Macho Economics

Dreaming great dreams helps me overcome an abusive childhood. I’ve always been curious. And overly sensitive to the feelings of others, even though I can’t show feelings very well. And I’m desperate to help others, but have an invisible voice.

You’re constantly connected, yet alone. You consume, and are also consumed. You know money is important; and evil. You believe society must be fair and care for everyone, or it benefits no one.

The alarms of MeToo woke me from a deep sleep, a sleep of ignorance. Then I also heard the alarms of Black Lives Matter, and LGTBQ+ Pride. I now see how some women continue to be insulted, slighted, suppressed, even abused. Most women. Pretty much every woman. I still believe that, with everyone’s help, we can make a better future. Still, hatred is everywhere. As a fighter, I choose to fight that hatred. And I could use your help.

MeToo exists inside the ivory silos of economics. Here, pale old men continue dominating women using soft power and institutional bias. Women are a fraction of the profession. Meaning the’re excluded from explosive life-changing prizes. Barabasi [1] pointed this out in 2018, and no one said anything.

The reasons are simple, and subtle. Barabasi found that women prefer collaboration. Men prefer isolation. Women are honest about what they know, and don’t know. Men exude bold confidence, even when wrong. The result is that women are not evaluated based on science, or insight. They are evaluated based on culture and psychology. This means that, fundamentally, Economics is not science, but art. Without rigor, there can be no learning. And Science is learning at its best.

What can you do? If you know an economist, demand definitions you understand, and can measure. Keep score of predictions. Prediction is proof of understanding. Anyone who resists keeping score is hiding something.

Have fun at the same time. Many love gambling; so start a betting pool for economists. A fun-filled way to hold their feet to the fires of publicity.

Yes, you can make a difference. Demand your teachers follow their own rules of rigor, logic, clarity, and measurability. Challenge their predictions. Ignore the Dow. Scoff at optimizing stakeholder values. Without rigor you learn nothing.

If I can dream, then so can you.
You are the future.
What you do today changes tomorrow.
All people, in all their diverse glory, need your help.
Remember the children.
I’m thinking of you.

[1] Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo; “Formula, the universal laws of success.” Book published in 2018, see pp 213-4 for observations about women in economics.

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, Poet

As death draws near, my appreciation for the power of poetry grows. It’s more than enjoyment of the rythm, or the message, or the play of words. Much more.

My appreciation grows from my learning more languages. My appreciation grows from what I know of computers and artificial intelligence. My appreciation grows because of how little I understand of quantum mechanics. Indeed, how little anyone understands the quantum world.

Poetry may be the only true way to represent concepts that are beyond language, beyond numbers, beyond our ability to comprehend. Invoking images that transcend today’s textbooks may be the only way the next generation can break free of the old generation’s ruts.

Invoking images that are rooted in our deep genetic history, in the lives and memories of our very genes, is possibly the only way anyone can truly appreciate where our species has come from. Where it is going.

All that said, the reason for these musings is that I came across a Teddy Roosevelt speech that he made in Paris a century ago. It’s inspiring. And it’s timeless. And it’s poetry.

Absolutely brilliant. I hope you enjoy it as much as I. And I hope you don’t mind the way I’ve broken the lines so that it’s poetic element becomes more evident.

Peace to all.

Teddy’s Poem Starts Here

It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out
how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds
could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man
who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred
by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs,
who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort
without error and shortcoming;
but who does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end
the triumph of high achievement,
and who at the worst,
if he fails,
at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be
with those cold and timid souls
who neither know victory nor defeat.

PS – This video from one of my favorite philosophic duos is what led my to the speech in the first place.

Celebrating Parents

Connecting the dots between celebrated personalities can be illuminating. And more fun than solving a jigsaw puzzle.

I’ve been reading about Richard Feynman and Helen Keller. Feynman was a famous physicist. Keller was a famous inspirational speaker. Her challenges included being blind and deaf from a childhood disease.

Both were intelligent, and rightly honored as stars in the firmament of humanity.

Each owes their success to the support and encouragement of their parents. Feynman’s parents encouraged him to experiment in their attic. He took risks with electricity that today’s social services would call irresponsible. Keller’s parents believed in her strength and in her intelligence. Most radically, they knew a woman could overcome even the most inconceivable odds. They sought and found a school, a teacher, and all the other resources she needed to excel as a person.

Despite their importance, we know so little about these parents. These parents who honored the world by growing a child who changed us. Made all humanity better.

It’s important to know more about them, and what they did. It’s important because so many parents of today want to be the best parents possible. Today’s parents could learn something from those who nurtured Feynman and Keller.

