[Please read Part I of this post first] Part V: Newtonian science & low hanging fruit As science advanced over the 19th and early 20th century, adding triumph after triumph, the seeds of scientism were laid. Having advanced so far, and conquered so many fields, was there any line too far,…
[Please read Part I of this post first] Part IV: The disunity of science This next part sketches an account of the disunity of science, one which makes room for Popper, but one which creates other discomforts for philosophy of science, which has generally been committed to the unity of science,…
[Please read Part I of this post first] Part III: What now of Popper? Maybe, Popper was a philosophical dead end. Maybe, falsifiability was never central or important for demarcating science. Might falsifiability have been naught but its own bold conjecture, since superseded? For those who follow Popper, scientists should never…
[Please read Part I of this post first] Part II: The Science of Climate Change From this point, it becomes too vague to refer to “climate change.” There are several knowledge claims at issue, and the availability of evidence, and the caliber of this evidence, differs across claims. For instance, there’s…
In this election year, belief or disbelief in climate change has become a litmus test: take a position, and you reveal yourself to be either Democrat or Republican. In keeping with the polarization of these times, there is no middle ground, no possibility of being unsure, no viable agnostic position.…
In tax slang, a donut hole occurs when a subsidy or tax rate goes down, and then back up again. The term entered the lexicon when the Medicare D prescription program was introduced. Participants had their drug purchases covered for the first $2000 or so, and then had to bear all…
As college freshmen arrive on campus, they will be taught about privilege. Depending on how elite the institution, this teaching may be more or less heavy handed. At the extreme–the most elite institutions, attended by the most socio-economically well-endowed students–the message may be loud: “You are the privileged. Recognize your…
Most of the time, a skewed distribution, with a long tail, will be depicted almost exactly like a normal distribution, with a break cut into the tail, so that everything fits neatly on the page. Result: almost no one has a good feel for how skewed income in America really…
The Allocation Problem Congratulations if you’ve made it to Part V (the beginning is here). The allocation problem is easily stated: in America today there are a relatively small number of well-paid career tracks that are also highly satisfying and personally rewarding. I’ve named them as doctor, lawyer, professor, engineer,…
Social Mobility, College Admissions, and that Biased SAT [please read this essay from the beginning, or at least, read Part III before this one] My examples of elite occupations have been engineer, professor, doctor, lawyer, MBA, scientist. Besides good pay, satisfying work, and social esteem, these professions all share one feature:…