(joy of philosophy)
The problem of arbitrary precision never occurs in voluntary exchange.
Information is alway sufficient for decidability.
Buridan’s Ass never starves.
This is one of those things: once you get it, it’s like relativity was for physicists – the world is a much simpler, and very different place.
Operationalism solves the problem of reducing all statements to empirical (observable) and therefore sympathetically testable terms.
Source date (UTC): 2014-06-14 10:31:00 UTC
THE PLASTICITY OF FAMILY
While the structure of human reproduction (family) is highly plastic, and vacillates as needed throughout history, two things strike me as painfully obvious:
1) monogamy prevents all sorts of free riding in a society.
2) monogamous societies eventually conquer polygamous societies.
3) in the short term, polygamous societies produce excess males who can specialize in warfare, but who are universally problematic for society.
If you grow low maintenance crops you have time available for war. If you herd animals you always have time for war. If you farm rice you dont have time for war. So each group produces different warriors: constant raiders, militial warriors, and state soldiers.
The large state can more easily concentrate capital in its military. The militial warriors apply more dynamic tactics and weapons. And raiders simply apply constant pressure at low cost until the economy wears down, or an opportunity presents itself.
(You are much better off as a spoiled western woman….)
Source date (UTC): 2014-06-14 07:46:00 UTC
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/upshot/the-lack-of-major-wars-may-be-hurting-economic-growth.html?referrer=SETTING THE INTELLECTUAL TABLE
Cowen on War.
Source date (UTC): 2014-06-14 05:56:00 UTC
INTERESTING: “KNOW”, “KNOWING” and “KNOWLEDGE” AS TERMS OF OBSCURANTISM.
Possession of knowledge is not a binary condition, but a spectrum from awareness or intuition, through hypothesis, theory and law, through parsimonious theoretical completeness, throu axiomatic declaration, through tautological identity.
The context for use of such knowledge in pursuit of some action determines necessary sufficiency.
Despite our habits, one cannot say that one knows something without stating the sufficiency of knowledge required, and still have a decidable proposition – there just isn’t enough information there.
Now, we can assume the question of utility from the context, and therefore the standard of knowledge required. But knowledge cannot be divorced from action, even if that action is merely identity or perception.
But like many empty verbalisms that are not problems, but merely inarticulate language masquerading as complexity. The common fallacy of using the language of experience rather than action.
One cannot sever the qualitative expression “knowledge” either from the context of an act, from choice, nor from the cost of action. We can discount these values for arbitrary purposes, but to discount cost and context in pursuit of a general rule is very different from saying that in application of any general rule the action, choice and cost determine the sufficiency of knowledge.
I have been making this general argument regarding the use of the scientific method for either (a) production, (b) technological or (c) purely scientific purposes. The method we use is the same in each circumstance, but we merely apply discounts or premiums to different outputs of the scientific method.
Curt Doolittle
The Philosophy of Aristocracy
The Propertarian Institute
Kiev, Ukraine
Source date (UTC): 2014-06-13 12:06:00 UTC
Dear tribe. We must understand what made us different. What made us innovate. What made us adapt. What allowed us to drag humanity out of ignorance and poverty despite our own ignorance and poverty – before our crisis of confidence.
The evidence is in front of us. We are not faster. We are not stronger. We are not smarter. So why did we rule?
Truth. Trust. Property. Violence. Technology. Heroism.
Source date (UTC): 2014-06-13 11:50:00 UTC
HAPPY TEMPLARS DAY!!!!! FRIDAY THE 13TH!!
Source date (UTC): 2014-06-13 07:51:00 UTC
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2014/06/team-obama-sorry-america-the-new-normal-may-be-here-to-stay/THE NEW NORMAL : SLOW GROWTH
I have been pulling this argument out against Krugman/DeLong/Thoma since 2006: it’s all well and good to rely on correlation with past data, as long as you understand causality. But we are at the end of over 500 years of anglo expansion of science, reason, law, contract, accounting and finance across the planet. We have to invent something as novel as steam, electricity, computation, and anti-biotics to continue the trend. And, while a few things might increase consumption, the easy gains from labor decreases and informational asymmetry are done.
Source date (UTC): 2014-06-13 07:17:00 UTC
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/02/political-failure-modes-and-th.htmlBROKEN DEMOCRACY
—“our representative democratic institutions have been captured by meta-institutions that implement the iron law of oligarchy by systematically reducing the risk of change. They have done so by converging on a common set of policies that do not serve the public interest, but minimize the risk of the parties losing the corporate funding they require in order to achieve re-election. And in so doing, they have broken the “peaceful succession when enough people get pissed off” mechanism that prevents revolutions. “—
I guess other people are reading Burnham and Michels…. 🙂
The swiss model.
Source date (UTC): 2014-06-13 07:05:00 UTC
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2014/06/the-moral-inversion-of-economic-thinking.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+marginalrevolution%2Ffeed+%28Marginal+Revolution%29Economic immoralism
Source date (UTC): 2014-06-13 06:47:00 UTC
http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics/comments/res-essay-are-the-advanced-economies-in-for-a-long-period-of-economic-stagn?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economics_news+%28tutor2u+Economics+Blog%29#When:07:07:00ZWORTH READING: stagnation for and against.
I dont like recommending this blog because its one of the two that have banned me, but its a good collection of links to relevant third party arguments – both left and libertarian – on the possibility of stagnation.
(I’m in the punctuated equilibrium group.)
Source date (UTC): 2014-06-13 06:44:00 UTC