tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post8871324556697399672..comments2024-03-18T21:36:06.832-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Declining trust in our expert castes: what are underlying causes?David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger153125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61935425880217640032017-04-29T14:22:28.815-07:002017-04-29T14:22:28.815-07:00@Larry Hart
Good points. I'm right there with ...@Larry Hart<br />Good points. I'm right there with you on this. Principles matter. We most definitely want our political candidates (win or lose) to be the good ones who strive to live by the principles of a civilized society.Dennis M Davidsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13861850532281473798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-14079329744751275462017-04-28T12:51:06.880-07:002017-04-28T12:51:06.880-07:00onward
onwardonward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41682561848679609122017-04-28T12:50:52.713-07:002017-04-28T12:50:52.713-07:00"You, Sir, threw that gantlet by offering to ..."You, Sir, threw that gantlet by offering to trade anecdotes 1000:1."<br /><br />And you paid ZERO attention to the argument arc. Which was (and remains) that "even though I am confident I could out-anecdote you... THIS IS NOT ABOUT ANECDOTES!"<br /><br />"We often seem to miss each other's points."<br /><br />Yup. And there is a reason. Because all you ostriches have left, to bury your heads under, is anecdotes and aphorisms and incantations and voodoo spells like Supply Side.<br /><br />Whenever we try to turn the conversation over to actual, fact-centered differences in POLICY OUTCOME, all be get, in return is another wave of desperate anecdotes and aphorisms and incantations and voodoo spells like Supply Side.<br /><br />Tacitus, my friend. Bring us lefty-flake anecdotes when you have ANY that match the Oklahoma City bombers, the southern church massacres, the sig-heil traitors. Till then, can we veer over to the War on All Fact-Users?<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-49540531251754615652017-04-28T12:19:03.237-07:002017-04-28T12:19:03.237-07:00David
"You’ve heard it all before." Bo...David<br /><br />"You’ve heard it all before." Boy, howdy have I ever!<br /><br /> "It is loopy to use anecdotes of a few leftie idiots" You, Sir, threw that gantlet by offering to trade anecdotes 1000:1.<br /><br />"even a single metric" Yes, we have danced this before. I have opined that you do not play by fair rules as you dub yourself judge, jury, and court of appeals. <br /><br />I occasionally point out moments when your rhetoric gets the better of you. To the detriment of discourse and to your political points of view.<br /><br />We often seem to miss each other's points.<br /><br />Not always, which I suppose is good, but often. Such are the times we live in.<br /><br />Tacitus<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Tacitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17007086196578740689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6358856462212960732017-04-28T12:13:00.316-07:002017-04-28T12:13:00.316-07:00First, "June Trauma" would be a great na...First, "June Trauma" would be a great name for an action movie Heroine. Or perhaps a female punk band.<br /><br />Also, everybody did <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt7twXzNEsQ" rel="nofollow">watch that lamb in the artificial womb</a>? because if that doesn't look like living in the future, I don't know what does. (or maybe living under Saruman the White)<br />sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-84528784328642903262017-04-28T12:00:44.027-07:002017-04-28T12:00:44.027-07:00Tacitus said: “100:1? can you manage it? Its ok to...Tacitus said: “100:1? can you manage it? Its ok to say you were a bit exercized and got carried away.”<br /><br />You miss the point, my friend. I was all neener-neener that my “side” would win, even if the battleground were over anecdotes. Moreover you know darn well that right wing haters are worse, both qualitatively and quantitatively than there campus screecher lefty counterparts.<br /><br />You also know I am actually “a plague on both your houses,” at both types.<br /><br />But you miss the point. Our political tussles should not be about nor controlled by screechers of either side. While Carl made it repeatedly about anecdotally offensive lefties, I kept returning to VERIFIABLE STATISTICAL EVIDENCE. The great enemy of Fox-ism.<br /><br />You are among the few who has even tried (and I believe failed; but you’ve tried) to come up with even a single metric of US health that has done better — attributably resulting from — across spans of Republican governance. But, even if your counter example stand, they are minuscule quibbles from a vast and blatant overall disparity in governing ability. And in stunningly obstinate clinging to bad ideas.<br /><br />These challenges are vastly more valid than whipping out and comparing anecdotes.<br /><br /> Can you name for me one profession of high knowledge and skill that’s not under attack by Fox/Trump &cohorts? Teachers, medical doctors, journalists, civil servants, law professionals, economists, skilled labor, professors… oh, yes and science. And now the military officer corps.