We make way too many assumptions about the nature of evolution, without questioning true, false, or irrelevant. I will talk here about three.
Author: Kilgore Forelle
Magical Thinking
I do believe I ought to bang my head, Against this wall again–I do believe, This time will work–I’ll bring alive the dead, A final failing time–yet none will grieve
Words Poorly Used #74 — Education
The experience of school teaches the same thing as prison does, that survival is dependent on maximum control of the hierarchy. The warden/principal must make sure that all aggression goes down the structure, not up. Neither bullies nor rapists are of any real concern, to the upper tiers, since the lower in the hierarchy a victim stands, the higher the penalties for upsetting the order.
Cognitive Bias #1 — Anchoring
Anchoring is a cognitive bias that we encounter in every negotiation, even with the snooze bar on our morning alarm clock. A common example would be the case where an employee asks her boss for a raise. The negotiation will then take place in the range between the current compensation and the ask or the offer, whichever comes first. Politicians take advantage of this cognitive bias among their constituents.
Words Poorly Used #77 — Impeachment
I saw my first instance of a partisan calling for impeachment (of POTUS) today. When I was a kid, I thought impeachment was like drawing and quartering, and that only 1 POTUS had actually been thusly dispatched. Nowadays, we only have to look back four decades, and change.
Horton’s Law
Today on the Tom Woods Show (probably not actually today’s show, I listen via podcast), Tom cited Horton’s Law. If you haven’t heard of it before, I bring it to you now as a public service.
Coffee and Markets
Why is it that in Ireland, the UK, and Western Europe you can buy coffee in a jar, whereas here in the USA you can only find ersatz coffee in a jar? For once, I am not going to blame the state (although I suspect it is behind this somewhere). The market is here, it’s just not evenly distributed, to paraphrase William Gibson, the cyberpunk writer.
The Fit Hits the Shan
If journalists report on what X is “planning” then they have an infinite supply of “breaking” stories. For instance, later today I expect to gather up the muck buckets to dump them on the compost pile. Just think of the potential headlines.
Declaration and Process
It is preposterous to declare first that you will not be ruled by absurd people, by absurd process, and then turn around and embed another absurd set of process, including an arcane method for selecting unaccountable rulers, to destroy your freedom.
Sand Castles
A severe case of the End justifying the Means: Seize any laudable goal, then build a sand castle around it, ignoring that even the most minor chink in the foundation will evolve into a chasm.