To all parents out there, past and present, I thank you and honor you. Many will fade into the memories of their children, and fade entirely away in the minds of their grandchildren. Yet their importance can’t be diminished. I thank them, you, again. I have great hopes for humanity because of parents like them, and you.

By the way, if you haven’t read these books, I’m begging you now to do so. They are far better than any entertainment produced today. Here are links to Feynman and Keller.

Solving Humanity’s Biggest Problem

I’m an Inventor. I’m an Artist. I’m a Scientist.

I’m good at solving problems.

I’m good at knowing how to solve a problem, even if I can’t solve the problem itself.

I’m good enough to know when I can’t solve a problem.

There is one problem that I can’t solve.

I’m confident that solving it is possible. And I know how.

It’s going to take lots of hard work.

Lots of persistence.

Lots of creativity.

Lots of scientific rigor.

Many things must be invented.

This problem is the biggest problem in the history of the world.

The problem is the future of humanity.

Things aren’t looking good at the moment.

However:

Humans have an incredible capacity to persevere against the odds.

Humans have shown incredible bursts of insight and creativity when needed.

So I’m optimistic.

There is one thing that comes first.

Solving this problem means thinking outside the box.

Yes, the person solving this problem is going to have to ignore many facts.

This person must create new facts.

With these new facts, they will create and use new tools to help humanity into the future.

Here’s an example of thinking outside the box.

Einstein redefined Physics by imagining traveling at the speed of light.

It sounded silly at first.

Today, no one is laughing.

The same is true for the future of humanity.

To solve big problems it’s important to think outside the box.

Far far away from the box.

Things like hate, and war, and hunger, are pretty big problems.

Here’s an example of thinking outside of today’s box.

How do bacteria count?

Science knows they can count.

They know how many friendly neighbors they have.

Then they start specializing.

They settle down and start a permanent home. A family.

They even build a shield around their neighborhood. A biofilm.

Does a bacterium start counting at one? Do they know one plus one is two?

Let’s assume that, to a bacterium, the number “e” is equal to our one.

In math, “e” is an important number.

It’s a number where lots of things balance, naturally.

Mathematicians call it irrational.

What if “one” is irrational, and “e” is natural?

To think outside the box, let “e” be equal to one.

Then it may be possible to solve humanity’s biggest problem.

Young Women by any other name

I’m a sensitive sort of guy, in an awkward, macho way.

I now appreciate how much society suppresses, even hates, women. Especially young women.

For this I have to thank the #MeToo movement and Jane Austen.

Proof? Exhibit One. Our language has many names for young women. Not so many for young men.

There must be something that frightens men about a young woman.

Her sexual power over men? The fact that she’s able to create life?

There’s a hint of this hate in the very structure of our language.

In a news article there’s a story of rich men who hire “escorts” and “prostitutes” for selfish reasons.

The reporter might let it slip that these escorts and prostitutes range in age from 16 to 20.

Why aren’t they reported as young women?

I don’t know.

I present this list to you as evidence.

And until our society treats all these young women with respect, I fear for the future.

And here we go: (alphabetized)

• arm candy
• au pair
• ballerina
• bitch
• bride
• cheerleader
• chick
• co-ed
• damsel
• delicate flower
• doll (and all its variants: doll baby, baby doll, et cetera.)
• escort
• eye candy
• flirt
• floozy
• gold digger
• hostess
• jail bait
• lady of the night
• maid (cleaning)
• maid (not cleaning)
• maiden
• missy
• mistress
• moll (old term referring to a gangster’s girl)
• muse
• playboy+ (model, centerfold)
• princess
• prostitute
• sex kitten
• side piece (or “piece on the side”)
• slut
• swimsuit+ (model)
• temptress
• virago (not necessarily young)
• virgin
• whore
• witch

There are more, and I look forward to your comments and suggestions for everything I’ve missed. I’ll update this list as I do so. Thanks. 2023-November-13
Updated 2023-11-14. Granted, many of these can be applied to older women as well, but I’m including those that are ambiguous as to age. Words like “crone” that are specific to older women I’m leaving alone, for now.
Updated 2023-11-15 Few more. Some can be considered more neutral (cheerleader) except that the typical imagery is of a young woman. And words containing “doll” can come in so many variations I’m including only the root. There’s 32 items today.
Updated 2023-11-16 Few new ones. Candy as a root may have more than eye- and arm- but I’ll stop there. I’m also excluding words that are overwhelmingly negative. Bitch used to be such a word, but has acquired a more “tough” aspect in the last few decades.
240117 – added “moll”