1/14 As a rabbi, the moment something significant, if not historic occurs, there is pressure to weigh in, put out a statement or write a post. The luxury of time to process, think, study, consider and consult is gone. In the absence of commenting immediately people draw their own

2/14 conclusions and assumptions about what you believe. So while I wish I had time, here it goes:
3/14 What happened yesterday needs no nuance and should take no time to comment on. The attack on our Capitol and on our Democracy, both the symbolism of it and more importantly the physical attack, was horrific, reprehensible, indefensible and intolerable. It was categorically
4/14 different from other rioting and looting that has been happening and to compare or make equal is an insult to those who were threatened and to all who hold that building and space sacred. All those who participated must be brought to justice. Guilt and accountability lie not
1/14 As a rabbi, the moment something significant, if not historic occurs, there is pressure to weigh in, put out a statement or write a post. The luxury of time to process, think, study, consider and consult is gone. In the absence of commenting immediately people draw their own
2/14 conclusions and assumptions about what you believe. So while I wish I had time, here it goes:
3/14 What happened yesterday needs no nuance and should take no time to comment on. The attack on our Capitol and on our Democracy, both the symbolism of it and more importantly the physical attack, was horrific, reprehensible, indefensible and intolerable. It was categorically
4/14 different from other rioting and looting that has been happening and to compare or make equal is an insult to those who were threatened and to all who hold that building and space sacred. All those who participated must be brought to justice. Guilt and accountability lie not
5/14 only with those who physically attacked, but with those who incited them with their words, innuendo and careless and reckless speech, included and foremost among them, President Trump. Period. Hard Stop. End of Sentence.
6/14 Here is the part that I believe is more complicated and nuanced. I share it with the risk that some will think it takes away from the last paragraph but I nevertheless believe it not only to be true, but important to say. For too long, extremists and extremism, violence and
7/14 vitriol have been tolerated from all sides. Fear of the growing forces and voter “bases” in both parties have had too much influence on policies and polemic. The media has been complicit in allowing if not contributing to this phenomenon by both being selective in what they
8/14 feature and for focusing in on that which is most divisive and destructive.
9/14 If you ignore, excuse or don’t call out what happened yesterday including explicitly acknowledging President Trump’s role and blame (which doesn’t contradict remaining appreciative for what you believe he has done that is positive), you are not going to be part of a better
10/14 America. But if you exclusively focus on yesterday, lay the blame only with one person, one side and one set of voters without acknowledging broader trends from all sides and from both parties, you too will not be part of the solution, or of building a more united,
11/14 peaceful, and better country.
12/14 How we got to Jan 6, 2021 is much more complicated that those who got us here want us to recognize or think about. We must rise about them and their incendiary noise and think for ourselves. We must overcome the inclination to either gloat or defend, to react immediately
13/14 with either “told you so” or “but what about” and engage with nuance, perspective, honesty and humility. Only then can we make this a “rock bottom” for our country and while continuing to disagree about important policies, be that “One Nation Under God, Indivisible” that we
14/14 pledged to be.

More from For later read

1. The death of Silicon Valley, a thread

How did Silicon Valley die? It was killed by the internet. I will explain.

Yesterday, my friend IRL asked me "Where are good old days when techies were


2. In the "good old days" Silicon Valley was about understanding technology. Silicon, to be precise. These were people who had to understand quantum mechanics, who had to build the near-miraculous devices that we now take for granted, and they had to work

3. Now, I love libertarians, and I share much of their political philosophy. But you have to be socially naive to believe that it has a chance in a real society. In those days, Silicon Valley was not a real society. It was populated by people who understood quantum mechanics

4. Then came the microcomputer revolution. It was created by people who understood how to build computers. One borderline case was Steve Jobs. People claimed that Jobs was surrounded by a "reality distortion field" - that's how good he was at understanding people, not things

5. Still, the heroes of Silicon Valley were the engineers. The people who knew how to build things. Steve Jobs, for all his understanding of people, also had quite a good understanding of technology. He had a libertarian vibe, and so did Silicon Valley
Every single public defender. Every single day.


Bail arguments, motions, oral arguments, hearings. Judges don’t know, follow, or care about the law. Prosecutors are willing to take advantage of it. And mandatory minimums, withheld evidence, & pretrial detention coerces people to plead before trial. When theres a jury. A shot.

But defenders still fight. And still win. Most times wins aren’t “Justice.” It’s power of repetition of argument in front of same judges. Introducing those in power to the people they oppress. Not just a RAP sheet or words on a page. Defenders make it harder to be brutal & cruel.

I worked as a public defender at an office as well resourced as any in the country. Social workers, team of investigators, a reentry team, support staff, specialist attorneys in immigration, housing, education, family. Relatively low caseloads (80-100). And yet still injustice.

Most think that balancing the scales of justice means more funding for defenders. Thats part of it. Enough a attorneys to actually be at bail hearings. Wrap around services to be able to help people trapped in the system end up better off in their communities. Lower caseloads.
Nice to discover Judea Pearl ask a fundamental question. What's an 'inductive bias'?


I crucial step on the road towards AGI is a richer vocabulary for reasoning about inductive biases.

explores the apparent impedance mismatch between inductive biases and causal reasoning. But isn't the logical thinking required for good causal reasoning also not an inductive bias?

An inductive bias is what C.S. Peirce would call a habit. It is a habit of reasoning. Logical thinking is like a Platonic solid of the many kinds of heuristics that are discovered.

The kind of black and white logic that is found in digital computers is critical to the emergence of today's information economy. This of course is not the same logic that drives the general intelligence that lives in the same economy.

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