If we believe the people who claim to be so concerned about Russian Facebook activity, we really ought to be concerned about something much deeper: the apparent fragility of American society. For if the Russians can strike a propaganda blow comparable, as some have ludicrously said, to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, isn’t that also true for any number of domestic websites across the political spectrum?
Tag: action
“We Must Do Something!”
Every time something horrible happens, whether as a result of malice or bad luck, there will be a number of people clamoring for “government” to propose some new legislative solution. Rarely does it do any good, and often it makes things worse. But most people would rather “demand” some pointless measure, than face the fact that there is a lot about the world that is simply unpredictable and uncontrollable.
The Beauty of Starting from Scratch
I try not to cling to my past ideas tightly. If I work through them fully, get them out, and treat them with respect in the present, the parts that matter most tend to get embedded and carry forward silently until needed in the future.
Taking the “Digital” out of “Digital Gold”
The idea of digital gold is to take all the amazing attributes of gold and add the one thing it’s missing: portability. That’s what the “digital” part means. The magic of bitcoin is that it found a way to maintain all the very best properties of money found in gold and add to them the greatest portability of any money in existence with instant, near free global transactions.
Leftist Lessons of The Case Against Education
Overall, reactions to The Case Against Education have been civil and fair. While I’ve been heavily criticized, I’ve been criticized for what I actually said and believe. My main disappointment: While the quality of the left-wing critiques has been fine, the quantity is modest.
Hand Waving
My field is computer science, the home of the uncanny valley. There is much hand waving devoted to the navigation of the uncanny valley. There are far too many dabblers in robotics and virtual reality who want artificial general intelligence (AGI) to be a thing. As a matter of confirmation bias, they want AGI to be true — they are doing wishful thinking about it.
A Degree is a Signal, But Not the Kind You Think
The signaling theory of higher ed is correct, except it’s not a career signal, it’s a social signal. You can build a better professional signal and better career in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost outside college conveyor belt.
“Zombies” and the Uncanny Valley
Standing up or sitting down, holding something close to our faces, head slightly bowed, and not moving much for extended periods of time is a seemingly unnatural position for human beings to take. There’s something not quite right about it. From their perspective, they are actively and purposefully engaged in reading or watching or playing, but from a third party’s perspective, it’s inhuman.
Forget the Data, College is a Religion
The psychological benefit of going along with the dominant belief, gaining the prestige it entails, and not risking being seen as a non-believer motivate all kinds of actions detrimental to a person’s individual goals and aspirations. Attending college is the most pervasive religious act today.
Four Antidotes to Procrastination
In this article, I want to offer a few antidotes to procrastination, so that we can all find a path to doing the meaningful work we want to do, a path to offering our gift fully to the world.