Here's a lengthy but intriguing paper by Mark Chaves on the scientific study of religion. Essentially, he is saying that we know that there is widespread and indeed dominant incongruence between beliefs, traditions, and behaviors in religious life, but scholars study religion as if there were congruence. He includes this example:
The problem is illustrated in a story told by Meyer Fortes. He once asked a rainmaker in a native culture he was studying to perform the rainmaking ceremony for him. The rainmaker refused, replying: “Don't be a fool, whoever makes a rain-making ceremony in the dry season?”
Surely this must be a problem in other areas of inquiry.
A long-range announcement for a meet-up. Calling all hackers. The revolution begins in Edinburgh, Scotland, September 27th, 2019, 7.30pm at at the 'Jekyll and Hyde pub'. Thanks.
Yes, note that I said "many" enterprises, not all. Obviously, hedge funds and tech startups are rather small and non-hierarchal, but they seem to be the exception not the rule.
Other small organizations do exist, but they mostly attract risk-loving, entrepreneurial folks; given the amount of risk involved, it seems that on average they don't really confer that much status compared to just pursuing a career in a large firm or public bureaucracy.
Not to disagree with you, but your two paragraphs are a weird combination because both the dot com boom and the finance boom involved those industries shifting to smaller organizations. In both industries people jump sideways a lot, though the comment about power games may still be true. Silicon valley start ups want to become big organizations, but small hedge funds are the professional goal of most people in finance.
Have you ever explored the relationship between weather and farmer / forager behavior? Based on superficial cultural observations and my own personal habits, it seems obvious that warmer temperatures (or more generally, nice weather) promote forager behavior, but I've wondered if any research has attempted to quantify the effect in any meaningful way.
There is the apocryphal story of Cleopatra gaining status by winning a bet with Mark Antony over who could put on the most expensive meal. He put on a lavish feast. She ground up one of her large, matched pearl ear rings, dissolved it in vinegar and drank it. He conceded the bet when she handed him the second one.
If you care about an accurate market price, you can subsidize a market maker to provide liquidity. I would be willing to bet that it wouldn't take much of a subsidy to produce a lot of liquidity for, say, the Home Price Index Future.
Isn't (and here I really want Robin's input) saying that there is no limit to zero sum status competitions the same as saying that economic activity is a way of valuing and judging which refers back to subjectivity? Are we back at Kant?
Seems like increases in the anarchist / libertarian power share is a likely outcome. I'd guess cryonics would have a better shot at gaining broad support in such an environment. Almost certainly, more free software would get written.
Better bike helmets, coming soon to a store near you?
Robin Hanson should make a video of himself singing this song. ;)
The "Human Brain Project" to model brains is one of the E.U's "flagship" research initiatives:http://translate.google.com...
Will there be significantly less demand for female humans in a world with sexbots and artificial wombs?
OhioStater, you've just given more evidence against the frequentist interpretation of probability and for the Bayesian one!
Adam Ozimek, Hanson favors "dealism", which includes Hannibal Lecter eating babies.
Here's a lengthy but intriguing paper by Mark Chaves on the scientific study of religion. Essentially, he is saying that we know that there is widespread and indeed dominant incongruence between beliefs, traditions, and behaviors in religious life, but scholars study religion as if there were congruence. He includes this example:
The problem is illustrated in a story told by Meyer Fortes. He once asked a rainmaker in a native culture he was studying to perform the rainmaking ceremony for him. The rainmaker refused, replying: “Don't be a fool, whoever makes a rain-making ceremony in the dry season?”
Surely this must be a problem in other areas of inquiry.
A long-range announcement for a meet-up. Calling all hackers. The revolution begins in Edinburgh, Scotland, September 27th, 2019, 7.30pm at at the 'Jekyll and Hyde pub'. Thanks.
Yes, note that I said "many" enterprises, not all. Obviously, hedge funds and tech startups are rather small and non-hierarchal, but they seem to be the exception not the rule.
Other small organizations do exist, but they mostly attract risk-loving, entrepreneurial folks; given the amount of risk involved, it seems that on average they don't really confer that much status compared to just pursuing a career in a large firm or public bureaucracy.
Not to disagree with you, but your two paragraphs are a weird combination because both the dot com boom and the finance boom involved those industries shifting to smaller organizations. In both industries people jump sideways a lot, though the comment about power games may still be true. Silicon valley start ups want to become big organizations, but small hedge funds are the professional goal of most people in finance.
Robin,
Have you ever explored the relationship between weather and farmer / forager behavior? Based on superficial cultural observations and my own personal habits, it seems obvious that warmer temperatures (or more generally, nice weather) promote forager behavior, but I've wondered if any research has attempted to quantify the effect in any meaningful way.
nw, this article discusses your position.
http://www.psychologytoday....
His most interesting point is "there is rarely a single truth", as if you can't say a flood risk is 1 in 100 years until all 100 years pass by.
There is the apocryphal story of Cleopatra gaining status by winning a bet with Mark Antony over who could put on the most expensive meal. He put on a lavish feast. She ground up one of her large, matched pearl ear rings, dissolved it in vinegar and drank it. He conceded the bet when she handed him the second one.
http://womenshistory.about....
You could also tax transactions where there is too much liquidity (i.e. where the speculators dominate the market).
How would you subsidize a market such that a market maker doesn't game it just to get the subsidy risk free?
If you care about an accurate market price, you can subsidize a market maker to provide liquidity. I would be willing to bet that it wouldn't take much of a subsidy to produce a lot of liquidity for, say, the Home Price Index Future.
Isn't (and here I really want Robin's input) saying that there is no limit to zero sum status competitions the same as saying that economic activity is a way of valuing and judging which refers back to subjectivity? Are we back at Kant?
Seems like increases in the anarchist / libertarian power share is a likely outcome. I'd guess cryonics would have a better shot at gaining broad support in such an environment. Almost certainly, more free software would get written.