Malcom Gladwell, Exasperated Idiot

John Paulson, who made his fortune betting against loser homeowners, is donating $400 million to Harvard’s engineering school – a good use of money to help America’s best and the brightest. Malcom Gladwell, who along with Taleb, Ariely, Kahneman and other liberals is famous for his pseudoscience books that downplay individual cognitive exceptionalism, predictably opposed… Continue reading Malcom Gladwell, Exasperated Idiot

Good Tweets, Part 2

Is rising inequality due to an increase in winner-take-all markets? http://t.co/CFutEDvaZp — Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) May 29, 2015 Although I’m more partial to the Republican perspective on this issue, Wealth inequality and poverty is something that both sides get wrong to varying degrees, with the left tending to be more wrong the the right. The… Continue reading Good Tweets, Part 2

Defending Rational Markets

Liberals like to assume markets and individuals are irrational, in agreement with their denial of individual cognitive exceptionalism. After all, if everyone is an irrational blank slate, how can anyone be intrinsically better than anyone else? It’s then not surprising to see Michael Lewis – the inveterate liberal anti-banker journalist – be in favor of… Continue reading Defending Rational Markets

The Tyranny of the Bookish

Saw this re-tweeted by the great Charles Murray: Controlling for confounds, kids' test scores are unrelated to time in school, studying, TV. But reading = big deal http://t.co/cHHqYVUAXr — SteveStewartWilliams (@SteveStuWill) May 13, 2015 Perhaps it’s reading books, not grades, parenting, or TV, that is the biggest influence of success at life. It seems in… Continue reading The Tyranny of the Bookish

The Great Decoupling

From AV: The Great Decoupling Ultimately, I think this whole debate on wages, STEM, wealth inequality, and automation boils down to IQ. The decoupling is also obvious when comparing advanced degree employment and income versus those with only high school or ‘some college’. It’s also pronounced between majors, with STEM earning more. these trends have… Continue reading The Great Decoupling

Marc Andreessen and Twitter

Marc Andreessen, who is perhaps the most important VC and forecaster right now, like more soft-spoken Peter Thiel, is correct about many things such as Web 2.0 not being a bubble and being skeptical of democracy. The later point agrees with the NRX (Neo Reaction) ideology, showing that one need not be directly affiliated with… Continue reading Marc Andreessen and Twitter

Bernanke is Right

He’s right: Bernanke sees no risk of hard landing in China, bullish on U.S. economy Not only does Bernanke deserve a standing ovation for saving the day in 2008 (along with Paulson and Bush), he’s right about the US economy still being fundamentally sound and about China not having a crash landing, as much as… Continue reading Bernanke is Right