This problem exists in many more contexts than people might otherwise think of. I came to this realization recently while talking with someone about why I really did think her choice to shop around based on price was an admirable one even if I, personally didn't do it.

In that context, I'm a free rider. I reap the benefits of the people who do shop ( Read more... )

I've been paying a lot of attention to bitcoin recently. It's a fascinating idea, and I'm really curious as to where it will go. But reading the comments on the Internet about it is even more interesting, though also kind of upsetting. People say the most ridiculous and stupid things, and it's all out of nearly violent emotion. I don't really ( Read more... )

Sadly, it's a youtube video. But, it does have choice C-SPAN excerpts: $700 Billion Bailout LAW - YOU WERE ROBBED

I became really angry over some things ladyt37 said today. She criticized my friends in a way that was sort of fair, but also not, and rather exceedingly rude in my opinion. I have my theories about what's going on here, but those aren't for public consumption. Aside from that, I would like to talk about what she said.

Her specific criticism was that ( Read more... )

This is an interesting video about this project to create an Open Source self-replicating industrial infrastructure. It's really interesting and thought provoking, and potentially extremely useful for just about anybody.

One thing I'm really happy about is that this is a positive approach, not a negative approach. It's in response to a set of ( Read more... )

It is best understood in context. This is a response to an article about Richard Feynman, the Challenger, and engineering. And it is specifically in response to a post in which someone blames capitalism for the problem's Richard Feynman outlines in Feynman's Appendix to the Rogers Commission Report on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident.

( Read more... )

In Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth he presents a very compelling graph showing a correlation between global temperature and atmospheric CO2 levels. The only problem of course is the direction of cause and effect. Do higher temperatures typically cause CO2 levels to rise, or is it higher CO2 levels causing temperature to rise? Or maybe it's ( Read more... )

It began with this post: Re: The whacked income distribution in the US today.

And it continued on with this post: You're setting up a straw-man argument.

If you follow the thread down, I think we both had some interesting things to say. The whole thing ended (at least so far) with this post by me:

I don't think that I have to choose. I don't ( Read more... )

I had an interesting conversation with someone yesterday. I told her that I felt being poor was demoralizing and that if I were to live on foodstamps I'd be a leech. She was quite upset by my opinions and decided that I was no longer someone she wanted to talk to because she felt that I held opinions she wasn't interested in being arund.
( Longish musings on public assistance programs )

I was thinking about mediums of exchange, like currency. And I think that any medium of exchange, in order to be fully useful, must be able to be stolen.

The basic reason I decided this has to do with another set of thoughts I've had about evolution versus human societies. Basically, someone who can't succeed within the framework of a given ( Read more... )