Category: Uncategorized

Last week it came to light that famous author and neurologist Oliver Wolf Sacks had fabricated patient stories in his popular books. Steven Pinker, in a viral series of tweets, called it a bombshell, asking, “Why did The New Yorker, which perpetuates the myth that they employ an army of meticulous fact-checkers, pollute our understanding… Continue reading Lies can persist when it’s not worth investigating the truth

High-minded critics have frequently deplored the state of popular culture as being derivative, stale, stagnant, or stuck. The popularity of comic book movies and superhero franchises is a commonly cited example of this trend. Or an over-reliance on sequels or prequels by creativity-starved writers and profit-maximizing studio execs. Popular writers and commentators have called popular… Continue reading Culture hasn’t stagnated; rather, it has become more niche.

From, “On 10 Years of Writing a Blog Nobody Reads” Using this “careful” language just softens your ideas to the point of being inarguable. If you start a sentence with “I feel…” then no one can dispute anything that follows, since it’s just your feeling. This is boring to read. There is nothing inherently wrong… Continue reading Defensive writing thrives because everyone is a critic

Hedge funds are struggling due to AI supposedly making markets more efficient, “AI is making hedge funds unable to hedge:” The 12-month correlation between composite hedge funds and the S&P 500 is 0.955, at the 99th percentile of historical readings. Multi-strategy hedge funds show a 0.819 correlation, also near a record high at the 98th… Continue reading Systems beat AI (Bitcoin case study)

I thought I would recapitulate some of my notes on gatekeeping, and why it exists. Gatekeeping involves the unintentional breach of implied or otherwise unstated/unwritten social rules or etiquette. There are few measures that can be taken ; even lurking is not always good enough, as the rules can be subtle or capriciously enforced. The… Continue reading Gatekeeping and Cringe

Item #1: “A positive-sum outlook on the World.” I usually agree with him but disagree here: All the best people have an incredibly positive-sum outlook on the world. They help other people to achieve more, do better, find love, and so on. And their lives are enriched by it. — Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) December 6, 2025… Continue reading The Daily View 12/8/2025: Positivity, AI vs. Math, Bitcoin vs. QQQ, Undigested Calories

I saw this going viral from Reason, “Why Are 38 Percent of Stanford Students Saying They’re Disabled?” This follows an even more viral article from The Atlantic, “Accommodation Nation,” by Rose Horowitch, who broke the story. I have never seen anything this viral in a long time, even eclipsing major AI product rollouts, for a… Continue reading Why the College Accommodations Debate Has No Easy Answers

As someone interested in true crime, this story is fascinating: Jan 6th pipe bomber arrested. This concludes a five year investigation. Some are arguing that the Biden administration suppressed the investigation. I disagree. There was so little evidence to go on. To gather sufficient evidence to ensure a ~100% conviction rate, as typical for the… Continue reading Jan 6th pipe bomber suspect arrested: analysis

In October 2023 there was a popular media narrative that GLP-1 drugs, namely Ozempic and Zepbound/Mounjaro, would severely hurt the sales of McDonald’s and Walmart, with alarmist headlines such as “Ozempic, Wegovy dampening food sales, Walmart exec says“. I took the opposite side, arguing such fears were overblown, here and here. Two years later, the… Continue reading Update on weight-loss drug predictions: right again

Item #1: Bitcoin dies as ‘Crypto President’ narrative turns into disillusionment. From the WSJ: It Was Supposed to Be Crypto’s Year. Then Came the Crash. And as Paul Krugman also noted, the Trump trade is unraveling. Today Bitcoin is still crashing this morning, down 7% while the market is flat or only down a little.… Continue reading The Daily View 12/1/2025: Bitcoin collapse, AI bubble, Weight Loss Challenge