tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80949792008-06-17T12:48:03.346-07:00Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comBlogger390125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-19086154262379755622007-12-14T11:10:00.000-08:002007-12-14T11:12:49.094-08:00

The mere fact that someone disagrees with one's judgement is insufficient grounds for opening one's mind. Most epistemologists forget that it is just as urgent a question to determine when we are justified in opening up our minds as it is to determine when we are justified in closing them.—Isaac Levi, "Consensus as Shared Agreement and Outcome of Inquiry." Synthese 62, pg. 3

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-60171406297635591652007-11-26T02:18:00.000-08:002007-11-26T02:36:36.551-08:00

At the blog of Harvard economist Greg Mankiw, he writes about a debate he participated in over whether one person should be allowed to sell his right to vote to another. Dr. Mankiw said no:It is true that both parties in the transaction must be better off if they agreed to the deal. Nonetheless, the standard argument for unfettered voluntary exchange does not apply because there are externalities

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-71199242857190816912007-11-20T06:59:00.000-08:002007-11-20T07:02:38.312-08:00

"Cowardice" and "self-respect" have largely disappeared from public discourse. In their place we are offered "self-esteem" as the bellwether of success and a proxy for dignity. "Self-respect" implies that one recognizes standards, and judges oneself worthy by the degree to which one lives up to them. "Self-esteem" simply means that one feels good about oneself. "Dignity" used to refer to the

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-86545166636996953602007-11-12T07:28:00.000-08:002007-11-12T07:31:03.218-08:00

[Information Technology’s] revolutionary significance is not merely in that it is a brand new technology itself, but more in that it is a kind of bonding agent which can lightly penetrate the layers of barriers between technologies and link various technologies which appear to be totally unrelated. Through its bonding, not only is it possible to derive numerous new technologies which are neither

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-44284158755790970442007-04-29T17:46:00.000-07:002007-04-29T17:50:44.838-07:00

It is not generally realized that education can never be more than indoctrination with theories and ideas already developed. Education, whatever benefits it may confer, is transmissive of traditional doctrines and valuations; it is by necessity conservative. It produces imitation and routine, not improvement and progress. Innovators and creative geniuses cannot be reared in schools. They are

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-10131023601571449512007-03-25T23:52:00.000-07:002007-03-25T23:57:39.136-07:00

Every one who has had the misfortune to talk with people in the heart or on the edge of mental disorder, knows that their most sinister quality is a horrible clarity of detail; a connecting of one thing with another in a map more elaborate than a maze. If you argue with a madman, it is extremely probable that you will get the worst of it; for in many ways his mind moves all the quicker for not

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-81022248843469855522007-03-22T09:42:00.000-07:002007-03-22T09:47:22.374-07:00

The relative, diminishing hardships of everyday existence, together with more extensive academic instruction, has laid a foundation of knowledge for most people that is less tested by experience and affirmed more by internal feelings and passions. More people may be better educated these days, but they are also more insulated and more naive.—Richard Reay, letter to the Wall Street Journal,

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-68190773297671978502007-02-25T00:05:00.000-08:002007-02-25T00:12:12.485-08:00

Everyone prefers to believe rather than to judge. One never judges but always believes regarding the things which are vital. Error transmitted from hand to hand always turns us to and fro and throws us down headlong, and we perish through following examples taken from others. We shall be cured if we were but to secede from the crowd. As it is, however, the people, the defender of its own evil,

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1171175168308748112007-02-10T19:27:00.000-08:002007-02-10T22:26:08.366-08:00

Longtime readers of this blog may remember that I am interested in the concept of a decentralized, flexible military that follows the model proposed by Arquilla and Ronfeldt in their work, Swarming and the Future of Conflict. Briefly put, they propose that the current hierarchical structure of the military be replaced with one where troops are organized in autonomous units of about 200 men, which

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1171000768827215502007-02-08T20:19:00.000-08:002007-02-08T21:59:28.850-08:00

The angst continues to build over the ballooning cost of medical care in the United States. Thanks to a toxic combination of perverse legal incentives, crippling legal restrictions, and inefficient use of medical resources, health care costs have been consistently growing 2% faster than inflation for decades. (It is noteworthy that both health care and education—the other sector where prices have

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1170872957884886162007-02-07T10:27:00.000-08:002007-02-07T10:29:17.903-08:00

The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.--Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1170635291335651042007-02-04T16:26:00.000-08:002007-02-04T16:28:11.366-08:00

Government is the only enterprise in the world which expands in size when its failures increase.—Judge Janice Rodgers Brown, speaking at the University of Chicago on 20 April 2000.

