The new OpenAI chatbot is fun to mess around with. (You can sign up for a free account here.) But is it smart? I asked it an easy math question, based on Euler’s polyhedron formula. Euler discovered that the number of edges of a polyhedron is equal to the number of faces plus the number […]
A recent paper finds that drivers who are not vaccinated against COVID are substantially more likely to be involved in serious auto accidents than vaccinated drivers. In response, Jay Bhattacharya, an author of the Great Barrington Declaration and a prominent opponent of lockdowns and vaccine mandates, tweeted that the study “should not be used by […]
The moral and strategic importance of a Ukrainian victory seems hard to overstate. A protracted, frozen conflict would be a humanitarian disaster for Ukrainian civilians in Russian occupied areas and war zones, it would lead to continued slaughter of troops on both sides, it would strip Ukraine of critical ports, it would embolden further adventurism […]
I have no idea what is going on in Musk’s head, but hoo-boy. Overpaying, firing essential employees, scaring off advertisers, implementing half-baked policies then quickly reversing himself, provoking regulators. Now there are indications/rumors he is getting ready to bail. And the problem for Musk goes way beyond Twitter. Tesla’s valuation is insane. It’s been based […]
Nature recently published a paper on “degrowth”. Libertarian economist Donald Boudreaux immediately attacked the paper with his usual collection of pro-market, anti-government arguments. Fine. But then Boudreaux published a letter he got from Daniele Struppa, president of Chapman University. Here is a brief excerpt: It is just a manifesto for a deindustrialization of the west, […]
In a recent post, Matt Yglesias argues for using fiscal policy – tax increases or benefits cuts – to control inflation, rather than relying on interest rate hikes. There is certainly an argument to be made here, but his suggestions for reducing consumption seem less than ideal. Yglesias floats the idea of limiting Social Security […]
Some people believe that a DeSantis presidency would be a bigger threat to democracy than a second Trump presidency. The thought is that DeSantis is just as authoritarian as Trump, but more competent. I agree that DeSantis appears to be a dangerous authoritarian and he might well be more effective than Trump at undermining democratic […]
How hard should the Fed hit the brakes to bring inflation down? The answer to this question depends, in part, on just how damaging you think inflation is. And one reason to think that inflation is harmful is simply that most people – normal people, not CEOs or financiers – seem to really dislike it. […]
A friend sent this along, no link:
It has been widely noted that Trumpy Republicans have largely accepted vote tallies and conceded defeat. There have been few strong claims of fraud or election theft by major candidates (the main exception so far appears to be Kari Lake), and no efforts that I am aware of to mobilize protests against the election results, […]