DISQUS

Bing Bing Bing, Jess wins the thread. 20% of people in prison are there for a "drug crime." So decriminalize, and right there we've saved a ton of the money we waste locking up folks for possessing small amounts of drugs.

Another 50% of convicts were on drugs or alcohol at the time of crime. This suggests that we could massively reduce the crime rate by opening up more heavily subsidized urban outpatient rehab centers. Rehab is certainly cheaper than imprisonment.

Wow I never thought I would be the lone voice here on flybottle crying for free markets, not taxes. But here it is: carbon markets, not carbon taxes. Trade it, don't tax it!

Got any evidence Nathan? Again, please show any studies of how NOX & SOX trading has just ruined us all. I thought not. . . .in fact, even for carbon. . .please show me how the regulated EU-ETS system has just put Europe flat on its back. You can't, because it hasn't.

As for your groundless fears of "favors," "inspectors," and "unaccountable bureaucratic corruption," again, show me the money with NOX & SOX. The carbon market system largely depends on independent, 3rd part verifiers. Not that I'm saying we shouldn't improve on the EU-ETS. Because we should. It has a many flaws we shouldn't duplicate here.

It's bizarre that all of a sudden on this issue people lose their understanding that markets - capitalism - is the way to go.

I'm not getting your issue with cap-n-trade, WW. It works. It's an American invention, and it's been proven to work with the NOX & SOX market. Emissions trading for these acid-rain gases hasn't ended the world as we know it, and when was the last time you even heard the term "acid rain?"

Further, it's not an Obama policy you can blame on GE. That link is frankly crazy talk.

We already have mandated cap-n-trade for carbon going on in this country in the Northeast and the West is soon to follow. These are state-level initiatives. Carbon has had a public price in the US since last fall.

If the world has exploded, it's been due to the fall of Lehman, not mandatory carbon trading. I don't understand really how come people hyperventilate over something that's already happening without any apparent ill-effect. How will this end life as we know it?

Love it, embrace it, it's been happening since September - it's called RGGI.

Weren't the Angles Danes? I mean, don't we have to be honest and say English is just bad Danish corrupted by French with a frosting of Greek to look more educated?

Look, guys, no need to go for the beheading here. I'm just asking - since he wrote a popularly accepted textbook, it would seem he might know something - even a lot - about the topic. I just see a lot of claims that Krugman knows nothing, but can I just have a link with like, non-ideological evidence? Just to be rational. Cuz this is all waaay above my blondeness. All i can do is ask, ok?

Didn't Krugman write a successful textbook on macroeconomics in 2005?

"smoking bans, transfats"

Um, Craig, reality check: here in NYC all that "nanny state nonsense" was pushed by um, the then-Republican, Bloomberg.

I find most liberals are too busy telling me that FGM can't be judged because it's an issue of multiculturalism and oh no they wouldn't ever judge; it's conservatives who are making me infantile, telling me how I have to live my life and how I can't get birth control inexpensively over-the-counter because they have religious beliefs.

No no no Gil, too pessimistic. See, the Singularity happens. So we all upload ourselves into awesome hot android bodies - think Darryl Hannah as Pris in Blade Runner - which we lease, so we can change 'em every 3 years. That means you get to be Harrison Ford! What's not to like?

I believe in this scenario the best job training for the future will be yoga teacher, or any mind/body therapy - that way you can specialize in helping emulated digital peopleminds learn to "drive" the more advanced features of their new modelbodies smoothly. Think like, racecar instructor but for your pelvis. Srsly, boyfriend, srlsly!

"right-wing populist"

Too late, it's happening already. If you're watching Chris Matthews tonite, you just saw a GOP House member blame the financial crisis on Chuck Schumer and George Soros. . . a.k.a. "The Jews Did It."

WW, you'll have fun. Of course she's such an open target to be fair you may have to blindfold yourself or something. . .

"One thing I think some ev psych fans have a hard time getting their heads around is that morality–the system of norms that regulates individual behavior and enables social coordination–is variable by “design,” and that our evolved moral capacities are largely norm-acquisition devices which must wait to be calibrated by enculturation. We’re “fill-in-the-blanks slates” not blank slates"

Ok, I accept that. I think most of us in fact do.

Many things do appear to have a common basis - the variation is just due to the particularities of the culture. Monkeys may have an in-built system of "fairness," yet girl monkeys everywhere also have lower social status to boy monkeys and belong to them in the name of the tribe.

It's just the social features of the particular tribe that differ. The Woodabe/Bororo say as a new husband you can't ever speak to your mother-in-law; the traditional Pashtun say you shouldn't even be able to see her face. Here in the West we tell "mother-in-law" jokes, which have the same effect of tabooing the wife's mother - as the father's property, yes?

Isn't that suggestive that an ancient monkey law is still in force underneath the cultural expression?

""more erosion in sexist social expectations"

Not just expectations, actual barriers - actual barriers, says the woman who was told by her high school "guidance counselor" that she couldn't take Algebra II because 1 - "the class was full" and 2 - "she wouldn't want to be the only girl there." This was in 1978, people! I went on to study conic sections from Apollonius (ancient Greek!).

Mwah-hah-hah. You won't be able to use entrenched social power to protect you from intellectual competition much longer, you heterogametes you.

But seriously, the power of testosterone in the womb to shape brains is amazing. Due to these effects, I will never be surprised if men on the far extreme of math ability continue to outnumber women at that extreme, just because of this factor.

Men and women are different in some ways. Vive la difference! That doesn't prevent us from establishing a just society, however.

