(Download the 44-page PDF.) Abstract The antidote to ideological bias in large language models (LLMs) is a new kind of Chain of Thought, which reasons backwards to identify and scrutinize unstated premises–if necessary, all the way back to first principles. When considering an argument for a conclusion, a rational thinker does not merely […]
As always, I celebrate Ayn Rand’s birthday, February 2nd, by opening one of her novels to a random page and reading a passage. Here is the passage from The Fountainhead that I read this year (Part 1, Chapter VIII). “… You don’t have to use the Ionic order, use the Doric. Plain pediments and simple moldings, or […]
Since my last blog post, on October 30, I have been immersed in long-range projects in the two greatest normative domains: a project in artificial intelligence, applying my work in epistemology; and a book on ethics. While President Trump was being sworn in on January 20, I was attending a small reading group that is […]
Four years ago, I wrote that I am an Anti-Trumper for Trump. Five months ago, I explained why “I am now an anti-Trumper for Trump in spades.” All I have to add now is to recommend this recent interview: “Victor Davis Hanson: The Final Case for Donald J. Trump.” Who will win? I think that, […]
It’s About Moral Agency In 2012, when I relocated to a small Utah town from New York City by way of Los Angeles, I thought I was giving up seeing and performing in theatre. But I soon realized that I had landed by serendipity in arguably the theatre capital of the country: Cedar City, home […]
Last year I posted to Rumble an interview of me by Peter McAllister, on the subject of whether reason and science require faith. A friend suggested that I post philosophical videos on YouTube. And so I have started a philosophy channel. The first video is the interview from last year, and the second video is […]
The title of this post states the theme in a positive light. To state the matter another way, most conservatives have better ideas than most Objectivists on numerous important cultural and political issues. In this post, I limit my discussion to six issues, listed in order of importance, that I have already written about. To […]
Arshak Benlian (@ArshakBenlian), host of The One in the Many podcast, has now conducted two interviews of me on my book, Masculine Power, Feminine Beauty: The Volitional, Objective Basis for Heterosexuality in Romantic Love and Marriage. Last month, I posted a link to the podcast of the first interview. Now, embedded below, are videos of both interviews. The […]
I am a long-time student of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, and I draw more heavily from that philosophy, by far, than any other for my own philosophy. Indeed, the present essay draws heavily on the ethics and politics of Objectivism. Nevertheless, I have come to disagree with Ayn Rand on the subject of abortion. […]
In August 2022, I published a blog post entitled “America Has the Most Virtuous Right and Most Evil Left.” Last week’s conviction of former President Trump provides more proof of the evil of the American Left, this time manifest in the form of further disdain for the rule of law—on the heels of repeated obstruction […]