Trump: We have a very sick neighbor. That’s Venezuela. Colombia is very sick too.

Reporter: So there will be an operation by the US in Colombia?

Trump: Sounds good to me

In 1990, analyst Marvin Roffman lost his job at Janney Montgomery Scott after warning the Trump Taj Mahal couldn't service its debt. Trump demanded and forced his firing. Roffman sued, won $750K in arbitration, and settled a defamation case. The Taj went bankrupt months later, proving him right.

Consumer expectations of pricing drives real pricing. If consumers expect groceries prices to go up, the store will raise prices regardless of their supply costs increase. Everyone thinks prices in stores go up because costs go up, but that simply isn’t true. I predict a similar effect on premiums.

The takeaway: What you do matters less than WHY you do it. Until you find the right purpose, treating rationality as an end, not a means, you haven't found much at all.

23/🧵
/🧵

The three formulations are equivalent. They express the same moral reality from different angles: what makes humans valuable (rationality) = what we must respect (dignity).

22/🧵

Kant believed true character can't develop until middle age. Before then, we're too seduced by external desires to master ourselves and act from genuine moral principle.

21/🧵

Character development: Kant distinguished following rules from building character. Organizing your entire life around maximizing your rational potential is an end in itself.

20/🧵

Self-respect isn't about feeling good. It's about knowing your intrinsic value. Lying to yourself is as unethical as lying to others. Harming yourself is as wrong as harming others.

19/🧵

The ripple effect: Your honesty with yourself enables honesty with others, which influences them toward honesty. Self-improvement has a multiplier effect on the world.

18/🧵

Self-improvement is a moral duty. You can't reliably know how to make others happy, but you CAN develop your own rational capacities with certainty.

17/🧵

People-pleasing violates Kant's rule twice:

1. You treat yourself as a means to approval
2. You manipulate others' perceptions (treating them as means to feeling liked)

16/🧵

Laziness is unethical. Not because of lost productivity, but because you're treating your rational mind as a mere means to comfort rather than maximizing your consciousness as an end.

15/🧵

The consent requirement: ALL interactions must involve fully informed, uncoerced consent. This applies to personal relationships, sex, dating, business. It applies to everything!

14/🧵

Required duties:

- Self-improvement (develop your capacities)
- Avoid addiction/escapism (respect your consciousness)
- Self-respect (don't harm yourself)
- Help others pursue their rational ends when possible

13/🧵

What's prohibited:

- Lying (manipulates rational choice)
- Coercion (bypasses consent)
- Breaking promises (destroys trust institutions)
- Bigotry (denies equal dignity)
- Manipulation (treats people as tools)

12/🧵

FORMULA 3: Kingdom of Ends

Act according to principles that could serve as laws in an ideal community where everyone is both author and subject of moral laws.

11/🧵

The humanity principle applies to yourself too. Treating your own consciousness as a mere pleasure receptacle or avoiding self-development violates your duty to yourself.

10/🧵

The key insight: You can involve others in achieving goals (cooperation is fine), but ONLY with their informed consent and while respecting their autonomy as rational agents with their own purposes.

9/🧵

Means vs. Ends:

- Means = things done conditionally to achieve something else
- Ends = desired for their own sake

Using people as mere instruments violates their rational dignity.

8/🧵

FORMULA 2: Humanity Principle (the most powerful)

"Treat humanity, in yourself and others, always as an end and never merely as a means."

7/🧵

Example: Lying fails the test. If everyone lied, trust would collapse and lying itself would become impossible. The maxim contradicts itself when universalized.

6/🧵

Universal Law test:

1. Identify your action's principle
2. Ask if everyone could follow it
3. Check for contradictions
4. Act only if it passes

If universalizing destroys the action's possibility, it's immoral.

5/🧵

FORMULA 1: Universal Law

"Act only according to that maxim which you can will to become a universal law without contradiction."

4/🧵

What's a categorical imperative? It's an unconditional moral command. Unlike "do X if you want Y" (hypothetical), it says "do X" period, regardless of circumstances or personal goals.

3/🧵

Core foundation: Rationality is sacred. Our consciousness and ability to make reasoned choices distinguish us from everything else in the universe. This makes rational agency the foundation of all morality.

2/🧵

🧵 Immanuel Kant developed one of the most powerful ethical frameworks in history: the categorical imperative. It's a universal moral law that applies to all rational beings, regardless of personal desires or outcomes.

1/🧵

You used to ask "when will we use linear algebra in real life?"

Now linear algebra asks "when will we need you in real life?"

#ai #llm #lrlm #linalg

Succession

Insanity

The "lethal trifecta" problem is as relevant with the new #openai #atlas agentic browser as it is with #perplexity #comet. If you plan to use these new LLM browser products, be aware of the dangers inherent to their design.

x.com/openai/statu...