Interesting Links for 25-07-2017
Jul. 25th, 2017 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewducker- A chart that shows where robots are going to replace humans on Wall Street
- (tags: automation finance )
- Chicago SlutWalk joins in with anti-Semitic ban
- (tags: Jews feminism OhForFucksSake usa )
- Wings Over Scotland increases defamation claim against Kezia Dugdale to £25,000
- (tags: lgbt law scotland independence politics )
- Brexit: Theresa May refuses to rule out weakening of food standards in trade deal with US
- (tags: food health usa uk europe )
- How economists rode maths to become our era’s astrologers
- I remember reading an article where the author pointed out that the hallmark of good science was the discarding of failed theories.
And noting that economics never discards a theory.
(tags: history economics fail ) - Brexit is dying – don’t worry about how we finish it off
- (tags: europe uk )
- If you want to understand where Corbyn is coming from on free movement of labour, Asquith Xavier has the answer. But you won't like it.
- (tags: immigration racism Labour history unions )
- Peter Davison is wrong about a female Doctor Who, but he's not sexist
- (tags: drwho feminism )
- Crewless electric cargo ships may be on the horizon in Norway
- (tags: automation shipping transport )
- When you think about it, Lord of the Rings is the only appropriate metaphor for the PhD Journey. Let me explain....
- (tags: lotr academia phd awesome )
- Money can buy you happiness (by paying to get out of negative things)
- This is on top of, of course, the "Money as a way of not being hungry/homeless" and "Money as a way of not letting your lifestyle decrease", both of which impact on happiness.
(tags: money time happiness ) - Roomba's Next Big Step Is Selling Maps of Your Home to the Highest Bidder
- Which seems odd to me. I can't quite figure out what they'd do with it.
(tags: privacy cleanliness automation ) - India will ban driverless cars in order to protect jobs
- (tags: jobs cars India automation OhForFucksSake )
- Essex nursery 'closes because of universal free hours scheme'
- (tags: children money UK government )
- How Nolan forgot the Indians at Dunkirk
- (tags: India wwii history movies )
- Snopes Faces an Ugly Legal Battle
- (tags: law business facts fail )
- Microsoft Paint avoids brush with death
- (tags: software art microsoft )
- Food security in a post-Brexit world
- (tags: Food UK europe )
- 22 reasons the hyperloop and driverless cars don't mean we don't need HS2
- (tags: trains transport thefuture )
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Not All Economists
Date: 2017-07-25 12:29 pm (UTC)Most ecomomists don't go anywhere near macro-economics. Most are busy doing micro-economics*; trying to understand particular markets or industries, or particular types of behaviour, or understanding what is actually happening in the economy. They are trying to answer useful questions like, what happens if the price of oil doubles, how does innovation happen, how many jobs might be at risk if machine intelligence and robotisation are widespread, why do people buy mustard, what is the best way to promote sensible use of credit in developing countries.
Most economic theory is not set in the hypothetical world of rational markets. Most economic theory is set in the world of understanding where and why rational markets are not rational or indeed to what extent does aggregate market behaviour converge on rational behaviour despite the fact that individuals are not "rational" in a classical economic sense but mostly the work of economists is understand quite narrow areas and what is going on in them. Economics has been moving away from theories of rational markets since Adam Smith founded the science so he could get on the with the more important work of moral philosophy.
I think the real reason economists are being paid better in academia is they have a second market for their skills, working inside large organisations who want their skills understanding the markets and industries they operate in the and the customers, suppliers and competitors with whom they interact.
None of this is to suggest that macro-economists are not guilty of mathiness or that economics is not a very difficult topic on which to do science.
But the cry of "economists are geting paid more than me because they have bambozzled us with mathiness" is, I think, so far from the truth as tobe not even wrong.
Re: Not All Economists
Date: 2017-07-25 08:32 pm (UTC)Re: Not All Economists
Date: 2017-07-26 10:29 am (UTC)I think the link between the charlatan status of economists and their pay is pretty important to the article. Economists are paid more than, for example, professors of moral philosophy and religious studies, because DSGE models are flawed they can't be providing a useful service or have some bargaining power "they" therefore must be using mathiness to bamboozle governments and donors. If they were charlatans and only being paid a starvation wage they would soon die off or get jobs as, for example professors of moral philosophy and religious studies. There would be no problem to complain of, but instead "they" use mathiness and gain unfair and unwarranted pay and respect.
