Hunter’s Substack | Revenue & Trends

The hottest Substack posts of Hunter’s Substack

And their main takeaways

Extreme, unproductive pain and suffering is objectively 'bad,' and we have a moral obligation to prevent unfathomable AI suffering.
The development of AI capable of experiencing pain raises ethical concerns about the potential magnitude of AI suffering and our responsibility to prevent it.
The possibility of creating a sentient AI that experiences extreme pain poses a significant moral dilemma that requires careful consideration and caution in AI research.

The Holocaust presents a profound theological challenge to both Judaism and Christianity, questioning their beliefs about God's role and man's freedom.
The Jewish response to the Holocaust varies, with some theologians justifying it as punishment while others see it as sacrificial or divine intervention for modernity.
Christian theology confronts the Holocaust by altering traditional views of the benevolence of God, leading to the development of death-of-God theology.

The theory of causal reference, as proposed by Putnam, faces challenges as it may not adequately explain how individuals can refer to things with which they have no direct causal connection.
Concepts can be developed from prior causal experiences to enable meaningful reference to phenomena regardless of direct causal history, challenging the strict causal necessity theory of reference.
The mind's ability to create new concepts from prior experiences provides a plausible explanation for how individuals can refer to abstract or novel ideas, even if they lack direct causal connections.

The American Revolution was not just against monarchy but also against overbearing legislative power.
Scholar Eric Nelson argues that the American executive was intended to have royal-esque powers.
Federalism and the limited powers of the federal government are crucial aspects often overlooked in discussions about executive authority.

Dominant social groups use their power to define and control narratives of marginalized groups throughout history and around the world.
In the People's Republic of China, the Han ethnic group dominates the narrative about minority groups like the Uyghurs and Tibetans through tactics like digital censorship and forcing 'Han ignorance' on ethnic minorities.
The PRC 'otherizes' and 'Orientalizes' ethnic minorities, similar to historical Western Orientalism, shaping narratives in a way reminiscent of maintaining systems of oppression.

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The compatibility of religion and science has been a long-standing debate, with notable public intellectuals arguing that they are actually mutually compatible despite differing perceptions.
Jonathan Z. Smith's approach to the study of religion emphasizes a secular viewpoint, challenging scholars to be self-conscious about religious biases in academic study.
Smith's perspective on religion raises questions about the nature of consciousness and the challenges of categorizing and studying religion due to the subjective and non-isolatable aspects of religious beliefs and practices.