Results for "web 2.0"

From the 8000 Hours blog: Economist Prof Tyler Cowen says our overwhelming priorities should be maximising economic growth and making civilization more stable. Is he right? Tyler’s arguments can be broken into three parts: 1. Low GDP growth threatens U.S. innovation and competitiveness. 2. For the past few decades America has been afflicted by stagnation… Continue reading Disagreeing with Tyler Cowen about Stagnation and Innovation

From the 8000 Hours blog: Economist Prof Tyler Cowen says our overwhelming priorities should be maximising economic growth and making civilization more stable. Is he right? Tyler’s arguments can be broken into three parts: 1. Low GDP growth threatens U.S. innovation and competitiveness. 2. For the past few decades America has been afflicted by stagnation… Continue reading Tyler Cowen: Stagnation and Complacency, Part 1

A few days ago, the NY Times article In Praise of Mediocrity went hugely viral on Hacker News, getting over 400 votes and over 200 comments. In contrast, a typical post that makes it to the ‘front page’ may only get 40-100 votes and only a few dozen comments, so it’s evident this article struck… Continue reading Deconstructing a viral article: In Praise of Mediocrity

An overused phrase is “the only constant is change,” (a second variant is “change is the only constant”) attributed originally to Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher. Yet the evidence suggests things seldom, if ever, change. Yeah, over sufficiently long periods of time (like thousands of years), things change, but things can remain remarkably stable over periods… Continue reading The only constant is change? Not really

Some people bristle at the suggestion that one should not own foreign stocks in an investment/retirement portfolio. After all, if the market is random and market timing is impossible, then excluding foreign stocks is the same as timing and therefore disadvantageous. This reflects a common misunderstanding about the stock market, which is that the inability… Continue reading Foreign Stocks Don’t Belong in Your Portfolio

The elite really are different from the rest of us: (source: THE BELL CURVE AND COGNITIVE ELITES) The typical elite-school grad has an IQ of around 138. That is around a 1-100 rarity. By comparison, the cutoff for Mensa is 132, which is approx. 1-50 rarity. As Dr. Peterson says, society is stratified by ‘hierarchies… Continue reading The elite really are different from the rest of us

With the S&P 500 finally retaking 2800 after a small sell-off in February, it looks like I was right again to buy the dip and to ignore the naysayers who predict crisis and recession and who have been constantly wrong since 2009, and will continue to be wrong for the foreseeable future. On February 12,… Continue reading The Stock Market Keeps Going Up: More Correct Predictions

This article from Quillette Why Should We Be Good? went viral, but it possibly gets some things wrong. Today we are witnessing an irrepressible and admirable pushback against the specters of ‘cultural relativism’ and moral ‘nihilism.’ On the Right, thinkers such as Patrick Deneen and Jordan Peterson have responded to an increasingly cynical postmodern culture… Continue reading Moral Nihilism

A research report, Hallmark of an Economic Ponzi Scheme, by John P. Hussman, Ph.D., is going viral. Even Wiki, which is supposed to be impartial, does not paint a flattering picture: John Hussman (born October 15, 1962) is a stock market analyst and mutual fund owner. He is known[by whom?] for his criticism of the… Continue reading A we in an Economic Ponzi Scheme?