Bryan Caplan’s “IQ With Conscience”

Bryan Caplan criticizes what he perceives as ‘brutality’ among IQ realists: IQ With Conscience He starts off strong: I’m an IQ realist, all the way. IQ tests aren’t perfect, but they’re an excellent proxy for what ordinary language calls “intelligence.” A massive body of research confirms that IQ predicts not just educational success, but career… Continue reading Bryan Caplan’s “IQ With Conscience”

Don’t call yourself a libertarian

The Undermotivated Apostate: Two Post-Libertarian Case Studies 2. Pro-welfare-state. Libertarians have a standard list of objections to the welfare state. Some – like opposition to universal programs and concern about disincentives – are very strong. But the radical objections are much more debatable. I can easily see someone with libertarian sympathies reluctantly and cautiously advocating… Continue reading Don’t call yourself a libertarian

The Healthcare Debate, Part 3: Why America Cannot Be Like Singapore

From Vox: Is Singapore’s “miracle” health care system the answer for America? Healthcare is a really complicated issue, with no good answers, which is why it’s such a big debate (if the answer were obvious and the solution easy, there would be no debate and no healthcare problem in America), and also the issue runs… Continue reading The Healthcare Debate, Part 3: Why America Cannot Be Like Singapore

On Progress and Historical Change: Response

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

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

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