Reading by Cigarette Light
@dominicn.bsky.social
Platonic Atheist. Recent Humanist Convert. Occasional smoker, Constant Reader. ENG/ESP
PFP by @racecarart.bksy.social
https://readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/
PFP by @racecarart.bksy.social
https://readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/
Never thought my inaugural substack post would be about this, but here we are: open.substack.com/pub/readingb...
Picking Up a Pen When Everyone is Picking Up a Gun
I was just a kid when 9/11 happened.
open.substack.com
September 11, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Never thought my inaugural substack post would be about this, but here we are: open.substack.com/pub/readingb...
This is a very important distinction: relegating this as "side A" vs. "side B" sort of thing dimishes the fact that most of these witches were trumped up charges on innocent people by the religiously paranoid. It was satanic panic-esque, not ideological conflict.
going-medieval.com/2023/10/20/y...
going-medieval.com/2023/10/20/y...
August 14, 2025 at 7:39 PM
This is a very important distinction: relegating this as "side A" vs. "side B" sort of thing dimishes the fact that most of these witches were trumped up charges on innocent people by the religiously paranoid. It was satanic panic-esque, not ideological conflict.
going-medieval.com/2023/10/20/y...
going-medieval.com/2023/10/20/y...
This gets at something that’s been rolling around in my head for some time now: that the key to bridging the gap between concrete and abstract might be qualia.
One of the most common arguments you hear from fans of generative ‘AI’ is that it’s not plagiarizing people’s work, it’s just learning like a human learns. So I’m going to break down why that’s just not true, and why it can never be true, with the existing systems. 1/
August 14, 2025 at 3:06 PM
This gets at something that’s been rolling around in my head for some time now: that the key to bridging the gap between concrete and abstract might be qualia.
Reposted by Reading by Cigarette Light
One of the most common arguments you hear from fans of generative ‘AI’ is that it’s not plagiarizing people’s work, it’s just learning like a human learns. So I’m going to break down why that’s just not true, and why it can never be true, with the existing systems. 1/
February 26, 2025 at 6:58 PM
One of the most common arguments you hear from fans of generative ‘AI’ is that it’s not plagiarizing people’s work, it’s just learning like a human learns. So I’m going to break down why that’s just not true, and why it can never be true, with the existing systems. 1/
Is Effective Altruism just the secular version of monastic asceticism?
Notably, both of which would be much easier to accomplish with minimal possessions and an attitude of "This stuff is mine to distribute, not possess."
Notably, both of which would be much easier to accomplish with minimal possessions and an attitude of "This stuff is mine to distribute, not possess."
July 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Is Effective Altruism just the secular version of monastic asceticism?
Notably, both of which would be much easier to accomplish with minimal possessions and an attitude of "This stuff is mine to distribute, not possess."
Notably, both of which would be much easier to accomplish with minimal possessions and an attitude of "This stuff is mine to distribute, not possess."
Not me finally having an excuse to defend my theory of "Gavriel Loken as Euripedean Tragic Figure."
oh hell yeah now *this* is a call for papers warhammer-conference.com/call-for-pap...
May 16, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Not me finally having an excuse to defend my theory of "Gavriel Loken as Euripedean Tragic Figure."
The consequences of Red Pill mentality:
It's ironic that the same people who disparage Gender Theory for reducing people to their sexual characteristics tend to see the world as operating on (hetero)sexual dynamics writ large.
It's ironic that the same people who disparage Gender Theory for reducing people to their sexual characteristics tend to see the world as operating on (hetero)sexual dynamics writ large.
May 13, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The consequences of Red Pill mentality:
It's ironic that the same people who disparage Gender Theory for reducing people to their sexual characteristics tend to see the world as operating on (hetero)sexual dynamics writ large.
It's ironic that the same people who disparage Gender Theory for reducing people to their sexual characteristics tend to see the world as operating on (hetero)sexual dynamics writ large.
I've been sick & fallen behind; but I'm writing again.
"...my concern is...asking if they want it to be true rather than asking if it is true is dangerous...you have to use special pleading to choose what beliefs you will accept or reject."
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2025/02/21/a...
