Aggressively Pedantic
@robustanalysis.bsky.social
Technically correct is the best kind of correct.
Isn't the bigger implication here that ferrying drugs itself is considered an act of war? "In the fight" implies that there is a fight ongoing.
If transporting drugs is valid as an act of war, then I guess we should expect to see military force applied domestically to counter it?
If transporting drugs is valid as an act of war, then I guess we should expect to see military force applied domestically to counter it?
December 4, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Isn't the bigger implication here that ferrying drugs itself is considered an act of war? "In the fight" implies that there is a fight ongoing.
If transporting drugs is valid as an act of war, then I guess we should expect to see military force applied domestically to counter it?
If transporting drugs is valid as an act of war, then I guess we should expect to see military force applied domestically to counter it?
It quite literally cannot be "innovation" if it is reverse engineered from something that already exists!
December 4, 2025 at 2:56 AM
It quite literally cannot be "innovation" if it is reverse engineered from something that already exists!
Deterrence is really just vibes
December 4, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Deterrence is really just vibes
Isn't it more accurate to say that the Secretary of State is delegated that *authority* (not a right!) to exercise on behalf of the American public? The whole theory of republican government collapses if we assert that some individuals have more rights than others!
December 3, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Isn't it more accurate to say that the Secretary of State is delegated that *authority* (not a right!) to exercise on behalf of the American public? The whole theory of republican government collapses if we assert that some individuals have more rights than others!
Indeed, Emma Lazarus was clearly being *figurative* when she encouraged other countries to send "the wretched refuse from [their] teeming shores."
December 2, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Indeed, Emma Lazarus was clearly being *figurative* when she encouraged other countries to send "the wretched refuse from [their] teeming shores."
"Most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor."
November 30, 2025 at 8:54 PM
"Most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor."
I don't think that's the argument necessarily - it's a legal argument, so you reach that conclusion if and only if you assume that "legal protection" is the desired end. You disobey orders at your own (legal) peril.
The more expansive question is the *moral* one - but that's apart from the legal.
The more expansive question is the *moral* one - but that's apart from the legal.
November 30, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I don't think that's the argument necessarily - it's a legal argument, so you reach that conclusion if and only if you assume that "legal protection" is the desired end. You disobey orders at your own (legal) peril.
The more expansive question is the *moral* one - but that's apart from the legal.
The more expansive question is the *moral* one - but that's apart from the legal.
I think this is the essence - it's not a *legal* conundrum once we've transgressed; it's a *moral* conundrum. The question isn't about penalties of law per se - the question is about whether one can live with oneself.
It's not an easy decision, and there is perhaps unacceptable risk in all choices!
It's not an easy decision, and there is perhaps unacceptable risk in all choices!
November 30, 2025 at 6:45 PM
I think this is the essence - it's not a *legal* conundrum once we've transgressed; it's a *moral* conundrum. The question isn't about penalties of law per se - the question is about whether one can live with oneself.
It's not an easy decision, and there is perhaps unacceptable risk in all choices!
It's not an easy decision, and there is perhaps unacceptable risk in all choices!
Seems that, by Miller's own standard, Western Civilization is incompatible with itself...
November 28, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Seems that, by Miller's own standard, Western Civilization is incompatible with itself...
But it's also true that people tend to not want a record of, you know, the *decisions* they make in the games because they earnestly believe their decisions are unimpeachable! So then you don't get to know why people do what they did (the ENTIRE point of the approach!!!)
November 25, 2025 at 12:28 AM
But it's also true that people tend to not want a record of, you know, the *decisions* they make in the games because they earnestly believe their decisions are unimpeachable! So then you don't get to know why people do what they did (the ENTIRE point of the approach!!!)
Real science was famously out of reach until the advent of computers. Everyone, including Achimedes, Newton, Gauss, and Einstein - all poseurs applying analog processes!
November 25, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Real science was famously out of reach until the advent of computers. Everyone, including Achimedes, Newton, Gauss, and Einstein - all poseurs applying analog processes!
In any case, if you need something run at "10000x real speed" it sounds more like you're doing a numerical approximation of a continuous process - in which case a wargame wouldn't be the right tool for investigation anyway!
