Sapiens and sapientiae

Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens is great read.  Harari apparently was trundling along as a rather specialised mediaeval historian when he was asked to teach a course on world history and this caused him to break out of his boundaries in no uncertain terms.  One review describes it as a 'starburst', which I like, but it's a starburst with humour as well as dazzle. There's no way I'm going to summarise the context or direction of the book.  I just want to pick up on Harari's account of the positive aspects of nomadic foraging over the settled life of the pastoralist. Foraging apparently gave you a much more varied diet - you ate…
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Hillary and Montaigne

I just came across the blog below, which I wrote over a year ago, and for some reason failed to post.  The first part reads so sadly in the light of what eventually happened - though I doubt even the perspicacious Dejevsky foresaw how her prediction would be fulfilled....   Readers may know that the fifth 'PP' factor is positive choice:  women actively choosing not to go on up the career ladder, even though they (probably/possibly) could.  By 'positive' I mean that the choice is, to any reasonable eye, not constrained, e.g. by grumpy partner's unwillingness to do more childcare, but is the product of 'free will'.  I argue that this…
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The Econocrats

The previous post started with Trollope's commentary on how the finance system worked in the C19.  In a wholly unplanned segue, this one deals with how economics is taught and practised now.  To their immense credit, a group of students have got together to produce a detailed, evidence-based critique of the discipline: The Econocracy: the perils of leaving economics to the experts. Rethinking Economics is a movement which questions the assumptions on which most contemporary economics courses are based.  To be more precise, it challenges the fact that most economics courses never question their own, neo-classical, assumptions: that people behave as rational knowledgeable agents seeking to optimise their own advantage, and…
Read More

Sapiens and sapientiae

Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens is great read.  Harari apparently was trundling along as a rather specialised mediaeval historian when he was asked to teach a course on world history and this caused him to break out of his boundaries in no uncertain terms.  One review describes it as a 'starburst', which I like, but it's a starburst with humour as well as dazzle. There's no way I'm going to summarise the context or direction of the book.  I just want to pick up on Harari's account of the positive aspects of nomadic foraging over the settled life of the pastoralist. Foraging apparently gave you a much more varied diet - you ate…
Read More

Hillary and Montaigne

I just came across the blog below, which I wrote over a year ago, and for some reason failed to post.  The first part reads so sadly in the light of what eventually happened - though I doubt even the perspicacious Dejevsky foresaw how her prediction would be fulfilled....   Readers may know that the fifth 'PP' factor is positive choice:  women actively choosing not to go on up the career ladder, even though they (probably/possibly) could.  By 'positive' I mean that the choice is, to any reasonable eye, not constrained, e.g. by grumpy partner's unwillingness to do more childcare, but is the product of 'free will'.  I argue that this…
Read More

The Econocrats

The previous post started with Trollope's commentary on how the finance system worked in the C19.  In a wholly unplanned segue, this one deals with how economics is taught and practised now.  To their immense credit, a group of students have got together to produce a detailed, evidence-based critique of the discipline: The Econocracy: the perils of leaving economics to the experts. Rethinking Economics is a movement which questions the assumptions on which most contemporary economics courses are based.  To be more precise, it challenges the fact that most economics courses never question their own, neo-classical, assumptions: that people behave as rational knowledgeable agents seeking to optimise their own advantage, and…
Read More

Sapiens and sapientiae

Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens is great read.  Harari apparently was trundling along as a rather specialised mediaeval historian when he was asked to teach a course on world history and this caused him to break out of his boundaries in no uncertain terms.  One review describes it as a 'starburst', which I like, but it's a starburst with humour as well as dazzle. There's no way I'm going to summarise the context or direction of the book.  I just want to pick up on Harari's account of the positive aspects of nomadic foraging over the settled life of the pastoralist. Foraging apparently gave you a much more varied diet - you ate…
Read More

Hillary and Montaigne

I just came across the blog below, which I wrote over a year ago, and for some reason failed to post.  The first part reads so sadly in the light of what eventually happened - though I doubt even the perspicacious Dejevsky foresaw how her prediction would be fulfilled....   Readers may know that the fifth 'PP' factor is positive choice:  women actively choosing not to go on up the career ladder, even though they (probably/possibly) could.  By 'positive' I mean that the choice is, to any reasonable eye, not constrained, e.g. by grumpy partner's unwillingness to do more childcare, but is the product of 'free will'.  I argue that this…
Read More

The Econocrats

The previous post started with Trollope's commentary on how the finance system worked in the C19.  In a wholly unplanned segue, this one deals with how economics is taught and practised now.  To their immense credit, a group of students have got together to produce a detailed, evidence-based critique of the discipline: The Econocracy: the perils of leaving economics to the experts. Rethinking Economics is a movement which questions the assumptions on which most contemporary economics courses are based.  To be more precise, it challenges the fact that most economics courses never question their own, neo-classical, assumptions: that people behave as rational knowledgeable agents seeking to optimise their own advantage, and…
Read More