From the Web Overcoming Bias Rebuttal on Status Honesty – Interesting response from Robin Hanson about my article on the inner conflict of seeking status. Excerpt: No, no. Scott, you are thinking you are built with separate desires for status and creative expression (etc.), which you must consciously trade against one another. But we rarely […]
Archives for December 2009
The Crowd is Stupid (You Don’t Need Genius to Beat Them)
“They say that for every open audition for a role, there are 500 applicants. But that isn’t too important, so long as you remember 490 of those applicants are idiots.” This was an example given to me by Cal Newport (although the origin is lost). The numbers aren’t real, but I think the message is […]
Do People Want Riches to Buy Stuff or Status?
We’re richer, but we aren’t happier. At least, that’s what the research tells us. In The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook argues that, in some respects, happiness has actually fallen slightly in the last few decades. This is despite the fact that material conditions have improved significantly during the same time. To many people, this finding […]
Friday Links
From the Web Fluent in Three Months – This is the blog of Benny Lewis, international vagabond, octolinguist and all-round interesting guy. The blog explores his current goal of going from zero language skill to fluency in three months. My prediction: Benny will be joining the A-list of bloggers soon, if his writing continues as […]