Mick Ryan predicts the outcomes of the Kursk offensive.
Noah Smith on Harris’ housing policy, favorably comparing it to Singapore’s housing system. It’s actually weird to me that more countries don’t just wholesale copy other government policies which appear to work, such as Singapore’s medical system. My own take on it is that a Democrat is necessary in order to force housing deregulation through California and New York.
Darkly amusing PSmith review, about tradition and cultural evolution. It’s interesting, because it implies that new cultures were constantly being created to make up for those that are killing themselves off, even ignoring the grabby aliens hypothesis which should predict cultural homogenization via conquest. It seems to imply that “sick” societies tend to develop and persist in areas that are relatively inaccessible or undesirable (islands, jungle, arctic, or desert). At the same time, historical cultural diversity seems to imply that it’s rare to have cultures which are both expansionary and stable, so long-lived empires must have been doing something right, an argument for Lindy-ness. These widespread long-lived cultures are the ones where Chesterton’s Fence applies more strongly, another point for western liberalism.
Robin Hanson notices that some people are broadly good at video games. I think it’s well known that board-gaming skills translate well into programming ability, as an ability to build and update mental-models, and tradeoff between short-term and long-term goals (Edit: Here’s his actual post on the topic, which seems off to me, giving the impression he’ll use Twitter surveys if he likes the result but not if he disagrees with them).
Dan Frank on Twitter. I’ve been idly wondering for a while if I should transplant or cross-post this to Twitter. At the very least, it means if I ever go to vibecamp I might be considered part of TPOT. Also, anecdotally it seems to increase your rate of micromarriages.
