Blog

• Economics has a strong self-fulfilling prophecy component
• Our fixed preferences are not known to us
• “The plural of anecdote is not data.”
• Counterfactuals are important for tests
• Cooperation requires more compute power than self interest
• Expertise is a claim to authority over others
• “‘Unintended’ does not mean ‘unforeseeable’”

• Blogs replaced the old wire services
• Content filters up as much as it filters down
• Traffic is money
• Anger generates traffic but sadness depresses it
• The original newspapers were editorial papers for [political] parties
• Package sales (whole papers or albums) let you sell innovative but sub-par things
• RSS were killed because they allow bypassing click-bait
• “Generally held ideas are idiocy because they have been able to appeal to everyone”
• It is really difficult to interpret silence
• Mentally, we put more emphasis on words read than words heard
• Outlandish claims are harder for us to dismiss because we fixate on comprehending the oddness of the claim
• Greek tragedies remind us how quickly tragedy can turn to befall is
• TV was all about amusement where blogs are about clicks
• You cannot have the news for free. You can only obscure the cost

• Humans are often scared of free will
• Reductionistic explanations generally work best when things go wrong
• TOTE loop: test, operate, test, exit
• People aware of the motivation behind rewards are apt to find less enjoyment in the work and the rewards
• Autonomy (ability to make decisions) is different from independence (not caring about how decisions affect others)
• Autonomy supporting management brings optimal performance
• Identified motivation is things we want to do because think we should even if we do not want to
• Interjected motivation is guilt driven
• We seek validation because we want to believe we are good people
• Brains tend to stay busy when we are not thinking about much
• Picking intrinsic goals make us happier
• Spending time thinking about the benefits of goals before picking them helps us pick better goals

Note: This book has an incredible number of references and correlations. One should read it if one is curious about sounds.

• Perfumes are designed to give off different smells as they evaporate

• “For it’s precisely the pursuit ideological purity, the rigid orthodoxy, and the shear predictability of our current political debate that keep us from finding new ways to meet challenges we face us as a country. It’s such doctrinal thinking and stark partisanship that has turned Americans off of politics. This is not a problem for the right. A polarized electorate or one that easily dismisses both parties because the nasty, dishonest tone of the debate, works perfectly well for those who seek to ship away at the very idea of government. After all, a sinical electorate is a self-centered electorate. But for those of use we believe government has a role to play in promoting opportunity and prosperity for Americans, a polarized electorate is not good enough.”
• What is the point of having values of you do not follow through with them
• Politics is the art of the possible where religion is inherently the art of the impossible
• We need to make law based on principles that all religions can accept
• God does not reveal Himself or His angels to all of us at the same moment