Josh Pasek

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

21/ So what view of society does it imply? One: - Where rights supersede government - Where people are the ultimate arbiters - Where religious and political authority are separate - Where status as a peoplehood and citizenship are not about ancestry - Where justice is independent of power

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

19/ “He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither…” Foreigners should be able to become citizens. Growth via immigration is treated as a public good.

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

17/ “For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent…” Taxes require legitimate political authority, and consent is what makes them legitimate. So the ability of government to compel things depends on its accountability.

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

15/ “He has obstructed the Administration of Justice…” “He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone…” Judges must be independent of the executive.

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

13/ “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” Basically, the executive should not overrule the laws of the people (produced by the legislature).

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

11/ “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes…” Revolutions should be rare, only when other methods have proved insufficient to address grievances.

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

9/ “…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…” Where do rights come from? The Creator—not government. But notice as well the choice not to refer to any specific theological doctrine nor to any religious establishment.

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

7/ “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” The appeal is to shared human reason, not to revelation or any particular form of authority or faith. The presumption is that anyone can recognize them.

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

5/ “…to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station…” Independence was a claim to equal standing, not some kind of superiority (or later exceptionalism). And the rationale is that free peoples possess equal standing among nations.

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

3/ These distinctions become clear when you look at what the declaration says and what it conspicuously does not say. “When in the Course of human events…” It doesn't begin with America or England or Christianity or Church. This is a universal human story, not only one group's.

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

Just inadvertently discovered that a whole bunch of research on AI responses may be invalid. Apparently, even with memory off, ChatGPT is still giving contextual information, including the name of the user! It used my full name casually in conversation; which means that data is in the model.

This also has huge implications for the potential for racial bias, as users’ names might end up differentially, weighting different responses and textual styles or even information for people whose names are ethically or racially coded.

Just inadvertently discovered that a whole bunch of research on AI responses may be invalid. Apparently, even with memory off, ChatGPT is still giving contextual information, including the name of the user! It used my full name casually in conversation; which means that data is in the model.

The fact that memory-off AI is being given personalized contextual data is not only a massive violation of user privacy, but also makes it very difficult to psychologically study AI responses, if they can be uniquely impacted by whose account is putting in the query.