Society

On Genes and Memes

Fact: “Nobel Prizes have been awarded to over 850 individuals, of whom at least 22% (without peace prize over 24%) were Jews, although Jews comprise less than 0.2% of the world’s population.” (from this Wikipedia page) Explanation (Norbert Wiener): “He… Read More ›

The concept of limit

In the introduction to “Anarchism” by D. Guerin, Chomsky stresses the existence of a cultural tradition going back to Rousseau (“Discourse on Inequality, 1754), Von Humboldt, “The Limits of State Action” and chiefly Immanuel Kant on the French Revolution remarking that freedom… Read More ›

Dante and Islam

I recently attended a very interesting conference by Roger Scruton, the celebrated author of (among many titles) “A short History of Modern Philosophy”. After that, a discussion ensued where one of the points was the fact that European identity can… Read More ›

A German dictionary

“In an attempt to explain Russian Bolshevism to Lady Ottoline Morrell, Bertrand Russell once remarked that, appalling though it was, it seemed the right sort of government for Russia: “If you ask yourself how Dostoevsky’s characters should be governed, you… Read More ›

hoi polloi

Robert K. Merton, in Science Technology and Society in XVII Century England makes the point that Reformation, since it helped promote the idea that one had to follow his judgement as regards faith and not official doctrine, at the same time… Read More ›

Human and Horses

Human are not horses, says MIT economist Kenneth Rogoff and King Ludd is still dead. But Keynes thought differently, advancing the hypothesis of technological unemployment and another Nobel caliber academic, Leontieff, wrote an insightful article advancing the hypothesis that it… Read More ›