Author: smartistone

Some way we’re living in a post-truth society, but I think it’s more like a post-values society. Values can transcend truths. Everything is flipped backwards: facts come before values, instead of decades ago when it was the other way around. Far-left liberalism is much more about a single-minded ideological conformity/purity than any sort of pursuit… Continue reading Why the right gave up on the culture wars

Regarding the proposed Trump tax cuts, will they cause inflation, as everyone is predicting, or not? As I wrote many months ago, Peter Schiff Wrong as Always: How the Trump Tax Cuts may actually be Deflationary, I stand by my prediction that the Trump tax cuts, if implemented, will cause no meaningful inflation (as measured… Continue reading Why the Trump tax cuts will not be inflationary, Part 2:

Greg Johnson and others on the alt-right talk about the need or inevitability of ‘white identity’, but is white identity viable, or just wishful thinking? I want white identity to work, but I’m not so optimistic for the following reasons: 1. Who is white? Seems obvious enough, right…people who look white. But it’s not that… Continue reading The problem with white identity

Hegel posited that history and anti-history annihilate to create a new history (the thesis, antithesis, synthesis triad was originated by Johann Fichte, but adopted by Marx and Hegel in their philosophies); so far, we’re still waiting for the next iteration. Earlier ‘annihilations’ include the 2008 financial crisis, 911, WW2, etc. Unless ‘stuff’ happens, and in… Continue reading Deterministic society & economy

Over the past month, several bloggers and commentators, such as Davis Aurini and Z Man, have observed that the alt-right seems to be falling apart. Perhaps the alt-right is suffering from creativity sickness. There are several causes: 1. Trump back-peddling or softening on campaign promises, on issues such as immigration. (Since Nov. 2016, I predicted,… Continue reading What is going on with the alt-right

The backlash keeps growing: Silicon Valley men push back on gender equity efforts: One of those who said there had been a change is James Altizer, an engineer at the chip maker Nvidia. Mr. Altizer, 52, said he had realized a few years ago that feminists in Silicon Valley had formed a cabal whose goal… Continue reading The Backlash Grows

One of the great paradoxes of capitalism is how Wikipedia, which offers little to no financial compensation to its editors, has superior quality than most for-profit websites. But it’s not just Wikipedia: magazines such as The Atlantic and The New Yorker publish 3,000+ word articles about social issues, such as the prison epidemic or the… Continue reading Capitalism, part 2: Status as Currency

A question is, how does one reconcile the deterministic aspects of HBD with the ‘free will’ presupposed by capitalism? Don’t these contradict each other to some degree. Form an HBD standpoint, I am of the opinion that capitalism rewards individual exceptionalism, especially cognitive exceptionally, better than any other economic and political system. A person with… Continue reading Reconciling capitalism with HBD