The operating system: should there be one?
Frequentists are closet Bayesians
Japan has the most awesome reality TV. Can 3 olympic fencers defeat 50 untrained swordsmen? Watch the video to find out.
Rogoff critiques Piketty. This is much the same as my fundamental critique - Piketty has no model, and seems ignorant of global inequality.
My favorite new memes: Scumbag Analytic Philosopher and Scumbag Continental Philosopher.
A discussion on the Philosophy of Lovecraft.
Robin Hanson asks the important question - if education, female empowerment and assortative mating cause inequality, should we attempt to reduce these things?
Freddy DeBoer on Free Speech Rights and Ability. Interesting article from a liberal perspective on the new blacklist.
Interesting discussion on the philosophy of Clarence Thomas. Even more interesting when you consider the source - I generally expect crookedtimber to do little more than sneer at him.
Interesting FAQ by Jayman on Human Biodiversity. An interesting blog in general.
Meant for Each Other: Open Borders and Western Civilization, by Bryan Caplan. I find him generally unconvincing on keyhole solutions (hard to implement in the US political system) and political externalities (Indian election 2014: rape apologist vs instigator of religious riots vs yet another Gandhi). Nevertheless, most of my software engineer friends (to say nothing of non upper-middle class people) enjoy a consumption level comparable to that of American non-workers - immigration is by far the only plausible solution to this. Bryan Caplan's core point is solid, even if his arguments need a bit of work.
Neil Degrasse Tyson's Scientism
Zachary David calls out Eric Hunsader (of Nanex) for spreading BS. He also takes down a paper pushing the myth of quote stuffing.
Awesome visualization of population and GDP.