Preston Werner @pjw@fediphilosophy.org
I teach and research philosophy (metaethics, philosophy of perception, and a bit of analytic anarchism) at Hebrew University and try to make the world a bit better (mainly by trying to surround myself with anti-occupation activists and then feeling bad about how much better of people they are than me).
Joined Apr 2023
Preston Werner
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Preston Werner
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What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.
- Carl Sagan
The most annoying part about the Fediverse so far is how high the percentage of posts on the federated timeline are dedicated to talking about how stupid Twitter or Elon Musk are. Like, I can't stand that site or guy either, but to paraphrase a friend, it's got real complaining-about-your-ex-to-your-new-partner vibes.
I hope this website can be defined by more than how bad some other social media site is.
Preston Werner
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"I run #AnnasArchive, the world’s largest open-source non-profit search engine for shadow libraries, like SciHub, #LibraryGenesis, and ZLibrary.
Our goal is to make knowledge and culture readily accessible, […]and preserve all the books in the world"
"In this article I’ll show how we run this website, and the unique challenges that come with operating a website with questionable legal status, since there is no “AWS for shadow charities”."
Preston Werner
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Latest papers: Pascale Willemsen et al. investigate the relevance of social roles and hierarchies for the attribution of #blame and #causation in five countries, namely China, Germany, Poland, United Arabic Emirates, & United States of America #OpenAccess https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09515089.2023.2213277 @philosophy
they/it
Preston Werner
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In my latest post on Coding the Commune, I discuss lazy consensus in software development projects. I also address the classic debate from leftist politics whether consensus-based organizations lead to endless meetings. I argue that software by lazy consensus avoids this objection.
https://codingthecommune.net/blog/2023-05-21-lazy-consensus/
Preston Werner
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Recently published online: Ali Rezaei ‘Singular Experience‘,
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00048402.2023.2174998?af=R
Preston Werner
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Every year on "Jerusalem day" droves of fascists flock the city and fill it with violence and hate.
This year we blocked them from entering the city, keeping the main entrance from West Bank settlements closed for over an hour.
📷@freejerusalem1
Preston Werner
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Is this too much to ask? Evidently it is. 😕
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
#ClimateAction #WarOnCars #BanCars
Got a chance to try to summarize something I recently published on moral perception and epistemic objections to non-naturalism over at @marcusarvan 's Substack. Check it out if you'd like!
https://newworkinphilosophy.substack.com/p/preston-werner-hebrew-university
Preston Werner
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I am now blogging at Coding the Commune, a blog on the intersection of philosophy and software development, focusing on Marx, Collective Decision-Making, and Degrowth.
My first post is about the basics of consensus in software development.
https://codingthecommune.net/blog/2023-05-06-software-by-consensus/
Preston Werner
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Selin Girit: "Erdogan makes a balcony speech although the final result is not clear yet. Opposition claims the govn reps at ballot boxes impede counting and hundreds of thousands of votes still not counted. Yet Mr Erdogan says they are leading by a wide margin and accuses the opp of lying" https://twitter.com/selingirit/status/1657885455721930763 #TurkeyElections
Preston Werner
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Out hearts and toughts are with our Turkish and Kurdish friends. We know about your fears and hopes. We are with you!
May the revolutionary spirit guide you!
Down with Erdogan fascism!
Preston Werner
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CW suicide, mental health, racism
A bizarre piece of news lately reports on an Israeli soldier willing to commit suicide, and decides to do so by impersonating a Palestinian and running straight to a military checkpoint, getting shot and killed on the spot. This points out to 2 important issues.
The 1st is of course the institutional deadly racism of the Israeli state; being Palestinian is a death sentence of the spot. Soldiers are the jury and executioners and Arab life is cheap under Zionism.
The 2nd point in the insane suicide rates amongst IDF soldiers, a silent phenomenon that is not talked about. In recent years, a third of the soldiers that died during service took their own life. They are barely mentioned in memorial days and militarist propaganda, and the issue remains a taboo in Israeli society.
