tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42479926594658804002024-03-13T23:21:22.852-07:00RandologyRandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-33807176334151897712011-02-20T07:26:00.000-08:002011-02-20T07:26:04.691-08:00Did everyone forget we are in a recession?I find it amazing at the disconnect between the "facts on the ground" and Repub policies. We are in a recession, right? Doesn't that imply we should stimulate the economy? It is consensus economics that this is true. But Repub policies go in the opposite direction. They are pursuing policies that will increase the severity of the recession, which means more job losses for a longer period of time. Didn't they run on increasing jobs? Everything they have done so far will have the effect of job loss. This is simply bizarre. What is worse is the American people losing sight of how we got here: Repub ideology.Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-26028368580377756112011-02-20T07:00:00.000-08:002011-02-20T07:00:09.871-08:00"Elementary, my dear Watson"One of the most important things that happened in the last week was not even political. Watson's defeat of the Jeopardy champs is very significant. The key development was getting past what AI researchers call the "frame problem," which is basically the ability to understand context, knowing when people mean "bat" as in baseball or "bat" as in flying rat. I remember some philosopher's near certainty that this was an insoluble problem. I'd be interested to see how they did it.Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-80442625847058090822011-02-18T22:49:00.001-08:002011-02-18T22:49:47.025-08:00Double Posting to My BlogMy wonderful wife, Lyn, showed me how to cross post between my blog and Facebook, so all my posts will be in both places.Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-86974884611605480392010-11-07T16:26:00.001-08:002010-11-07T16:26:19.855-08:00CensorshipTesting to see if I can postRandohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-5918476240317803952010-11-07T06:41:00.000-08:002010-11-07T06:41:18.058-08:00Is Boehner nuts?Boehner just said the U.S. has the best health system in the world. What has he been smoking? Oh yeah, he does smoke. Has he missed the whole health care discussion? 40 million uncovered? No pre-existing conditions covered? Most expensive system in the world, and the most red tape. That is the best in the world? I think not! He is just a shill for the insurance companies. Disgusting. This is what people voted for? Maybe they don't like some of the details of the bill, but they were certainly not happy with what we had.Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-70175402610890468192010-11-07T06:23:00.001-08:002010-11-07T06:23:43.029-08:00Good Morning Viet Nam!Well, I'm in Viet Nam. Unfortunately they block Facebook. So people will have to come here for my blatherings. They are idiots for blocking it. This country is locked down. They have nothing to worry about. It is interesting that the south still regards itself as more free. They call the northerners communists. VN is much more modern than Cambodia. Cambodia is still recovering from Pol Pot and the civil war. But they are building like crazy. Some investors are going to make a killing--probably not the best choice of words for Cambodia :), but oh well. But returning to VN, my hotel is rather elegant. Dinner cost me $55! No more dinners here! But I get the impression that VN is more expensive that the rest of SE Asia. Tomorrow is the Cu Chi tunnels. I'm a bit claustrophobic, so it could get a but hairy.Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-35330340032961718632010-10-10T09:54:00.000-07:002010-10-10T09:55:27.862-07:00StuxnetDid the U.S. just put the world on notice that we have some pretty clever geeks that can do some heavy damage to your system if you oppose us? Or did the Chinese do this in order to implicate the U.S.? Hard to say.Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-12053038557653809152010-10-09T17:56:00.000-07:002010-10-10T10:23:07.210-07:00My Sabbatical WorkI am on sabbatical right now to write my portion (1/3) of a book on Global Popular Culture. I'm doing the theory section right now. I'm also writing a paper on memetics applied to the ancient Silk Road in comparison with memetics in today's mass society. The upshot is that when memetic quantity and speed reach a certain threshold there is a qualitative change in the nature of human communication. The characteristics of memetic replication take on greater importance at higher speeds and increased quantity. Human reason is likely to play a lesser role in guiding decision making as popular culture increases its dominance of rationality. Mass society in the age of the internet becomes the domain of the more rapidly replicating ideas rather than the ones most compelling from a rational point of view. This is not to say that there wasn't always some memetic role in intellectual history; my discussion of Silk Road dynamics establishes that. The narrative and visual elements of Buddhism, Hinduism and other thought complexes are spread to some extent as much because they are prone to replication as they are because they are rational or meet the needs of people. The thing about the history of memetic reality before mass society is that it is tightly linked to the history of trade. Ideas aren't strong enough to move by themselves, they required that trade routes along the Silk Road be established first. That is why the Hindu elements of Cambodian art have to be understood in terms of Indonesian influence. The Hindu aesthetic traveled through Indonesia on its way to Cambodia because trade went that direction, first to the more distant Indonesia (by sea), then back to Cambodia.Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-67157044711777698662010-10-09T07:30:00.000-07:002010-10-09T07:30:24.621-07:00The Stupid Demographic<h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="UIStory_Message">Dems need to work harder on the "stupid" vote. Repubs do a great job with the faux patriotism, religion and silly slogans they come up with to gain their vote. Dems can't just write off 20% of the voting public. Dems need their own Palins, Limbaughs and Becks, all Repubs who supply the party with the red meat idiots crave. You have to hand it to the Repubs. They have managed to cultivate the stupid vote without undermining the more intelligent of their constituency. That will be the hardest part of the task for Dems because Dems tend to call out their own fools, while Repubs just change the subject or look the other way.</span></h3>Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-45419418126131775782010-10-09T06:07:00.001-07:002010-10-09T07:26:58.035-07:00Burning Down the House<h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If you want a good idea of what Repub privatization policies lead to, look no farther than the case of the firemen who watched as a house burned because the owner didn't pay the $75 fee. (He forgot). Now think about social security, police, and yes, health care. It just doesn't make sense to privatize some things. But </span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">the Repubs are willing to "burn down the house" for the sake of their ideology. T</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">he point is that this case is a good metaphor for the key problem with lassiez faire philosophy: people slipping through the cracks. People don't forget to pay their taxes (at least most of us don't), so that is a mo</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">re reliable way of dealing with absolute necessities like fire and police protection. What if a cop refused to help someone because they didn't pay their "police fee"? My own view is that this is what we do with health care by having private insurance involved in any way. "Oh, you didn't buy policy 1a, you only have 1b, so you don't get treatment." I'm all for using the market as a general framework, but it doesn't always supply us with what we want.</span></span></span></span></h3>Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-26881171987591581232010-10-09T06:06:00.000-07:002010-10-09T07:34:13.529-07:00The Sharia Meme<h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="UIStory_Message">Sharron Angle is running for U.S. Senate. In this article she is quoted as saying Islamic Sharia is taking hold in Dearborn, MI. Dearborn, MI! She talks as if we can't just go there and see that it isn't so. How do these wackos get this far? How can someone this far removed from reality actually be a viable candidate f<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">or the U.S. Senate. What does this tell us about the Repub party right now? It tells us that they will tolerate complete wackos. But in this case I am not talking about the leadership so much as Repub voters. What the heck are they thinking? But this Sharia meme seems to be gaining steam with virtually no reality behind it. If people thought for two seconds they would realize it isn't and can't be a problem. Muslims would have to be a majority in the U.S. and there would have to be a Constitutional convention. I don't see a Muslim majority anytime soon, so this Sharia fear comes from somewhere else, probably a general fear of Muslims. Of course, there are also the Newt Gingrich's of the world who know better, but still push this blatant nonsense. But what Newt knows is that fear works for the Repubs. It is well-established that fear works to make memes powerful, and the Repubs are the best at running with the fear meme. Maybe that is why Repubs are so into heroes: it is because they are filled with so much fear themselves that they have a hard time imagining someone actually having a little courage.</span></span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><br />
