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No offense, phillmv, but you strike me as a serious person with an open mind. If this is true, for only 62 cents you can get a copy of this book (http://www.am
by moldbug 15y ago
No offense, phillmv, but you strike me as a serious person with an open mind.
If this is true, for only 62 cents you can get a copy of this book (http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Slum-Salford-Quarter-Century/dp/014013624X http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Slum-Salford-Quarter-Century/d...), which describes a (low-crime) Edwardian slum from the perspective of someone who grew up there and later became a sociologist (author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Roberts_(author) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Roberts_(author)). You'll have to shell out $5 for prison psychologist Theodore Dalrymple's view (http://www.amazon.com/Life-Bottom-Worldview-Makes-Underclass/dp/1566635055 http://www.amazon.com/Life-Bottom-Worldview-Makes-Underclass...) of their great-grandchildren.
If you think the difference between these societies can be reduced to the availability and/or legality of intoxicants, you have a very one-track mind. Take another hit on the bong and perhaps your perspective will expand. Oh, and the subjects of both studies are predominantly white. So in case you're a racist, that's not an option.
- phillmv 15y agoThanks! That's the nicest thing someone has said to me in an internet forum. I'll take a gander at your books. I offer in return http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictably_Irrational http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictably_Irrational . I haven't finished http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature but it's somewhat related. I'm not a huge fan of Freakonomics but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Impact_of_Legalized_Abortion_on_Crime http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Impact_of_Legalized_Abortio... is an interesting one. Finally, the TAL episodes I've linked elsewhere in this thread: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/143/sentencing http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/143/s... and http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/364/going-big http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/364/g... If you look at any of the above, the TAL episodes are probably the most easy to consume.
- moldbug 15y agoA very easy way to expand your perspective beyond the ken of the average NPR intellectual is to read old (pre-1923) books. You know that feeling the medieval scholastics got when they realized they could actually read Virgil, Cicero, Homer, etc, in the original? Pretty much spoiled them on Church Latin. That's not to say there aren't good or interesting writers in the present era. The range of discourse is much narrower, however. You won't find a lot of present-day perspectives that did not exist before 1923, but you will find an enormous quantity of pre-1923 perspectives which are completely alien to you - and in many cases quite distasteful. Also, the price is right! As for Pinker, though, _The Blank Slate_ is pretty good...
- phillmv 15y agoSure. Just can the silly paternalism next time. It's jading, and it really detracts from the rest of your argument.
- lrhot9 15y agoIt's hard to keep posting when polite, helpful posts like this only gets you references to Pinker and Gladwell, but please do.