Category: Science
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David Brooks Tries to Eff the Ineffable Again
A friend and I were discussing Brooks’ recent column about Anthony Kronman’s new book, “Confessions of a Born-Again Pagan.” I thought I’d share my thoughts here. Full disc: I haven’t read Kronman’s book, only Brooks’ column. Some good stuff in there. Love the focus on books and writers. (Though Brooks’ [and Kronman’s?] barely-concealed dog-whistle adulation…
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The Five Best Nonfiction Books
Okay fine, not the best. (Click bait!) But for me, the most important — the five books that, more than any others, taught me how to think about the world. A friend in my “classics” book group asked me for nonfiction book recommendations. Here’s what I wrote: The NF books that wow me, get me…
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The Luddite Fallacy Fallacy
I’ve spent a lot of time considering (here, here, here, and here) the notions of technological unemployment and the Luddite Fallacy: the idea that technologically driven productivity — machines — will replace, are replacing, human labor. I’d like to revisit that here. My basic conclusion: the Luddites were obviously wrong at the time. But they’re…
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The Top Two Criteria for Expert Judgment: Curiosity and . . . Curiosity
First a recap: Philip Tetlock’s Expert Political Judgment was a groundbreaking look at whether political experts really are expert, as judged by their success at making predictions. His overall conclusion: they aren’t. But (lifted from a previous post): …among the experts, “foxes” — those who in Nicholas Kristof’s words are “are more cautious, more centrist, more likely to…
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Government Gets the Lead Out, Crime Plummets
No, this is not about lead-footed Starsky and Hutch-style car chases by law enforcement. Rather, it’s about damned convincing evidence that unleaded gasoline (introduced in the U.S. in the 70s) is largely responsible for the huge decline in crime rates since the early 90s. (Update: it continues.) Even more convincing than (but not precluding) Levitt’s Roe…
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Proofiness!
I love this usage. Lies, damn lies, and… Proofiness – Charles Seife – NYTimes.com. HT: Kitty Related posts: David Frum Savages Charles Murray — And Rightly So Koch Brother Lures Hayek to America With…Social Security! Religious “Indoctrination”? Conservatives Love to Point Out that Personal Incentives Matter Must. Make. Gubmint. Smaller.
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More On Being Wrong
Barry Ritholz links to Kathryn Schulz’s TED talk on Being Wrong (I wrote about her book here), and comments, I dont know about anyone else, but I am wrong all the time. I expect to be wrong. Which led me to clear up some of thinking that I’ve been doing since my last post on the…
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Name one Really Big Invention since 1970 (besides the internet)
Prompted by: 1) My curiosity about what might have changed in the ’70s 2) My sister’s suggestion that this Andrew Sullivan post might be a clue (we invent ipods now, not particle accelerators) 3) Tyler Cowen’s new e-book(let), The Great Stagnation (talking about America’s slow growth of the last 30 years), and 4) A realization…
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Asymptotic Freedom
I really love that term, though I just barely, maybe understand what it means. Eric Drexler (he of Engines of Creation, the breakout 1987 book on nanotech) thinks the source is very cool indeed. Here from November 7: …the most exciting paper I’ve seen on quantum field theory and gravitation in a long time. It offers…