Jan 22The Scottish Trans Law: A Tale of Two InterpretationsAs you will hopefully be aware, the new transgender law passed by the Scottish Parliament has been vetoed by the UK government, an article like this one giving the general background. The powers the government has used to do this involve a part of the 1998 Scotland Act which gives…Transgender3 min readTransgender3 min read
Nov 27, 2022Problems with the Intrinsic Inclination ModelAnd what it means for AI design Every good model has limits, and the Intrinsic Inclinations Model is no exception, and it’s worth having a clear understanding of those problems if you want to use the model. Some of the problems are fairly trivial and actually show its strengths. The…Transgender7 min readTransgender7 min read
Oct 29, 2022Two Inflation Narratives For Britain’s Ills Are Fighting For SupremacyOnly one is gaining a lot of traction at the moment — Inflation is hitting the United Kingdom hard, and we have changed prime minister twice in as many months. The ascension of Rishi Sunak and his unified cabinet of talent and party factions has soothed market nerves and (we hope), left behind the circus of the Johnson era and the rollercoaster…Politics6 min readPolitics6 min read
Oct 8, 2022Pronouns aren’t actually that importantThey are a proxy for something that really is, though — Every once in a while, I’ll come across an article on Medium that involves some liberal person discovering declared pronouns, whether they’re on name badges or Zoom meetings, and trying to deal with them. Usually that’s before deciding that pronouns are silly and an example of overreach (usually by the…Transgender5 min readTransgender5 min read
Sep 18, 2022Explaining COVID Scepticism in the US and GloballyIt turns out Intrinsic Inclinations has a lot to say about this topic. To those of us in the UK, the situation in the US around COVID and anti-mask mandates seemed unbelievable at times. That a country that is the most advanced in the world, with the most resources to…Transgender5 min readTransgender5 min read
Jul 10, 2022The Trans Versus TERF War ExplainedThe battle between two ideologies done as dispassionately as I can — If you’ve been following the news media in the UK, you will undoubtedly have met the Transgender vs TERF war being raged in the media. The TERF side will argue that transgender people are trying to infiltrate women’s spaces and are a danger to women and that a small plucky…Transgender10 min readTransgender10 min read
Jun 29, 2022Why Women Only Spaces Can Be EvilA personal account of why the TERF rhetoric is entirely out of touch with reality. In the UK media, there are many women claiming that allowing transgender women access to women only spaces will damage women’s rights. In this grand narrative, transgender rights and women’s rights are in opposition, and…Transgender6 min readTransgender6 min read
Apr 5, 2022A programmer’s experience of Pair ProgrammingPair programming is a strangely positive experience that has changed me for the better, and I really recommend it. When I joined my current workplace and they told me they used pair programming, I was not sold, and did not like the idea. I figured it was something that, at…Programming10 min readProgramming10 min read
Nov 23, 2021What Being Transgender Says About ReligionThe common view is that religion and transgender rights must be opposite, but nothing could be further from the truth. I was first raised as a Catholic, an education that started in my primary school, continued through my Polish Saturday school and confirmed in my secondary school. Somewhere in all…Transgender7 min readTransgender7 min read
Oct 28, 2021Empathy can be a bigger problem for LGBTQ+ people than hateEmpathy is widely regarded as a positive emotion, but when applied to LGBTQ+ people, it can have strangely negative consequences. Empathy is a very important quality for us all to have. …Empathy6 min readEmpathy6 min read