<br /><br />Name one GOP leader between Reagan and Ryan who was even mentioned at the 2016 Republican Convention. Except for Newt, all were brushed under the rug, including both Bushes, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Dennis (friend to boys) Hastert, Tom (convicted felon) DeLay, Boehner. In fact, name a republican between EISENHOWER and Ryan who was even mentioned by the party at the RNC, other than Reagan and Newt! This shows how writhing ashamed Republicans are, of their record at governance.<br /><br />You’ve heard it all before. But the core point here is about apples and bananas. It is loopy to use anecdotes of a few leftie idiots to counter massive proof of the right’s plunge into incompetence and insanity at policy and governance.<br /><br />Especially since - yes - there are vastly more and vastly worse anecdotal rightie monsters, too.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-60881176181198200132017-04-28T11:43:00.408-07:002017-04-28T11:43:00.408-07:00Quickie summarized answers are now disposable due ...Quickie summarized answers are now disposable due to the internet. Obviously it's those other people who misuse Wikipedia, not us.<br /><br />The problems have been with us forever. (40 years ago subscribers to Psychology Today mostly joined the Dunning-Kruger Club.) The solutions are new and game-changing. The Maytag repairman lost his job, finally, because of YouTube.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-55906013655200629582017-04-28T11:26:38.073-07:002017-04-28T11:26:38.073-07:00Jumper - re Paul SB's point - Actually, I thin...Jumper - re Paul SB's point - Actually, I think you'd find many people - left or right - "worshipping" Gordon Geckoism - in a compartmentalized fraction of their life. I suspect that Paul's point, "Competition becomes poison when it is treated as a religious tenet" - merits a corollary, since competition has a way of expanding to crowd out other aspects of life, which taken to extremes (whatever an extreme is in this context) can result in gross harms to self and others.<br /><br /><i>"You can type questions into Google now and likely have a good answer pop up. What kind of lizard is this? What is Muqtada al Sadr doing that's not been in the news? What is coal mining really like these days? What was "ethyl" gasoline? It would take a day at a library just a few years ago; now all those can be answered in an hour from my sofa or portable device."</i><br /><br />Getting a 'quickie' answer isn't the problem; it's the deluded reliance on a 'quickie' answer. Your time in a library years ago would still require you to actually read something and spend time to understand it. The time it takes to read, process and understand hasn't changed, but access to a quickie summarized answer creates the delusion of having obtained comparable knowledge to those who spent years studying a thing in detail.<br /><br />Once upon a time, folks relied more on Farmers Almanacs than meteorology. Folks studying at Google University often replicate that error, accepting the false certitude of an almanac for the equivocations and probabilities of a meteorologist. And yet - <br /><br /><i>"The idea that people with no curiosity, only badly stale urban legends bouncing around the brain, should have mass influence, is just wrong."</i><br />I am not so sure. Such people constitute the mass, after all - none of us is curious about all things, or capable of closely studying each thing worthy of study. It is possible that they are less injurious to themselves and others than one would expect...donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-49670637956068992002017-04-28T11:10:22.657-07:002017-04-28T11:10:22.657-07:00Tacitus: "Sure, there are plenty of swastika...Tacitus: <i>"Sure, there are plenty of swastika on a wall somewhere....they do not support the notion that there is a frothing, writhing, inchoate Nuremburg mob out there..."</i><br /><br />I both agree with your point and think it merits extensive study. Jewish Americans are not at risk of a new Holocaust in America - not by a long shot. The risk of sporadic graffiti or more brutal attacks on synagogues is real, but vastly smaller than the attacks on mosques and various temples for other groups. Were a major leader to try to arouse a frothing mob to violence against Jewish Americans, I am quite certain such a mob would amount to a handful of deranged degenerates (who unfortunately are able to arm themselves quite heavily, so must be taken seriously, but pose no threat to the group as a whole). <br /><br />But against Muslims? Immigrants? There, I am not so sure. Obama was accused of doing 'nothing' about immigration, despite one of the most brutal and far-reaching LEGAL clampdowns on immigrant communities that has ever been conducted. The implication is that the Trumpists who regard Obama as 'weak' on immigration demand extra-legal measures. They will not be appeased by expanding existing border walls a few hundred miles...donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-74619001417380293822017-04-28T10:58:39.350-07:002017-04-28T10:58:39.350-07:00Jumper: "I'm no lawyer either, Larry, but...Jumper: <i>"I'm no lawyer either, Larry, but I think most of what you propose is illegal..."</i><br />Possibly not, depending on precisely how it is accounted for and which taxes are paid.<br /><br />Larry: <i>"But I don't think I suggested anything illegal. The more likely flaw is that the math doesn't actually work out in your favor."