Sep 19
Links to the past
I recently ran across some old posts (1 to 2 years old) that highlight some important ideas.
1. My friend commented on how she keeps getting cut off by Prius drivers and it reminded me of this post*. When people act in an acknowledged socially responsible way, they are more likely to treat other people worse. It is like most people are keeping track of their karma and they feel comfortable as long as it is flat.
2. Another post highlights studies that show that we value what we have to work for. This explains why some writers turn to esoteric writing** - their main ideas are not good enough to stand on their own, but if people have to struggle to identify their ideas before they have a chance to evaluate them then perhaps the reader will value the ideas more highly.
3. Robin Hanson thinks that IQ isn't that useful a metric - how often people decide to think rationally also matters. However, I wonder how much of the "rationality quotient" measure is explained by the combination of IQ and Conscientiousness. A low rationality quotient is how some types of smart people are often very stupid***.
4. Falkenblog looks at the importance of teaching kids how to think about the big picture. While the macro perspective is more important than he gives it credit for (students who think about the big picture should realize that they need to learn something useful), I am mainly resharing this link for how he worked the comic into his post.
5. Bryan Caplan reminds us that people who think that the 2008 crash changed everything in macroeconomics were missing something to begin with.
*Or rather, it reminded me that I had read it and I had to look through my google reader's history to find a relevant article.
**Beyond the obvious "People would hate me if they knew what I truly thought" reasons.
***Low emotional intelligence is another reason high IQ people are stupid, even if they are otherwise very rational.
