The news cycle is pretty moribund as of late. Things are gonna remain slow probably until the next round of 2020 election. Although this blog does a lot of predicting, I have no idea who out of the five or so major candidates will be the nominee. Some say it is Warren. Maybe. Maybe not.… Continue reading Does diversity + proximity lead to war? Probably not, as far as the US is concerned

Over the past few weeks I have been paying much closer attention to Trump on Twitter in order to try to understand why he is so popular there, about his personality, and the community detractors and fans who follow him. 1. Trump’s Twitter account is really popular, obviously. In terms of engagement such as likes,… Continue reading Some things I learned following Trump on Twitter

Taleb is going on again about how there is no statistical correlation between wealth and IQ: Here we go again. The replication crisis is now hitting IQstudies…Used the same approach as I did with fakescholar @sapinker, under recommendation by @yaneerbaryam: first use THEIR own data, then proceed to uncovering theoretical flaws. pic.twitter.com/kQQ3EwFcxh — Nassim Nicholas… Continue reading Nassim Taleb is Possibly Wrong about Wealth and IQ

It’s noteworthy how little variance there is in Trump’s approval rating, which is in the tightest range of any U.S. president since tracking began, as far back as Truman. This becomes even more obvious when one overlays Trump’s approval rating with that of past presidents. This is indicative of many things: a political climate that… Continue reading The Trump Stalemate

Ross Douthat is at it again, predicting a recession that will cost Trump his reelection. If there is one thing I have learned over the past three year or so, media narratives are almost always wrong. For example: the narrative in early to mid-2018 was that the Trump tariffs would hurt the economy and boost… Continue reading No recession soon

Vox Day wants a student loan debt jubilee. Vox is hoping that this is the first step to increased foreignness such as for the unemployed, but he is missing the point, which is that the purpose of this executive order is to generate positive press, but not move the needle much, as that would require… Continue reading Don’t expect student loan forgiveness

In a massively viral article, The Atlantic ponders why Joe Rogan is so popular. A common misconception is that Rogan’s listenership is right-wing and pro-Trump, but it’s not necessarily left-wing or right-wing, but rather appeals to what can be described as a sort of secular, fatalistic nihilistic morality among a lot of young people today… Continue reading Joe Rogan’s Huge Popularity

Saw these two interesting posts from the IQ-blogger Pumpkin Person: The IQ of Chimpanzees What does it mean to be twice as smart? And I am going to relate these posts to why the 10,000 ‘rule’ is bullshit and why practice is hugely insufficient for attaining top performance for g-loaded activities, or any activity in… Continue reading Intelligence is not additive or multiplicative

A few days ago he re-tweeted yet another Tulsi tweet: This is definitive proof that Taleb is a social justice warrior, which I have suspected for years. This is not 4-d chess, nor is he doing this ironically, but rather this is an unequivocal endorsement of the left. Taleb likely never supported Trump in 2015-2017,… Continue reading More Nasssim Taleb lies

But also, unlike in the ’90s, there are many more ways to make money in spite of supposed economic hardship, such as in the stock market and option trading [as the huge popularity of /r/wallstreetbets shows, where 20 and 30-year-olds frequently make (and also lose) huge sums of money], crypto currency, live-streaming on YouTube or… Continue reading The ’90s and now, part 14