</i><br />Correct; it very seldom works out in your favor. A misclassification may become illegal when there is an intent to evade (and intent is surprisingly easy to prove, as the mechanisms used - and drastic changes in tax position - show a design). These sorts of schemes are an area that billionaires benefit from, but even millionaires seldom can. Having studied a few of these devices at the corporate level (even billionaires seldom compete with the intricacies of the biggest corporations)...the game is best avoided. Just be aware that the biggest Americans can reduce their taxable income to 15-18%, in ways that most of us cannot, but almost never to 0% (the biggest foreigners, however, have a far easier time with this...).donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-85110017976924710692017-04-28T10:49:10.753-07:002017-04-28T10:49:10.753-07:00re self-incorporation (advice from a lawyer) -
D...re self-incorporation (advice from a lawyer) - <br /><br />Don't even try. The simple tricks available to those without sophisticated help are well-trod trails, well-known, and likely to result in far greater liabilities than temporary savings. If you really want to play the various incorporation gambits (and there are many), get thorough counsel from the outset, which will run you a good $100k (and save you far more - if your earnings exceed $1 mill/year). I do not offer that sort of advice, but know some who do. Typically, you will pay considerably every year for the benefit: the cost exceeds the benefit for nearly all people, save those in the 99% bracket.<br /><br />I can go on at length, but bear in mind, whether you classify your income as capital or as wages, the IRS will reclassify it according to its own mechanisms as they apply the tax code: you do not control this, they do. An aggressive mechanism can escape detection - for a time, but unless it does so for 7 years, it does you little good. Small fry are much easier targets for the IRS than big fry, and the $100k used to set things up right goes a long ways to saving you $1 mill for tax defense (which you may not be able to afford when the time comes). Or you can buy 'tax aid packages' - from folks who sell basic incorporation and a few gambits to suckers in volume - who will be off to Panama or Helvetia after pocketing your money by the time the IRS comes knocking.donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-75446667655635810552017-04-28T10:33:47.889-07:002017-04-28T10:33:47.889-07:00Carl M seems to have taken a break. He does make ...Carl M seems to have taken a break. He does make a point, rather badly of course, in regards the tendency of honest people to dismiss things that don't fit their world view as anecdote and to fill in gaps in the way they wish things to be with extrapolation.<br /><br />This caused David to get a bit riled up, as is his wont. (And his privilege of course). <br /><br />It made me think of his offer to swap anecdotes at a 100 to 1 or 10000 to 1 ratio. Now I will not hold him to that but it got me wondering.<br /><br />In the First Hundred Days there have been a lot of media reports on Hate Crimes, presumably inspired by President Trump and carried out by his rabid followers. The very clade of Klansters and heel clickers who feature so prominently in Brin's Demonology.<br /><br />So, David and others. Of the Hate Crimes that have been investigated and resolved what proportion were "genuine". By that lets just specify White and/or Christian people carrying out heinous acts specifically at Otherly Faithed or Pigmented? <br /><br />Sure, there are plenty of swastika on a wall somewhere incidents that could be anything, but are most likely immature pranks. But seems to me that the high profile stuff like the woman who claims someone was going to set her on fire for wearing a hijab, the tipped over Jewish tombstones, the torched black church....they do not support the notion that there is a frothing, writhing, inchoate Nuremburg mob out there...<br /><br />100:1? can you manage it? Its ok to say you were a bit exercized and got carried away.<br /><br />TacitusTacitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17007086196578740689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-23031388911308292662017-04-28T09:29:46.014-07:002017-04-28T09:29:46.014-07:00...that reply was meant to follow all of the itali......that reply was meant to follow all of the italics, not sit in the middle of them.<br /><br />Sorry.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72439226681276165202017-04-28T09:28:42.552-07:002017-04-28T09:28:42.552-07:00dennisd:
