Interesting article: On Progress and Historical Change I don’t think the intellectual forebears of ‘progress’–scientists, statesmen, and philosophers, such as Voltaire, Locke, and Bacon–could have conceived progress becoming the monstrosity that it is today, that is 21-century social-justice progressivism, and many of the Founding Fathers and writers of Colonial America opposed direct democracy. The problem… Continue reading On Progress and Historical Change: Response
Month: April 2017
Post-2008 wealth creation boom: recap and why it will continue
Over and over again, this blog keeps being right: -right abut tech stocks (especially, Facebook, Google, and Amazon stock (Gnon index), all of which keep going up) -right about Bitcoin (been long since early 2013) -right about the post-2009 economic expansion and bull market (now in its 8th year, and will be the longest ever)… Continue reading Post-2008 wealth creation boom: recap and why it will continue
Jordan Peterson – Controversial Facts about IQ: analysis
Another Jordan Peterson IQ video: IQ–which is innate, a strong predictor of socioeconomic success, and constant throughout life–is incompatible with the left’s vision of egalitarianism. Because IQ is so impervious to environment, much of the left’s costly efforts to boost achivement are futile. When the left says they want to boost academic achivement among under-performing… Continue reading Jordan Peterson – Controversial Facts about IQ: analysis
Teaching Students Failure by Failing Them
You see a sort of indignation–almost what can be described a sense of entitlement–on various ‘smart’ sites. I recall a discussion on the popular economics blog Noahpinion in early 2014 (cannot find the link, but I remember the post) where an econ PHD student complained about the weak job market and what he perceived as… Continue reading Teaching Students Failure by Failing Them
Classification of groups, and the meme propagation process
A ‘meme’ is conceived by the second group, which if successful is picked up by the third group, and is propagated to the first group. An example is the alt-right. The third group act as a liaison between fringe ideas and voters. First group: older and middle-aged people who on Facebook, and are very numerous… Continue reading Classification of groups, and the meme propagation process
Notes on Philosophy versus Politics
Why are philosophical opinions and philosophers more complicated than political opinions and politicians? Seems like a rhetorical question–philosophy is ‘smarter’ than politics. But what do we mean by smarter? My take is, philosophical positions, unlike political ones, don’t really ‘oppose’ each other. Philosophy is much more subtle than politics. For example, Kant vs. Schopenhauer on… Continue reading Notes on Philosophy versus Politics
The Merging of Economics with Physics
Why Are Physicists Drawn to Economics? If you are one of these people, let me try to disabuse you of these notions. Your mathematical abilities are actually not that much better than most economists (if they are better at all). You will have to spend a lot of time acclimating to the subject and the… Continue reading The Merging of Economics with Physics
Even an inept king is better than a revolving door of good and bad politicians.
The Arabs figured out that the best way to deal with politics is to eliminate it altogether. But other countries–Brazil, France, Turkey, and America–still have their elections and referendums, along with the usual fanfare that goes along with it. America at least got it half-right and does not have referendums–and the Electoral College, which in… Continue reading Even an inept king is better than a revolving door of good and bad politicians.
Jordan Peterson – IQ and The Job Market
Although this video was released just a day of writing this post, it has already gotten over 24,000 views and hundreds of votes and comments, guaranteeing it will be among his most popular videos ever. Why is this video so popular? Because it’s about IQ, automation, and their relation to job market, making it an… Continue reading Jordan Peterson – IQ and The Job Market
The Slow Presidency
The news and blog cycle has been like tumbleweeds of late…who would have guessed that the Trump presidency would be such a yawner. I did, but still even kinda surprised by how slow things have been. Of course , things can change. In 2000, the big issue was privatizing Social Security…a little thing called 911… Continue reading The Slow Presidency