I will describe two modes of political discourse, which I call persuasion mode and demonization mode. In persuasion mode, we treat people on the other side with respect, we listen to their logical and factual presentations, and we respond with logical and factual presentations of our own. …

1. Causal Density (and complexity and cultural evolution) — There are many causal factors that affect human behavior and human interaction. As a result, “social science” is not nearly as reliable as physical science. We can speculate on what causes political and economic events, but we cannot prove our hypotheses. …

The full podcast lasts three hours. This essay selects certain themes and offers my own perspective. First theme: stagnation Around minute three, Thiel introduces the theme that there has been stagnation in science, technology, and the economy. He and Weinstein share that view, which is an outlier view. Thiel says…

Capitalist societies have three problems: They elevate material values over others. They create winners and losers. They undermine communities. We have known about these problems for centuries. This essay will explain why they persist. Elevating material values Who receives high status in society? Cultures can vary. We may assign high status to the…

On June 9, Erik Torenberg and I had a long and stimulating conversation for his podcast. As of this writing, I am not sure what he will keep and what he will edit out. One of the questions he asked was about the origins of the Social Justice movement. How…

It is natural to assume that management is management, whether you are running a small business or a big corporation. But that is not the case. They are qualitatively different. With a small enterprise, the business is visible to the owner/manager. In contrast, much of a large corporation is invisible…

Recently, some overconfident economists have advanced the idea that the United States government should not bother trying to rein in its Budget deficit. In the press, the leading overconfident economist is Stony Brook University economics professor Stephanie Kelton, the proponent of the heterodox thesis she calls Modern Monetary Theory. …

There is a tension in American life between goods that need to be kept in some balance, and we have often failed to find that balance lately. — Yuval Levin Yuval Levin belongs to a political faction that I think of as conservatives in exile. They struggle to find a…

Are the circumstances that promote material well-being the opposite of those that promote tight social connection? My take-away from listening to this fascinating discussion between Russ Roberts and Sebastian Junger is that such a trade-off does exist. Their conversation centers around Junger’s book Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging. By tight…