The salient feature of an election is wi...dennisd:<br /><i><br />The salient feature of an election is winning (or losing). Everything else such---as 'sending a message' or registering displeasure about a candidate (Hillary haters)---is secondary. <br /></i><br /><br />It makes some sense to include "Wanting to still be the good guys when we win" in the mix. After all, if (for example) the Democrats have to embrace Supply-Side economics in order to win, then what's the <b>point</b> of winning? (I ask from the POV of a voter, not of a politician whose salary depends on winning)<br /><br />So you have to do two things: Win elections and retain a certain level of principle while doing so.<br /><br />The latter is where the devil is in the details. Purity tests are inherently "small tent". The opposite of "big tent" inclusive policies which appeal to a broad segment of the electorate. Purists either hope that their "small tent" is still big enough to win, or else they care only about purity and are ok with losing elections. The Republican purists seem more the first type, while Democrat/progressive purists are more like the second.<br /><br />The idea of the progressive purists is "So what if Hillary had won? Or so what if a Democrat might have taken a Georgia congressional seat? Because each of those candidates is flawed in some ways, their victories would have been as bad as Trump and the Republicans. Better to let Republicans keep winning until enough voters not only demand a change of party, but will be ok with everything we believe in." I don't see how anyone can witness the reality of Trump/Republicans and still think that is the case. But then I didn't see how anyone could witness the reality of Bush/Republicans and still think that is the case.<br /><br /><br /><i><br />Republicans get it. Democrats (in particular the so-called progressive wing of the Democratic party) don't get this<br /></i>LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-82178362745630804472017-04-28T08:37:54.050-07:002017-04-28T08:37:54.050-07:00Now you're straw-manning, Paul. I doubt you...Now you're straw-manning, Paul. I doubt you'd find that many people who "worship" Gordon Gecko-ism. They would throw a lot of caveats at you and probably re-invent government oversight in the process of replying. Just a poor copy they make up on the spot. :)<br /><br />.............................<br /><br />In the last few years I have been getting <i>more</i> peeved at ignorance rather than less. It's the internet. Wanna-be lawyers, for instance, can quickly find actual case law on the net, and read it. Same with an abundance of general knowledge. You can type questions into Google now and likely have a good answer pop up. What kind of lizard is this? What is Muqtada al Sadr doing that's not been in the news? What is coal mining really like these days? What was "ethyl" gasoline? It would take a day at a library just a few years ago; now all those can be answered in an hour from my sofa or portable device.<br /><br />The idea that people with no curiosity, only badly stale urban legends bouncing around the brain, should have mass influence, is just wrong. And before the contrarians kick in, this does not mean blind acceptance of blather.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71762916631666810812017-04-28T08:22:31.332-07:002017-04-28T08:22:31.332-07:00Paul SB,
Looks like a reply disappeared.
Managem...Paul SB,<br /><br />Looks like a reply disappeared.<br /><br />Management could be dismissed by the board, which is made up of the owners (the workers).<br /><br />But that requires more competition amongst management, which the Mars series apparently had. US government really has only 2 sets of management consultants, which may be a problem.<br /><br />And the one thing that those 2 consultancies agree on is that they don't want any more competition.raitonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71125473176665348202017-04-28T08:09:18.118-07:002017-04-28T08:09:18.118-07:00Our elections are designed to choose a person who ...Our elections are designed to choose a person who wins over one or more losing candidates. Our votes do one thing only--- they provide the measurement for who wins and who loses. The salient feature of an election is winning (or losing). Everything else such---as 'sending a message' or registering displeasure about a candidate (Hillary haters)---is secondary. Republicans get it. Democrats (in particular the so-called progressive wing of the Democratic party) don't get this. They remain fixated on 'purity tests' and rigid PC ideology which have little to do with actually winning elections.Dennis M Davidsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13861850532281473798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-63999191780902633372017-04-28T07:48:54.866-07:002017-04-28T07:48:54.866-07:00Larry,
"Now that we know that, what do we kn...Larry,<br /><br />"Now that we know that, what do we know?"<br />- My cynical side would say that what we know is that we are doomed. There is a lot of human history to support the contention that we are doomed, and much less to suggest that there are ways we can avoid the fate of every other empire - to end up in the dustbin of history after destroying ourselves in paroxysms of factionalism. What gives me hope is that the scientific community is starting to fight against this, by plumbing the depths of the human genome, examining the human mind and brain with exciting new technologies and clever experimental designs and outright refuting the bullshit myths that lead people to behave in ways that will ultimately destroy us.