"...my concern is...asking if they want it to be true rather than asking if it is true is dangerous...you have to use special pleading to choose what beliefs you will accept or reject."
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2025/02/21/a...
A Truth Claim by Any Other Name
The Context A friend of mine sent me a link to a recent (at the time of writing) episode of Jordan Peterson’s podcast and wanted to know my thoughts on it. With his kind permission, I’ve used his q…
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com
February 22, 2025 at 3:52 AM
I've been sick & fallen behind; but I'm writing again.
"...my concern is...asking if they want it to be true rather than asking if it is true is dangerous...you have to use special pleading to choose what beliefs you will accept or reject."
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2025/02/21/a...
"...my concern is...asking if they want it to be true rather than asking if it is true is dangerous...you have to use special pleading to choose what beliefs you will accept or reject."
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2025/02/21/a...
What really bothers me about the “giving a Nazi salute, but ironically” defense is that that's actually worse. It doesn't absolve them of any guilt, especially if that defense also claims that the fears of fascism are just false mainstream media narratives.
January 23, 2025 at 2:00 AM
What really bothers me about the “giving a Nazi salute, but ironically” defense is that that's actually worse. It doesn't absolve them of any guilt, especially if that defense also claims that the fears of fascism are just false mainstream media narratives.
I admit that I'm weeks late to the conversation, but my thoughts on Cameron Bertuzzi's video on Atheism are reflective of a larger complaint that I have with apologists.
Rant on the blog:
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2025/01/04/t...
Rant on the blog:
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2025/01/04/t...
The Absolute State of Apologetics: Cameron Bertuzzi and Taking Atheism Seriously
A little while ago, Cameron Bertuzzi dropped this video detailing why he no longer “takes Atheism seriously.” The responses have been pretty negative; Joe Schmid posted a solid reply and others hav…
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com
January 4, 2025 at 10:54 PM
I admit that I'm weeks late to the conversation, but my thoughts on Cameron Bertuzzi's video on Atheism are reflective of a larger complaint that I have with apologists.
Rant on the blog:
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2025/01/04/t...
Rant on the blog:
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2025/01/04/t...
I think what bothers me the most about TikTok-esque media platforms is the commodification of intimacy.
I can hear the most tragic details of someone's life; and never know their name nor they mine. But I know something that in person it would take years of trust to know.
All it took was capital
I can hear the most tragic details of someone's life; and never know their name nor they mine. But I know something that in person it would take years of trust to know.
All it took was capital
January 4, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I think what bothers me the most about TikTok-esque media platforms is the commodification of intimacy.
I can hear the most tragic details of someone's life; and never know their name nor they mine. But I know something that in person it would take years of trust to know.
All it took was capital
I can hear the most tragic details of someone's life; and never know their name nor they mine. But I know something that in person it would take years of trust to know.
All it took was capital
Part of the problem with Pete Hegseth is that he illustrates the atheist objection to "I can't be good without God."
He wasn’t a non-rapist before, he just had the restraint *not to*. He just needed booze.
God doesn't make you "good" (i.e. a non rapist), he just punishes you for *acting on it*.
He wasn’t a non-rapist before, he just had the restraint *not to*. He just needed booze.
God doesn't make you "good" (i.e. a non rapist), he just punishes you for *acting on it*.
December 6, 2024 at 3:45 PM
Part of the problem with Pete Hegseth is that he illustrates the atheist objection to "I can't be good without God."
He wasn’t a non-rapist before, he just had the restraint *not to*. He just needed booze.
God doesn't make you "good" (i.e. a non rapist), he just punishes you for *acting on it*.
He wasn’t a non-rapist before, he just had the restraint *not to*. He just needed booze.
God doesn't make you "good" (i.e. a non rapist), he just punishes you for *acting on it*.
Reposted by Reading by Cigarette Light
Many of the old Westerns had storylines that revolved around a pretty strict moral code, often imposed by the townsfolk on each other. In today's rural America, there's a troubling trend toward seeing these codebreakers as heroic. I talk about it here:
russellrowland.substack.com/p/the-lost-a...
russellrowland.substack.com/p/the-lost-a...
