Curt Doolittle

Form: Mini Essay

  • The majority does not desire freedom. Is freedom equivalent to private property

    The majority does not desire freedom.

    Is freedom equivalent to private property rights, and are private property rights equivalent to voluntary exchange?

    If so, people desire to consume voluntarily, but demonstrably not to produce voluntarily. Money may be equal in purchasing power regardless of who holds it. But it is not equally productive regardless of who holds it.

    Therefore there is a structural advantage to intelligence, will, and discipline under capitalism. It is a virtuous advantage, thats true. But an advantage.

    Only a minority desire Freedom. Liberty. Property rights. Voluntary exchange.

    To the rest of the world freedom means freedom to consume. Not responsibility for limiting all transfers to voluntary exchange in the market. And it is praxeologically irrational to expect them to.

    This difference between normative libertarian ethics and dscriptive ethics is significant. And denial that the praxeologial incentives for people to organize into groups seeking non productive participation in profits is evidence of the intellectual failure of the framework of thought.

    Our argument is that un the long run we all benefit. And its true. However the majority demonstrate little concern for the long run. In fact social status is largely a function of time preference.

    So, given our numerical inferiority, we can use violence to preserve our rights as did our ancestors. But begging for them by weak argument is a demonstrated failure. 🙂

    Or we can develop solutions for institutions that, like the market, do not require us to cooperate on ends, or even norms.

    We cannot logically agree on morals, ethics, and norms. Not when we no longer reproduce, produce, and vote as families and aggregate our interests, but instead, reproduce, produce, and vote as individual actors, whereupon our differences are not masked by family interest, but expressed as individual interest.

    In particular, the addition of women to the labor and voting pools has led to policy, unlike that of the family, that systemically seeks rents: women vote to marry the state. Not their husbands.

    Source date (UTC): 2013-07-05 06:15:00 UTC

  • VIOLATING HUMAN SCALE Human scale in architecture is deliberately violated: 1) f

    VIOLATING HUMAN SCALE

    Human scale in architecture is deliberately violated:

    1) for monumental effect. Buildings, statues, and memorials are constructed in a scale larger than life as a social/cultural signal that the subject matter is also larger than life. The extreme example is the Rodina (Motherland) statue in Volgograd (Stalingrad).

    2) for aesthetic effect. Many architects, particularly in the Modernist movement, design buildings that prioritize structural purity and clarity of form over concessions to human scale. This became the dominant American architectural style for decades. Some notable examples among many are Henry Cobb’s John Hancock Tower in Boston, much of I. M. Pei’s work including the Dallas City Hall, and Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

    3) to serve automotive scale. Commercial buildings that are designed to be legible from roadways assume a radically different shape. The human eye can distinguish about 3 objects or features per second. A pedestrian steadily walking along a 100-foot (30-meter) length of department store can perceive about 68 features; a driver passing the same frontage at 30 mph (13 m/s or 44 ft/s) can perceive about six or seven features. Auto-scale buildings tend to be smooth and shallow, readable at a glance, simplified, presented outward, and with signage with bigger letters and fewer words. This urban form is traceable back to the innovations of developer A. W. Ross along Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles in 1920.

    (From Wiki)

    Source date (UTC): 2013-07-05 04:01:00 UTC

  • STUDENT LOANS If you want to fix student loans, the incentives in the university

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324688404578541372861440606.htmlFIXING STUDENT LOANS

    If you want to fix student loans, the incentives in the university system are currently perverse, and you can’t fix student funding without fixing university incentives.

    1) zero interest. Any amount. Six total years of coverage. This process can be repeated every ten years for lifetime performance.

    2) The amount is paid back as a payroll deduction over thirty years at fixed, x% of income . (This effectively reduces the student cost to zero, but doesn’t allow students to abuse it.)

    3) Colleges and Universities must use 100% of the money for undergraduates ONLY for the undergraduate program, only for undergraduate departments, only for undergraduate teachers who teach, and many not use any for research, sports, or for their endowment. Undergraduate departments must perform as teaching departments not reserach departments, and all publication requirements for teaching professors must be removed. No exemptions or devices for circumvention in theory or practice. Limit administrative overhead costs to 20%. And that will take care of the economics of the system, and make sure our students have the best professors in the world.

    4) Since all financial barriers are removed, then remove all quotas, and require domestic students receive full access prior to foreign students.

    Most of these are Sowell’s ideas.

