February 2021 – Fruits of procrastination

Status signaling

Of the subtle things in life, status signaling is one of the subtlest. It is mostly a delicate art refined in the forging fires of one-upmanship (and perhaps envy), but it can become quite unpleasant in the hands of brutes. So what is status signaling? Well if I am earning a lot more than you,Continue reading “Status signaling”

On virtue signaling

Let me detail some of the many ways in which I am basically a hypocrite. I am a “liberal”. Does that mean that I fight for women’s rights? Do I work tirelessly for the downtrodden? Well I got into an argument with a family member once in which I said that men and women deservedContinue reading “On virtue signaling”

Mimetic desire

One of my favorite things in life is to discover counterintuitive truths. Hence, I was happy to recently learn about mimetic desire, as discovered by the French polymath René Gerard. Let me reproduce some real zingers from the article: We borrow our desires from others. Far from being autonomous, our desire for a certain objectContinue reading “Mimetic desire”

The true cost of an education

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him Main takeaway: Moloch has killed your curiosity (and hence the cat still lives) People that are much more intelligent and successful than me have written about the perils of standardized education. Some of them are Paul Graham, Scott Alexander and Bryan Caplan. I would highly recommendContinue reading “The true cost of an education”