Sam Tobin-Hochstadt

One week with an e-bike and I'm definitely an "e-bike guy" now.

@yukinoshoota @nikicaga People on the DSA right often don't like that term but everyone understands who is in it.

@nikicaga If you were to tell GW/SMC members that they claim to be the more radical faction I don't think they would agree ngl

Lmao, Zohran and NYC-DSA are both part of the organization's right flank Insane that you could spend more than 2 minutes reading about DSA and not know this!

@SonjaTrauss It would be interesting to talk about how the economics of orthodox jewish life in the US intersects with this, since it's pretty different from both mainstream america and other high-fertility subcultures.

Check out the conditions I lay out, and how they connect: worksinprogress.co/issue/chabad-l… A subtext is that it's a mistake to judge practices in isolation - e.g. prohibiting sex before marriage is ridiculous when typical age of marriage is 30 but fine for people marrying at 20.

I'm a writer now! @WorksInProgMag put out a call for articles, including an answer to the question "can secular society adopt some practices from high fertility religious subcultures?" My answer was mainly "no", and I was really pleased to have an opportunity to explain why.

@TheStalwart @alexlmiller Came here to say that you had achieved that; impressed that it was the goal.

@alexlmiller yeah I said I wanted the "computer science professor" personal website aesthetic.

I've never actually had a personal website before, so I had Fable make me one. Please bookmark it for updates. thestalwart.com

@mattyglesias @yeselson We sell some weapons and not others in basically all cases (eg the ongoing saga with F16s and Turkey).

@yeselson No, we don't impose arms embargoes on other countries all the time! The US happily sells weapons to Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, the UAE, Egypt and all kinds of other countries that are deemed broadly friendly.

My sense is the sleight of hand runs in the other direction and people who want America to undertake costly efforts to coerce Israel (arms embargo) like to conflate it with the idea of cutting aid (which saves money).

@Dorothy410berry I think the past decade has meant that many people on the left think that Republicans don't have their _stated_ beliefs and instead are motivated by less-savory ideas. But the problem is going from that to "these people are racists so we shouldn't have to care that they vote".

@hecubian_devil The DSA left, but also the entire American left including the whole DSA, are uncomfortable with persuasion because we have a strong belief in democracy/the people, but deep down there's a worry that the people might not agree with us.

A strong sense I get from these internal DSA debates is that much of the DSA Left is fundamentally averse to *persuasion*. I think this is multiply motivated: they do not enjoy it; they are not very good at it; and their model of the radical is not someone who can *be* persuaded This is why you see majoritarian democracy generally viewed with suspicion, and specific exhortations against vote-whipping, one-on-one organizing conversations, canvassing, phonebanking, outreach lists, etc—the methods and tools of persuasion. I think they resent the DSA Right for being so interested in persuasive work because it forces them to compete—and they dislike what persuasion requires—and because they fundamentally distrust persuasion. It’s not sufficiently authentic; the correct revolutionary is self-created. They come to the works of the revered elders, discover the truth within, and arrive to the vanguard ready to take their place within the formation. They don’t need to be persuaded. Instead, having arrived and accepted their role in a more hierarchical formation, they are “educated”—a fundamentally different task from persuasion. A teacher does not *persuade* a student. A teacher has authority, and the student accepts their lessons. Education is hierarchical. Obedience is a feature of education. Persuasion is peer based; argument is a feature of persuasion. In a persuasive conversation, both parties may object to the other. In education, the pupil who objects is incorrect, and is penalized. That someone *needs to be persuaded* makes them untrustworthy to much of the DSA Left. Why does such a person, with their incorrect line (if they need to be persuaded, it must be incorrect!) have the audacity to object? Why do they not accept their correction and show proper deference to “the community”? What is this arrogance, that they demand to be convinced? This is not someone who models the correct norms. Politics is a settled question; the answers all already exist. It is your job to learn them, not contest them. You are to show deference to “the community” (and, of course, its self-appointed arbiters). You should study the approved texts. You should recite the approved lines. “Everyone already knows” what the truth is; you merely need to receive it obediently. Of course there is no place for persuasion in this moral model of society. Persuasion is, in fact, an affront. If you think you deserve to be convinced, then you’re arrogant, and if you *can* be convinced, you’re unreliable and fatuous. If you would *try to persuade others*, then you are slippery and devious, whereas the truthful educator simply announces the correct lesson and the pupils either obey or do not.

