lexcorvus

13 ms·

61.
by lexcorvus 11y ago
Lower interest rates increase your relative propensity to spend by lowering the opportunity cost of consumption. For example, if you have $10K and can get only a 1% annual return, you might as well take that trip to Vegas. If you could get
62.
by lexcorvus 11y ago
I suspect this is in part a side-effect of the Anglo-American (maturity-mismatched) banking system, which keeps long-term interest rates artificially low, leading to higher time preference.
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
Sex-based difference is the biggest taboo of our time. I'd argue that race-based differences are even more taboo. But it's close.
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
This is a corollary of the coin paradox : http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CoinParadox.html
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
Wow, a downvote already? Under 5 minutes—that's impressive. Who is still even reading this thread? Bloodthirsty assholes, I guess, or maybe neo-Abolitionists. (But I repeat myself.)
66.
by lexcorvus 11y ago
So, basically, they deserved it. How nice. This is how good people can support mind-boggling evil. The British Empire managed to abolish slavery without anything remotely so horrific as the Haitian Revolution. As a result, former British co
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
Haitian revolutionaries murdered virtually all white men, and spared only the women willing to marry black men. [1] "Black Jacobins" is indeed an apt term for such barbarism. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki&#x2F
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
The obvious solution is complete freedom of association. (To the extent that "fit" doesn't help companies succeed, it is its own punishment.) But this would make for a short article. It would also make for simple laws, and wo
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
Oh, come on, people. Projecting is a pun, and the article is obviously political. Grow a sense of humor. Downvoters: if you want to see an asshole, find a mirror.
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
I have a sneaking suspicion there's a political agenda behind this article, but maybe I'm just projecting .
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
In contrast, I devoured the full UR archives over the course of a couple weeks. In this context, his verbosity is a feature, not a bug, because it's people like me Moldbug was trying to reach.
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
the actual views and arguments Getting the views of neoreactionaries from Noah Smith is like getting the views of Luther's 95 Theses from Pope Leo X. How about, you know, just reading Moldbug? http://moldbuggery.blogspot
73.
by lexcorvus 11y ago
In this context, I think it's worth reading the article "The Curious Case of Mencius Moldbug" at Slate: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/06/cur...
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
This got five upvotes within a half hour or so, surely enough to have hit the front page. I can only assume that it's being held back by people flagging it, a reaction likely based on not much more than a knee-jerk reaction to the name
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The Curious Case of Mencius Moldbug(slate.com)
29 points by lexcorvus 11y ago|1 comments
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
If there is much greater variance within populations than between them, then it is foolish to make decisions about people based on their race, as it gives very little information about them. All you say is true, but it won't necessar
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
His admission really is incredibly revealing, and refreshingly, even depressingly honest. He's literally saying no amount of reason or evidence could change his mind on a matter that is obviously (in principle) falsifiable. I think it&
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
claim (a) is that there are such differences that contribute (substantively) to different outcomes That is not claim (a). Claim (a) is that there are genetic factors in group differences, but makes no assertion about their magnitude. You
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
No, the burden of proof is on those who claim not-(a), because it is evident at a glance that there are at least some genetic difference between groups. (Detailed genetic analysis, of course, confirms this. Noted anti-racist Henry Louis Gat
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
I appreciate your thoughtful comments. Inspired by these discussions, I believe I've sharpened my understanding of this subject considerably. When it comes to accounting for observed differences between different groups, the following
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
Here's the crux of the problem: Jared Diamond's answer to Yali's question is not mutually exclusive with the converse of (b). In other words, Guns, Germs, and Steel argues persuasively that environmental factors played a ma
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
This is exactly right. Unfortunately, the fallacy—often called Lewontin's Fallacy [1], after the Harvard biologist who most famously committed it—seems nigh ineradicable. Perhaps there should be some sort of Godwin's Law for it:
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
it's not hard to reach the conclusion that white supremacy --- or some intellectual abstraction isomorphic to it --- is one of its defining features On the contrary, it's impossible to reach that conclusion if you read even curs
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
I have read it. I don't find "But Not NOT One, Either" to be an accurate characterization. Basically, Moldbug's position is that white nationalists include lots of vile racists, but that by itself doesn't mean they&
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
if that's something he wants to distance himself from, he's done himself no favors by overtly nodding to white nationalism in his own writing This is incredibly misleading. Replace "overtly nodding" with explicitly di
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
In the context of views that are potentially odious but are tolerated in technology, it's perhaps worth noting that two of the instigators of this decision [1, 2] are respectively an avowed communist [3] and a socialist who serves on t
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
As Alex Payne (@al3x) helpfully explains [1], those calling for Yarvin's talk invitation to be rescinded didn't do so because of politics —oh, no—but because of hate . You see, it's important to be inclusive, even of "
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
Virtually every tech conference operating today is a vehicle for progressive ideology. But since virtually everyone is a progressive, attendees hardly notice, like a fish not noticing water. Consider, for example, this egregious talk, which
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
This sort of research only makes sense if you use an expansive definition of "liberal" and "conservative". From a historical perspective, it makes hardly any sense at all. For example, Englishmen in 1590 presumably split
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by lexcorvus 11y ago
It's an understandable question. Many media outlets are treading carefully, identifying him by his accomplishments (successful entrepreneur and investor) and position (CEO of SurveyMonkey), when in fact the main reason people have hear

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