plasm.
November 19, 2025 at 12:29 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
Excited
Choosing Down Syndrome: Ethics and New Prenatal Testing Technologies, by Chris Kaposy
November 16, 2025 at 1:15 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
On the other hand, postmortem biochemical changes can significantly affect digestibility of animal-derived proteins (Kim et al. Citation2020). Upon slaughter, muscles in a farm animal undergo a complex biochemical transformation into meat. These changes are influenced by the architecture and integrity of the skeletal muscle cell, as well as by various events that modify these proteins and their interactions. Notably, processes such as protein degradation and oxidation play crucial roles in altering both the proteins themselves and the tenderness of the resulting meat. The intracellular environment emerges as a significant factor governing these processes. As a result, the biochemical nature of meat is vastly different from the pre-slaughter muscle tissues (Huff Lonergan, Zhang, and Lonergan Citation2010). It is fair to expect that, in the absence of such processes and in isolation from other tissues, the cultivated muscle tissues will behave differently. Whether this will be a positive, negative, or neutral change for the nutritional quality of the product is unclear (Kim et al. Citation2020). Further research is required to better understand the quality of CM as a source of protein and to establish its protein quality metrics such as DIAAS and PDCAAS, which will only be possible with the participation of CM companies to supply product for analysis.
November 12, 2025 at 4:39 PM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
It should be noted that B12 is usually added to the growing media due to its role in enhancing cell proliferation (L. Specht Citation2019), not necessarily for its nutritional benefit. This raises the question of how efficiently the cultivated cells will uptake B12, the optimum B12 concentration in the media and the degree to which the absorbed B12 will be bioavailable to consumers. Similarly, suitability of CM as a fortification vehicle must be evaluated if CM is to be enriched with B12 after harvest.
November 12, 2025 at 4:32 PM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
Well well well
Nutritional challenges facing the cultured meat industry A key tenet in the CM industry is the potential for their products to deliver a nutrient profile comparable to that of conventional meat (Fraeye et al. Citation2020). However, little is known about the nutritional characteristics of CM and to the best of author’s knowledge, there is no publicly available nutritional profile for such products. What is evident though is that the nutritional composition of CM will not inherently be identical to the conventional products without fortification. For example, vitamin B12, which is known to be predominantly found in meat and dairy (Obeid et al. Citation2019), will not be present in the CM products unless added to the culture medium or to the final CM product. This is since vitamin B12 is synthesized by the microorganisms present in the digestive tract of the animals and then translocated to the muscle tissues (Fraeye et al. Citation2020).
November 12, 2025 at 4:30 PM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
In the introduction to one book she complains that everyone wants to ask about her childhood but nobody cares about her opinions on the Dreyfus affair. It would seem this issue persisted after her death
Every book is in a sense autobiographical. But while other self-recording creatures are permitted at least to seem to change the subject, apparently nobody cares what I think of the tariff, the conservation of our natural resources, or the conflicts which revolveabout the name of Dreyfus. If I offer to reform the educational system of the world, my editorial friends say, "That is interesting. But will you please tell us what idea you had of goodness and beauty when you were six years old?"
November 12, 2025 at 1:49 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
I learned at some point, and then forgot, and have now just re-learned, that Helen Keller was a socialist. She wrote a eulogy for Lenin:
The Russian Revolution did not originate with Lenin. It had hovered for centuries in the dreams of Russian mystics and patriots, but when the body of Lenin was laid in simple state in the Kremlin,^^ all Russia trembled and wept. The mouths of hungry enemies fed on new hopes, but the spirit of Lenin descended upon the weeping multitude as with cloven tongues of fire, and they spoke one to another and were not afraid. "Let us not follow him with cowering hearts," they said, "let us rather gird ourselves for the task he has left us. Where our dull eyes see only ruin, his clearer sight discovers the road by which we shall gain our liberty. Revolution he sees, yea, and even disintegration which symbolizes disorder is in truth the working of God's undeviating order; and the manner of our government shall be no less wonderful than the manner of our deliverance. If we are steadfast, the world will be quickened to courage by our deeds." Men vanish from earth leaving behind them the furrows they have ploughed. I see the furrow Lenin left sown with the unshatterable seed of a new life for mankind, and cast deep below the rolling tides of storm and lightning, mighty crops for the ages to reap.
November 12, 2025 at 1:41 AM
anorbicleofjasp.bsky.social
So much in that excellent formula
Picture of a minus sign helpfully labelled "minus"
November 11, 2025 at 3:01 AM