November 25, 2025 at 12:03 AM
In any case, if you need something run at "10000x real speed" it sounds more like you're doing a numerical approximation of a continuous process - in which case a wargame wouldn't be the right tool for investigation anyway!
They're only challenging to replicate if you design and execute them non-scientifically. There are a lot of people in this space who don't really consider their work "science" and that's a huge part of the problem.
November 25, 2025 at 12:02 AM
They're only challenging to replicate if you design and execute them non-scientifically. There are a lot of people in this space who don't really consider their work "science" and that's a huge part of the problem.
It doesn't change the fundamental problem that the Army knows neither how to describe what it wants nor how to evaluate what it receives. Of *course* you're going to get bespoke systems that dramatically overrun cost and schedule if your spec is "we need an AI that can help us win wars"
November 15, 2025 at 3:31 PM
It doesn't change the fundamental problem that the Army knows neither how to describe what it wants nor how to evaluate what it receives. Of *course* you're going to get bespoke systems that dramatically overrun cost and schedule if your spec is "we need an AI that can help us win wars"
If you want it bad, you get it bad!
November 15, 2025 at 3:24 PM
If you want it bad, you get it bad!
It used to make me laugh when people would say something like "Kim Jong Il is an irrational actor." There is no such thing as objective rationality per se - Kim Jong Il didn't apply the same logic in making decisions that we did, but that doesn't mean his decisions were devoid of logic
November 14, 2025 at 2:08 AM
It used to make me laugh when people would say something like "Kim Jong Il is an irrational actor." There is no such thing as objective rationality per se - Kim Jong Il didn't apply the same logic in making decisions that we did, but that doesn't mean his decisions were devoid of logic
I caught you a dollar dot gif
November 9, 2025 at 7:08 PM
I caught you a dollar dot gif
But you're both right - at some point, you can't attract and retain people who can make a minimum of 2-3x their public servant salary to do perhaps less work with a lot less public scrutiny with the claim that it's "meaningful." And certainly not in an environment where your service is openly mocked
November 8, 2025 at 7:37 PM
But you're both right - at some point, you can't attract and retain people who can make a minimum of 2-3x their public servant salary to do perhaps less work with a lot less public scrutiny with the claim that it's "meaningful." And certainly not in an environment where your service is openly mocked
...and there are large numbers of people (myself among them, I think) whose answer has long been "well, more than $0." It's like the scene in The Right Stuff where Yeager turns down additional Bell money to fly the X-1 because "the government is already paying me."
November 8, 2025 at 7:35 PM
...and there are large numbers of people (myself among them, I think) whose answer has long been "well, more than $0." It's like the scene in The Right Stuff where Yeager turns down additional Bell money to fly the X-1 because "the government is already paying me."
Hard agree with both! My point is not that pay cannot or shouldn't be increased - it's that the only way to make even a slight shortfall palatable is to cultivate the profession as a calling. "How much pay are you willing to sacrifice to achieve self actualization" isn't an improper question...
November 8, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Hard agree with both! My point is not that pay cannot or shouldn't be increased - it's that the only way to make even a slight shortfall palatable is to cultivate the profession as a calling. "How much pay are you willing to sacrifice to achieve self actualization" isn't an improper question...
By the same token, though, treating public servants like they must either be incompetent (because they'd make more on the outside if they weren't) or fools (for the same reason) makes it hard to want to stay. If public service isn't a calling but "just another job" it totally loses its unique appeal
November 8, 2025 at 6:46 PM
By the same token, though, treating public servants like they must either be incompetent (because they'd make more on the outside if they weren't) or fools (for the same reason) makes it hard to want to stay. If public service isn't a calling but "just another job" it totally loses its unique appeal
You really have to grow them, in my opinion, by grabbing them in college and then building a belief in the fundamental goodness of public service. It's tough (almost impossible) to persuade a mid career professional not already proposed to public service to take a massive pay cut pro bono populi.
November 8, 2025 at 6:44 PM
You really have to grow them, in my opinion, by grabbing them in college and then building a belief in the fundamental goodness of public service. It's tough (almost impossible) to persuade a mid career professional not already proposed to public service to take a massive pay cut pro bono populi.