I discuss and explain how I understand 'motivated reasoning’, and ways to avoid it.
All in general audience
Finding Meaning in Paragraph Breaks
Paragraph breaks and other syntactical breaks are used to imply different but interacting abstract concepts. Also, three tips for myself to improve my writing process.
An understanding of patterns of behaviors within institutions, taking notes from natural selection and the works of G.A. Cohen and Anwar Shaikh.
Three Points About Socialism-As-I-Understand-It
From a conversation with friends
Speed (in the Brain, on Social Media, and in Government)
Stray thoughts about how the speed of our decision-making can change the kinds of actions we end up taking.
A Philosophical Joke
This is the joke that made me understand what Wittgenstein meant when he said “that a serious and good philosophical work could be written that would consist entirely of jokes (without being facetious).”
Where to Put My Time and Effort? On Effective Altruism
I think it is morally acceptable for people to care more for those closer to them, but only if we also morally require that people also extend such aid to those structurally deprived and disadvantaged.
Game Theory, the Military Industrial Complex, & Privatization of Public Goods
Notes & Reflections on Analyzing Politics: Rationality, Behavior, and Institutions (2nd Ed.) by Kenneth A. Shepsle, Chapters 9 and 10 on ‘Collective Action’ and ‘Public Goods’.
Why are public goods and services so tied up with private contractors and private money? Some game theory…
Left Revolution & the Madisonian Model
The Madisonian model of American government is why mass movements in America tend to get co-opted and folded into institutional politics. This weakens mass movements, and is an issue if we want anything resembling a revolution in the United States. I examine what possibilities we have going forward to a Left American Revolution.
Asymmetries of Information: Intellectual Property & Social Capital
When we discuss inequality and injustice in our modern economy, should we put less emphasis on the asymmetries of ownership of physical means of production, and more emphasis on the unequal possession of knowledge and information?
I discuss ‘monopolies founded on intellectual property’ and ‘the economic role of universities to produce social capital’.
Notes & Reflections on "Does Human Nature Make Socialism Impossible?" with Adaner Usmani
THE Second IN A SERIES RESPONDING TO THE FOUR ONLINE 'ABCS OF SOCIALISM’ LECTURES.
I SUMMARIZE AND RESPOND TO Adaner Usmani’s ARGUMENT about how leftists should consider the role of human nature in society.
Consequentialism and War-Crime Trials
I take a consequentialist approach to measuring the success of war-crime trials. Trials analyzed include the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Nuremburg Trials, and those after the Rwandan genocide.
Introduced in the essay is the concept of closure: a desirable end to conflict among all parties involved, arrived at by successfully addressing the ideological/societal rift at the root of the initial conflict.