Month: December 2016

I’m on the Professor Watchlist—and it’s woken me up to the radical truth about America and social progress — Quartz

The Professor Watchlist is one such relic of the past, returned to the present—a readily available archive of who should be punished, who should be surveilled, and who should be erased. There may be more to come: Lists of refugees and undocumented immigrants, ready for an official invocation. Lists of enemies of the state, both foreign and domestic. Lists of radicals, lists of community organizers, lists of scientists. Lists that reminded people of dark moments in American history; of Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon, and the Japanese internment camps in the US during World War II.

It is a confirmation that those who believed progress was inevitable were wrong all along.

Source: I’m on the Professor Watchlist—and it’s woken me up to the radical truth about America and social progress — Quartz

Donald Trump and the US economy: 10 charts for tracking his progress — Quartz

10 charts to track his progress putting plans into action, updated continuously.

As president, his pledge to “Make America Great Again” will be judged largely along economic lines, whether it’s bringing back factory jobs, boosting wages, or renegotiating trade deals. … we don’t have to rely on guesswork or partisan punditry to evaluate his progress; we’ve got reliable data to gauge Trump’s success

  • Real GDP growth
  • Unemployment
  • Labor force participation
  • Poverty
  • Trade balance
  • S&P 500
  • Wage growth
  • Budget balance
  • Public debt
  • Coal mining jobs

Source: Donald Trump and the US economy: 10 charts for tracking his progress — Quartz

Forget What Is Normal, Champion What Is Just – The Atlantic

Saying “we mustn’t normalize this behavior” rather than “we need to stop this behavior” is really a way of saying that you don’t want to engage in politics, but would rather just signal to those who already agree with us just how appalled we are.

Perhaps the increasingly popular premise, that to air a belief is to normalize it, renders a society least able to contest wrongheaded ideas precisely when it is most vital.

Source: Forget What Is Normal, Champion What Is Just – The Atlantic

Wonky Thoughts: The Scientific Method, Redefined

The process of objective reasoning is essential not only to science, but to most other aspects of civilization, including government, law, economics, journalism, education and medicine.

The premise is that objective truth exists, and that it is accessible by everyone. The scientific method is the process by which we analyze the world around us to illuminate objective truth for ourselves and others.

Explanations matter. Equations without explanations are empty, and their predictions limited.

A good explanation:

  • Must define a process which changes some aspect of reality.
  • The process must be observed in action.
  • The process must be measured and quantified.
  • The explanation must reconcile theory and observation.
  • The work must meet the standards of objectivity listed above as ancillary elements of the scientific method.
  • The explanation must be verified through successful prediction of experimental results or observations of real-world changes.
  • The explanation will often explain other phenomena in areas unrelated to the initial inquiry.

Source: Wonky Thoughts: The Scientific Method, Redefined