Category: General

  • Parasitism and intentionality: lessons from the cuckoo

    Parasitism and intentionality: lessons from the cuckoo

    Many species of the cuckoo and cowbird reproduce exclusively by sneaking their eggs into other birds nests, where their chicks kill or starve their nest-mates and so steal resources from the host mother, who often has to raise chicks bigger than her. So why doesn’t the host kick out the foreign eggs? In many cases,…

  • On Evolution

    Evolution is not just a part of biology. It is the foundation which shapes our understanding of life. It is meaningless to speak of living things outside the context of evolution. It is like trying to learn about human civilization by iterating the appearance and sounds of individual people without any idea of history, leaders,…

  • Life in the post-biological universe

    Since I’m utterly unqualified to write on this topic, the following should be treated as fiction: Life expectancy in post-biological civilization is measured not in time, but in total calculations (ΣN). This is due to the gradual loss of informational coherency inherent to all entropy-generating processing systems. From a thermodynamic perspective, the parameters of the…

  • Loving strange food or: how I learned to stop being picky and love food

    Like most Americans, I used to hold some self-evident beliefs about food: The three dogmas of the food phobiac: There are foods I “like” and foods I “dislike” and I ought to stick to the things that I like. The better something tastes, the more unhealthy it must be and vice versa.  You must choose…

  • The Bill of Rights versus the "War on Terror"

    The Bill of Rights versus the "War on Terror"

    The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to make a fundamental and clear statement about the rights of man. They are fundamental because all Congressional acts are subservient to them and clear because, unlike the complex legal code, the basic rights were intended to be known by all. Having lived through war, the Founders…

  • On government-funded science

    On government-funded science

    When tax dollars rather than private investment directs research, political ideology by scientific amateurs (politicians) determines which direction the research heads. The inevitable result is that political connections determines who gets research funds, while the unpopular and risky yet more ultimately world-changing prospects are ignored. For example, AIDS kills very few Americans versus heart disease…

  • On "Special Interests"

    On "Special Interests"

    It is truism today that “special interests” are to blame for economic problems and corruption. But “special interests” are only a symptom, not the cause of the disease. In a populist democracy with a mixed economy, every group that participates in the political system is a “special interest”, with the incentive and the power to…

  • On Usury

    On Usury

    Charging interest is essential to guiding the investment process, which cannot be sustained by charity even it were forthcoming due to the economic calculation problem. (In other words, interest rates are required to direct investments to their most productive use.) Interest-driven investment is essential to economic growth, and therefore to the very existence of industrial…

  • On Environmental Pollution

    On Environmental Pollution

    Pollution is a byproduct of production, which is a byproduct of civilization. Life without civilization would to the death of the vast majority people on earth, and life without production means certain death for all men. The proper balance between death from lack of production and death from excess pollution should be determined by an…

  • Socialists, Capitalists and Moderates on the Facts

    Socialists, Capitalists and Moderates on the Facts

    (Reposted from my Facebook.) Fact: There are poor people. Socialist: Give me all your money, I will take care of them. Or else. Capitalist: I can make lots of money from them because they’ll work for less. Moderate: Give me half your money, so I can pay them not to work, then hire anyone who…