Covid-19: alternate origin stories
Pre-Wuhan Covid-19 in Italy, bioweapons research in Russia and China, and curious coincidences. There’s a lot of credible information that casts doubt on the official story of Covid-19’s origins. Starting with a big... READ MORE
Penisocratic method #2
Exciting year ahead for human space exploration For reasons beyond my understanding, there are people who aren’t closely watching how we’re progressing to the stars. Of course, it’s only the most important thing... READ MORE
Penisocratic Method #1
Today, let me introduce you to a new post format. Here’s the thing: the click-through “tile” design of the website encourages long-form writing. This was a deliberate decision to keep the quality of... READ MORE
Why Scotland is Pakistan
I have a huge discovery to share with you: Scotland is Pakistan. Consider: A mountaineous hinterland full of angry bearded men wearing women’s clothing, who seem to be suspiciously close to their livestock.... READ MORE
The Asian powderkeg
Right now, Asia is a powderkeg with several simultaneously lit fuses. There are at least four conflicts in Asia from which neither side can afford to back down, as the stakes are too... READ MORE
The vibranium shield of willful ignorance
Nobody is more imaginative than a person who doesn’t want to concede an obvious point. As the internet brought 24/7 global debates, it also brought rapid innovation in the field of being a... READ MORE
La dolce vita
How sweet something tastes is clearly a matter of acclimation. When you cut sugar from your diet, your sense of sweetness gets “downregulated” in a few weeks. Afterwards, sweet things often taste too... READ MORE
Technology and magic
People are wrong in many curious ways. A new one I noticed is assuming that a goal is silly, because people in the past tried to achieve it in silly ways. The thinking,... READ MORE
Latest Posts
Oligarchy – a brief exposé
It helps tremendously to understand that countries have de-facto shareholders, usually invisible by design, except with a bit of digging or their own carelessness. We have witnesssed an example of carelessness resulting in increased attention and unmasking of the game … Continued
The pursuit of happiness as a leading cause of depression
Reportedly, a depression epidemic is sweeping the developed world, and especially its young people. One, that’s at least partly an effect of better diagnostic capture, not there being more of it – as described earlier. Two, to the degree it is … Continued
Per aspera is actually the best way ad astra
There’s a theory called the “pump of evolution” that says mass extinction events were necessary for the rise of complex life, and eventually intelligence, although anyone who has spent more than five minutes on Twitter would seriously doubt intelligent life … Continued
Implicit and explicit knowledge – sex, squirrels, Victorians and Darwin
Here’s something interesting: we’ve been selectively breeding crops and animals for thousands of years before any formal theory of evolution was written. Not only do we act on knowledge we don’t realize we have and would struggle to put into … Continued
Reincarnation and eugenics
This is a thought experiment. It is intended to point out a surprising logical consequence of a relatively common belief, and of course, make hippies, who against all evidence tend to think of themselves as good people, squirm with cognitive … Continued
The Hollywood fallacy – arguing from movie plots
Smart people have identified many bugs in human software. The list of cognitive biases and fallacies is long and growing, much like my… aaanyway. I add a new one, and call it the Hollywood fallacy. It goes like this: “I saw … Continued
Scrambled eggs according to Jordan Peterson
Jordan Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist and media figure with a tendency to occassionally present simple ideas by extensively citing the Old Testament, Pinocchio, and Inuit creation myths. While the ideas are often decent, they’re also simpler than he … Continued
Broken windows, lush flowers and social capital
The broken windows theory says that visible signs of crime and general nastiness lead people to behave in more socially destructive ways. The opposite also applies: making things nice helps people behave better. In the 1980s, the New York subway was … Continued
Actually, skipping $4 lattés is solid financial advice
In a popular genre of twenty-something former junior analysts at the Nebrahoma Falls branch of Wells Fargo LARPing as wolves of Wallstreet on Twitter, and dispensing testosterone-soaked bad advice that always seems to boil down to affiliate marketing and selling … Continued
The invisible colonies of Russia and China
Western intellectuals are consumed by paroxysms of postcolonial repentance. While that is ethically understandable, it is unclear why they’re preoccupied with European colonies 200 years ago while remaining curiously silent about the colonial empires that exist to this day. We … Continued
How to write like famous writers
Have you ever wanted to write like a classic? Have you wondered how do they (or we) do it? Here’s how to copy the styles of your favourite writers, from A to Z (which is me). Aldous Huxley: accurately predict … Continued
How to change habits II. – move your sofa
You already know that it helps you change habits more easily to first change your environment – meaning, to enter a new environment. That might not always be practical, so here’s good news – you can also do it by … Continued
Elon Musk’s master plan to save humanity and stuff
One common criticism of Elon Musk goes like this: “Musk is spreading himself too thin in ten thousand different projects, dividing his attention and endangering success in the ones that already seem to be on a good track. He should … Continued
How to change habits
How to effectively change habits is one of life’s big and permanent questions. There are a bunch of “hacks” on the internet. But to qualify as a real life hack, a tip must be so effective it feels like a … Continued
Beware Chinese bearing gifts – especially ones involving government computers
In 2012, the Chinese government has generously built, “for free”, a new $ 200 million headquarters for the African Union in Addis Ababa, including a sophisticated computer system. In the most unsurprising plot development in history, the building was recently … Continued
Of hedgehogs, etymology and linguists being wrong
In what must be the world record for the least clickbaity article in the history of mankind, I will show you why dictionaries are wrong about the origin of the word “hedgehog”. You may think it’s simple and self-evident, “hedge+hog”, … Continued
Bitcoin’s dilemma and future
When are you going to use Bitcoin (or something like Bitcoin) to buy bread, beer and books? Eventually. However, it has to crash first. Or at least stabilise. As long as it grows exponentially, nobody sane will want to spend … Continued
Making your life even better with the Talent Stack
Accepted wisdom says that to have an exceptional career, you need exceptional skills – or perhaps luck, connections or other unfair things. I have good news for you: neither part is true. Luck and connections help, but as long as … Continued
My islamist Uber driver and modern slavery
Uber gets fairly criticised for unethical business practices, and unfairly criticised by taxi drivers scared of superior competition. There are, however, at least two giant problems that you rarely hear addressed. For one, a solid proportion of Uber drivers are … Continued
Why I’m done with Apple
In short, because their products are now mediocre, and their business practices are evil. I’ll be the first to admit being, for a time, a giant Apple fannoun (I’m not sure we’re allowed to say “boy” anymore). This was in … Continued