Monthly Archives: October 2011

Some Notes on the Marketplace

Posted on 2011-10-30 by TJ

Since it is well-established that I am not so smart, this account of expert self-delusion and failure caught my eye: tell people they’re drinking fine wine and they’ll experience all kinds of subtle nuances and flavours, even though in a … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, poetry, psychology | Leave a comment

Some Notes on Debt

Posted on 2011-10-29 by TJ

I’m reading “Debt: a history of the first 5000 years” by David Graeber, and it’s a delightful and frustrating book. Delightful because the author isn’t afraid to ask the big questions. Frustrating because despite his carefully cultivated ironic persona he … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, history, life, politics, probability, psychology | 2 Comments

Not the End of the World

Posted on 2011-10-22 by TJ

It is October 22nd and the world is still here. It has not been consumed by fire. Unbelievers have not been swept away by a vast panoply of material calamities. The elect have not been taken off to heaven. Harold … Continue reading →

Posted in epistemology, god, prediction, psychology, religion, science | 2 Comments

The Nature of Science

Posted on 2011-10-17 by TJ

In response to recent claims that neutrinos traveling between CERN and Gran Saso are moving at a speed slightly faster than light, arXiv.org has been filling up with papers proposing explanations. There is a truism in physics that theorists never … Continue reading →

Posted in epistemology, physics, probability, psychology, science | Leave a comment

Talkin’ ’bout my Corporation

Posted on 2011-10-08 by TJ

Liberal-democratic corporate capitalism has been very good to me. I’m sitting in a cafe’ run by a corporation (a small, local one). I’m wearing shoes and clothing made by corporations (large, global ones), to say nothing of typing this on … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, history, politics | Leave a comment

Sustainability and Subsistence

Posted on 2011-10-02 by TJ

For the past several hundred thousand years almost all humans everywhere lived in a subsistence economy. They produced just enough to meet their own needs. Some of the reason for this may have been due to practical problems with the … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, history, politics | 3 Comments