Curt Doolittle

Source: Original Site Post

  • What Are The Best “what Comes After Postmodernism” Essays?

    Restoration of Modernism, and extension of Modernism to include Operationalism, Intuitionism, Instrumentalism, and Performative (or Testimonial) Truth.  Repudiation of Platonism, Pseudoscience, Verbalism, and Social Construction. Repudiation of Universalism. Repudiation of Democracy. Return to Nationalism. 

    Its already happening.

    https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-what-comes-after-postmodernism-essays

  • How Has Civil Society Led To Political Developments?

    This question posits a possible misrepresentation.  No society where government supplies services is categorized as ‘civil’. A ‘civil’ society is one in where we demonstrate civic participation whether in the pre-war or greek sense: where citizens volunteer to participate in the management of the commons and the provision of services.  We live in an managerial society postwar, where the state manages professionals (bureaucrats and their agents) for the provision of services. (See Burnham). 

    The abuse of this term originates in the conflation of treating one another ‘with civility’ (without violence or coercion), with ‘civic society’, in which individuals participate in the voluntary organization and production of commons. 

    We do not live in a civic society, we live in a civil society. 

    Meaning matters.  Ideas produce consequences.

    https://www.quora.com/How-has-civil-society-led-to-political-developments

  • How Can One Determine When Subjective Reasoning Might Be Preferable To Objective Reason?

    This question is not necessarily coherent, since subjective reason is a non-sequitur. If you mean, “When is intuition more useful than reason?” then that is a question currently addressed by Kahneman and Haidt.  Intuition is very powerful, but not logical or observable.  Reason is very weak, but observable.  And they inform one another.  However, any concept of truth is determined by reason.  Any concept of preference by intuition. And we lie to ourselves whenever possible in an effort to conflate the two.

    https://www.quora.com/How-can-one-determine-when-subjective-reasoning-might-be-preferable-to-objective-reason

  • What Are The Best “what Comes After Postmodernism” Essays?

    Restoration of Modernism, and extension of Modernism to include Operationalism, Intuitionism, Instrumentalism, and Performative (or Testimonial) Truth.  Repudiation of Platonism, Pseudoscience, Verbalism, and Social Construction. Repudiation of Universalism. Repudiation of Democracy. Return to Nationalism. 

    Its already happening.

    https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-what-comes-after-postmodernism-essays

  • Capitalism: Why Are Investors And Shareholders Profitseekers Alone?

    They are not.

    The data clearly demonstrates that companies operate at the minimum profitability that is tolerated by creditors, and that employees and management seek the highest extraction possible that creditors will tolerate. 

    Government bureaucrats demonstrate exactly the same behavior, but government, because it is a monopoly cannot be ‘corrected’ by the forces of competition, or in practice, by law, and therefore companies tend to have very short life spans, and even very big and successful companies have very short periods at the top, where governments can persist as corrupt enterprises indefinitely.

    https://www.quora.com/Capitalism-Why-are-investors-and-shareholders-profitseekers-alone

  • Why Haven’t Western Countries Signed The International Convention On The Protection Of The Rights Of All Migrant Workers & Members Of Their Families?

    All human rights are reducible to property rights, because all rights that can be brought into existence are reducible to property rights.  The International charter of human rights consists, in all but the last three line items, of statements of private property rights.  The last three, are not rights but ‘ambitions’ and were reluctantly admitted to the charter at the time under pressure of the then-communist governments.  These last three are not human rights but political obligations that developed countries use to hold undeveloped political authorities accountable for their acitons.

    This accountability is part of the post-war consensus, enforced by the United States as a world policeman,  that granted all states rights to respect for their borders if they obeyed human rights.  (Which Russia recently violated, destroying the postwar consensus.)

    The proposed charter is a license for the theft of property from high trust western polities by peoples of low trust cultures who are themselves unable to create high trust polities.  As such it cannot be considered a ‘right’ but instead a luxury good, or perhaps a license for limited theft.

    The rapid abandonment of socialism and communism and the worldwide adoption of capitalism have eliminated the privileged status of Western peoples because of the artificial shortage of labor.  Now that this shortage has been eliminated, western cultures no longer have labor advantages, and only have institutional advantages. As such increasing the immigration, power, or privileges of expensive underclasses is no longer affordable.

    https://www.quora.com/Why-havent-western-countries-signed-the-International-Convention-on-the-Protection-of-the-Rights-of-All-Migrant-Workers-Members-of-Their-Families

  • What Are Ethics For An It Professional?

    INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ETHICS

    This is an interesting question in the sense that it’s a clear application of the problem of asymmetry of information, understanding, and power, in the control of a utility (a commons).

