Creative Commons
Blogs I Follow
Category Archives: Uncategorized
“The Economics of the Undead”
That is the title of this fun collection of essays edited by Glen Whitman and Jim Dow, which you can pre-order here. To our loyal readers, click here, if you dare, for a tantalizing and sexy preview (the chapter titled “Buy or Bite?”) from … Continue reading
Will Baghdad fall next?
Solve for equilibrium …
Is Alice Goffman the new Margaret Mead?
Why are ethnographers so gullible and so easily fooled? For example, just as Margaret Mead was duped by several Samoan girls on the island of Ta’u when she wrote her classic book Coming of Age in Samoa, it appears that Alice Goffman … Continue reading
Turing test bet
Alan Turing’s simple machine intelligence test has been in the news lately. It is worth noting that there are many possible versions of Turing’s test. One version of the test, for example, is currently the subject of a $20,000 bet between Ray Kurzweil … Continue reading
“The evolutionary path of the law”
That is the title of our review of Nature’s Oracle, Ullica Segerstrale’s recent biography of the life and work of W.D. “Bill” Hamilton. Please enjoy responsibly …
Mapping outer space
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Teplitz and M. Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech), A. Koekemoer (STScI), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), and Z. Levay (STScI).
Can one man change the course of history?
Photo Credit: Stuart Franklin
Impeach Obama?
Seriously, since Republicans have a solid majority in the House, and since the House has the sole power of impeachment under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, what is the probability that the House of Representatives will, in fact, draw … Continue reading
Mathematics vs. politics (NJ edition)
These maps by the website BDistricting show two ways of dividing the Garden State into Congressional voting districts with roughly equal population. (Under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, each State is apportioned a number of federal representatives which approximately corresponds to … Continue reading
The changing aesthetics of oath ceremonies …
A very 21st century swearing in: Suzi LeVine becomes the 1st U.S. Ambassador to take the oath over an electronic device. pic.twitter.com/5E4bjIRQ2x — U.S. Embassy London
