Economist – Perspectives

The Business of Science, & the fallout in the Economist’s eyes [Article]

A recent article in the Economist, titled “Trouble at the lab” attempted to paint scientific research as being abysmally poor at identifying & correcting errors. Reminded me of that saying “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others”. Bob Frankston explains why:

The larger issue is understanding motivation as market processes and not confusing “Science” as a business (or bodies of knowledge) with “science” as an operational methodology that doesn’t seek the singular truth any more than evolution is directed towards a goal.

Read more here for some thought-provoking discussion on this subject.

The End of Esperanto? [Article]

Ludwig Zamenhoff invented the simple international language in 1887. The Economist sees doom for the language that has never really taken off.

It remains thin on the ground… partly because language, more than any other tool, benefits from network effects. The more people who speak a language, the more desirable that language will be. This is of course why Esperanto speakers play up the biggest possible numbers for their community—the hopes that others will join, for the benefit of being able to use Esperanto with more people.

Real what??

The fascination with the idea that higher GDP = better standard of living masks the harsh reality for the vast majority of the denominator: average national output doesn’t translate to “real” incomes for the bulk of the people.

Don’t believe me? Ask the vast majority of the people in China or India if due to their increased output, their real “incomes” have gone up by ~50% or ~35% in the last 5 years.