The phrase “May you live in interesting times” is said to be a curse. I’m not certain it is. Would you rather be bored to death? Times can be interesting, but — when you’re ready for whatever life throws at you — not cursed. This too will pass. You’ll be fine when all is said and done. There are lessons in all this. Smart people will learn and remember these lessons; others will stay clueless.
Tag: natural
Villages to Cities to Villages?
The benefits of technological progress are astounding and I wouldn’t trade them. The benefits greatly outweighed the costs, which is why just about everyone who had the chance chose it. But shifting living arrangements were (often) one item on the cost side of the ledger. It was sometimes necessary, not necessarily optimal.
You Are Not Alone
I just read two case histories on coronavirus. In one, a young mother died, in another a young mother lived. Both people had to face their outcomes alone. But many others were affected.
Reflections on the Leiter-Caplan Debate
It was a pleasure debating Brian Leiter last week. The resolution, to repeat: “Social democracy is preferable to market capitalism, but ultimately America will need to move towards a socialist system.” Here are some thoughts I failed to fully articulate at the live event. As always, I’m happy to publish any reply my opponent wishes to compose.
Happy National Tired and Grouchy Week
On Sunday, March 8, millions of Americans woke up an hour early, having set their clocks ahead by an hour the night before, and dug in for a week or so of bleary-eyed, irritable attempts to tweak their bodies’ natural sleeping and waking rhythms. This fatuous semi-annual “spring forward, fall back” ritual, called “Daylight Saving Time,” ranks high on my personal list of “dumbest ideas in the history of mankind.”
Natural Law, Fictions, Context
In this post, we will examine 3 related areas of discussion. They are related in that general failures to understand them are the sources of most (if not all) of our problems in the history, and pre-history, of the Sapiens species. Natural law governs everything in the real world, but we need to create fictions to draw meaning among the events of natural law. And we need to understand context to have more precise knowledge among the consequences of natural law interacting with human adaptation.
Reflections on Guatemala
I first journeyed to Guatemala 20 years ago, hosted by Universidad Francisco Marroquín. Two weeks ago, I returned for a delightful extended visit, accompanied by my Spanish-speaking elder sons and former EconLog blogger Jim Schneider. I spent over a week doing guest lectures at UFM, then gave Friday’s keynote talk for the Reason Foundation’s Reason in Guatemala conference. During our trip, we were also able to visit the awesome Mayan ruins of Tikal and Yaxha. Here are my reflections on the experience.
American Fictionalists
It is both fun and informative to consider lists. To debate the list is a sign that you have engaged with someone who knows what she is talking about. This morning, I asked Google to find web pages that opined as to whom might be included on a list of the greatest American fictionalists (novelists,…
Falling Back on Principle
Sometimes it takes awhile to fashion a topic, so I search Google for the keyword “politics,” using the “news” tab. Now I’m struggling to define for myself what are the differences among a regular news day and a slow news day and a no news day and a fake news day. But this is clear, there is no difference between yesterday’s news day and today’s news day.
No One Policy Good for Everyone
If there were someone sitting in a government office somewhere controlling the weather, do you think they would serve up weather I like, or weather someone else likes? Maybe we’d all get whatever is dictated by policy. Would some people’s weather preferences be ignored because they aren’t popular?