I have gone out at night and watched Starlink satellites pass overhead. Most of the time they were too dim for me to see. A few times I was able to see the “train”– a string of satellites following one another across the sky– with some success. It’s rather interesting to see and even beautiful in a way. But, even though I really like antique stuff made of brass, bone, wood, leather, and glass, I’m not a Luddite.
Tag: world
In Most Conflicts of Ideas, Socratic Dialogue Beats Research
It is far more efficient to deal with identifying the errors in logic than the errors in fact (though correcting all kinds of errors are important). Logic works by a series of first principles that everyone can learn and no one can evade. Contradictions, fallacies, false equivalencies, and other errors in thinking are much easier to dislodge than disputes over evidence (often evidence can be ambiguous).
"Pandemic Pods" Make Homeschooling Easier For Parents and Profitable for Teachers
Instead of waiting for instructions from authorities, enterprising parents and entrepreneurial teachers are joining forces and taking initiative.
Progressive Policies Keep Failing
I laughed when I saw The Washington Post headline: “Minneapolis had progressive policies, but its economy still left black families behind.” The media are so clueless. Instead of “but,” the headline should have said, “therefore,” or “so, obviously.” Of course, progressive policies failed! They almost always do.
T.K. Coleman: Entrepreneurship As A Theory of Social Change (1h14m)
This episode features a talk by serial entrepreneur and education activist T.K. Coleman from 2016. “I want everyone to leave there feeling convinced that we have a tremendous amount of power to create a freer world without relying solely or primarily on politics. Moreover, I want them to have concrete and inspiring examples of how this is being done and how they can get involved.”
America’s “Days of Rage”: The Extensive Left-Wing Bombings & Domestic Terrorism of the 1970s
Most Americans have never heard of these acts of terrorism from leftist groups that were so numerous throughout the 1970s. But this is a prime example of “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The urban unrest, which has rocked America in the early 2020s, is nothing new. The 1960s saw both race riots and left-wing terrorist groups looking to exploit animosity between racial groups in America.
The Diversity Lottery: Some Rough Open Borders Arithmetic
How many people want to immigrate to the U.S.? In my past work, I’ve appealed to both surveys and black market prices to ballpark the answer. Another approach, however, is to take a look at the U.S. Diversity lottery.
Your New Ideology Probably Won’t Make You Better
It’s no new insight to say that the loudest proponents of virtuous utopia often lack virtue themselves. I only want to confess to the same sin.
Coronavirus vs. the Non-Identity Problem
If Avengers: Endgame had been released a week later, coronavirus would have never happened; the movie grossed $614M in China, so it must have indirectly changed the space-time positions of a bunch of people in Wuhan. If something alters which humans are born, it can also easily alter which pathogens are born.
The Road to Hell is Paved with Economic Plans
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says he has an economic plan for America to “Build Back Better.” US president Donald Trump complains that Biden “plagiarized” significant elements of that plan from, you guessed it, Donald Trump.