Monthly Archives: October 2015

OT32: When Hell Is Full The Thread Will Walk The Earth

This is the weekly open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. Also: 1. Comment of the week is Linch’s response to my request to evaluate the DRACO funding bid. They say that it’s probably not a … Continue reading

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Links 10/15: Bride of Linkenstein

You probably know Alan Turing was pretty good with computers. But did you know he was also an Olympic-class marathoner? Study predicts that US average IQ will rise 2-3 points in the next fifty years, driven by finding that minorities … Continue reading

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Meat Your Doom

[Epistemic status: Very dirty and approximate, but I think roughly correct. Check my calculations and tell me if I’m wrong.] A recent formative experience: a seriously ill patient came in and I recommended a strong psychiatric drug. She looked it … Continue reading

Contra Huemer On Morals

Michael Huemer thinks there are objective moral truths, because we’ve been moving in toward a particular coherent ethical perspective for the past few centuries, and for all we know this could be because that ethical perspective is Objective Truth. Achitophel: … Continue reading

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OT31: Open Water

This is an experiment to test more frequent open threads. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. Also: 1. Six months ago I posted a therapist recommendation open thread. Since there are some new people here since then, … Continue reading

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A Whiter Shade of Candidate

Vox says that Donald Trump practices the “politics of white insecurity”. US News says that Trump shows “the rising power of the white vote”. Salon wants to tell you “eight reasons why white America falls for demagogues like Donald Trump”. … Continue reading

Contra Simler on Prestige

su3su2u1 challenged status/signaling theories of human behavior: can they make any real-life predictions? His example was a recent medical conference that threw together three groups of people – high-status top professors, medium-status established doctors, and low-status new residents. The women … Continue reading

Links 10/15: Take Back Your Link

In 1926, a rich guy died and willed all of his money to whichever Toronto woman could have the most babies in the next ten years. So began the Great Stork Derby. For the past four decades or so, rich-country … Continue reading

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OT 30: Comment Knowledge

This is the semimonthly open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. Also: 1. These threads tend to fill up pretty quickly. Should I start doing them weekly instead of biweekly? 2. John Sidles is hereby forbidden … Continue reading

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It Was You Who Made My Blue Eyes Blue

[Content note: suicide] Day Zero It all started with an ignorant white guy. His name was Alonzo de Pinzon, and he’d been shipwrecked. We heard him yelling for help on the rocks and dragged him in, even though the storm … Continue reading

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