Back to this dorky g factor. I just don't believe in it. No one can agree on how to describe this puppy, no one can agree how to measure it, no one can predict with it -- it's just a unicorn, folks, give it up. What the hell is scientific about it?

Those stupid tests are completely biased in numerous ways, they just are. African-Americans are disadvantaged by them, while people of my ethnicity are favored by them. They should all be scrapped. If you believe otherwise, then you're stuck believing I'm a near-genius and the people of my ethnicity are on the whole the smartest people in the world. Which just ain't so. Prima facie, Nobel prizes or not.

Why are so many (guys) attached to this idea so strongly? Isn't that suspicious?

WW, let me help you simplify your Other landscape. As a Hansonian, may i note that actually several of your categories collapse when analysed. For example, I believe Hanson owns 2 cats, so that's Cat-Owners. Further, altho' Hansonians tend to shun labels, all Hansonians are also likely Extropians.

Further, Hanson may share important interests with Anarchists via Futarchy and also elements of Classical Liberal thought. Some elements of his thought appear shared with the Liberaltarian position, as I understand that Venn diagram.

As best as I can tell there are now in fact upwards of 250+ open Hansonians, largely in California, New York, DC, the UK, Scandinavia, and Australia. There are a few also in Canada.

A Hansonian in Nashville commented to me last fall that there are now possibly more Hansonians than there were Randians at an equivalent stage of their careers. For example, at a recent gathering in Sunnyvale for Hanson's blog Overcoming Bias, I believe there were more than 60 people present all told throughout the evening, the majority under 30.

Overall I would say Hansonism has a toehold in technology - especially the internet - finance, philosophy, and economics. There appear to be a few mathematicians and harder scientists as well.

Certainly as time goes on Hansonians will continue to hemi-demi-semi-organize over the internet. Some actively seek financial support so Hanson can get a sabbatical from teaching and write The Book. As much as we talk among ourselves, I think there is some shared agreement that the next 5-7 years could be the break-out period.

Finally, i doubt tthat we Hansonians, to the extent we may self-identify as such,
"hate" any other Others. That would seem irrational.

hey don't think you know my position, big guy, without asking. i'd be willing to discuss stopping all electives at 12 weeks, if plan b cost only $1, could be bought anywhere, services were more widely available, and these ridiculous notification rules were all set aside. preserving the life of the mother is non-negotiable - pre-eclampsia happens - but otherwise i'm open.

Why not? That's a fair description of what separates us from parrots and knuckle-walkin' chimps. I mean, don't get all high 'n mighty, we're just monkeys after all.

You jest.

Or maybe you think the fly girls should instead have the baby & marry the drug dealin' dawg baby-fathers who will soon be jailed, as I believe Kristol once argued? Is that really a great idea? Middle-class teens should just roll with it and incorporate an exotic Indian abortion-vacation with a nice visit to a yoga school in Kerala?

Teenaged underprivileged girls whose mothers have abusive boyfriends can really get a visa to India? They can afford to fly there? Do you live on any planet resembling Earth?

May I politely request you consult Aristotle's Metaphysics to bone up on the rigorous difference between the "potential" and the "actual."

no fair to add the bonus button later! The issue is that without choice, as a woman, I'm not really a citizen in the sense of being a full moral agent, the state is still infantilizing me. What good does it do me to be rich if I am chattel in the end, at the moment the rubber hits the road?

Gosh I kept hoping that liberaltarianism would mean we could all enjoy the beautiful prose of Sir Isaiah Berlin, admit values pluralism, advocate for a parliamentary system and implement futarchy. I'm still sleeping with Four Essays on Liberty under my pillow. . .

sorry, my bad, i meant the GDP growth. :(

Exactly. Any ban on handguns would lose to a Supreme Court challenge, and we'd still end up with health care. So it was a no-brainer, actually.

still better than what we have - the endless campaign for office is destructive to society. True, I should have mentioned the shorter term was introduced in the 2002 cycle. Thanks, Andre!

I'm not understanding this Newsweek article one bit. It keeps saying "we'll be more French" but in what way? I have actually lived in France! There are great things about France!

In France, there is no religious-babying nonsense. It's all secularism all the time. Forget the headscarves, crosses and prayer breakfasts. This is a great, great thing.

Also, there is no victim-class special pleading. There is 1 identity: French. So there's much less whining and pitting of one fake group against another fake group for political advantage.

In general, it's a good technocracy, very merit-based. You passed the bac or you did not. Your score got you into the Grand Ecole or it did not. If you have those credentials, you have the shot, or not. No legacy admittances allowed. It is a more level playing field in this way.

The parliamentary system there works better than the dysfunctional Congress we currently have. The 7 year presidency means the guy has time to get stuff done, no permanent campaigns.

Since the central government is stronger, funding and resources are more equally distributed from Paris. There's less quease-inducing disparity in things like school spending; you don't have to feel bad that inner-city kids don't have textbooks. Again, that playing field's more level.

The health system there is actually much better and more sane than the one here. It consumes less of GDP and the malpractice vultures don't exist. Sure, French doctors complain that they don't have the status of American ones. So what - health outcomes are measurably better.

The bad parts of France should be avoided - the restricted price competition, the crazy apprentice and hiring system that creates an intolerable structural chomage, the fatalistic attitudes.

You might want to complain that they kow-tow to farmers, but hey we still do it too. So we can't really say anything.

Overall, being more French in certain ways could be a real improvement. But it might be better to be more Swedish. The Danes also have a very good country. . . .

The man for this sales job is famously Clotaire Rapaille, the Jungian psychiatrist hired by ad agencies to create brand archetypes.

The more amusing alternative might be Lon Milo DuQuette, the ceremonial magician and devotee of Aleister Crowley.