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1170624611024755162007-02-04T12:38:00.000-08:002007-11-12T07:43:44.990-08:00

Revolutions rarely compromise; compromises are made only to further the strategic design. Negotiation, then, is undertaken for the dual purpose of gaining time to buttress a position (military, political, social, economic) and to wear down, frustrate and harass the opponent. Few, if any, essential concessions are to be expected from the revolutionary side, whose only aim is to create conditions

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1170390551062538492007-02-01T20:22:00.000-08:002007-02-01T20:29:11.080-08:00

The rich, the owners of the already operating plants, have no particular class interest in the maintenance of free competition. They are opposed to confiscation and expropriation of their fortunes, but their vested interests are rather in favor of measures preventing newcomers from challenging their position. Those fighting for free enterprise and free competition do not defend the interests of

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1170380015257782292007-02-01T16:37:00.000-08:002007-02-01T17:33:35.276-08:00

One of the things I've been up to in my long absence from blogging has been studying up on game theory and issues of persuasion and decisionmaking, for one of my side projects. One of the tidbits I gleaned from this study is that academics agree that it is, indeed, very hard to go against a group consensus. You must fight against social penalties for perceived disloyalty, as well as the

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1169680722330548672007-01-24T15:11:00.000-08:002007-01-24T15:18:42.360-08:00

It always turns out that the party that is not your ally calls for your neutrality, while your ally asks that you declare yourself with action. In order to avoid immediate peril, an irresolute prince most often embraces neutrality and most often comes to grief…. And let no state suppose that it can choose sides with complete safety. Indeed, it had better recognize that it will always have to

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1163904475813802222006-11-18T18:25:00.000-08:002006-11-18T18:47:56.736-08:00

Looking over the details of the New School case as reported in this news article, one point in particular stands out:According to New School Director Sue Miller-Hurst, she went to the county initially. “When we looked at this site in 2004, we sent a school architect to the county for a conditional use permit and he was told we did not need one because we were a public school. When we wanted to

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1163481016763525082006-11-13T21:09:00.000-08:002006-11-13T21:10:16.783-08:00

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.—George Washington

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1163322731410261312006-11-12T00:50:00.000-08:002006-11-12T01:12:11.430-08:00

[Apologies for not posting much lately. Since Nov. 1, I have been participating in National Novel Writing Month, which has utterly monopolized my capacity for stringing sentences together. However, I would be remiss if I did not say something about the most recent election.] Well, the Democrats have control. Let's see what they do with it. That was my overriding reaction to the election results

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1162794195039094602006-11-05T21:57:00.000-08:002006-11-18T18:20:41.046-08:00

[Note: I originally had a post up dealing with an attempt by a government bureaucrat to make trouble for a charter school. People involved in the case have asked me to pull the post for the time being; I have archived the original and will hopefully add more details later.] [UPDATE 11/18: It's later. The original post follows; here is a link to a news article covering the case.] On Friday, I

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1162188942822009582006-10-29T21:06:00.000-08:002006-10-29T22:15:43.003-08:00

Over at Smallest Minority, Kevin Baker has posted a monumental effort at defining a "right," and explicating why it and the United States are so important, from the atheist perspective. (Kevin was kind enough to quote from my earlier piece, The Enervated Man of the West, as part of his presentation.) Ultimately he must fall back on Ayn Rand's "one fundamental right," the right to your own life,

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1161844352125057252006-10-25T22:24:00.000-07:002006-10-25T23:32:32.666-07:00

Last week I attended an industry conference in Atlanta, at which the headline speaker was former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. Greenspan was interviewed on the front stage by a CNN finance anchor, Ali Someone-or-Other (not being in the habit of watching CNN, I did not know him at all). The contrast throughout was striking: while the interviewer kept digging for the incendiary soundbite

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1161050045735698762006-10-16T18:01:00.000-07:002006-10-16T18:54:51.010-07:00

Excerpts from a post about politics by Roger L. Simon and from a few commenters:It's blood sport performed by truly uninteresting performers—basketball without Kobe, Shaq or Jordan. People like Reid, Hastert, Pelosi are complete mediocrities who should be at much lower levels in our society. Something is fundamentally wrong on both sides of the aisle if they are the upper leadership of our

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1160611538978759482006-10-11T16:53:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:05:38.996-07:00

North Korea's been conducting purported nuclear tests and threatening war, the budget deficit has shrunk to 1.9% of GDP (well below the 40-year average of 2.3%), Jimmy Carter has opened his fetid mouth in public again, the price of oil has dropped like a rock, and Pope Benedict continues to state uncomfortable truths about modern Islamism. So why haven't I been posting? There are several

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8094979.post-1159392292562943092006-09-27T14:21:00.000-07:002006-09-27T14:24:52.580-07:00

Officials of the [Iranian] regime have admitted that most Iranian clerics have always taken a wary view of Khomeinism. It is important to realize that the religious references which Khomeini used to justify his rule were literally the same as those invoked a century earlier by an eminent ayatollah who was arguing for the legitimacy of parliamentarianism and popular sovereignty on Islamic grounds.

Mastiffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08009663221665718199noreply@blogger.com