The Gig Economy’s False Promise In reality, there is no utopia at companies like Uber, Lyft, Instacart and Handy, whose workers are often manipulated into working long hours for low wages while continually chasing the next ride or task. These companies have discovered they can harness advances in software and behavioral sciences to old-fashioned worker… Continue reading New York Times: The Gig Economy’s False Promise
Month: April 2017
The Misplaced Logic of Attacking the Rich
A couple weeks ago a post about Jeff Bezo being the second-richest person in the world went viral. Many were aghast that a singe person could have so much money…how unfair when that money could be put to better use, so the logic goes. Why does Bill Gates need his billions? Well, technically, he doesn’t.… Continue reading The Misplaced Logic of Attacking the Rich
French Election
At least America’s elections only take a day, but the French are so slow they need an entire week to do it. From Forbes, a once prestigious publication that has degraded into a content farm, French Elections: Europe Cannot Survive If Le Pen Wins The left said the same thing about Brexit and then Trump,… Continue reading French Election
Biology, especially as it pertains to IQ, is still the ‘third rail’ of the social sciences.
Changed the theme…The old theme was too cluttered and looked too antiquated. All the navigation, archives, and pages have been pushed to the footer. Split testing revealed that the big banner magazine-style theme did better. This article is going viral: Americans Are Skeptical That Hard Work Will Pay Off Moving up the economic ladder relies… Continue reading Biology, especially as it pertains to IQ, is still the ‘third rail’ of the social sciences.
Saving consequentialism and utilitarianism from the trolley car
From Bryan Caplan What’s Wrong With the Rationality Community,in which he criticizes utilitarianism and consequentialism: The first is consequentialist (or more specifically utilitarian) ethics. This view is vulnerable to many well-known, devastating counter-examples. But most people in the rationality community hastily and dogmatically reject them. Why? I say it’s aesthetic: One-sentence, algorithmic theories have great… Continue reading Saving consequentialism and utilitarianism from the trolley car
Jordan Peterson on Rejection
Jordan Peterson, when he isn’t talking about SJWs, has his head in the clouds sometimes. Video about rejection: There is no study that shows rejection becomes less painful the more you get rejected. Being rejected the 100th time may still be as painful as the third. He also fails to understand that not all rejection… Continue reading Jordan Peterson on Rejection
The Tyler Cowen-Rationality feud is getting out of hand
A brouhaha has erupted between Tyler Cowen and the Rationality community over comments made in an interview with Ezra Klein, in in which Tyler Cowen, in an uncharacteristic outburst of candidness, lambasted the Rationality community for what he perceives as religiosity and homogeneity: But I would approve of them much more if they called themselves… Continue reading The Tyler Cowen-Rationality feud is getting out of hand
The Trump Syria Disappointment
There are grumbling among the ‘right’ about Trump’s demotion of Bannon and intervention in Syria. Bannon demoted Lion: This is bad news for Trumpism. This could be the beginning of a bunch of establishment Republican types taking over the administration steering wheel. Neoconning the God-Emperor Vox: No one actually gives a damn about Syrian children,… Continue reading The Trump Syria Disappointment
The ‘Earnership Society’
The ‘Ownership Society’ is a slogan coined in 2004 by former United States President George W. Bush describing what he viewed as an ideal society, where personal responsibility, economic liberty, and the owning of property are paramount. Fast-forward thirteen or so years, and as evidenced by the huge fortunes in web 2.0, the post-2011 housing… Continue reading The ‘Earnership Society’
The Real Truth about NYC’s Elite High Schools
Excellent article by Outook Zen: The Real Truth about NYC’s Elite High Schools A many have already noted, the left cares more about equality of outcomes than equality of opportunities. The left cares more about equality than helping the gifted and talented poor. According to the left, east-Asian, east-Indians and other high-achieving groups don’t count… Continue reading The Real Truth about NYC’s Elite High Schools