In earlier posts I explore the possibility millennials are smarter and less impressionable than earlier generations. Some on the left argue millennials are sloppy at grammar and are careless, but there is an abundance of evidence to the contrary. For example on Reddit this user got rebuked in the comments for his ‘descriptive’ approach to… Continue reading The Daily View: Prescriptivism , Populism, and Why Democracy Doesn’t Work
Author: smartistone
Voters and Skin in the Game
Soul and skin in the game So voters are irrational, voting based on emotion than ‘good’ policy. This is not new, Bryan Caplan having written extensively about this. But the difference is Caplan uses this as an argument against democracy, whereas Taleb sees it as a strength or feature due to ‘skin in the game’.… Continue reading Voters and Skin in the Game
Against the Elite
It should be fairly obvious to readers that I’m not not a populist nor do I have ‘solidarity’ with populist/collectivist causes, whether it be organized religion, organized labor, political parties, or the ‘middle class’. Individualism within a ‘state‘ and enforcement of ‘rule of law’ (the minarchist approach) is my ‘interpretation’ of ‘Reaction’. Yours may differ.… Continue reading Against the Elite
The Daily View: Economics and Finance Edition
Interesting: Yes, the middle class has been disappearing, but they haven’t fallen into the lower class, they’ve risen into the upper class The middle class is shrinking because they are earning more money, rising to the ‘upper class’. Disagreement: Is the middle class disappearing into the upper class? First, $75,000 household income is hardly “upper… Continue reading The Daily View: Economics and Finance Edition
Against IQ-ism (response to Moldbug post)
Moldgug/Curtis has a new essay Why you should come to LambdaConf anyway Good essay. Quick and easy to read, which cannot be said for some of the posts on Unqualified Reservations. It almost reads similar to what I wrote 2 days ago, against intellectualism. No need to try to parse that. All Voegelin is saying… Continue reading Against IQ-ism (response to Moldbug post)
The Intellectual Solvent, Part 2
In Solvent, I posit that intellectual similarities are more important than ideological ones. A democrat and republican of equal IQ are more compatible than a conservative of a high IQ and another conservative of a low IQ. Unfortunately, I have no case studies to go by, so it’s mostly a hunch based on some empirical… Continue reading The Intellectual Solvent, Part 2
Against Intellectualism
I’ve seen this quote passed around a lot: I’m quite happy to be an anti-intellectual, actually. It is the modern equivalent of anticlericalism, and it is long overdue. One can oppose specific institutions without opposing thought in general. In fact, sometimes, it is even necessary. It’s hard to believe it came from Moldbug, being the… Continue reading Against Intellectualism
All Roads Lead To What We Have Now
From Streetwise Professor: The Last Shriek in the Retreat: Neocons Threaten to Leave the Republican Party Since 2008 or so, neoconservatism has become the whipping boy or black sheep of politics, blamed by liberals and conservatives alike for all sorts of problems – recession & banking crisis, war in Iraq quagmire, the deficit, and much… Continue reading All Roads Lead To What We Have Now
The Fate of Gawker – What Happens Next
Despite all the media attention, there is dearth of professional legal opinions as to the fate of Gawker in light of losing the Florida jury trial, as well as Hogan being awarded an additional $25 million in punitive damages, for a total $140 million against Gawker. Although I’m not a lawyer, I will try my… Continue reading The Fate of Gawker – What Happens Next
NRx vs. HRx
Been meaning to post this for awhile. HRx Takes Its Exit It speaks volumes that Land, the defacto leader of tech-com, chooses to reside in the autocratic PRC even though he hails Capitalism as saviour, Not sure why some think Land supports ‘tech com’, just because he occasionally links to technology and science articles? He… Continue reading NRx vs. HRx