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The Out-Loud-To-Your-Friend Constraint for Writing
I like writing under the constraint that every sentence be something you could conceivably say out loud to a friend. With effort it’s no less expressive than academic-sounding phraseology. ‘Course no constraint you’ll ever chance to see need hinder one’s expressive-osity. Say, strict pentameter, iambicly. Or writing without that most common non-consonant — you know which glyph I’m... »
Smoking Sticks and Carrots
Let’s talk about science! Beehavioral science. A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week has been all over the news. It’s much better than previous studies and statistics I’ve seen on the efficacy of commitment devices. Not because others have been down on commitment devices. On the contrary, I’ve been frustrated in the past by... »
Welcome, Job-Destroying Robots
Let me first emphasize that I’m not talking about the deeper question of superintelligence and what happens when robots can do anything a human can do. This is about the (relatively) more immediate question: What happens when robots can perform any unskilled labor much more cheaply than humans? My answer is that we’ll need a good social safety... »
Measuring the Impact of the Sharing Economy
Online marketplaces facilitating peer-to-peer exchange of goods and services have been flourishing. Last year half a million visitors to New York City used Airbnb to find a place to stay. Airbnb is an online marketplace that matches those looking for short-term accommodation with those that can provide it in their homes. So far, consumers have... »
Living the Robot-Mediated Life
It turns out people are pretty morbidly fascinated by Bethany Soule’s and my auction-based lifestyle. After Bethany’s Messy Matters article, “Love and/or Money,” it was »