    Source date (UTC): 2013-07-02 10:55:00 UTC

  • IN EDUCATION The percentage of people smart enough to work in science, technolog

    http://m.nber.org/papers/w19165.pdfFALLACY IN EDUCATION

    The percentage of people smart enough to work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is small and a function of genetic distributions.

    The fields can each compete with each other for that pool of students. But the size of that pool cannot be increased without demographic changes.

    Further, many smart people can be attracted by lucrative positions in law, finance, and commerce where individual achievement captures higher rewards, and where the individual has more control over the career cycle needed to capture those rewards.

    You cannot prepare someone for a career in the STEM classes unless he or she has the ability for doing the work.

    Our school systems are far more concerned about instilling undue confidence in children, and setting the stage for future disappointment, civil unrest, and economic uncompetitiveness than they are preparing children to be successful in the work force.

    American children have the highest confidence in the world but that confidence is demonstrably unwarranted.

    That this problem is the result of forced racial integration and the challenge this put in our educational system snd its culture is no so commonly understood.

    But any lie must be compounded with more lies to hide the original, and this is the result.

    The Finnish a german midels must be adopted at some near future point. Otherwise we shoukd just go back to teaching mysticism – which is about as sensible as what we currently do.

    Source date (UTC): 2013-07-02 06:52:00 UTC

  • The Purpose Of Philosophy: in the Analytic, Naturalistic Philosophy of Action

    [T]he purpose of enlightenment program was isolate thought, morality and politics from the superstition of Magian religion. It was to launder superstition in favor of empirical reasoning in The analytic program’s objective was to incorporate the physical sciences into philosophy, but to hold onto the metaphysical program. The naturalistic, praxeological (action) and economic programs are attempting to launder the metaphysical program from philosophy. (Or that’s close enough for our purposes here.)

      [T]he assumption in this line of reasoning, this set of priorities, is that with more knowledge we have more choices to determine how to make ourselves most happy through the accumulation of experiences. The other line of reasoning, is that human beings are able at present to be happy if they seek to obtain The problem is that humans demonstrate a preference for the consumption provided by the first, and demonstrate a preference to expend the intellectual and physical labor of the second. More accurately: they want others to expend the effort on the first, and to reserve for themselves the experiences of the second. We call conflict of ambitions a desire for ‘free riding’. In fact, we can argue that more human calculation is performed for the purpose of pursuing free riding than any other end except sex. Curt Doolittle. Kiev, Ukraine. (NOTE 1: “Calculation, in its broadest sense, refers to any comparison that permits a judgement. So while numeric computation is included in the definition of calculation, but so is ‘Where can I get a peanut butter sandwich?’ and ‘Do I like chocolate or vanilla ice cream more today?’. We use ‘calculation’ to distinguish simplistic processes from reasoning, which has a higher standard of demands – namely substitution and transformation.) (NOTE 2: This approach abandons the metaphysical program.)

    • The Purpose Of Philosophy: in the Analytic, Naturalistic Philosophy of Action

      [T]he purpose of enlightenment program was isolate thought, morality and politics from the superstition of Magian religion. It was to launder superstition in favor of empirical reasoning in The analytic program’s objective was to incorporate the physical sciences into philosophy, but to hold onto the metaphysical program. The naturalistic, praxeological (action) and economic programs are attempting to launder the metaphysical program from philosophy. (Or that’s close enough for our purposes here.)

        [T]he assumption in this line of reasoning, this set of priorities, is that with more knowledge we have more choices to determine how to make ourselves most happy through the accumulation of experiences. The other line of reasoning, is that human beings are able at present to be happy if they seek to obtain The problem is that humans demonstrate a preference for the consumption provided by the first, and demonstrate a preference to expend the intellectual and physical labor of the second. More accurately: they want others to expend the effort on the first, and to reserve for themselves the experiences of the second. We call conflict of ambitions a desire for ‘free riding’. In fact, we can argue that more human calculation is performed for the purpose of pursuing free riding than any other end except sex. Curt Doolittle. Kiev, Ukraine. (NOTE 1: “Calculation, in its broadest sense, refers to any comparison that permits a judgement. So while numeric computation is included in the definition of calculation, but so is ‘Where can I get a peanut butter sandwich?’ and ‘Do I like chocolate or vanilla ice cream more today?’. We use ‘calculation’ to distinguish simplistic processes from reasoning, which has a higher standard of demands – namely substitution and transformation.) (NOTE 2: This approach abandons the metaphysical program.)

