Category: Uncategorized

Tim Urban of the hugely popular site Wait But Why wrote a book, What’s Our Problem. The word “our” immediately suggests both sides share some blame. Even if the author’s positions on most, if not all, major social issues are left-wing, a major part of his brand is not decisively taking sides, but laying the… Continue reading The new scolds: why liberalism stopped being cool

The ‘Great Awokening’ Is Winding Down Musa al-Gharbi, a sociologist at Columbia University, has been getting a lot of attention for having written multiple articles arguing that the ‘great awokening’ is winding down. Has wokeism peaked? A major part of his argument is that there are fewer notable incidents: We can see this, for instance,… Continue reading Is The ‘Great Awokening’ Winding Down?, Part 2

1 Dead After Tesla Slams Into Fire Truck on I-680 in Walnut Creek: California Highway Patrol Officer Adam Lane said it was not clear whether the driver may have been intoxicated or whether the Tesla Model S was operating with automation or driving assistance features. So from what we know so far, it has nothing… Continue reading The Daily View 2/19/2023: Tesla Car Crash, the Creator Economy and Exiting From the System, and Bitcoin Crash Soon

Interesting article Obsessive bodybuilding is a funhouse mirror image of obese trans Gatorade yoginis. There is an instinctive repulsion to these anti-beauty trends on the political Right. I count myself among those who feel a wave of disgust at these advertisements, which somehow also signal a hatred for tradition, moderation, and human striving. Still, in… Continue reading The rise of right-wing fitness culture

Musa al-Gharbi writing for Compact Magazine proclaims Woke-ism Is Winding Down. I think the author erroneously downplays or misdiagnoses the problem. Data on media outputs and “cancel-culture” incidents also suggest that a corner may have been turned. Across a range of datasets, we see apparent declines in “grassroots” attempts to censor uncomfortable speech on campus… Continue reading Woke-ism winding down? It depends

From Freddie deBoer: No, Francis Fukuyama is Wrong, Not Just Not Even Wrong. He writes: or myself, I’m here to tell you that Fukuyama is wrong, wrong wrong: to the extent that The End of History expresses a firm argument, it’s that human civilization has a teleological purpose and that liberal democracy represents a transcendent… Continue reading On the sustainability of the ‘Western democratic hegemony’

Yesterday some people made money by betting on the Superbowl. For me it’s trading. Last week I said BTC would drop (screenshot) and here it is $1200 lower now, in part due to the Kraken exchange suspending it’s Ethereum staking program, at the behest of the SEC. Here it is today: The news is Paxos… Continue reading Another great day, update on BTC method

This study has been going viral: The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners. People were giving their theories as to why it was true. It went viral in part because it appeals to our idealization fairness, that superior cognitive ability must come at some cost, such as superior earning potential. Or it gives hope… Continue reading “That study does not mean what you think it does”

I dunno why Balaji Srinivasan is held up as such a genius or expert when almost everything he says is wrong. The reply is astute and funny. As I have argued, the threat of AI job loss is way overblown. A doctor does a lot more than diagnose, and not every diagnosis can be made… Continue reading AI will not be replacing doctors anytime soon

It’s been a while since I checked Biden’s approval ratings. It’s still below 45%. Not looking good: It looks bad, but on the other hand, Obama still won in 2012 by a large margin despite having a sub 50% approval rating for much of 2012: Bitcoin getting ready to crash, too, sub 17k coming up:… Continue reading The Daily View 2/9/2023: Biden, Bitcoin due to crash, AI Risk and IQ