QuantumChaos

31 ms·

91.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
Where is the evidence that depression is qualitatively different from being unhappy, or feeling downtrodden and apathetic? All I ever read on the topic is (1) scientific studies that associate certain diagnoses, with the effectiveness of c
92.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
Very nice. One suggestion, I found the abstract and introduction difficult to understand, and only got the real point by page 3. I would add something clearer in the abstract and/or introduction, such as: "Static analysis is use
93.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
Especially interesting to see everything hardcoded into C++. Quite different from most modern codebases that use a mix of languages, configuration files, etc.
94.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
>Maybe that's just not that important to most people though. It's not important to me: I'm satisfied that the theory of comparative advantage shows that free trade is good, and protectionism (even in the form of individual
95.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
>Meanwhile, wages have been stagnant and debt increasing for everyone who is not in the 1%. But the article contains graphs showing that wages for people with bachelor's degrees are growing, and wages of people with master's de
96.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
I think the point the author makes is fundamentally correct: the correctness of answers comes from human reasoning, and is subject to discussion and debate. It's not something completely external, and education shouldn't be a gam
97.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
No, I am equating the profitability of the VC with the profitability on average , of the individual ventures they invest in . That is, the mean profit of the individual ventures. If the VC is profitable, then the average venture is profi
98.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
I don't see how a single instance of Amazon misusing their monopoly power, equates to price rises across the board. So far I imagine the overall affect of Amazon has been to reduce consumer prices.
99.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
I will repeat my answer here: Your point is irrelevant because to be profitable really means to be profitable on average (or in the language of statistics, to be profitable in expectation). So a business that may be very profitable 10% o
100.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
But since profitability is better thought of in terms of averages or expectations, it makes no difference if the companies in question are all moderately profitable, or a few extremely profitable companies, and some non-profitable ones. If
101.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
How does Amazon empitomise this? What goods have they raised the prices of (and why I say raise, I mean relative to the price before Amazon, not that Amazon merely increased their own prices).
102.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
A big buyout is equivalent to turning a profit, since the buyer will expect to profit from their purchase.
103.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
It's easy to make this allegation, but very hard to substantiate it, since there are many factors that influence profit, and just because a company isn't profitable now, doesn't mean that the only way they can become profitab
104.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
So why would VC's fund these company's?
105.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
This is based on the unjustifiable assumption that the author knows better than the VC's and other investors. In particular, the author somehow knows that these company's won't be able to turn a profit, even though the VC&#x
106.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
How could they destroy hundreds of small businesses, if they themselves were not profitable? It seems like you want to have your cake and eat it. You want to criticize these guys for out-competing small businesses, but you also want to cla
107.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
>Remember how Google+ had significant uptake in the rich white tech dude demographic? Not a coincidence. Other people have already said it, but what about Facebook or Twitter? >If you want the best people working at your company, you
108.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
No, because most games only have Nash Equilbria. Nash Equilibrium assumes that everyone is acting rationally, not just the person you are advising. Some games, like second price auctions (under certain assumptions about people's val
109.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
Reposting my reply to your other comment in this thread (feel free to continue discussion on either thread). According to Winship, Piketty's results are wrong/irrelevant for other, independent reasons. But not everyone shares this
110.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
you are misreading the context. According to Winship, Piketty's results are wrong/irrelevant for other, independent reasons. But not everyone shares this view, so Winship is clarifying that, for people who were initially convince
111.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
On Scott Winship, see one of my top level comments (I made two top level comments as I only started investigating this after I posted once). Whatever was printed in the article, he has said on Twitter that he does doubt Piketty's conc
112.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
The article quotes from a critic of Piketty, Scott Winship, but the strange nature of of the quotes (highly selective and including quotes on irrelevant matters) made me suspicious. Here are the latest tweets on the matter by him: 1/Q
113.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
You are right, this is possible. But I am assuming that the Krugman, Summers and other reviewers (at least somewhat) did their homework, and were correct in saying that Piketty's empirical work was unique and important.
114.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
The first quote is exactly the kind of vagueness that could be avoided by specifically addressing what the FT said, which other studies support his conclusions, etc. The second quote is similarly vague, and the part on ethics is irrelevant.
115.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
On the one hand, Krugman, Summers, and other economists praise Piketty primarily for his unique, groundbreaking empirical work on income inequality. On the other hand, when FT critique his empirical work, Piketty says that his work has alre
116.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
According to wikipedia, they are a far-left group who "advocate self-reduction, where the price of the service is determined by the consumer. Whereas in other cases this is done in agreement with (at least some) employees of the servic
117.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
I disagree that it is morally wrong to threaten people's livelihoods, or that anything is morally permissible to defend one's own livelihood. If, by some crazy chance, someone managed to make my job unnecessary, I would just suck
118.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
Actually, Dr. Summers does implicitly mention the Fed, when he says "Probably the two most important steps that public policy can take with respect to wealth inequality are the strengthening of financial regulation to more fully elimin
119.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
But if that were the case, then schools would simply be forced to pay higher wages for teachers. That, or teachers would be willing to travel further (perhaps in exchange for slightly higher wages). In either case, the idea that a city can
120.
by QuantumChaos 12y ago
Not that I think Soylent is a good idea, but a nutritionist is not a well defined profession or qualification in the way the a medical doctor is. So if the people involved in this project consider themselves qualified in the field of nutrit

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