Author: smartistone

Masculinity and Risk Taking

From Dionysus Powell: This was a fascinating read, and there’s something I’d like to chime in to add, in response to Philosophical Fight Club: Alt-Right Recruitment (and How to Fight it) So what does this have to do with alt right philosophy? To answer that, consider that alt right philosophy, what with its emphasis on… Continue reading Masculinity and Risk Taking

Silicon Valley’s Reality Check

It’s interesting how there is so much variation in the viralness of Scott’s posts. Some posts barely create a ripple, while others send waves throughout the high-IQ rationalist communities. An example of the latter is Scott’s most recent post SILICON VALLEY: A REALITY CHECK, which went viral on Reddit and Hacker News and was shared… Continue reading Silicon Valley’s Reality Check

Professional vs. Amateur Writing

Inspired by Vox Day’s post The IQ Delta Most writing guides focus on the writing process, such as developing a writing habit, not the quality of the writing itself. No amount of persistence, positive affirmations, or word counts will help if the writing itself is no good. The amateur is taken aback by criticism; the… Continue reading Professional vs. Amateur Writing

Clarification of Principles

Don’t Call Yourself a Libertarian Just another reason why one shouldn’t call themselves a libertarian if one actually believes in the writings of Rand and others, because the term has been hijacked. I prefer the term right-wing rationalism. But isn’t that just anarcho-capitalism? Why do we need more labels. Imagine an equilateral triangle with the… Continue reading Clarification of Principles

Snapchat and Bitcoin

Received an email about Snapchat and Bitcoin. Is Snapchat a buy after the bad earnings report? As of 5/11/2017, Snapchat is down 20% on a weak earnings report, falling from $22 to $18. In an earlier post, I recommend Snapchat in the low $20’s. I argued that Snapchat could either fall to $10 should it… Continue reading Snapchat and Bitcoin

Bitcoin Update: $20,000/coin target

This draft was written on March 7th, 2017 when bitcoin was only at $1,300, but I didn’t publish it. With bitcoin having crossed $1,800, it’s more relevant than ever. Bitcoin keeps going up, having crossed $1,300 as of March 3rd, 2017. It was at $1,200 last week March when I wrote Why Bitcoin Keeps Going… Continue reading Bitcoin Update: $20,000/coin target

Why Stoicism

From Medium: The Inadequacies of the Invincible–On the Failure of Stoic Ethics Stoicism is not perfect–no philosophy is–but it works because it’s practical and realistic (wouldn’t it be awesome if one could make society conform to their own expectations, at whim–oh wait, Stalin tried that–apparently, when one tries to impose their values, it means others… Continue reading Why Stoicism

Postmodernism: not just for liberals

This article went viral: Don’t Major in Literature The author, Max Diamond, although mostly correct, despite the pretense of intellectualism, offers a reductionist conclusion: that postmodernism and nihilism are leftist constructs and are always wrong. I don’t think it’s that simple. Foucault, an exponent of the blank slate, denies the existence of an innate human… Continue reading Postmodernism: not just for liberals