Israelis/the Jewish settler community needs to develop stronger tools of race treason and desertion. We need to talk to other Israelis not just what Zionism is doing to the Palestinians- but also what it does to us. About the levels of dehumanization, overly militarist society, about soldiers who are being released to "civil life" with PTSD and emotional scars and have to deal with it, over-masculinity and gendered violence such a militarist society brings with, etc.
Zionism assigns to world Jewry the role of cannon fodder, cogs in an inhumane colonial system that does not serve their interests and turns us into tyrants and oppressors. We must break the chains. There's must be a different way to live on this land.
"This land, we believe, will welcome those who have come in peace, in harmony, in love, mirroring the beauty of its forests, its water, and its soil; and will grant its name to those who will to be entwined with it. Yet it will vomit out, as it oft has, those who choose the path of darkness, and who will wither away."
A Palestinian appeal to the Jewish settler community in Palestine to abandon Zionism and join the Palestinian people
https://ajras.org
Preston Werner
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I'm just going to admit this even though it makes me sound like an insensitive asshole, because look, we all make mistakes and the point is to grow, right?
when I first came to Mastodon and people were reminding me to add alt text to my images, I was a little irked
then I read several posts about how much this means to people who rely on reading apps to understand the web
now I'm fully converted. I enjoy writing alt text.
and I think it's crazy this isn't standard across all social mediums.
Here is some information on Administrative Detention in Israel, from Israeli NGO B'Tselem
https://www.btselem.org/topic/administrative_detention
A tiny bit of context on what's going on in Israel right now:
On May 2nd, Khader Adnan died from an 87 day long hunger strike. Adnan was formerly a spokesperson for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, though his wife claims that he had not been involved with the group since 2012.
Adnan was being held in administrative detention, which is a policy by which Israel indefinitely* imprisons people without charge. The vast majority of those held in Israeli administrative detention are Palestinians (there are a few Israeli extremists held in administrative detention as well).
After Adnan's death the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fired several rockets from Gaza toward southern Israel. There were no injuries from these rockets, as they all fell short or were intercepted by the Iron Dome.
The current Israeli government's second largest grouping is the Religious Zionist party, which is made up of two -well I could beat around the bush but I'll give it to you straight - two quasi-fascist parties. The more fascist of the two, Otzma Yehudit (translates to "Jewish Power"), led by a convicted Jewish terrorist (Itamar Ben-Gvir) was upset that the response to the rocket firings was not more aggressive, and began boycotting coalition meetings.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, knowing that he cannot allow his government to fall because he'd almost certainly lose an election (his polls have sharply dropped because of the Judicial Reform/Coup proposals), decides to give in to Otzma Yehudit and engage in a few targeted killings of PIJ leaders in Gaza.
PIJ responded by firing hundreds more rockets (almost all intercepted by the Iron Dome). This led to the current escalation in hostilities. As of this writing, 21 Palestinians have been killed (roughly half civilians), and one Israeli has been injured.
But at least Netanyahu gets to keep being Prime Minister.
Preston Werner
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"Officer-involved shooting" is a euphemism for "officer shot someone" -- and it's used, by police and journalist, to make reality fuzzy.
If all journalism organizations agreed to, as this commentary advises, abolish the "Exonerative Tense” in headlines (and I'd add, articles as well), journalism would be much improved.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/emersonmalone/police-traffic-safety-headline-language-exoneration
Preston Werner
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The "vote for someone every few years and hope for the best" model of #democracy is as much an insult to human intelligence as #monarchy.
I teach and research philosophy (metaethics, philosophy of perception, and a bit of analytic anarchism) at Hebrew University and try to make the world a bit better (mainly by trying to surround myself with anti-occupation activists and then feeling bad about how much better of people they are than me).
Joined Apr 2023