</span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/08/sharron-angle-muslim-law-_n_755346.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/08/sharron-angle-muslim-law-_n_755346.html</a></span></span></h3>Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-16249994207429084252010-10-02T16:38:00.002-07:002010-10-09T07:22:59.480-07:00Time for a different kind of economist?<h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="UIStory_Message">If I had Obama's ear, I would tell him that since Summers is leaving, pull in someone like Krugman, Roubini or Stiglitz. Summers and Geithner got us through the economic armageddon--it was probably smart to have people trusted by Wall Street at that point, but maybe it is time for some experts who don't trust Wall Street. After all, Wall Street is responsible for the economic debacle, but is yet to feel much of a pinch in the way of new regulations. We still have companies that are too big to fail. We still have massive foreclosures. We still have derivatives whose quality is hidden.</span></h3>Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-30323965026062347202010-10-02T16:38:00.000-07:002010-10-02T16:38:10.140-07:00Even David Stockman is sceptical!<h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="UIStory_Message">Voters: shouldn't you have just a few doubts about the Repubs? Last time they were in power they took us from a surplus to a massive deficit. The recent Repub Pledge outlines a path (extending all the tax cuts with almost no spending cuts) to ever greater deficits. As David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director rec<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">ently said on NPR, the idea that you can get rid of the debt without raising taxes is a big lie.</span></span></h3>Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-40388426289075686602010-10-02T16:35:00.001-07:002010-10-02T16:35:58.522-07:00Southeast Asia Trip<h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="UIIntentionalStory_Names" data-ft="{"type":"name"}" style="color: grey;"> </span><span class="UIStory_Message">Booked my flights to Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam today. Giving a conference paper in Bangkok, checking out the killing fields (Phnom Penh) and Angkor Wat (Siem Reap) in Cambodia, and hanging out in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).</span></h3>Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-91171182476087186172010-10-02T16:22:00.000-07:002010-10-02T16:57:12.946-07:00George Will's Silly Expectations<h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> had to laugh at a George Will article today. He says the Dems have failed because unemployment isn't below 8%. If you had asked economists at the beginning of Obama's term if, given the Wall Street crash, we would have 9% unemployment at this point they would have been quite impressed. We were looking at a likelihood</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> of depression-level (25%) unemployment, so where we are is pretty damn good. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Show me a plausible scenario that would have brought unemployment down significantly lower. Notice that the right-wingers say we should have let Wall Street and the auto industry go down. Where would unemployment be had we taken that path? It is simply pie-in-the-sky to believe that we could have 5-7% unemployment right now after the shit-sandwich of an economy was handed to the Dems from Repubs. Check your economic history. (I would recommend Rogoff and Reinart, but any hist</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ory of economics for the last 100 years will do) No economy, ever, has rebounded that fast from the kind of calamity we encountered. What kind of genius do we think is available out there? Do we think there are people who could have done better? Really? Seriously? And what are there actual proposals? Keeping the Bush tax cuts? That is the solution? Implausible bleating about cutting spending? And we are going to accept this from people who managed to overspend so badly in good economic times that they turned a surplus into a deficit? W</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">hat have tea partiers said that would make us think they have a solution? They all want to extend the Bush tax cuts forever. Show me a way out of massive and dangerous deficits if we take that path. So right there you have a big reas</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">on to think hard before drinking the tea. Gov't too large? Specify what you will cut. The tea party has been awol on that task. Unless you tell me what you will cut I can't take your pledges to small gov't seriously. Now on the Dem side, has the deficit gotten bigger? Yes, but it is a short term increase in a recession, which is exactly how it is supposed to be. Gov't is supposed to run a deficit in a recession. If they aren't, they aren't doing the job of replacing the demand lost by unemployment and mitigating the pain to the people unemployed because of it. The problem was that the Dems inherited a standing (and structural!) deficit left by Bush's tax cuts. If we consider where we were when the Dems took over, where we are isn't too shabby at all.</span></span></span></h3>Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4247992659465880400.post-70103766390615657922010-10-02T16:18:00.000-07:002010-10-02T16:18:45.991-07:00Welcome to my blog!After blathering on Facebook for a while now and running into its limitations, I have decided to start a blog where I can pontificate at greater length.Randohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807874818821381559noreply@blogger.com0