Yes, I could. How might I be wrong? This is a question everyone needs to ask of themselves now and then. And, it’s a question which needs to be considered carefully enough that the answer makes itself known to you. Making sure you know how you might be wrong isn’t self-absorption. It’s self awareness and a recognition that you can be wrong. Anyone can.
Tag: knowledge
Why Policymaking Won’t Work for Complex Societies (and Why Principles Will) – Part 1
You are not an expert. Even the experts know they are not experts. They will spend their entire lives just grappling with one sub-facet of one of these facets, and their work still won’t be done. To claim to empirically know how to ensure the best outcome for everyone in any issue is folly. Policymaking (the practical utilitarianism used in most political thinking) is an unscalable way to make decisions.
How We Lose Sight of the Profound Awesomeness of Life
There are moments when we are able to soak in the incredible beauty of life, the preciousness of it, the awe-inspiring power of the world around us. It is breath-taking, gorgeous, deeply moving. But most of the time, we forget.
Knowledge Better Left Unknown
They say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. About certain things, however, any knowledge at all is dangerous and potentially fatal.
When Control is Your Predominant Motivation
Most humans have no desire for people to be independent. They only want them to be independent once they share their values. This perpetuates an individual’s power over someone and perpetuates a person’s views and culture. There are examples of this all over our culture.
Past, Present, and Future
A fundamental truth is that we only have the present in which to act on the results of the past and to effect our preferences for the future. To hope to relive the past is as futile as anything we can do.
Heedless Speed
As the Congress declares a radically accelerated time frame for passage of “tax reform,” my suspicion of their hurry grows. Is the objective of more knowledge served by a breakneck pace?
Science Love Hurts Scientific Progress
Once we escape the romanticized view of science, everything gets vastly worse. There are incredibly corrupt incentives that encourage fraud, abuse, and horrible work to be done at every step of the process.
Oskar Schindler, Problematic Legacies, Imperfect Heroes, and the Immutable Good
There’s still a lingering depression when we consider that heroes like Schindler can backslide, or make stupid decisions, or make cruel ones (like abandoning a spouse) after having done something great and good. There has to be an antidote to that despair. Or what is the point of doing good in the world if it can be so easily lost?
The Optimal Level of Government Intervention
Neoclassical economists have made many studies of various aspects of what they call “the optimal level of government intervention in the economy.” All of these studies are highly problematic.