Failed Predictions of the Demise of the EU

‘The EU Is on the Verge of Collapse’—An Interview Just like many pundits predicted the financial problem of 2008 would follow a similar trajectory as the Great Depression, which it didn’t, now many predict the EU will collapse like the Soviet Union. I’ve also I’ve noticed a trend recently of sites on the ‘right’ legitimizing… Continue reading Failed Predictions of the Demise of the EU

Adulting

Adulting is now a ‘thing’: Adulting (v): to do grown up things and hold responsibilities such as, a 9-5 job, a mortgage/rent, a car payment, or anything else that makes one think of grown ups. Used in a sentence: Jane is adulting quite well today as she is on time for work promptly at 8am… Continue reading Adulting

Getting Around the Reverse-Flynn Effect

From yahoo.com: Researchers say Western IQs dropped 14 points over last century A new study from researchers in Europe claims that the average IQ in Western nations dropped by a staggering 14.1 points over the past century. “We tested the hypothesis that the Victorians were cleverer than modern populations using high-quality instruments, namely measures of… Continue reading Getting Around the Reverse-Flynn Effect

Bill Clinton vs. Sanders

By ‘left’ I don’t mean all liberals. Bill Clinton, despite his flaws, is an example of a liberal who, through his technology initiatives, promoted individual success, unlike Sanders who threatens to suppress and punish it. Clinton understood that the health and success of an economy depends on the ability of exceptional people to innovate and… Continue reading Bill Clinton vs. Sanders

Nihilism and the Black Pill

Brett and Malcolm discuss nihilism and the metaphor of the ‘black pill’ as an alternative to the usual ‘blue/red’ pill dichotomy. The ‘blue pill’ advances liberalism, embraces it. The ‘red pill’ actively resists liberalism. The fist two colors involve some sort of activism, to bring about change either to the ‘left’ or to the ‘right’.… Continue reading Nihilism and the Black Pill

Improving Society and Policy

From Jim: Fixing housing, health, and education. The fundamental problem is the misallocation of public resources. Replace costly, time-consuming diplomas with SATs, Wondericks, and other IQ-like proxies, to signal competence. Employers realize that GPAs are becoming diluted due to grade inflation. This also explains why there is a push by the left to make these… Continue reading Improving Society and Policy

Hacker News Rankings: More Than an Algorithm

Hacker News, like Reddit, is a community-powered news site where users can submit links they find noteworthy. By default, new submissions go under the ‘new’ tab, but some get promoted to the much more visible ‘news’ tab (the front page), generating a substantial amount of traffic to promoted sites. Submissions under the ‘new’ tab also… Continue reading Hacker News Rankings: More Than an Algorithm

Neoconservatism

I never understood how NRx reconciled technology with ethnonationalism, when the two seem at odds with each other. The Vox article lists tech billionaires Elon Musk and Peter Thiel as being somehow tangentially related to NRx, yet I imagine they probably advocate neoliberal economic and trade policy that would go against ethnonationalist interests. In 2010,… Continue reading Neoconservatism

Utilitarianism and Consequentialism

There is some renewed debate about whether ‘Friendly AI’ can blackmail, also known as the Roko’s Basilisk problem. More information about it can be found here, here, here, and here. I’m kinda amazed by how much attention this has gotten, with stories even on Business Insider about the thought experiment. Roko’s Basilisk addresses an as-yet-nonexistent… Continue reading Utilitarianism and Consequentialism