~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (46)

1. Abigail Shrier, Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up.  I agree with many of the anti-therapy arguments in this book, but still I feel that “bad therapy” is a second-order phenomenon, not the initial cause of the growing mental health problems of America’s young people.  Furthermore, the analysis (much like Jon Haidt’s recent […] The post What I’ve been reading appeared first...

In a way, everyone’s been wondering, trying to analogize ChatGPT with the printing press, but in reality it’s almost the opposite. The entire thing is happening in the inverse of that, where the printing press was a technology to disseminate information through a book basically and convince people to do things, and the kind of […] The post Daniel Gross on the printing press...

The author is Philip Ball, and the subtitle is A User’s Guide to the New Biology.  I thought this book was wonderful, one of the best popular science books I’ve read in a long time.  I’m sure its contents are familiar to many MR readers, but for me it was a very good introduction to […] The post *How Life Works* appeared first on...

Here is Fareed’s home page, here is Wikipedia: Fareed Rafiq Zakaria…is an Indian-American journalist, political commentator, and author. He is the host of CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria GPS and writes a weekly paid column for The Washington Post. He has been a columnist for Newsweek, editor of Newsweek International, and an editor at large of Time. He was managing editor of Foreign Affairs at age 28, briefly […] The post What should I ask Fareed Zakaria?...

But in the case of Madrid, the last 25 years have been a clear move towards higher degree of tax competitiveness, smart regulation, and an overall liberal policy in the economic sense. And then our society is fairly open and tolerant and recognized to be what we would broadly described as a free society, an […] The post How did Madrid become the capital...

What is a good book or film that charts the trajectory of a profoundly healthy and transformational relationship? Twitter link here.  Well people?  Popular romances don’t count, try to get as close to “the canon” as you can. I found this question difficult.  GPT-4 listed a bunch of inappropriate, not actually so wholesome answers from […] The post Henrik Karlsson asks appeared first on...

I will be doing a Conversation with him.  No description of Michael quite does him justice, but here is Wikipedia: Michael Aaron Nielsen (born January 4, 1974) is a quantum physicist, science writer, and computer programming researcher living in San Francisco. In 1998, Nielsen received his PhD in physics from the University of New Mexico. In 2004, he was recognized as […] The post What should I ask Michael Nielsen?...

I will be doing a Conversation with him, based in part around his new book The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America.  On Coleman more generally, here is Wikipedia: Coleman Cruz Hughes (born February 25, 1996) is an American writer and podcast host. He was a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and […] The post What should I ask Coleman Hughes?...

Here is the audio, visual, and transcript.  Here is the episode summary: Ami Vitale is a renowned National Geographic photographer and documentarian with a deep commitment to wildlife conservation and environmental education. Her work, spanning over a hundred countries, includes spending a decade as a conflict photographer in places like Kosovo, Gaza, and Kashmir. She […] The post My Conversation with the excellent Ami...

In 1927, George and Ira Gershwin put on a musical satire about trade and war entitled Strike Up the Band.  The plot centres around a middle-aged US cheesemaker, Horace J. Fletcher of Connecticut, who wants to corner the domestic dairy market.  When Fletcher hears that the US government has just slapped a fifty per cent […] The post The Gershwins on free trade (that...

Here is the link, I am reviewing a bad book on the Clinton administration (A Fabulous Failure, by Lichtenstein and Stern).  Here is one excerpt: Clinton-era welfare reform is another area where many commentators go astray, and Lichtenstein and Stein are no exception. The Clinton pronouncement “I have a plan to end welfare as we […] The post My TLS essay on the Clinton...

Here is the new book bot, trained on Claude of course.  Again, I call this a “generative book.” Very powerful, and I am indebted to those who helped, including at Anthropic and also Jeff Holmes of Mercatus. Here is the original web site and the original GPT-4 bot, which still is great.  The full title […] The post Claude of Anthropic does *GOAT* appeared...

We discussed how the insights of Hayek, Keynes, Smith, and other great economists help us make sense of AI, growth, risk, human nature, anarchy, central planning, and much more. Dwarkesh is one of the very best interviewers around, here are the links.  If Twitter is blocked to you, here is the transcript, here is Spotify, […] The post My new podcast with Dwarkesh Patel...

In this age, the mere example of nonconformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when […] The post In Praise of Non-conformity appeared first...

Stripe Press just launched a call for reprints to enrich our collection with out-of-print books suggested by our readers. Given the shared interests of our audiences, Tam and I thought it would be fitting to reach out. Would you be open to featuring our Google Form in the Marginal Revolution links roundup? Your support would be invaluable in reaching […] The post What should Stripe Press reprint? appeared...

Yes I will be doing a Conversation with him.  Here is one outdated bit from his home page: Benjamin Moser was born in Houston. He is the author of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector, a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and a New York Times Notable Book of 2009. For his work bringing Clarice […] The post What should I ask Benjamin Moser?...

Yes I will be doing a Conversation with her.  Here is from Wikipedia: Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and the 2016 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. In 2016, Robinson […] The post What should I ask Marilynne Robinson?...

Here is the audio, video, and transcript, here is the episode summary: Rebecca F. Kuang just might change the way you think about fantasy and science fiction. Known for her best-selling books Babel and The Poppy War trilogy, Kuang combines a unique blend of historical richness and imaginative storytelling. At just 27, she’s already published five novels, and her […] The post My Conversation with Rebecca F. Kuang...

By Coleman Hughes, coming soon! The post *The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America* appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to Publius. Pat Buchanan authored the phrase. If ... by Anti-GnosticIn reply to Vulcidian. Revealed preferences: fair-skinned ... by Anti-GnosticIn reply to kavu. “A single racial group granting 90% of ... by PubliusIn reply to asdf. When Democrats say...

The country was not quite as rich in the early days as it is sometimes made out to be: Argentina’s performance on this measure is frequently exaggerated.  In 1929, for example, Argentina’s per capita income was less than half of the average of other temperate agrarian societies (such as Canada and Australia) and of European […] The post Argentina fact of the day appeared...

Since I recommend the practice of writing every day, or virtually every day (every day is better!), I thought I should give awards for 2023. Clear winner in my view in Noah Smith, who just keeps on writing and being productive and improving.  Here is Noah’s Substack. Runner-up awards go to the blog Economists Writing […] The post My “writing every day” awards appeared...