Over the past month or so, there has been considerable debate online about whether automation will destroy all jobs, and if so, how should policy makers try to respond. A few weeks ago, Bill Gates made headlines by proposing a ‘robot tax’, an idea which many economists roundly shot down. A story in February about… Continue reading Why Robots Won’t Take All The Jobs
Grey Notes: Your phone or your life
Lion is over-reading/overthinking this story. Representative Jason Chaffetz is right that people should prioritize essentials, such as health insurance, over discretionary expenses, instead of having taxpayers front the bill–it’s commonsense, and it’s sound financial and budgeting advice–so why so much outrage? Singling out the iPhone may have detracted from his message–possibly a poorly chosen example… Continue reading Grey Notes: Your phone or your life
A Monstrous Mess (collapse & shared narratives)
A Monstrous Mess Painting in broad strokes, I would say that the discipline era began with the industrial revolution and eventually ended due to backlash in the form of the 1960’s counterculture. And what did the discipline era produce? It produced greatest economic and population booms in the history of mankind, the eradication or cure… Continue reading A Monstrous Mess (collapse & shared narratives)
Math, Physics, and Philosophy: Linked Together
I keep seeing threads and posts about philosophy going viral, and not just on philosophy forums but also math and science forums. Philosophy complements STEM–a lot of philosophical questions are being answered (or at least elucidated) with the help of modern math and physics. Also, philosophy is like the liberal art’s version of category theory… Continue reading Math, Physics, and Philosophy: Linked Together
Grey Notes: Trump is ‘Junk’
According to the bookies, the odds of Trump being impeached or stepping down before the end of his first term are about 50%. This means you can double your money in four years by taking the opposite side of this bet. This represents an annual compounded return (or yield to maturity) of 19%. Like a… Continue reading Grey Notes: Trump is ‘Junk’
Tyler Cowen’s The Complacent Class: Reviews and Discussion
I have compiled a list of reviews for Tyler Cowen’s new book, The Complacent Class, along with some insight. From Arnold Kling: My Review of Tyler Cowen’s Complacent Class 3. I am still not happy with Tyler’s use of the term “complacency.” I can think of three senses of the word that are floating around… Continue reading Tyler Cowen’s The Complacent Class: Reviews and Discussion
Is the World Becoming Smarter or Dumber?
A comment by Greg Cochran is going viral: There must have been some selection for IQ – without it, our brains would have disintegrated. But that selection can’t have been very strong, or intelligence would have gone up like a rocket. Today it’s going down at a rate of something like three points a century… Continue reading Is the World Becoming Smarter or Dumber?
The Industry of Gaslighting Our Culture
This Reddit post is going viral: The Industry of Gaslighting Our Culture Gaslighting – manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity People typically experience gaslighting at an individual level, one spouse may gaslight another in order to gain control over the relationship, for example. Here are the signs of one individual gaslighting… Continue reading The Industry of Gaslighting Our Culture
Disturbing New Facts About American Capitalism
From WSJ: Disturbing New Facts About American Capitalism–When winners are taking all, it’s often time to buy the winners “Let your winners run” is one of the oldest adages in investing. One of the newest ideas is that the winners may be running away with everything. Modern capitalism is built on the idea that as… Continue reading Disturbing New Facts About American Capitalism
Crying Wolf: Holding the Pundits and Media Accountable for Being Wrong about Snapchat and Web 2.0
Snapchat’s valuation has now eclipsed $30 billion on its second day of trading (in agreement with my prediction in June 2014)…yet so many pundits got it wrong. But not just for Snapchat, but also Uber, Facebook, Google, Dropbox, Pinterest, AirBnB, Amazon, and many more. I’ve been reading predictions of a Web 2.0 bubble burst since… Continue reading Crying Wolf: Holding the Pundits and Media Accountable for Being Wrong about Snapchat and Web 2.0