April 2009
30 posts
“And Ned Lud’s anger was not directed at the machines, not exactly. I like...”
– Thomas Pynchon, “Is It OK to be a Luddite?”
Law & Order: Criminal Intent has the best cast of...
Kathryn Erbe (Anna Marvin from What About Bob?), Eric Bogosian (bad guy from Under Siege 2), Vincent D’Onofrio and now Jeff Goldblum.
Q.E.D.
Cool Project Update: On the Human
John Doris: Do You Know What You’re Doing?
Presentation and Discussion (some very interesting comments)
Response
“Have a question about public opinion & correlations? Poke around, don’t let...”
– Razib Khan’s primer on using the World Values Survey, which is probably SOP for most social scientists and would be a very good mantra for political theorists to adopt as well.
Doogie Howser's Diary or Random Twitter Update? →
“As one wag put it, they find that obesity is environmental and voting is...”
– Andrew Gelman on the forthcoming book Connected by James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis.
Can’t wait to read this book.
“In this role, Cass will be able to shape a regulatory structure that is rooted...”
– OMB Director Peter Orszag heralding Cass Sunstein’s arrival as Nudger-in-Chief
The regulations that conduce to the values and ends of the President, which are identical to those of the American people, are the logical outgrowth of common sense.
Is that true?
“Out of the boingboing of humanity, no straight thing was ever made. Is my motto.”
– John Holbo in response to The Lost Blondes of Penal Plantation 9
“Food isn’t about Nutrition
Clothes aren’t about Comfort
Bedrooms...”
– Robin Hanson, pan-signalist.
The opening lines from a provocative and insightful post that I often have occasion to revisit. As one commenter notes, in the spirit of fairness Hanson should admit that Overcoming Bias isn’t about overcoming bias, at least not entirely. I will freely admit that...
Not a-twitter.
Signed up for a Twitter account yesterday and canceled it within 10 minutes. I make technology decisions with the help of a benefit-accrued vs. anxiety-induced calculation. This one was very easy. Twitter is not for me.
““We’ve been a leader in production of celery, children’s...”
– A friend draws my attention to a profile of Kalamazoo on NPR. I’m not sure the Kalamazoo Promise provides the right incentives for the public school system, but there’s no question it has helped a lot of kids go to college, and it’s nice to see private residents actively investing...
Cool Project Alert: On the Human →
Via The Garden of Forking Paths, this new enterprise from the National Humanities Center. Especially exciting are the teaching resources. I would love to design a course in political theory around these questions.
“This is a great test case for paternalists; if you feel that your superior minds...”
– Robin Hanson commenting on Daniel Wikler’s contribution to Human Enhancement, a new volume from the guys at the Uehiro Centre and the Future of Humanity Institute.
Just received my copy from Amazon, can’t wait to read it, and Hanson’s contribution in particular, titled...
Signs that things aren't going your way (pt. 2)
Your team scores four goals and still doesn’t win. That’s twice in one week, Liverpool!
“The standard model here is that cultural openness correlates with economic...”
– Reverting to cultural type at GNXP.
Especially thought-provoking in light of conversation in class tonight about the stability or mutability of national identity as expressed/experienced in traditions and customs.
If the free markets->economic growth->happiness (“positive...
“I can still remember my shock and confusion when I first sampled a political...”
– Gideon Rachman, “The Irrelevance of Political Science” (FT)
Not quite sure how Rachman is using the word “empirical” here, but he (via Nye and Walt) brings up a problem that deserves serious consideration.
“…we are learning that humor has serious physiologic implications. Laughter...”
– Richard B. Gunderman and (fellow Wake Forest alum and former comedy collaborator) James R. Hamblin in Radiology (subscription required).
No supporting evidence is cited for that last claim. The sentiment is politic, but perhaps untrue. Alternative hypotheses: the target of the humor is less...
“…every bit of the behavior (or physiology or morphology, for that matter)...”
– Robert Boyd and Peter J. Richerson, from the introduction to The Origin and Evolution of Cultures.
If this claim strikes you as trivial, consider all the causes of behavior this rules out. If this claim strikes you as biologically deterministic, consider the range of phenomena to which the word...
“Please call me following the experiment.
Thanks,
Dahlia
P.S. I mean like...”
– Portentous note found in my classroom. Science is exciting!
Axelrod and the Iterated PD Players
A good name for a band of political scientists who put on variety shows.
“One does not sacrifice one’s freedom if one acquiesces in the authority of what...”
– John McDowell via John Schwenkler
I’m all for acquiescence, but it gets harder and harder to recognize compelling reasons these days.
Which of your moral intuitions do you trust the...
My favorite question from the Cowen-Singer conversation. Right now I trust my intuitions pertaining to sanctity the least, and yet they keep bubbling up when I encounter moral dilemmas. It is hard to shake free of the power of Grand Old Traditions, even after one ceases to regard them as authoritative! How about you?
WatchExcellent conversation. Listening to the whole thing is well worth the time investment. Cowen asks some very clever questions.
Signs that things aren't going your way.
Your team scores four away goals and still doesn’t advance.
“Our desire to walk a landscape that basks in the light of another star, to hear...”
– Seth Shostak tries to console me after harshing my buzz big-time, to little effect (NYT). Space exploration loses its thrill without the ever-present threat of exploding in the vacuum.
“Brain imaging showed that the volunteers needed six to eight seconds to fully...”
– Finding from Damasio’s forthcoming study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, as summarized by ScienceDaily. 