Category Archives: culture

A commenter asks How does one find the best ideas at present? I think an important heuristic is to consider a person’s error correction mechanism. The vast majority of people try to create the impression that they are never wrong. … Continue reading →

Andrew Sullivan writes, There is no such thing as persuasion in this paradigm, because persuasion assumes an equal relationship between two people based on reason. And there is no reason and no equality. There is only power. This is the … Continue reading →

A phenomenon that I am very alert to is that of justifying our side doing something wrong by saying that the other side does it. (Is there a name for this?) For example, someone left a comment on this site … Continue reading →

In TLP, I contrast demonization rhetoric with persuasion rhetoric. As an exercise, you might try to pantomime each. That is, act out the facial expressions and hand gestures of someone who is demonizing another person. Then act our trying to … Continue reading →

Paul Graham starts with this framework: The kids in the upper left quadrant, the aggressively conventional-minded ones, are the tattletales. They believe not only that rules must be obeyed, but that those who disobey them must be punished. The kids … Continue reading →

Russ Roberts talks with Glenn Loury, who says, the descendants of American slaves, again, taken as a whole, are the richest and most powerful and influential population of African descent on the planet. So, the idea that we want to … Continue reading →

To some people it looks that way, but I am going to say no. The key issue, in my view, is the pursuit of excellence. Can great thinkers, engineers, and entrepreneurs still pursue excellence, or are they being stifled by … Continue reading →

He wrote recently, Qualified and expert researchers in such fields are already in great danger of being pushed aside by activists of the proper opinion. The rest of us will pay in the longer run, when we no longer have … Continue reading →