Posts in: Politics


Political "Science" and Its Forecasting Failures | Rightly Understood |Big Think

Generally, political science does its best work when it begins with the perspectives of the statesman (or political leader) and the citizen and then goes on to refine and enlarge what’s seen about political life by those who are actually engaged in it. The attempt to impose a scientific perspective alien to the phenomena almost always leads us to see a lot less than is really there. Political "Science" and Its Forecasting Failures | Rightly Understood | Big Think

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Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit

Where, in short, are the flying cars? Where are the force fields, tractor beams, teleportation pods, antigravity sleds, tricorders, immortality drugs, colonies on Mars, and all the other technological wonders any child growing up in the mid-to-late twentieth century assumed would exist by now? A bit to the Left, but good questions all the same. Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit

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The Real Equality Problem: No One Actually Wants It

Good parents try to provide the best they can for their kids. Good employees try to advance as far as they can at work. Good athletes try to become the go-to player for their teams. Good entrepreneurs try to create and grow a business that is better than its competitors. In fact, it’s safe to say that no reasonable, diligent person strives for “equality” in their own personal circumstances — regardless of whether one refers to equality of opportunity or equality of outcome.

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The Fourth Revolution (New Criterion)

The United States has been shaped by three far-reaching political revolutions: Thomas Jefferson’s “revolution of 1800,” the Civil War, and the New Deal. Each of these upheavals concluded with lasting institutional and cultural adjustments that set the stage for new phases of political and economic development. Are we on the verge of a new upheaval, a “fourth revolution” that will reshape U.S. politics for decades to come? There are signs to suggest that we are.

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Notes on Poll-Watching

Essential tips for reading the deluge of polls that we’ll experience between now and November; general wisdom for every strain of partisan, completely independent of political views, from Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com. (via Instapaper) Notes on Poll-Watching

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Political theory of Gilligan's Island

Here On The Island - by Lewis Napper - A Scholarly Critique of the Style, Symbolism and Sociopolitical Relevance of Gilligan’s Island Every so often, my love of pop culture is vindicated as with Warcraft and Philosophy, Gospel according to the Simpsons, etc. This is one of those times.

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