The ‘debate of the century’ is tonight between Kamala and Trump. The rules: The debate, which begins at 9 p.m. ET, is being hosted by ABC News. There will be no live audience and no opening statements, according to rules the network released last week. The two candidates will have under two minutes to deliver… Continue reading Trump vs. Kamala debate: predictions, thoughts

Regarding the wordcel-shape-rotator dichotomy, due to skill transference, I have observed that the latter are well-above average at the former (e.g. Curtis Yarvin, Marc Andreessen), but the opposite is not necessarily true. It’s not like one is better than the other, but I think the wordcels have a slight edge. Sure, shape-rotators make more money,… Continue reading The Wordcel Advantage

This is an interesting IQ video by Dr. Jordan Peterson: Some highlights: -There are many ways to be smart, but only a single way to be dumb. As you go higher in IQ, people tend to have more lopsided subtest results, like being exceptional at quantitative ability but maybe only above-average at spatial. -There is… Continue reading Dr. Jordan Peterson: The Most Terrifying IQ Statistics, Thoughts on IQ

I saw this from Marginal Revolution: A simple theory of which thinkers support the elites, or not: Noam Chomsky, for instance, has lowered the status of American elites. That is his net long-run effect, not that he drummed up sympathy for the Khmer Rouge. A lot more people, for better or worse, are more skeptical… Continue reading The forever-rise of elites

A month ago I had a realization that it’s not the caffeine in coffee that provides stimulation, but rather all the sugar and fat mixed into it. In confusing correlation with causation, people think it’s the caffeine that engenders the productivity-boosting alertness, but it’s actually all the sugar and fat. In other words, it’s the… Continue reading How confusing correlation with causation led to a $107.17 billion coffee business

I have been thinking about society, especially as of 2024 with the presidential election on the horizon, such as the constant backdrop of negativity and pessimism on social media juxtaposed with the otherwise strong US economy and stock market (the so-called ‘vibe shift’ or ‘vibes theory’). It’s something that I had not been able to… Continue reading Optimality

Interesting article by Emil O. W. Kirkegaard, from 2023: IQ estimates of public intellectuals and personas. The comments are arguably even better than the article and lend additional insight. My own take: 1. IQ estimates of historical figures are especially iffy. Newton is credited as co-discovering calculus, but what does this mean today in terms… Continue reading IQ estimates of public intellectuals

Item #1: Bitcoin keeps falling, now below $59k. I keep being right that Bitcoin is inferior to tech stocks. It’s like “I can choose to invest in a tech company with billions of profits and is economically indispensable, or digital coins that are used for crime.” Bitcoin is doomed to underperform due to too much… Continue reading The Daily View 8/28/2024: Bitcoin, Kamala’s Tax, IQ

I saw this going viral from Forbes, The High Price Of Minimum Security Federal Prisoners: Of the BOP’s nearly 160,000 prisoners, 24,000 of them are minimum security. The BOP’s statement was that the average cost of housing a minimum security prisoner in 2024 is $151.02. The cost of housing someone in a U.S. Penitentiary is… Continue reading Prison spending is not too high

From the Washington Post: Has tipping gone too far? Here’s a guide on when to tip. Many Americans have tipping fatigue, with 1 in 3 adults calling the practice “out of control” in a recent survey. Tipping has gotten out of control, especially post-Covid. I have likened it to yet another form of inflation, which… Continue reading Tipping is out of control