Author Archives: stormculture
A Whole New Level of Dumberer
In an interview with The Economist this week president Donald Trump inadvertently communicated that he occupies a whole other level of illiteracy and egotism. Apparently he reads so little that the phrase “prime the pump” and the concept behind it … Continue reading
A Smarter N. Korea Response: Free Internet
Even the smallest possible military strike against North Korea – one that would disable enough artillery to prevent a catastrophic retaliation against South Korea – will cost well into the tens of millions of dollars. What else might we do … Continue reading
Is Your Reality Just a Simulation? Calculate the System’s Capacity.
Consider the idea that, unless intelligent civilizations tend to self-destruct, or they tend to lack the introspection to simulate their own origins, it is (apparently) statistically more likely that we (including you, dear reader) are a simulation – not the … Continue reading
Tachyons and Intersecting Universes
Recently finished John Scalzi’s fine Old Man’s War. One plot point is that tachyons come to betray attacking ships emerging from wormholes. Tachyons have never been detected nor is their place in reality even theoretically firm. But considering the compelling … Continue reading
Libertarian Nirvana, or how I realized Objectivism is a slippery slope to pointlessness
Many of my posts exists within a dialogue-debate between my siblings. Lately, I realized I’ve been posting few thoughts on this blog because they were all going into reply-comments on Facebook… So I’m going to try to post more of … Continue reading
Fed Up: The real GMO
I’m really happy to see a documentary like Fed Up be released. I didn’t hear of Robert Lustig’s viral lecture (or his other one) until just 9 months ago, but it crystallized everything I’d been reading up to that time. … Continue reading
Fiscal Stimulus: Target The Oversupplies
Adding a bit to Krugman’s latest. Think about it: what would the true costs be of repairing our roads? It wouldn’t divert capital from other investments — capital has no place to go, and markets are practically begging the federal … Continue reading
Misunderstanding the Mistake in Black-Scholes and Fama’s Rational Markets
Abstract: Probability has been getting a bad rap in finance and economics due to modeling mistakes that have led to many of the biggest financial catastrophes of the past 50 years. This has bled over into popular misconceptions that the … Continue reading
Sovaldi: Risk vs Uncertainty, Innovation vs Facilitation, and How Patents and Ownership Don’t Differentiate Them
(This is an extension of my previous two posts on Sovaldi, particularly the second one.) Piracy is simply the free market saying, “Your markup is ridiculous.” As Nassim Nicholas Taleb mentions in his books The Black Swan and Fooled By … Continue reading
Sovaldi: What Price Innovation?
Just a brief addendum to my post on the $84,000 apparent hepatitis C-cure, Sovaldi. (See also addendum #2) Gilead’s vice president Gregg Alton said, “Those who are bold and go out and innovate like this and take the risk — … Continue reading
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