December 4, 2024 at 11:28 PM
Many of the old Westerns had storylines that revolved around a pretty strict moral code, often imposed by the townsfolk on each other. In today's rural America, there's a troubling trend toward seeing these codebreakers as heroic. I talk about it here:
russellrowland.substack.com/p/the-lost-a...
russellrowland.substack.com/p/the-lost-a...
I've not felt this called out in years...
December 4, 2024 at 9:07 PM
I've not felt this called out in years...
Call me a budding Luddite, but the AI voice of the airport intercom bothers me: is it a first step to having the entire airport run by AI algorithms?
The whole system feels inhuman enough. What happens when it actually isn't human? Do we just accept that our technology defines us like this?
The whole system feels inhuman enough. What happens when it actually isn't human? Do we just accept that our technology defines us like this?
November 26, 2024 at 8:48 PM
Call me a budding Luddite, but the AI voice of the airport intercom bothers me: is it a first step to having the entire airport run by AI algorithms?
The whole system feels inhuman enough. What happens when it actually isn't human? Do we just accept that our technology defines us like this?
The whole system feels inhuman enough. What happens when it actually isn't human? Do we just accept that our technology defines us like this?
Men of all ages on X celebrating that their God has given them victory over his (their) enemies and rewarded them with women aplenty is making me more convinced that Christians just worship a bronze/iron age deity who somehow outlived his peers.
November 11, 2024 at 5:56 PM
Men of all ages on X celebrating that their God has given them victory over his (their) enemies and rewarded them with women aplenty is making me more convinced that Christians just worship a bronze/iron age deity who somehow outlived his peers.
After faltering for months, I've finally got something up.
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/10/25/s...
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/10/25/s...
Some Honest Honest Answers from an Atheist
Author’s Note I’ve been faltering a lot on my resolution to write one blog post a month. Five posts in ten months isn’t bad, but it’s not at the level that I’ve wanted to be at since I started writ…
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com
October 26, 2024 at 2:11 AM
After faltering for months, I've finally got something up.
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/10/25/s...
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/10/25/s...
The irony of an architectural movement built to be anti-capitalist is that it lost to a theme park of an eccentric millionaire.
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/05/23/b...
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/05/23/b...
Bauhaus Against the Mouse
Modern architecture tends to be the butt of many jokes and seems to be universally hated by everyone except by the people who design it. It was even unpopular in its heyday; when businessmen and oliga...
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com
May 24, 2024 at 2:24 AM
The irony of an architectural movement built to be anti-capitalist is that it lost to a theme park of an eccentric millionaire.
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/05/23/b...
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/05/23/b...
"These technology empires all have Dr. Frankenstein on the throne; and have grown into monsters of their own making with CEOs and investors too ignorant to see it coming."
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/05/23/d...
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/05/23/d...
Dr. Frankenstein wears Gym Clothes & Hoodies
Although I am currently working on another essay, I find myself somewhat intrigued by some recent events in the AI space: Scarlet Johansson is having to sue OpenAI to prevent it from making a digital...
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com
May 24, 2024 at 2:19 AM
"These technology empires all have Dr. Frankenstein on the throne; and have grown into monsters of their own making with CEOs and investors too ignorant to see it coming."
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/05/23/d...
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/05/23/d...
"The central issue here is
...to point out that from your perspective you can only form a parasocial relationship with God since He can only reciprocate that relationship in a way that is at best analogous to the ones you form with others."
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/02/23/t...
...to point out that from your perspective you can only form a parasocial relationship with God since He can only reciprocate that relationship in a way that is at best analogous to the ones you form with others."
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/02/23/t...
The Winter of Our Testament
One of my favorite things about winter is probably its least popular element: the dark cold days where the world just seems frozen in time. You can see abandoned birds’ nests in the trees while the de...
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com
February 24, 2024 at 4:29 AM
"The central issue here is
...to point out that from your perspective you can only form a parasocial relationship with God since He can only reciprocate that relationship in a way that is at best analogous to the ones you form with others."
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/02/23/t...
...to point out that from your perspective you can only form a parasocial relationship with God since He can only reciprocate that relationship in a way that is at best analogous to the ones you form with others."
readingbycigarettelight.wordpress.com/2024/02/23/t...
February 16, 2024 at 6:57 PM