      • WHY DONT FIRMS IN TROUBLE RAISE PRICES? They should. But…. (Cross posted from

        WHY DONT FIRMS IN TROUBLE RAISE PRICES? They should. But….

        (Cross posted from reply on Econlog)

        Firms rarely trade in commodities and benefit from the anonymity associated with commodities. They work in a network of established customers and distributors all of whom are more knowledgable about the relative strength of the firm in relation to its competitors than are members of the firm itself. (Yes, really.)

        If your failure is an internal one ( a well known tech harware manufacturer had incentives to keep costs down which later nearly killed the company as venors started absndoning the paltform because it was too difficult to learn the many minor differences) then if your brand supports the price you can do it and use the money to correct the problem.

        But the real problem is this: a very. Small number of people in any organization provide the entire marinally competitive difference, and if those people feel the company will fail they will leave. (We have pretty good data on this now. ). If knowledge of even short term failure leaks into the organization itself the consequences for quality, priductivity, retention, access to credit, will produce a deterministic result.

        Firms do raise prices in duress. (Microsoft prior to Vista for example. ) I advise it all the time in order to prune unprofitable customers when companies are under duress. You just cant get away with it for that long.

        Positivistic error/error of induction: assuming quantities contain sufficient information for other than commodities, when commodities are unique in this condition.

        Source date (UTC): 2013-07-01 07:22:00 UTC

      • HOW TO ADVERTISE ON FACEBOOK SUCCESSFULLY Create a ‘comic strip’. A series of fr

        HOW TO ADVERTISE ON FACEBOOK SUCCESSFULLY

        Create a ‘comic strip’. A series of frames (posts). No less than three to five. No more than twelve to sixteen. The second points to the first. The third points to the second. Then, the first to the second if it’s published. The second to the third if it’s published, and so on. Then release a new frame every few days. And try very hard not to repeat the same frame to the same people. You can then repeat these series every six to twelve weeks, without annoying your advertising base.

        If you can create characters who the user can become familiar with then that’s even better.

        This method is so effective that FB should create a tool to assist advertisers in doing it. (I suppose I could put a company together that did that without too much difficulty. But I’m kind of busy at the moment.)

        This method a form of narrative ‘gamifaction’ that won’t invoke the “I’ve seen this image before in my thread and it’s annoying” response from the audience, and will encourage them to explore and reward them for exploring. It will actually work as long as the FB model/medium combination works for its users.

        Static pages, or static magazines, require static ads. Video requires the user enter the time space of the video, and is too demanding of his attention (and bandwidth). We have been using the comic frame format for a very long time, and it is a structured equivalent to the facebook news stream, rather than an interruption of it (video) or an abuse of it (static ads that repeat.)

        Production costs are not high. However, it is much harder to create narrative arcs that negatively affect the brand than it is static images that affect the brand, so one does need a better class of creatives (usually someone who produces narratives already).

        I haven’t been able to come up with another way to advertise here that will work other than this sort of narrative pseudo-gamification. If your subject doesn’t support that format, then get a better ad agency, or stick with the sponsored ad’s on the side column.

        I like it as a business model because it creates a higher barrier to entry for competition. I like it because as a viewer, especially if it’s character driven, not only won’t it bother me, but it’d be interesting.

        This makes it possible for large brands to advertise and tell narratives. But FB is a narrative experience. And ads in FB must be narrative to stay within that system.

        Source date (UTC): 2013-06-30 03:22:00 UTC

      • I’VE ALWAYS BEEN TEASED FOR MY MANAGERIAL ‘OPTIMISM’ (Even though, operationally

        http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130620130134-128811924-note-to-managers-positivity-mattersFUNNY : I’VE ALWAYS BEEN TEASED FOR MY MANAGERIAL ‘OPTIMISM’

        (Even though, operationally, and financially, I’m pretty pessimistic really.)

        But there are good reasons for broadcasting optimism – in the sense that there are other options at any given piont, not just hollow encouragement. One of my favorite lines is “what is the worst that can happen if we do this?” Which is usually followed by “And what are our choices from there?” I also try to explain to engineers that science doesn’t progress by being right. It progresses by taking risks (and in business, this means competitive risks) Asking this one question repeatedly tends to train people to ask it of themselves, and plan accordingly.

        You can never let your people feel self doubt. Give them room. Let them know that if you’re asking them to do risky things, that failure is a possibility, but that there are always additional options. Give them the credit when they win, and be prepared with options so that you can catch them when they fail.

