Why Choose Traditional Publishing Over Self-Publishing

The Two Choices, by M.T. White If you have the talent, something to say, and are persistent enough but don’t have a large brand, traditional publishing (which includes indie publishers) is almost always the way to go. Just do a Google search for almost any traditionally published fiction title and you’ll see hundreds or even… Continue reading Why Choose Traditional Publishing Over Self-Publishing

Black Lives Commit More Crime

From Marginal Revolution Black Lives Matter As many have already noted in the comments, Tyler ignores how blacks also commit disproportionate more crimes than whites and are more likely to engage in deadly force against officers. Related: There is No Systemic ‘War on Blacks’ by Police From the comments: Do White Police Officers Unfairly Target… Continue reading Black Lives Commit More Crime

The Sweet, Boring Middle

Don’t read Marginal Revolution much anymore-find it kinda boring (too much economics minutiae and trivia)-but that reflects a deficiency of my own attention span and intelligence to appreciate it, not the inability of Tyler Cowen to be interesting. And evidently, his website is very interesting judging by the immense amount of traffic it gets, so… Continue reading The Sweet, Boring Middle

Intellectuals choose correctness over consensus

Related to Identity, IQ, and Incoherence of the Alt-Right Intellectuals care more about correctness (or what they perceive as being correct) than consensus; for collectivist and identity-driven movements, it’s reversed. For example, Francis Fukuyama, considered one of the intellectual ‘founders’ of neoconservatism, went from in 2001 ‘co-signing William Kristol’s September 20, 2001 letter to President… Continue reading Intellectuals choose correctness over consensus

Wealth, Intellectualism, and Individualism, Part 7

Part 6 Nerd mannerisms and appropriations, especially in pop culture and on Instagram, where pretty women donning faux glasses post memes about social isolation, have become the ‘new normal’, and words like ‘normie’ have become pejorative. Nowadays everyone wants to be the ‘smartest person in the room’, not the most outgoing or popular. But ironically,… Continue reading Wealth, Intellectualism, and Individualism, Part 7

Freedom vs. Liberty

A common misconceptions is that ‘freedom’ must arise from ‘liberty’, or that the two are interchangeable. Part of the problem is the false dichotomy that the absence of liberty implies the existence of oppression (liberty follows from liberation), and that the former must actively resist the latter. This leads to an endless struggle of liberty… Continue reading Freedom vs. Liberty

Inevitablism

In an earlier post, I discuss the criteria that constitute a religion: Not sure if Gnon works as a religion, because religion is both prescriptive (such as the 10 Commandments) and descriptive (Book of Genesis), not just descriptive. Religion is deontological, meaning it prescribes a set of moral rules for its adherents, although such rules… Continue reading Inevitablism

What People Fight and Die For

Another link to Spandrell https://bloodyshovel.wordpress.com/2016/12/27/gnon-theology/ The Carthaginians sacrificed their own children. Their first born sons. That was a thing. It happened for a reason. It evolved. It worked for them. Then the Romans conquered them and destroyed that thing; and it didn’t come back. It stopped working. That’s evolution too. That is Gnon’s will. The… Continue reading What People Fight and Die For

Our morally ambiguous times

Years ago in a philosophy class I posed the question of whether it was more virtuous to have never sinned or to have sinned and then reformed. The evidence suggests the latter, as redemption and America’s culture of authenticity have become increasingly intertwined. ‘Authenticity culture’ celebrates individualism, particularity intellectual endeavors (such as stock trading or… Continue reading Our morally ambiguous times