Best and Brightest
Jordi Brandts and colleagues got a group of students to predict a sequence of five coin tosses, and then selected the best and the worst predictor. They then asked other subjects to bet on whether the...
View ArticleBefore my teacher came to me, I did not know that I am.
From 'The World I Live In' by Hellen Keller, Page 37 Before my teacher came to me, I did not know that I am. I lived in a world that was a no-world. I cannot hope to describe adequately that...
View ArticleDo increases in federal spending on student financial aid drive up college...
Some evidence the answer is yes. In a complex system a clear answer will be elusive but there are good reasons to think more money is not the answer to all higher education schooling problems. Some...
View ArticleIndividuality is an "optical delusion of consciousness"
"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical...
View ArticleThe Hacker Spirit
The Hacker Spirit is:Exploiting a system, but never in an illegal, harmful or immoral way.Working smart, not just working hard; getting the most output for the least energy.Being like water, which...
View ArticleWe're all in this together
"No person, I think, ever saw a herd of buffalo, of which a few were fat and the great majority lean. No person ever saw a flock of birds, of which two or three were swimming in grease, and the others...
View ArticleWell said.
The problem here isn't that we think Richard Cohen gags at the sight of an interracial couple and their children. The problem is that Richard Cohen thinks being repulsed isn't actually racist, but...
View ArticleOpen Minds
In the committee's draft of the "guiding principles" was something about "Intellectual and creative skills." A bunch of people objected to the word "skills." We're a liberal arts college, they...
View ArticleArticle 0
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an Angel! in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the...
View ArticleThe Gulf Between Planning and Reality
Like all organizational models, waterfall is mainly a theory of collaboration. By putting the most serious planning at the beginning, with subsequent work derived from the plan, the waterfall method...
View ArticleHero.
In a park near my home is a plaque that reads:"We honor all those who fought for our community." There is probably a similar plaque near you. I would be more proud to live in a community with a plaque...
View ArticleCapitalism, Disconnected from Human Needs
From Doctor Zhivago:"Deals were made on the scale of the turnover of a rag and bone merchant in a flea market and their pettiness led to profiteering and speculation. No new wealth was created by these...
View ArticleHow expanded opportunities can lead to more inequality
"Consider Janet Yellen, her recent confirmation to chair the Fed has made her the most powerful woman in the world, the most powerful woman in world history, the world’s second most powerful person, or...
View ArticleStatus Quo Defenders and the Illiberal Secutiry State
The point being that too many “liberals” are really conservative apologists for the status quo political order, just as too many “libertarians” are really conservative apologists for the status quo...
View Article"Don't Pray On Me"
Excerpt from the Bad Religion song: Now I don't know what stopped Jesus ChristFrom turning every hungry stone into breadAnd I don't remember hearing how Moses reactedWhen the innocent first born sons...
View ArticleFanatical vs. Humble Atheists
What separates me from most so-called atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos. The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still...
View ArticleMachiavelli on Risk and Danger
All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the...
View ArticleThe Meaning of Life
The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.―...
View ArticleThe World Is Created By Us
When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and you're life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family...
View ArticleMaster–Slave Morality
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to...
View ArticleOn acting in uncertainty
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent, And, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both neglect.— Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3
View ArticleConsumer Spending and GDP Growth
Around 70% of gross domestic product (GDP) comes from consumer spending. Around 80% of U.S. households make under $100,000 per year. This is the middle (and "working") class. If you take purchasing...
View ArticleDo what you will, but speak out always.
“When I was asked to make this address I wondered what I had to say to you boys who are graduating. And I think I have one thing to say. If you wish to be useful, never take a course that will silence...
View ArticleImagine two astronauts...
Imagine two astronauts go to the moon, and while they're there, there's an accident and their ship can't take them back to Earth. They have only enough oxygen for two days. There is no hope of someone...
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