@linaposting @daschloz @sunraysunray @MattZeitlin Right obviously that was a joke but if Bob joined DSA he wouldn't be in SMC

@samth @daschloz @sunraysunray @MattZeitlin I do not think anyone in the DSA left is a fan of bob avakian

Can someone please summarize this dsa nomination situation in like 750 words or so

@B0mbadiI @MattZeitlin Sayed, Tlaib, Nelson, (Platner RIP), but really a lot of these people just hate electoralism.

@samth @MattZeitlin What's the names tho. Sayed himself?

@daschloz @sunraysunray @MattZeitlin One reason, AIUI, is that NYC DSA is much bigger and has pulled in many more people, and thus mechanically has more people who like AOC relative to how many people like Bob Avakian.

@sunraysunray @MattZeitlin @samth I understand why everybody has the preferences they do rather more than why the center is so much stronger in NYC and the left elsewhere.

@sunraysunray @MattZeitlin This is true but just like with the dnc, everyone coincidentally discovers that they support the meaning of democracy that gives the outcome they want.

@MattZeitlin @samth To be fair, the comparison is representative democracy versus referendum/direct consultation

@tjmcat @IrvingSwisher @atrembath @Elan_Sykes @DoctorVive Finland, Sweden, France are all not that much hydro.

@IrvingSwisher @atrembath @Elan_Sykes @DoctorVive But these rely to a large extent on hydro electricity (plus nuclear in some cases). Hydro depends on the right geography which isn’t always available, or where densely populated, acceptable. Good examples but not easy to copy.

I don’t understand calling this climate denial. Is it not worth understanding why these fuels are still in use despite their greenhouse gas emissions?

@MattZeitlin Yeah and the DSA left has basically all the same arguments as Clinton 2016 (reward committed activists, people don't understand the real situation, those voters are just swayed by people promising things, etc)

@samth Everyone supports superdelegates eventually…

@B0mbadiI @MattZeitlin People want some combination of - third party - people who won't run like Tlaib - union people who won't run like Nelson or Fain - someone basically like AOC but more explicit on Israel like El Syed - not running presidential candidates and instead just local - revolution

@samth @MattZeitlin Who's their alternative

@MattBruenig @Noahpinion This is good but it would be nice to talk about how the British social class designations work. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_socia…

What is Class? (link below) @Noahpinion mentioned

It took me a few hours to write a Lean formalization of the theorems and proofs in a recent paper of ours. I used Fable + 5.6 Sol. I found the exercise shockingly eye opening. I don't think we should publish papers without Lean proofs at this point.

@JesseTayRiver For me personally, I've never had the backup come on, even at 15 below. But the only way it's saved money or carbon is by being a more efficient AC; the Indiana grid is too dirty and natgas is too cheap.

@JesseTayRiver That guy had gas. Also the two people who didn't get cold climate ones also didn't have backup!

A lot of replies to this stating that it's often cheaper to use a heat pump, which can be true 1. ASHPs - esp minisplits typical to ME - are plagued with refrigerant leakage problems. Failures produce high operating costs 2. Many ASHPs that have higher annual operating costs than oil. In ME annualized efficiency can range from a cop of <2 to >4 Consumers have to be selective for both equipment type and installer quality. This isn't straightforward!

@MassJumbo I 295 does go all the way to Brunswick. But yes, being from Lewiston, the number of people who say they like Maine and have never heard of it is a bit annoying.

I said it jokingly at first but the complete and total inability of any national media outlets to go anywhere inland in Maine (where 60% of the population and 50% of Dem live) is getting out of hand. The interstate doesn’t even hug the coast past Portland! It’s not hard to get to