Conspicuous Consumption Is Not What You Think
In the 20th century, this behavior gained popularity amongst the middle class. It became “Keeping up with the Joneses.”
Ryan H Murphy
· 4 min read
The Disinviting of Dawkins
When the moment arose, everyone was appalled by what he had to say and, as I recall, he quit his degree shortly after.
Emma C Williams
· 5 min read
Alice in Blunder Land
“Begin at the beginning,’ the King said, very gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
Robert King
· 9 min read
Unscrambling the Second Law of Thermodynamics
All these specific conditions (loud volume, correct support, a vowel that works) must be met in order to sing a high note.
Brendon Brewer
· 15 min read
Gossip Is a Social Skill—Not a Character Flaw
Gossip can actually be thought of not as a character flaw, but as a highly evolved social skill.
Frank T McAndrew
· 6 min read
The Thought Police Aren’t Administrators—They’re Us College Kids
Students at residential colleges live in an oppressively tight bubble of conformity.
Toni Airaksinen
· 4 min read
The Masochists Who Defend Sadists: The Regressive Left in Theory and Practice
John Pilger, Michael Moore, Tariq Ali, Arundhati Roy, and the Stop the War Coalition have shown their commitment to barbarism.
Timothy Cootes
· 17 min read
Socialism is Worse Than Capitalism—You Want a Welfare State
What is the distinction between socialism and the modern welfare state? One way to think about it is in terms of market intervention vs. post- and pre-market intervention.
Mark Fabian
· 6 min read
Springtime for Demagogues
The problem isn’t that that is completely unwarranted, it might be, it might not be. The problem is that shielding us from the truth is utterly counter-productive.
David Paxton
· 10 min read
Heritability and why Parents (but not Parenting) Matter
Non-additive effects don’t breed true with the same degree of fidelity—in fact these effects bust up the clean transmission of traits from parents to children (to use a sports analogy, it’s a bit like a cornerback in football deflecting the quarterback’s perfect spiral aimed at the receiver).
Brian Boutwell, Razib Khan
· 13 min read
After Cologne, Feminism is Dead
After Cologne, feminism is dead. Europe must now focus on the more important issue of women’s rights.
Phillip Mark McGough
· 7 min read
How Capitalism and Globalization Have Made the World a Better Place
As the world has become more capitalist and more globalized, the quality of life for the average person, and especially for the average poor person, has increased substantially.
Corey Iacono
· 5 min read
I’m Not a Feminist—Even Though I Attend a Women's College
Feminism is purported to be a movement towards equality. Fair enough. Most reasonable people support that.
Toni Airaksinen
· 5 min read
Business Journals Vow to Publish Studies That Prove Nothing
It will be important to see how many researchers and journals indeed opt to publish null-findings, and whether and how that affects their impact factor and ranking over time.
Ramon Wenzel
· 5 min read
Original Sin: The Sexual Motivation of Religious Extremists
This misguided reticence is a product of archaic cultural mores that make sex a thing of shame for women, but one of pride for men.
Janet L Factor
· 15 min read