The Pros and Cons of Going To College Does a college degree give you status? Maybe 50 years ago, when a college degree was more scarce, but nowadays a PHD in a STEM field confers much more social status and earning power than, say, a 4-year degree in something less intellectually rigorous like child development… Continue reading College Degree: Status, Drop-outs, IQ, and Success
Inverse Relationship Between Stock Prices and Volatility
Right now, even I don’t fully understand how markets work. I’m getting better, but still not where I need to be. There are two accounts under my control: a simple one that allocates an equal amount of money into 30-yr treasuries and a retail ETF, which has done well with annual returns of about 50%;… Continue reading Inverse Relationship Between Stock Prices and Volatility
High-IQ Wins Again – Stocks Surge For 2nd Day
Stocks keep going up, the left’s shrill cries for crisis still being ignored. Zerohedge wrong again, another defeat snatched from the jaws of what seemed like a certain victory. So close and yet so far. The Nasdaq is up a mind-blowing 7% in the past 2 days alone – staggering. The S&P 500 up 6%.… Continue reading High-IQ Wins Again – Stocks Surge For 2nd Day
Buy The Dip
As everyone is freaking out about stocks falling, a buying opportunity has presented itself: The pattern now is reminiscent of the selling in late 2011 which, in retrospect, was a good buying opportunity as the market proceeded to rally another 70%. The big concern right now is over supposed economic weakness in China. But aside… Continue reading Buy The Dip
Wired For Success: Brain Scans Predict Mathematical Ability
This is a huge story on Reddit right now, getting a staggering 4000+ up-votes in less than eight hours: Brain scans better forecast math learning in kids than do skill tests, study finds: Gray matter volume and connections between several brain regions better forecast 8-year-olds’ acquisition of math skills than their performance on standard math… Continue reading Wired For Success: Brain Scans Predict Mathematical Ability
The Meritocracy We Don’t Understand
From Wired: Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy. And It’s Dangerous to Hero-Worship Entrepreneurs The meritocracy is alive and well, but it’s the meritocracy we don’t really understand. Many are producing merit, but their efforts are wasted because they don’t know the rules. I guess what I mean is that you have industries and regions in… Continue reading The Meritocracy We Don’t Understand
Embracing Modernity, Part 2
From the infamous Nov. 2013 Tech Crunch article Geeks for Monarchy: The Rise of the Neoreactionaries that introduced thousands of people to NRx: Neoreactionaries believe that while technology and capitalism have advanced humanity over the past couple centuries, … The veracity of this statement is questioned among many reactionaries who argue that technology and free… Continue reading Embracing Modernity, Part 2
The Purdue Plan
No more student loans? Purdue University proposes selling shares of students’ future income Purdue University wants to offer a very different way for students to pay for school: private investors will fund their education, and get paid back as a portion of the students’ future income. It’s called an Income Share Agreement (ISA)—if students earn… Continue reading The Purdue Plan
The Cult of Wallacemania
After trashing Infinite Jest in a 2013 post, Vox Day wrote another David Foster Wallace post, and sites like the Atlantic and Salon keep writing articles about Wallace, so I’m going to write one, too, and this will be my first and probably final article about him. There is Wallace, the author of notoriously difficult… Continue reading The Cult of Wallacemania
Social Hierarchies and Techno Libertarianism are Compatible
An interesting pot by ‘NRx safe’ Equality creates Conflict When those on the traditional right talk about societal hierarchies, they may mostly be referring to gender roles, and this is valid, but the hierarchy also exists in the HBD-sphere as it pertains to IQ, which is America’s new caste system that is playing an increasingly… Continue reading Social Hierarchies and Techno Libertarianism are Compatible