Tag: social darwinism

Anti-Democracy Sentiment Going Mainstream

This article is going viral right now on Hacker News: In Praise of Passivity, by Michael Huemer of the University of Colorado. Political actors, including voters, activists, and leaders, are often ignorant of basic facts relevant to policy choices. Even experts have little understanding of the working of society and little ability to predict future… Continue reading Anti-Democracy Sentiment Going Mainstream

Biology as a Sorting Mechanism

Some try to frame the left/right dichotomy as a battle between ‘order’ vs. ‘chaos’, but it’s more like ‘egalitarianism’ (forced equality) vs ‘hierarchy‘, whether such hierarchy is biological, social, and or economic. The far-left may deny individual exceptionalism in favor of a ‘blank slate‘ approach, because they believe the state should be able to ‘perfect’… Continue reading Biology as a Sorting Mechanism

Not Smart Enough to Succeed: IQ Inequality = Income Inequality

From the Atlantic: Total Inequality Total Inequality is not merely income inequality (although it matters) nor merely wealth inequality (although that matters, too). Total Inequality would refer to the sum of the financial, psychological, and cultural disadvantages that come with poverty. It’s not that the poverty causes psychological and cultural imbalance but rather the poverty… Continue reading Not Smart Enough to Succeed: IQ Inequality = Income Inequality

Marshmallow ‘deferers’ vs. ‘eaters’

Since 2008, economically and socially, we’re also seeing the rise of the ‘deferers’ – the high-IQ kids who deferred eating the marshmallow, now grown-up, and are reaping all the fruits of prosperity in our ‘new economy’, getting richer than ever while the ‘eaters’ are on the lower echelons of society, stuck with crappy, low social… Continue reading Marshmallow ‘deferers’ vs. ‘eaters’

Stock Bull Market Continues, Seven Years Later

The 2009 bull market is third-longest in history: Seven-Year Anniversary: From the Depths of the Crisis, a Bull Run If you go back to the archives and other posts, you will see that I was among the few pundits who called for a continuation the bull market, even as far back as 2011, as everyone… Continue reading Stock Bull Market Continues, Seven Years Later

Reactionary Realism

From Poseidon Awoke, NRx: Against Platonic Rationalism: I believe that the Dark Enlightenment is the realization that we are currently governed by pseudosciences, which were created out of the Enlightenment exuberance for the human ability to reason (rationalize). What the children of the Enlightenment did not understand was the limits of human cognition and the… Continue reading Reactionary Realism

Winner-Take-All Nation

From Techcrunch We Are All Venture Capitalists Now I feel like this chart is the only one that matters pic.twitter.com/rPFAm1RZZB — Felix Salmon (@felixsalmon) April 11, 2015 In Extremistan, we are all tournament players, investing our limited time and money in unpredictable ventures that may succeed or fail, quickly or slowly. Wins are fewer, but… Continue reading Winner-Take-All Nation

Why Education is Not Curing Poverty

From Vox Education won’t cure poverty, in one chart It boils down to IQ, in that less intelligent people typically earn less. Second, the increasingly competitive economy has made IQ more important, magnifying the socioeconomic ramifications of individual cognitive differences. Intelligence tests indirectly measure situational awareness, learning speed, and ability to make inferences between disparate,… Continue reading Why Education is Not Curing Poverty