Globalization is close to its ‘holy cow’ moment “New globalization’s impact is more sudden than old globalization’s because it’s driven by [information and communication technology], not by tariff cuts or the construction of new ports and container ships. It’s more individual because it’s no longer felt across entire sectors and skill groups, but in individual […]
Monthly Archives: April 2018
This 75-Year Harvard Study Shows How To Have Lifetime Joy: Lessons from the longest study on human happiness
2018.04.27 – 14:46
This 75-Year Harvard Study Shows How To Have Lifetime Joy: Lessons from the longest study on human happiness “The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.” — Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development Loneliness is toxic.
David Foster Wallace on John McCain
2018.04.26 – 22:40
David Foster Wallace on John McCain “And this is why these guys weren’t real leaders: because it was obvious that their deepest, most elemental motives were selfish, there was no chance of them ever inspiring us to transcend our own selfishness. Instead, they usually helped reinforce our market-conditioned belief that everybody’s ultimately out for himself […]
There’s no philosophy of life without a theory of human nature
2018.04.25 – 23:54
There’s no philosophy of life without a theory of human nature “In light of this, we think that the picture emerging from evolutionary and developmental biology is – contrary to the widespread opinion among contemporary philosophers – one that very much supports the notion of human nature, just not an essentialist one. Human nature is […]
How To Be Happy In Today’s Crazy World: 3 Secrets From Research
2018.04.24 – 12:13
How To Be Happy In Today’s Crazy World: 3 Secrets From Research “Feeling lonely, it turned out, caused your cortisol levels to absolutely soar—-as much as some of the most disturbing things that can ever happen to you. Becoming acutely lonely, the experiment found, was as stressful as experiencing a physical attack. It’s worth repeating. […]
Basecoin
2018.04.23 – 18:48
Basecoin “The fact of cryptocurrency is, even if you limit the supply of your currency, a competitor can come along and supply a different currency. What would be a better way? In a liquid market with competitive currency supply, only backed money can have lasting value. It’s time to face this hard truth.”
The Reinvention of America
2018.04.23 – 07:46
The Reinvention of America ““If you want to consume a fabulous community, you could move to some place like Brooklyn,” he said—or San Francisco, or Seattle, or Paris, or Amsterdam, or any other glittering site with restaurants, parks, vistas, and public spaces to enjoy. “If you want to create a great community, you move someplace […]
Complex is not the same as Complicated
2018.04.10 – 09:51
Complex is not the same as Complicated “…a complicated system is defined by a finite and bounded (unchanging) set of possible dynamic states, while a complex system is defined by an infinite and unbounded (growing, evolving) set of possible dynamic states. […] Many complicated problems have been solved by human beings and by our powerful […]
Pro-Civilization and the New Right
2018.04.09 – 19:29
Pro-Civilization and the New Right “The sets of policies and cultural attitudes favored by #ProCiv don’t fit neatly on the Left/Right American political spectrum. For example, it favors both large amounts of economic libertarianism (an American right-wing position) and environmentalism (an American left-wing position). Libertarian economics are needed because the wealth and power of a […]
The Hour I First Believed
2018.04.02 – 00:12
The Hour I First Believed “So superintelligences may spend some time calculating the most likely distribution of superintelligences in foreign universes, figure out how those superintelligences would acausally “negotiate”, and then join a pact such that all superintelligences in the pact agree to replace their own values with a value set based on the average […]
Why Gun Culture Is So Strong in Rural America
2018.04.01 – 19:24
Why Gun Culture Is So Strong in Rural America “Mr. Watts said Democrats think people were born basically good, so when good people did bad things, something in society (in this case, guns) needed to be controlled. Republicans think the fault lies with the person — the perpetrator of the evil. Bad choices result in […]
Liberals are well aware of the capacity for evil
2018.04.01 – 19:20
Liberals are well aware of the capacity for evil “Niebuhr’s reflections on the contemporary meaning of the Christian concept of original sin taught liberals and everyone else about “the mixed and ambivalent character of human nature — creative impulses matched by destructive impulses, regard for others overruled by excessive self-regard, the will to power, the […]