Americans pay vastly more for many drugs than other countries. There are probably many causes of this, but one is the refusal of the federal government to collectively bargain about prices with pharmaceutical companies, unlike many other countries. The right wing defends this state of affairs with the following argument- these higher prices allow drug … Continue reading Muh research budgets: Against a disingenuous defence of big pharma
Delayed Impact of Fair Machine Learning: A response
Lydia T. Liu, Sarah Dean, Esther Rolf, Max Simchowitz and Moritz Hardt in “Delayed Impact of Fair Machine Learning” rightly make the point that in considering notions of fairness, it is critical that we consider them dynamically in terms of their long-term effects on a population, and not just statically. They argue that seemingly attractive and fair … Continue reading Delayed Impact of Fair Machine Learning: A response
Enable me. Please.
https://www.patreon.com/deponysum Asking for money isn't easy for me. However I write a lot- over 100 articles of varying quality over the last year. I know that a lot of people have gotten something out of reading my work. In order to write this much, I've had to work part time, and thus forego income. Will … Continue reading Enable me. Please.
The efficiency game
Bibliographical note: This essay develops ideas owing to Kieran Latty, who is in turn developing ideas in Kalecki. 0. Previously I’ve argued that efficiency (defined as Kaldor-Hicks efficiency) cannot be automatically assumed to be in the interests of the poor under conditions of oligarchy. Now I want to argue the reverse- it can’t be automatically … Continue reading The efficiency game
OCD: What I learned fighting mind cancer
Everywhere you go you always take the weather with you -Crowded House “Weather With You”. 0. An obsessive compulsive life Obsessive compulsive disorder is a horrible thing and I would not wish it on anyone. That said, living with OCD has given me a certain way of seeing the world. The insights and viewpoints of … Continue reading OCD: What I learned fighting mind cancer
Index & Archive of Posts
A warning about my own reliability before we begin: A little learning is a dangerous thing ; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring : There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again. But sadly, there is not just one Pierian spring, and who has time to drink deeply from … Continue reading Index & Archive of Posts
The disciplinarian and the reformer
Here’s the fundamental problem with #cancelculture. The disciplinary instinct and the instinct to genuine social reform are opposed. To be a disciplinarian- to hunt after people who have breached the rules- is to assert implicitly that “We need to root out the bad ones”. To be a reformer, to seek to change the rules, is … Continue reading The disciplinarian and the reformer
Against Libertarian Criticisms of Redistribution
Pt 1: Nonaggression tells us nothing about the morality of redistribution According to the non-aggression principle one should never interfere with the person or legitimate property of another without their permission, unless they have initiated aggression against one first. The non-aggression principle is sometimes taken to be a master argument for libertarian views against the … Continue reading Against Libertarian Criticisms of Redistribution
Mistaken Identity and misunderstood interests: Haider and identity politics
I just finished “Mistaken identity” by Asad Haider, and like anyone who has just finished a good book I’m a proselytiser for it. My aim here is to draw out one thread of its multifaceted arguments, that the whole of the working class share a joint interest in abolishing racism in a way that is … Continue reading Mistaken Identity and misunderstood interests: Haider and identity politics
Money and the Sceptic: A social-epistemological case for taking arguments for redistribution seriously
I saw someone the other day put forward an argument against re-distributive taxation based on a study and a second person say ‘but that study is from the Cato Institute’. A bunch of people then jumped in to object that this was an ad hominem argument, and the study should be evaluated on our own … Continue reading Money and the Sceptic: A social-epistemological case for taking arguments for redistribution seriously
DePonySum 