I don't think "they" are using #fakemath to bamboozle people. Most of "them" are in fact doing something completely different. Economists are not the the "they" the complaint should be leveled at. There is an error of taxonomy. Many economists have status, pay and influence. Some economists (probably) use math inappropriately and / or don't do enough empirical work.
There's a raft of critisism to be made about things like DSGE models but that is not all that economists do.
I can't help drawing the conclusion that this is a piece of propaganda in a faculty bidding war.
When you think about it, Lord of the Rings is the only appropriate metaphor for the PhD Journey. Let
Date: 2017-07-25 12:37 pm (UTC)Peter Davidson
Date: 2017-07-25 12:42 pm (UTC)Like, I think Davidson's comment about boys losing a role model is *right*, but it's still unfortunately blinkered to let yourself say that, without considering the positive effect for girls, and without clearly thinking through which is more important.
I don't think what he said was as bad as people make out
Date: 2017-07-25 12:52 pm (UTC)Richard Clegg found this and posted it over on FB:
"I think it's a fantastic opportunity for her and I think that it will be hard for some fans to adjust to it. As I said before, it's difficult to adjust to any new Doctor, but I think the important thing is that those are uncertain fellows, those who are uncertain should be encouraged to watch it with an open mind. ... I don't know, I feel... I think the time for discussion about that is past. They've made the announcement. Jodie Whittaker is the next Doctor and that's great! [break] I feel.. if I feel any doubts about it, it's the loss of a role model for boys, who I think Doctor Who is vitally important for. So I feel a bit sad about that, but I understand the argument that you've got to open it up, so that's absolutely fair enough. So she has my best wishes and full confidence. I'm sure she'll do a wonderful job. [break] As a viewer, I kind of like the idea of the Doctor as a boy, but then maybe I'm an old fashioned dinosaur. Who knows? But I think that's irrelevant now. The time for discussion is over. We have a new Doctor. And let's give her our full support. [break] I would encourage them to watch. I think there's too much... you know on the internet... there's too much bile coming from both sides. And too many people are being horribly sexist about it, and too many people are saying, 'Well, we don't care about you. You're old fashioned. Go away and watch something else.' I think fans who are doubtful, who are uncertain should be encouraged and welcomed. And just approach it with an open mind. [break] Oh yeah, of course. I mean, she's a terrific actress. And you can absolutely understand it. Look, someone rings you up... I know this feeling... someone rings you up one night. You're sitting at home and they say 'how would you feel about being the next Doctor Who?' It's a fantastic opportunity, so of course, she grabs it with both hands. I'm sure she'll do a wonderful job!"
And I'm not sure he could have been more reasonable than that, while also expressing his feelings on it, which don't seem bad to me.
Re: I don't think what he said was as bad as people make out
Date: 2017-07-25 01:02 pm (UTC)I also have some concerns about the loss of role models for boys. This is not to say that my concerns are correct or that, from a societial point of view my concerns outweigh the opportunities for other people to have particular role models. However, I am the father of a small boy.
I look at some of the other role models on offer for him and they are not great. Heavily monitised footballers, wrestlers, unsubtle presentations of super-heroes in endless reboots of origin stories. Can I punch it or kick it and get paid for it?
So I'm going to go a bit of an audit of the Captain's role models and see if I think the Doctor is as rare today as I think he was when I was the Captain's age.
Re: I don't think what he said was as bad as people make out
Date: 2017-07-25 01:06 pm (UTC)Suitable for 7+ which I think is slightly older than The Captain though.
Re: I don't think what he said was as bad as people make out
Date: 2017-07-25 01:35 pm (UTC)He's 7 and pretty smart and wise (mostly) so he should be fine with something that is 7+
We had to stop him watching How I Met Your Mother as he started to get old enough to understand what was going on. Barney Stinson is no substitute for the Doctor.
Re: I don't think what he said was as bad as people make out
Date: 2017-07-25 08:32 pm (UTC)(I won't watch the Avatar:TLA film. Tis a travesty.)