    In any niche where one has power and influence over others, because of an asymmetry of knowledge of a common resource that the others cannot  understand without extraordinary personal investment, and where he possesses power over others’ use of a common resource, we encounter the challenges of:

    (a) Free-riding: pretending to work in exchange for payment, while not providing market-value in return, because one is not subject to competition which would discover and cure one’s free-riding.

    (b) Corruption : seeking favors or privileges by granting favors or privileges.

    (c) Privatization : obtaining personal benefit from a common resource that could be consumed by others.

    (d) Punishment : deliberately punishing individuals and groups by virtue of one’s control over the provision of the common resource.

    (e) Harm : Deliberately causing the failure of individuals or groups by virtue of one’s control over the function of the common resource.

    (f) Functioning As An Agent: allowing one’s self to be used to free ride, engage in corruption, privatization punishment or harm.

    Take no personal benefit, give no favors, do no harm, preserve ethical independence from agency,  and make decisions at all times by the business value of the work to be performed.

    Ethical Challenges

    Political hierarchies exist by in all bureaucracies, whether private or public, which operate independently from market competition, which constantly discovers inefficiencies (corruption).

    While one an usually adhere to (a) thru (e) in one’s job, it is very hard in a bureaucracy not to be pressured into (f) (Agency) in a bureaucracy. In fact, the trading of such favors (corruption) is the currency that forms the economy of bureaucracies that are insulated from the market.

    Historical Influences
    In the 20th century, ethical pragmatism (outcome-based ethics)  has replaced ethical absolutism (rule-based ethics) due to the constant pressure of left intellectuals’ attack on western high-trust ethics.  This has allowed the ethical pragmatism of lower trust polities to spread in western culture.  As such it is difficult to operate ethically in private life, commercial life and public life, because such unethical action is beneficial to the individual while harmful to society. 

    This is why westerners are the only people to develop high trust societies. It’s very hard.

    https://www.quora.com/What-are-ethics-for-an-IT-professional

  • Capitalism: Why Are Investors And Shareholders Profitseekers Alone?

    They are not.

    The data clearly demonstrates that companies operate at the minimum profitability that is tolerated by creditors, and that employees and management seek the highest extraction possible that creditors will tolerate. 

    Government bureaucrats demonstrate exactly the same behavior, but government, because it is a monopoly cannot be ‘corrected’ by the forces of competition, or in practice, by law, and therefore companies tend to have very short life spans, and even very big and successful companies have very short periods at the top, where governments can persist as corrupt enterprises indefinitely.

    https://www.quora.com/Capitalism-Why-are-investors-and-shareholders-profitseekers-alone

  • What Proportion Of People (in Various Countries) Are Libertarian?

    It depends on whether you are referring to Christian, “classical liberal” libertarianism in the Hayekian sense, or Jewish “libertine” libertarianism in the Rothbardian sense. Around 10-12% of Americans identify themselves libertarian – although the number that consider themselves Rothbardian is not something we have trustworthy survey data for, the activism of the rothbardian libertine minority outweighs is negligible political influence.

    https://www.quora.com/What-proportion-of-people-in-various-countries-are-libertarian

  • Why Haven’t Western Countries Signed The International Convention On The Protection Of The Rights Of All Migrant Workers & Members Of Their Families?

    All human rights are reducible to property rights, because all rights that can be brought into existence are reducible to property rights.  The International charter of human rights consists, in all but the last three line items, of statements of private property rights.  The last three, are not rights but ‘ambitions’ and were reluctantly admitted to the charter at the time under pressure of the then-communist governments.  These last three are not human rights but political obligations that developed countries use to hold undeveloped political authorities accountable for their acitons.

    This accountability is part of the post-war consensus, enforced by the United States as a world policeman,  that granted all states rights to respect for their borders if they obeyed human rights.  (Which Russia recently violated, destroying the postwar consensus.)

    The proposed charter is a license for the theft of property from high trust western polities by peoples of low trust cultures who are themselves unable to create high trust polities.  As such it cannot be considered a ‘right’ but instead a luxury good, or perhaps a license for limited theft.

    The rapid abandonment of socialism and communism and the worldwide adoption of capitalism have eliminated the privileged status of Western peoples because of the artificial shortage of labor.  Now that this shortage has been eliminated, western cultures no longer have labor advantages, and only have institutional advantages. As such increasing the immigration, power, or privileges of expensive underclasses is no longer affordable.

    https://www.quora.com/Why-havent-western-countries-signed-the-International-Convention-on-the-Protection-of-the-Rights-of-All-Migrant-Workers-Members-of-Their-Families