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Normism: The Philosophy of Norm Macdonald, a short book I wrote about the late great comedian, is available on Amazon.
Category Archives: Science
There Really Is Such a Thing as the Protestant Work Ethic
A group of Dutch economists provide more proof that Weber was probably right after all: A recent paper by André van Hoorn and Robbert Maseland: Test[s] the relation between Protestantism and work attitudes using a novel method, operationalizing work ethic … Continue reading
Posted in Sociology
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Ronald H. Couse
UChicago’s Ronald H. Coase has died at the impressive age of 102. Ronald H. Coase, whose insights about why companies work and when government regulation is unnecessary earned him a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 1991, died on … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
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Study Claims Poverty Reduces Brain Power
A bold thesis from experimental psychologists at Harvard, Princeton, the University of Warwick, and other universities: Poverty and the all-consuming fretting that comes with it require so much mental energy that the poor have little brain power left to devote … Continue reading
Archaeology: The Milk Revolution
In Nature is a fascinating article titled “Archaeology: The Milk Revolution“, about how a single genetic mutation (for lactose tolerance) among Northern Europeans radically changed the course of Europe’s development. More current genetics research is showing that genetic variation can … Continue reading
Drake Equation Moving Towards 1.00
It seems with each passing year, the Drake Equation is actualizing itself, right before our eyes, towards 1.00 Though only about dozen potentially habitable exoplanets have been detected so far, scientists say the universe should be teeming with alien worlds … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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Why Rational People Buy Into Conspiracy Theories
In “Why Rational People Buy Into Conspiracy Theories“, Maggie Koerth-Baker gives a quick glimpse of some current research on the subject, with a slightly liberal tinge. (The propensity for believing in conspiracy theories is a lonstanding sociological fascination of mine, … Continue reading
Posted in Sociology
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Suicide Rise: White Males
Here’s a story worthy of further media inquiry (“What are the causes? Why are middle aged white males doing this?”), but unlikely to get any. Why? Because the alarming increase in suicides is being committed by white males… and f*ck … Continue reading
Posted in Sociology
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Von Neumann Machines
The Independent reports: Experts warn of danger that the new viral strains created by mixing bird-flu virus with human influenza could escape from the laboratory to cause a global pandemic killing millions of people. I recall some years back, how … Continue reading
Posted in Death of the West, Nanotechnology, Science
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When Prophecy Fails
At Jim’s Blog, a post on the notion of Left Singularity has spurred some excellent discussion on the subject. Jim writes: We are seeing a political singularity – the leftwards slide that has been under way since 1710 or so … Continue reading
Posted in Dark Enlightenment, Left, Science, Sociology
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Tylenol Eases Existential Anxiety
To patch that hole of existential dread, don’t just read Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, and Dostoyevsky… pop a Tylenol: A common pain-reliever can also be used to cope with existential dread – anxiety arising from thinking about death – according to a … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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