Downton Allegory
by Josh Witten on January 7, 2013
What I got from Season 3 premier (Spoilers) of Downton Abbey is that the Crawleys are an exceptionally good-looking version of Goldman Sachs desperate for a bailout to rescue them from a financial disaster created by their own poor decision to invest to heavily in one trendy sector because they are either “job creators” or “too big to fail” or both. The lesson for the US financial industry is …
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Suicide Squeeze
by Josh Witten on December 18, 2012
I am an unapologetic fan of violent, contact sports. I have wonderful memories of being a participant in violent, contact sports. On the rugby teams I played for, I was usually the guy tasked with bringing both the violence and the contact to the other team. These sports are fun to play. They are fun to watch. But, predictably, that violence takes a toll on the human body.
The recent …
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Trust In Me, Because I Am Using A Secure, Random, Accountable, Documentable Algorithm
by Josh Witten on November 7, 2012
Trust is fundamental to our social networks. Trust is a lubricant. It allows trusting relationships to react quickly to changing circumstances. Demanding proof is a betrayal of that social code. A friend whose trust is not reciprocated has a right to feel hurt. You have a right to feel hurt if your trust is abused by that friend. The mammalian brain evolved in an environment lacking statistical tools and the scientific method. …
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Terror is made of FAIL
by Josh Witten on October 9, 2012
According to the Dunning-Kruger effect, competent people do not think of themselves as unusually competent. According to a paper by John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart (PDF – 227kb) reviewing terrorism case studies, competent people don’t try to blow themselves and others up either:
In all, as Shikha Dalmia has put it, would-be terrorists need to be “radicalized enough to die for their cause; Westernized enough to move around
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Lawrence Lessig on corruption
by Josh Witten on October 3, 2012
If you crave a discussion of political corruption that gets beyond “corporations aren’t people*” anger over Citizens United (and understands the legal issues surrounding it), you’ll want to listen to Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig get interviewed (promoting his book). He even has solutions. GASP!
*In a similar vein, labor unions may not be people either.…
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What you don’t know…medical edition
by Josh Witten on September 24, 2012
Ben Goldacre is a British physician and writer, who shines a spotlight on the manipulation of science in the medical industry. On Friday, he published a personal story in The Guardian describing in detail and passion the problem faced by doctors and patients when deciding on treatments. Diligent doctors advise their patients based on the best data for treatments that is available; but the best data available often …
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Innovation = jobs?
by Josh Witten on September 11, 2012
Innovation is probably good for the economy. It creates new opportunities for growth. The idea that innovation creates jobs as an immediate solution to our employment problems doesn’t add up.
This rhetoric seems to work superficially. We often think of innovation as creating brand new sectors of the economy, such as airplane manufacture or alternative energy resources. A lot of innovation, however, is targeted at removing inefficiency, and that means eliminating …
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Congratulations Kerri!
by Josh Witten on September 6, 2012
You know that moment when your friend does something so amazing you can’t help bragging on them? Try not one, but two, in one week. Below you’ll find video of my friend Kerri Morgan winning the bronze medal in both the 100m & 200m Women’s T52 sprints at the 2012 Paralympic Games.
Go to minute 56:50 for the Women’s 200m T52 final.
…
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Party of racists?
by Josh Witten on August 20, 2012
Chris Hayes (host of Up with Chris Hayes on MSNBC) caused a very minor controversy over the weekend when he said the following:
It is undeniably the case that racist Americans are almost entirely in one political coalition and not the other.
On the surface, this seems to fit with the way we think about things. The truth, however, appears to be more complicated. Economist Alex Tabarrok, blogger Razib …
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