<br /><br />It's vital to dispel these myths. Genetic Determinism is a huge one. Old sayings like "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" that sound like folk wisdom are ways to keep people down and prevent people from achieving great things in life simply because of the circumstances of their birth - like the particular shade of brown their skin has, what does or does not dangle between their legs, physical disabilities that have no effect on their intelligence or ability to conceive great things, or simply being the children of people who had little money. This is a big part of the crap that has to be shoveled out of our culture. <br /><br />Another yuge one is the idea that competition is everything, and that stuck up, hyper-competitive, high-t, hate-mongering, robbing, cheating, pussy-grabbing Gordon Gecko bastards are the saintly, deserving and worthiest members of human society that we all either successfully emulate or get the L tattoo permanently stuck to our foreheads and prospects for a happy, healthy and successful future. Competition is good on the soccer field, and it has its place in other arenas of society, but it is not holy, godly or even especially human. Think of all the professional athletes whose arrogance creates such a toxic atmosphere that they become a detriment to their teams (A-Rod) or get taken out of the running by allowing their testosterone-fueled arrogance to land them in prison (there's a few names we can name here). That kind of self-indulgent thinking, promoted by our media (as when Daryl Strawberry was allowed to finish the baseball season before going behind bars for rape) trickles down to every level of society. When I was in college I used to go over to a friend's house to play volleyball on the weekends. He was an ex-marine who had an older home with a huge side yard, instead of the more typical back yard of today. He set up the net as soon as the snows stopped falling, and friends and family ranging from age 10 to 67 would come for friendly games, community and the healthy benefits of being outdoors. But there were a couple 20-something, hyper-competitive guys who wanted to turn the little tradition into practice for more serious competitions that involves prizes and trophies, and they got to be so obnoxious that soon the school-age kids stopped coming after having these big males spike the ball on their heads, the older folks started to stomp off in a huff, and even most of the people in their prime years who came just to destress had enough. But the end of one summer it was just the one roof the house and two guys showing up, the tradition ruined. next summer Art didn't even bother setting up the net. No more relaxation. Competition becomes poison when it is treated as a religious tenet.<br /><br />I suppose I'm ranting a bit here. Sorry for that!<br /><br />You are right about how the immature react. We see this from locum and the twig all the time, and clearly this other guy has jumped on the bandwagon.<br /><br />I had forgotten about Russel's Paradox. I like the way you think... Too bad there is no emoticon for a wicked grin. That would be useful.Paul SBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71312931893464571342017-04-28T06:57:28.992-07:002017-04-28T06:57:28.992-07:00Paul SB:
To me, an adult is a person who is not s...Paul SB:<br /><i><br />To me, an adult is a person who is not so insecure that they have to pick a clique and conform to it militantly in order to feel like a worthwhile human being. Too many people here are exactly like this. <br /></i><br /><br />They'll just throw the accusation back at us: "You just militantly conform to <b>your</b> clique of 'those who don't pick a clique and conform to it militantly', while refusing to credit the point of view of those who <b>do</b> pick a clique and conform to it militantly."<br /><br />It's a version of Russel's paradox--if X is defined as "the set of all sets which do not contain themselves", then does X contain itself or doesn't it?<br /><br />Or can God create an object so heavy that He Himself can't lift it?<br /><br /><i><br />Dr. Brin is right that in terms of America's two major political clades, the one on the right has this problem much, much more profoundly than the one on the left, but the left has its emotionally insecure, militant conformists, too. I have encountered enough of them...<br /></i><br /><br />What Norman Goldman derisively calls the "Progressive Purity Police". Like Bernie supporters who didn't support Osoff in the Georgia 6th because he's "not a progressive". So I guess they'd rather have a Republican in that congressional seat then a Democrat who actually had a chance of winning it, because that will show the Democratic Party that they can't win with candidates who can actually gain widespread support--they'll have to run George McGovern and lose 49 states!<br /><br />So yes, there is a faction on the left engages in such thinking and causes the party to flounder. OTOH, the entire right-wing engages in such thinking, and wins elections, but then can't govern. Now that we know that, what do we know?<br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-75411068555020070522017-04-28T06:50:16.222-07:002017-04-28T06:50:16.222-07:00Carl M wrote: "If it favors a Democrat, it is...Carl M wrote: "If it favors a Democrat, it is data. If it favors a Republican, it is an anecdote."<br /><br />You'll have to show some examples of Republican scientific rigour. You know, like holding a snowball in the Senate in January and saying this disproves global warming.Zepp Jamiesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16261339498383415026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28817526179248964922017-04-28T06:46:06.336-07:002017-04-28T06:46:06.336-07:00Rayto (is this Raito getting a little more fancy?)...Rayto (is this Raito getting a little more fancy?),<br /><br />The Mars system sounds a little more sensible than how we elevate management to godhood/übermensch status. American democracy built a system of checks and balances into government through the Constitution, but neither of the other main power bases of society - business and religion - have these checks and balances, which is why they so easily corrupt government. They are themselves so easily corrupted from within. You said that management can be dismissed in that system, but not by whom. Paul SBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-47936151661747517232017-04-28T06:40:35.795-07:002017-04-28T06:40:35.795-07:00Darrell,
