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13 Comments

  1. Comrade X
    Comrade X April 28, 2018 7:14 am

    Why Humans Increasingly Are Unaware of Their Ignorance (And Why it’s a Big Problem)… those that think having principles are ignorant are the really stupid.

  2. Joel
    Joel April 28, 2018 8:14 am

    “Foot voting is, in several crucial respects, a better mechanism of political decision-making than ballot-box voting. Foot voters generally have better incentives to acquire relevant knowledge and use it more wisely—than ballot box voters do.”

    I’m unlikely to read the whole paper since it sounds like he’s preaching to the choir (me) here, but amen and hallelujah. Preach it, brother.

    Also a good reason governments would have little incentive to encourage “foot voting” by refraining from throwing up as many roadblocks as possible.

  3. lairdminor
    lairdminor April 28, 2018 9:08 am

    Fascinating article about Palantir. Thanks.

  4. Ron Johnson
    Ron Johnson April 28, 2018 12:45 pm

    Theil a libertarian? In my mind, he disqualifies himself by providing governments with police state tools, regardless of all his other policy positions.

  5. SKSK
    SKSK April 28, 2018 1:48 pm

    Re: The Charles Smith blog… Am I too paranoid in posing the following scenario? Would it be possible for Google, Apple, et.al. to provide us with such a complete environment of services (and for us to become so dependent upon them) that they could perform a total end run around what we have come to accept as Constitutional Government and begin to directly govern us themselves? Just wondering…

  6. Myself
    Myself April 28, 2018 3:16 pm

    @SKSK

    No you are not paranoid

  7. larryarnold
    larryarnold April 28, 2018 3:47 pm

    SKSK, a whole bunch of dystopian SciFi authors agree with your general prediction, if not specifically about Amazon, etc.

    JPMorgan drastically curtailed its Palantir use, in part because “it never lived up to its promised potential,” says one JPMorgan executive who insisted on anonymity to discuss the decision.
    Where “it never lived up to its promised potential” = “I didn’t know it would be spying on ME!”

    Another equivalent, “There will never never ever ever be anything like death panels” = “If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance.”

    In my very limited experience, Hawaiian food is like Mexican food and U.S. food, in that there is no one “authentic” style because of regional and social variations.

  8. fred
    fred April 29, 2018 10:40 am

    Death panels vrs triage. In a society with financial limitations,you have to do the greatest good for the greatest number. What has the better payoff,treating 1000 heart attacks or one non viable kid most likely?

    Sure,after WWII when we had the goose that laid golden eggs we could do both,now we cant.

    One thing for sure,the decisions are harsh,and if you draw the short straw its really going to hurt.Especially if you rely on gov insurance programs.

  9. Claire
    Claire April 29, 2018 11:19 am

    The really damning thing is that the British government wouldn’t allow the child to be treated for free elsewhere. Their real decision wasn’t about cost effectiveness or quality or care, but that the state owns the child.

  10. Comrade X
    Comrade X April 29, 2018 12:10 pm

    Government always know what is best!

    I betcha the bureaucrats who followed their law feel as if they are the victim’s in this matter and not the child they let die.

  11. John
    John April 29, 2018 3:09 pm

    Gov’ts don’t run insurance plans. They run Ponzi schemes and scams. If you aren’t part of the in teem you are expendable.

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