Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol
Mashup of 2019 movies
It’s Sunday, so I am interrupting my series of blog posts on the “social construction of legal progress” to share this creative end-of-year “movie trailer mashup” (hat tip: Kottke). I will resume my review of progress in law on Monday … Continue reading
The social construction of legal progress (part 1)
In my previous post, I shared a wide variety of law review articles and scholarly papers on the theme of legal progress. The larger question I care about, however, is this: is it possible to objectively measure progress in any … Continue reading
Legal progress literature review
One of the puzzles that has long captivated me is this: how should we measure “progress” in such normative or value-laden fields as law, art, and ethics? Aren’t such first-order values as justice, beauty, and right vs. wrong supposed to … Continue reading
Transaction costs in science?
According to Coasian economic theory, “transaction costs” are supposed to determine whether people will work as individuals or collectively as firms. But does this insight apply to science research? Via Nature: “Between 2009 and 2013, 573 manuscripts listing 1,000 co-authors or … Continue reading
How to measure human progress?
Check out this thoughtful essay/blog post by Jason Crawford, which is provocatively titled “Progress studies [is] a moral imperative.” Although I am generally skeptical of “moral imperatives” (after all, moral claims are hard, if not impossible, to test or falsify, … Continue reading
The limits of data …
… or the primacy of methodology. One team of scientists (led by David Kroodsma) published a study in the journal Science that concluded 55 percent of the world’s oceans are affected by fishing. Another group (led by Ricardo Amoroso), using … Continue reading
Is Banksy a woman?
Originally posted on prior probability:
We have always assumed that Banksy, our favorite mystery graffiti artist, is a man. But what if she is a woman? Kriston Capps makes a persuasive case in this beautiful essay for why Banksy is probably a…
Merry Christmas, Mariah
Constance Grady (via Vox) explains how Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas,” which was released 25 years ago, finally reached #1 on Billboard’s official Hot 100 chart. (Here is the official announcement.) In brief, Mariah’s Christmas anthem was originally … Continue reading
Mary Ann Carroll has passed away
Mary Ann Carroll was one of the remarkable Florida Highwaymen artists–and the sole woman of this iconic group. Here is the official obituary. Below is one of her works: For your reference, this beautiful book (by Gary Monroe) is devoted … Continue reading
Gal Gadot forever
I must confess that I am not a fan of superhero movies (I have yet to see a single Marvel movie, for example, nor do I plan to), but I might make an exception for “Wonder Woman 1984” (based on … Continue reading