Thanks, it's always good to know tha...Darrell,<br /><br />Thanks, it's always good to know that somebody appreciates my thoughts and words. I think that if more people were aware of both the genetics and the neuroscience of human nature, they would make better political choices - and Zak's new book is showing that they will also make better management choices. Who has not suffered under toxic management and seen how clearly that the toxic culture of American business is crippling us as individuals and ultimately society as a whole? Good scientific evidence refutes those ancient prejudices that are completely frogging up our lives and our country.<br /><br />But this all too lengthy exchange with Carl M. gives the impression that there is little hope of ever making our lives any better. Every statement he made was refuted by several people, yet instead of being persuaded by facts he clings to baseless beliefs and resorts to childish name-calling. It makes me think that adulthood is a rare commodity in our culture. To me, an adult is a person who is not so insecure that they have to pick a clique and conform to it militantly in order to feel like a worthwhile human being. Too many people here are exactly like this. Dr. Brin is right that in terms of America's two major political clades, the one on the right has this problem much, much more profoundly than the one on the left, but the left has its emotionally insecure, militant conformists, too. I have encountered enough of them, but immaturity among right-wingers is so much more the norm it's hard to find a self-styled conservative who is mature enough to concede a point and accept the possibility that they might wrong about anything, anything at all. For some reason that particular party tends to attract the kind of people who freak out if you hang the toilet paper the "wrong way" in your bathroom, put the salad fork on the "wrong" side of the plate, dresses too casually on a Sunday (and they can't see how their anal-retentive habits completely contradict their loud claims to believe in freedom. <br /><br />Zak says that we have a very bad balance between testosterone and oxytocin in our culture, but I think that is an epiphenomenon. My suspicion is that this imbalance - and the stunning immaturity that comes with it - is a result of our over-emphasis on personal freedom and undervaluation of the personal responsibilities necessary to keep any human society from crumbling into self-destructive factionalism. More proof that humans are social animals, not the "rugged individualists" of myth, will help, but there are huge swaths of people who simply will not allow themselves to be convinced of anything that contradicts the propaganda they grew up with. I see this as an emotional Sunk Cost Effect, meaning that they have spent too much energy insisting that they are right that admitting that they are wrong would be too embarrassing. So they resort to childish name-calling and ridicule, since logic and evidence don't work for them. <br /><br />We can hone our rhetorical skills on fools like that one - or our more regular trolls - all we want, but the needle isn't going to move until people like Zak, De Wahl, Hrdy, Bronson, Klein, Principe and hundreds of other scientists who get it start influencing Hollywood and the TV/Internet producers. Good fiction, widely distributed through the visual media, will influence more people to see the obvious that their traditions deny.Paul SBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-25701288181583577842017-04-28T05:40:12.028-07:002017-04-28T05:40:12.028-07:00...sorry, I meant 1363 days. 1362 as of noon toda......sorry, I meant 1363 days. 1362 as of noon today.<br /><br />Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up. :)<br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7425972030453034162017-04-27T19:27:10.992-07:002017-04-27T19:27:10.992-07:00With two days left, it sure doesn't look as if...With two days left, it sure doesn't look as if impeachment in the first 100 days will be a reality, so I take some small comfort that my predictive powers aren't as bad as I thought on November 9.<br /><br />We might have to wait 1360 more days after all.<br /><br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-46006110820011576772017-04-27T19:22:52.074-07:002017-04-27T19:22:52.074-07:00Carl M:
Liberal brain rot has set in. Sad.
It&#...Carl M:<br /><i><br />Liberal brain rot has set in. Sad.<br /></i><br /><br />It's not like we have any actual power over policy or anything, but history will prove us correct in our diagnoses. No doubt, there will be a lot of "Who would have thought xxx could happen???" where xxx is your evidence of brain rot.<br /> LarryHartnoreply@blogger.com