I’ve recently discovered that Nick Gaetano, who painted the covers of recent prints of various Ayn Rand novels, is actually a fairly prolific artist. I like a great deal of his work.
Computer science and stats
Urbit has been released. See also The DAO as a lesson on decentralized governance.
Lets Talk about the Luddite Problem
The Slow Winter. Great post about hardware design.
Can Results-Free Review Reduce Publication Bias? The Results and Implications of a Pilot Study. Great article about the benefits of peer review of papers without reading the results section.
Two interesting papers on AI risk: Safely Interruptible Agents and Concrete Problems in AI Safety.
Notes on Notation and Thought. Great article listing various fields where choosing the right notation leads to significantly improved thought processes - e.g., inventing new juggling moves by developing a notation for juggling.
Cheat Codes for Contravariance and Covariance
A great article on generic vs statistical beliefs. The specific topic under discussion is Jussim’s book on stereotype accuracy. It distinguishes generic beliefs (“Asians are good at math”, “mosquitoes carry west nile”) from statistically accurate beliefs (“Asians are right handed”, “books are paperback”), and suggests that interpreting things under the lens of generic beliefs stereotypes may not be accurate. I’d consider the question in the following way; I’d postulate that are generic beliefs simply shorthands for a belief that “X has information content about Y”. For example, telling me a person is Asian significantly increases my posterior probability that he is good at math, but telling me a person is Asian does not increase my posterior probability that he is right handed. I’d love to learn more abou tthis concept of generic beliefs, if anyone has links I’d love to read them. A nother article on the topic.
Economics
Finance and Opportunity in India, by Raghu Rajan.
Westeros is Poorly Designed.
Thomas Piketty Says Labor’s Share of Income Is Declining, But Is It?
Culture
First of all, since I’m posting a little on Brexit, let me disclose my bets. On the first trading day after Brexit, I went long Britain and long EU. Also bought some SPY at a discount. Weeks later, I’m significantly up. Woot!
As an American splitting time between the US and India, I know fuck all about Brexit. This interview with Dominic Cummings makes a good case for it. Here’s a Cathederal economist laying out a nearly Moldbuggian case against democracy in the wake of Brexit.
Brexit and the Moral Vision of Nationhood. This is a great article explaining provincialism, in particular how it relates to Britain. I found it enlightening since I’m not the sort of person who has any provincialist feelings. I expect one day to leave the US (I think she has structural problems that won’t be fixed) and never return, and for me emotionally this is like throwing away a pair of shoes that are worn out.
How Behavioral Economics Undermines the Enlightenment. It’s an interesting article, but the problem with it is that this doesn’t make behavioral econ incorrect.
The United States of South India - strong advocacy for south Indian secession, though it changes course at the end.
Against Edenism by Peter Thiel.
Technology, Communism and the Brown Scare by Curtis Yarvin/Mencius Moldbug. An oldie but a goodie.