        THE SCARCITY OF POSITIVE THINKING

        Now on the analytical side, I know a) that thinking is a resource that is scarce. b) that decisions are not clear, or made in isolation, and are easily influenced by external stimuli. So the problem is giving people the right things to think about and eliminating things that they shouldn’t think about.

        Self doubt, fear, “is the mind killer’. Primarily because it’s easier to think about bad stuff, than it is to do the hard work of ignoring bad stuff and simply working on collecting ideas. We are as mentally effort-avoiding as we are physical labor-avoiding. So preserve your people’s prescious mental resources by keeping them focused on problem solving rather than fear of failure. (I view fear of failure as a weakness in management, that want to go hide in an office pretending to add value, or working political games rather than assisting the people.)

        BEHAVIOR IN THE FACE OF SCARCITY

        Over the weekend I read a lot of ancient and medieval law. And, not so much in the ancient world, but certainly in the medieval world, you get the feeling of this incredible WEIGHT of pervasive and oppressive scarcity affecting everything that people think, say and do.

        Our world is so absent of scarcity that we generally are trying to motivate people by the reward of fulfillment, more so than money.

        THE PROBLEM OF OPTIMISM

        The mistake I tend to make, is that I give my staff the confidence in their own thoughts, so much so, that they start to actually believe me, and they discount my ability to influence them, and so I must let them fail to get my influence over them back. I wish I could somehow figure out how to get out of this trap. But I can’t. I love that people develop into independent actors who are confident in their decisions.

        PARENTING RATHER THAN DISCIPLINING

        But I think this is just good parenting. Which is, a far better way to run a business than is military cum bureaucratic processes, that we inherited from our european, and particularly british ancestors.

        The best executive advice I have is the sort of wisdom that I got from the good-to-great data: build people from within, build a family regulated by cultural values, do what you can succeed at doing, plus my own advice: that scale and credit are an extraordinary competitive advantage, but one that calcifies your organization in mediocrity. Drive to excellence not efficiency. Profit will come from competitive survival, not from efficient production. Efficient production too often takes your focus off the customer. And the customer is the hardest asset to obtain.

        Source date (UTC): 2013-06-26 09:22:00 UTC

      • FIVE STRATFOR PREDICTIONS I follow STRATFOR pretty closely. They rely very heavi

        FIVE STRATFOR PREDICTIONS

        I follow STRATFOR pretty closely. They rely very heavily on geo-strategy and demographics rather than some absurd idealism, or pure economics to make predictive trends. (Economics are more derivative than causal when compared to geography and demographics.)

        1) “Turkey will emerge as Iran weakens”

        Well Iran is an economic basket case, so this is better stated as “Turkey is Emerging as Iran Weakens” and Turkey is a country that’s the most sane in the Muslim world. While we probably all want a strong Turkey and a strong Russia, the muslim world needs a credible core state that can hold other states accountable for their actions within the civilization. I just have a hard time seeing turkey become the core state, even though it will emerge as the most important economic power. That culture is still too primitive and mired in familialism to join the first world.

        2) “Russia will use economic tools to build influence in Eastern Europe”

        Well, what do you mean ‘will’? Russia owns big industry in Ukraine through the extensive use of credit, and Russia controls the flow of energy. So either western and Eastern Ukraine split, or Ukraine will have to act as a client state of Russia in every way possible. Personally I think Ukrainians are a sweet people that could join Europe even if Russian’s couldn’t. But the stage is set for at least eastern Ukraine to act as a Russian client state. (Canada’s client-state relationship to the USA for example.)

        3) “Certain developing countries will emerge as economic alternatives to an increasingly uncompetitive China”

        Already happening. The china miracle is slowing down. Not much surprise there.

        4) Economic instability will force change on China’s political foundations

        This one I don’t buy. I think that not enough time has passed, and that they will retain their strategy, as has france, of being a pain in the ass to the rest of the world in order to demonstrate their relevance.

        5) “The tension between economic interests and cultural stability will define Europe”

        Which is saying nothing. Either Europe evolves into a german empire (which is actually what I prefer) or the catholic and protestant countries have to split. Given that the low friction route is to maintain the german empire, I think this will be the result. If we can get the USA militarily and strategically out of Europe, then Germany might get out of her WW2 guilt and take responsibility for Europe once again. (Please). The is the only way I know of to rescue western civilization – to restore the confidence germanic protestant values and mythology.

        Source date (UTC): 2013-06-26 09:07:00 UTC