Re: I don't think what he said was as bad as people make out
Date: 2017-07-26 09:59 am (UTC)But we probably need to have conversations we don't yet have the shared language for before he can watch How I Met Your Mother again.
Re: I don't think what he said was as bad as people make out
Date: 2017-07-26 09:59 am (UTC)Re: I don't think what he said was as bad as people make out
Date: 2017-07-26 05:35 pm (UTC)And it gets 6% on Rotten Tomatoes.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-25 12:56 pm (UTC)It's fast but I think the limited capacity is against it in a major way.
I'm also getting the impression that the current plan is to put it underground. Which means that unless Elon Musk has really, really lowered the cost of tunnelling it's not going to be cheaper than building a high speed railway or a tram to the airport.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-25 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-26 12:09 am (UTC)Horizontal tunnelling for highways is $10,000 to $366,000 per metre.
Vertical drilling for oil wells is $200 to $2000 per metre.
A two-lane surface highway is $3500 per metre.
Perhaps with his narrow-diameter hyperloop tunnel, he hopes to repurpose oil well drilling technology?
no subject
Date: 2017-07-26 10:05 am (UTC)Oil wells are between 12cm and 100cm.
I'm not an expert on tunnel boring or oil well drilling (although I know a man who is an expert on the latter). However, I'm not sure they are comparable from an engineering point of view. One is a larger hole which is empty and has to last for hundreds of years, the other is a smaller hole which carries fluid under pressure and has to last 20 years. I shall enquire of my family expert and see what he thinks.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-26 07:43 pm (UTC)The vision for that company is cars on 'skates' that zip through the tunnels under normal air pressure, rather than the Hyperloop low-pressure system. That solves a whole load of potential problems. But cheap tunnels could help Hyperloop work too.
Not sure he'll manage any of it, but I wouldn't bet against him. Not least because other long-shot ideas he had (SpaceX, Tesla) have pretty much come off as planned, and he has more money to bet with than I do. :)
no subject
Date: 2017-07-27 12:48 pm (UTC)What I find curious about this tunnel enterprise and hyperloop and Tesla is the combination of very US-centric thinking and a blindspot to public transport.
The Really Boring Company seem to be re-inventing a narrow-gauge light railway underground here.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-27 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-25 01:06 pm (UTC)It's far from clear to me that most people are ready to change their mind from either voting for Brexit (1 in 2) or believing that we should honour the result of the referendum (about 1 in 4).
It's not clear to me that Brexit will go visibly wrong quickly enough for the mood to change before we leave.
It's not clear to me that it going visibly wrong will be ascribed to Brexit rather than Tory incompetence, or Remainer treason.
It's not clear to me that the Tory Party won't just do it anyway.
After all it was pretty clear to Hitler in 1938 that he would lose the Second World War but, nevertheless, he persisted.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-25 08:34 pm (UTC)I'm still fairly convinced it's going to happen. But the figures have changed at least somewhat. This gives me a bit of hope:
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/brits-keener-on-single-market-access-than-full-immigration-control-brexit-poll-shows-a3594611.html
no subject
Date: 2017-07-25 01:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-25 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-25 01:40 pm (UTC)The government seem perversely deaf to the notion that if you pay providers less than it costs to provide the service they will stop providing the service either by not offering it or by going bust. For the party who said you can't buck the market they are trying to buck the market.
Dress Codes and Economists
Date: 2017-07-25 01:48 pm (UTC)https://www.johnkay.com/1996/01/12/a-question-of-clarity-and-certainty/
Re: Dress Codes and Economists
Date: 2017-07-25 08:36 pm (UTC)Re: Dress Codes and Economists
Date: 2017-07-26 08:02 am (UTC)Driverless Indian Government
Date: 2017-07-25 01:52 pm (UTC)Re: Driverless Indian Government
Date: 2017-07-25 08:35 pm (UTC)And those farrier and candle-makers need to feed their families!
Re: Driverless Indian Government
Date: 2017-07-26 10:07 am (UTC)Re: Driverless Indian Government
Date: 2017-07-26 05:18 pm (UTC)