Links (26) & GDP nihilism

Collection of papers and articles that I’ve spotted since my previous links post that seem interesting. What came first, God or complex societies? It has been argued in the past that religion, in the form of 'Big Gods' had served the function of a social glue that through rituals and shared beliefs promoted cooperation, enabling large scale societies. A recent study questions this narrative, arguing that complex society gives rise to 'Big Gods', and not the other way around. However, the paper doesn't test …

On the relation between parenthood and caring about the future

You might have heard people saying "I only trust the political views of people with children, because they actually have a reason to care about the long-term future, unlike non-parents" or that "I don't trust anyone's political opinion if they don't have children. I have a stake in the future that they don't." or similar. There are two ways one could interpret this claim: That having kids causes you to care more about the future (The most likely implied meaning) Or, people who have kids…

Was World War II good for economic growth?

World War II supposed a substantial increase in US federal R&D spending, and it may be regarded as an imperfect[1] natural experiment of what happens when you transition a country from a relatively "laissez faire" (with many caveats) model of scientific support to one where there is heavy government involvement. In addition to that, WWII may have implied a societywide forced learn by doing program. It has been argued that WWII caused GDP growth to be higher than it would otherwise have been. H…

Links (25)

Collection of papers and articles that I’ve spotted since my previous links post that seem interesting. The history of Venture Research, the original Emergent Ventures (ht/ Patrick Collison for the pointer) Restoring the conditions of the pre-1970s environment would, he said, require getting rid of boundaries, deadlines, milestones, peer review, priorities and any objectives beyond exploration and understanding.13 According to Braben, starting in the 1970s, increases in public funding for science brought …

Links (24)

Collection of papers and articles that I’ve spotted since my previous links post that seem interesting. Nuclear fusion is coming. Back in 2014, I was showing optimism about fusion, and the deadlines given by some of those companies aiming to get at commercial power plants were somewhat too optimistic. The revised dates, four years later don't look that awful though: fusion is not always 20 years into the future anymore: General Fusion wanted to have their reactor in 2020 (2014), now they claim commercial…

On the causal powers of Mormonism [revised]

How much truth is there to these statements? (The ones before the revision!) My prior belief is that religion will have nonexistent or weak effects on the variables of interest. Religion is often intertwined with social class, and/or ethnicity, and so one has to look at diverse breakdowns of the data and compare if possible across time and countries. (Edit: This post looks at both individual level and aggregate levels. At the individual level it is easier to discern causality, while the aggregate level help…