Leftism is to memes as cancer is genes. If the cells of the body mutate, cells that multiply at the expense of the body will be selected. And cells that mutate to a faster mutation rate will be selected, since they will have more fast multiplying variants. In a healthy body, each cell lives for the body, and performs its role in the whole body, making the body one. In …
Tag: technological and scientific stagnation
Progress
In 1900, there were no planes, no space travel. Motorcars were toys that enthusiasts played with, not useful means of transport. There were no computers, no radios, no antibiotics, no rockets, no nuclear power, no knowledge or understanding of the interior the atom, no very useful plastics. In 1961 we had all of this stuff Since 1961, what have we got? The last man on the moon is getting pretty …
Cladistic analysis of neoreaction
As humans are bony fishes, and the Cathedral the heretical spawn of Cromwell’s puritans, the neoreaction is the heretical spawn of Libertarianism and anarcho capitalism. Consider for example the blog title Anarcho Papist. The Dark Enlightenment is libertarians mugged by reality, a libertarian who realizes that the eighteenth century was right about women, and Bull Conner right about blacks.. An anarcho capitalist favors a free market in law and defense …
US economic decline
Supposing the official cpi to be true, US real GDP per capita has been growing at about 1% per year in recent years. Supposing the big mac index to be true, US real GDP per capita has been falling at about 1% per year in recent years. Motor vehicles per capita, according to world bank statistics, have been falling about 1% per year in recent years. Electricity consumption per capita, …
The left singularity versus the technological singularity
Lately this blog has largely been about the left singularity:Â That leftism leads to more leftism, which leads to even more leftism even faster, until everything goes to hell. The best known singularity, however is the information technology singularity, the rapture of the nerds What of the theory that information technology leads to more information technology? Well, in a sense, in the long run, looking back over the last several …
Dude, where is my flying car?
The first man on the moon has died, and pretty soon the last men on the moon will be dead also. where are the space settlements? By the year 2000, we were supposed to have flying cars, space settlements, and cities that looked like this:
Not the cognitive elite
Government has accomplished some mighty impressive things, the most impressive being the Manhattan project (nuclear bombs and nuclear energy), and the second most impressive being the landing on the moon. After Hiroshima, and before the moon landing, people said “Why don’t we (meaning government) have a Manhattan project to do X†After the landing on the moon, people said “If we (meaning government) can put a man on the moon, …
Technological decay
Earlier I argued that technology in the west peaked in 1970, Tallest building 1972, coolest muscle cars, last man left the moon,though it continues to advance in some other parts of the world: Unreasonable expectations points at another indicator. The most advanced plane ever built, the SR71, was built in 1966, retired 1972. One would have expected stealthed mach three fighters and bombers to replace it, but instead, slower, lower …
billion prices inflation estimate
The billion prices project spiders prices off the internet, and gets results broadly similar to the BLS, about thee percent per year, which surprises me, since over the last three years the BLS has been applying “hedonic adjustments†to all manner of goods where hedonic adjustment is impossible or implausible. Today’s supposedly three percent inflation as measured by the BLS is a lot higher rate of inflation than what the …