What I have been reading: Substack edition
As I do for X and other mediums, I will execute this series for Substack posts too. There are two reasons. Firstly, purely out of self-interest, I am building a personal library. If ever I want to recall a topic, I can simply ask an LLM to search my Substack to see what it says. In that sense, I seek to build a personalised encyclopedia. Secondly, I want to demonstrate through my own experience that pessimism regarding social media is unfounded, and with optimal search, is ultimately a source for good in the world. Yes, you read that right: social media can actually boost human capital if used correctly!
Contrary to the conventional wisdom, cultural products of all types are becoming longer. No, I don't believe social media is reducing our attention span, nor our capacity to consume longform: Substack is testament to that! What I do think however is that there’s increasing specialisation between platforms that prioritise short vs longform - an unalloyed good, as those that want to publish longform can congregate on a platform where there is demand for such, and so on. Before social media, if you wanted to write, you had no choice but longform. Either most of what you wrote in an article or book was worthless (to fill the pages), or the transaction costs to publishing were too high to enter the market, as you didn't have enough longform thoughts.
What can neoreactionaries learn from the Venetian Republic? I’d argue there's a far more recent example for neoreactionaries to copy. Singapore seems to get the right mix between technocracy vs accountability in my view.
Is it still worth pursuing a PhD in economics? Ultimately, I chose not to pursue one myself as soon as I realised I could make more money (earlier) in the private sector. A Bsc from LSE is more than sufficient for that purpose. As for satisfying my intellectual curiosity, I blog and tweet for that, and interact with other economists on X. Plus I'm not limited to one discipline online (as you are in grad school). The only possible downside: I'm perhaps not taken as seriously by academic economists. I'd rather be judged by the quality and rigour of my ideas than my credentials. We’re all familiar with the signalling model: just because I don't have the qualification doesn't mean I don't have the talent. Those that are snobs regarding credentials are far too shallow for my desired audience; I'm not selecting for those types, so in a sense my lack of PhD forms a separating equilibrium here. I know I can, intellectually, run rings around almost any individual - that's good enough for me!
Most movies bore the hell out of me. I stopped going to the cinema as I'd fall asleep every time. I've heard that Sumner is perhaps the best movie critic in the blogosphere. If a single recommendation of his keeps me engrossed, then his advocates are right. Something to add onto my to-do list!
So feminisation, in part, is the price we pay for increased sexual freedom? Sounds good to me!
An excellent primer on the ongoing heritability debate, and the state of the science regarding behavioural genetics. In general, if you want to get up to date with a scientific topic, then Scott Alexander's “much more than you wanted to know” blogs are simply unparalleled. My goal is to interact more with the rationalist community - I already consume much of their content. My first comment on LessWrong was published last night. Say what you like about them (yes I'm referring to r/SneerClub), but can you find a superior epistemic culture on the internet?
Why do activist groups often alienate others? Because they are trading off their policy goals with competing for attention/status in their objective function. This post in general is an excellent introduction to the economics of the culture war. Median voter theorem still holds too.
Why Britain must embrace AC. I'm more than willing to take up this cause. It's rather niche and goes undiscussed in the discourse over here. That must change!
Macron is not the free-market neoliberal his detractors and supporters alike portray him to be. If anything, he has continued the dirigiste Gaullist tradition.
On freedom of speech as a negative, as opposed to positive, right. I allude to this myself here. Though I remain unconvinced that gatekeeping will resolve the core issue with misinformation: that people actually believe such. Just look at how popular 9/11 conspiracies were before social media. You can choke off the supply, yet that does nothing to address the demand. Most aren't being radicalised by misinformation, they're choosing to consume misinformation as it fits their priors. Confirmation bias 101. In general, don’t use social media as a scapegoat for our problems (also see this for a good counterargument).
The Eurozone is becoming a fiscal union, that none of the member states signed up to. This will further erode the democratic legitimacy of the EU project.
Wine tasting is basically a fraudulent institution. I've also read the studies where experienced tasters ascribe ‘red tastes’ to white wines after being dyed. I helped to run the wine tasting society at my university, so this is coming from a former wine taster.
Another fraudulent rabbit-hole that has (unfortunately) influenced much of the anti-ageing literature. In any case, these blue zones tend to be sparsely populated regions. We all know from basic statistics that the variance is generally higher for smaller sample sizes, so I never quite bought into the hype on blue zones in the first place.
I disagree that the internet necessarily means cultural stagnation. All of the jazz classics mentioned are available on SoundCloud for free, as an example. One just needs to know where to look. This is an issue of search costs more than anything.
Six reasons why tariffs are terrible compared to other taxes. Reason six in particular is a great counterthesis to optimal tariff theory. Some of the macro literature advocates for nonzero tariffs, and it is important not to let these misguided arguments on ‘optimal’ tariffs influence the policy agenda.
“By the 1980 census counts the US has more people of British descent than the current UK does - 75mn scaled to all who reported that year, versus only 56mn citizens in Britain proper in 1980, and 70mn today. By the absolute number of its inhabitants, the US might well have a better claim to be the successor state of Victorian Britain than the current UK does.”
Most drug abusers “age out” of that pathology, without any rehab or twelve-step cults. Rational addiction, as opposed to disease theory, also implies that complete abstinence is unnecessary. Contrary to folk wisdom, many ex-alcoholics are perfectly capable of moderation and stopping at one drink. As long as your vice doesn't harm others, you pay your bills, and so on, who am I to tell you what to do with your own mind and body? Likewise, GLP-1s are likely to be far more effective than AA here.