Hacker News: danielam

Writers Against AI

danielam — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 15:24:10 +0000

Article URL: https://www.writersagainstai.net/essay

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48477749

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

Reflections on Pope Leo XIV's Landmark Encyclical

danielam — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 23:08:03 +0000

Article URL: https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2026/06/leo-xiv-contra-new-babel-reflections-on.html-reflections-on.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48469070

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

3D Virtual Reconstruction of the Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter (2022)

danielam — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 19:57:38 +0000

Article URL: https://parpatrimonio.com/en/proyecto/3d-virtual-reconstruction-of-the-constantinian-basilica-of-st-peter-in-the-vatican-4th-century/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48450942

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by danielam in "We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin"

danielam — Wed, 27 May 2026 18:27:33 +0000

I think the emphasis is on official. That is, it would function as the common language of administration, communication, diplomacy, etc. (i.e., lingua franca), but it wouldn't replace vernacular languages. This was the norm centuries ago in Europe.

One advantage of it being "dead" is that the meanings of terms are much more stable. They don't undergo the usual slippage and mutation of spoken languages. This advantage would be lost if it were to replace existing vernacular languages.

New comment by danielam in "We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin"

danielam — Wed, 27 May 2026 18:22:25 +0000

Yes, Latin was indeed the lingua franca of Europe then, but the situation is even more interesting here.

1. Poland at the time was an expansive, multi-ethnic state, and while Polish gained increasing dominance as the lingua franca of the state (other languages of the state administration included German and Ruthenian), Latin was for a long time the lingua franca even just within the Polish state itself.

2. Unlike other countries where education was concentrated exclusively in cities, Poland also had a dense network of parish schools that diffused knowledge of Latin among even the rural nobility and town-dwelling population. Later, there was also a network of Jesuit colleges that followed the Ratio Studiorum which included extensive education in Latin and made an elite education accessible not just to wealthy magnates, but to poorer nobles as well. Recall that the Polish szlachta alone comprised on average about 11% of the population, compared to the corresponding 1-2% in France or England.

3. Because of Poland's republican style of government, public speaking, oratory and debate were essential for political participation. This was all carried out in Latin. Sarmatian culture also saw the Res Publica Poloniae as a "spiritual successor" of Rome and saw the Latin language as part of its identity. Furthermore, during the era of the elected monarchs, kings were not always fluent or able to speak in Polish, but they would have known Latin.

We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

danielam — Sun, 24 May 2026 12:29:42 +0000

Article URL: https://www.ustc.ac.uk/news/we-are-poles-so-of-course-we-print-in-latin

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48256733

Points: 110

# Comments: 89

We are all Postliberals now

danielam — Tue, 19 May 2026 12:29:43 +0000

Article URL: https://www.postliberalorder.com/p/we-are-all-postliberals-now

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48192443

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

The Necessities Underlying Reality

danielam — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 22:56:42 +0000

Article URL: https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781350467101

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47870366

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

Oxford Calculators

danielam — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:58:32 +0000

Article URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Calculators

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47869819

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

Prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among gender-referred adolescents

danielam — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:32:29 +0000

Article URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apa.70533?msockid=290a3115732d64a00ee427c0727065dc

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47854168

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

Defining Terms: Human Intelligence

danielam — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:19:57 +0000

Article URL: https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org/videos/defining-terms-human-intelligence

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47847756

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

Rational Social Animals and Addiction

danielam — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:57:59 +0000

Article URL: http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2026/04/rational-social-animals-and-addiction.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47722187

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

The economy grew just 0.5% in the last quarter of 2025

danielam — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:46:13 +0000

Article URL: https://qz.com/us-gdp-q4-2025-final-estimate-revised-down-040926

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47709767

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

Previously unknown verses by Empedocles found on papyrus

danielam — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:33 +0000

Article URL: https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/75792

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47697722

Points: 86

# Comments: 21

The upper middle class is now the largest income group in the U.S.

danielam — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:20:06 +0000

Article URL: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/upper-middle-class-income-us-what-it-takes/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47675825

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

Previously untranslated or unpublished writings of Leibniz published next month

danielam — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 22:04:58 +0000

Article URL: https://dailynous.com/2026/03/27/lots-more-leibniz/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47643977

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

First Experimental Demonstration of Bell Correlations in the Motion of Atoms

danielam — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:29:44 +0000

Article URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-69070-3

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47587920

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

The Epistemology of Microphysics

danielam — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 13:46:18 +0000

Article URL: https://www.edwardfeser.com/unpublishedpapers/microphysics.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47517306

Points: 50

# Comments: 28

New comment by danielam in "A sufficiently detailed spec is code"

danielam — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 15:48:03 +0000

In other words, prudential judgement.

Programs are a socially constructed artifact that help communicate and express a model (which is perpetually locked in people's heads with variance across engineers; divergence is addressed as the program develops). Determining what should or should not be done is a matter of not just domain knowledge, but practical reason, which is to say prudence, which is a virtue that can only be acquired by experience. It is an ability to apply universal principles to particular situations.

This is why young devs, even when clever in some local sense, are worse at understanding the right moves to make in context. Code does not stand alone. It exists entirely in the service of something and is bound by constraints that are external to it.

'Ketman' and doublethink: what it costs to comply with tyranny (2017)

danielam — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 22:11:21 +0000

Article URL: https://aeon.co/ideas/ketman-and-doublethink-what-it-costs-to-comply-with-tyranny

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47432037

Points: 4

# Comments: 0