tripu @tripu@qoto.org

When I was a #teenager my dream #job was to direct and host a night #radio show in @radio3_rne where I would play great music and speak in an enigmatic voice about unusual ideas.

Now that I'm 41, my #dreamjob is to read important #books, write regular opinion pieces, attend cultural events, and perhaps and host a #podcast about it all.

I still love #tech, though.

@rastinza, a suggested talk:

https://www.ted.com/talks/sam_harris_science_can_answer_moral_questions

/cc @ImperfectIdea

> _“You cannot however use science alone to take it.”_

Challenge accepted!

> _“You must first of all decide whether wealth transfer or social intervention are things that should be done, that is, if you think it is a moral and acceptable thing.”_

**Economics**: a (social) science. It studies the allocation of scarce resources (in this case, money), and in doing so provides answers to the eternal conflict between _efficiency_ (economic growth) and _equity_ (redistribution) — which is at the root of my hypothetical scenario. Necessary here.

**Moral philosophy**: a (soft) science. The study of ethics. Definitely helpful for this example too, to help disentangle questions of “is vs ought” that Economics alone can't resolve.

**Political science** (it's in the name): concerned with systems of governance and power (redistribution is implemented within those systems).

**History**: a (soft) science studying the past, and change. Because redistribution measures have been proposed or implemented before. (How did they work, what happened?)

**Medicine** (focused on physical health) and **psychology** (because individuals react to the status quo, and to proposed policies). We're trying to optimise human well-being here, after all. **Sociology** too, because _societies_ as a whole react to the status quo and to proposed policies also.

Underpinning it all: **mathematics** (especially **statistics**). **Chaos theory** to better understand market dynamics under the proposed changes.

Throw into the mix also **computer science** (to run simulations of public policies and changes in incentives). Heck, even the systematic study of **literature** [would provide useful inputs here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cassandra_(literature)).

These are all “sciences” (admittedly, under a lax definition of “science”) — in any case, definitely closer to the realm of science than to any of the other epistemic systems we've mentioned (tradition, intuition, religion, etc).

There you are. What else do you need to work on this problem and come to a solution, other than #science?

/cc @rastinza @ImperfectIdea

Last week I donated 10% of my gross income of 2021 to [_Ayuda Efectiva_](https://ayudaefectiva.org/) as part of my commitment to the [“Giving What We Can” Pledge](https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/pledge/).

❤️

#EffectiveAltruism #AltruismoEficaz #GWWC #philanthropy #AyudaEfectiva

🇪🇸 #Spain #university #education #gender #feminism

Sources: _Ministerio de Universidades_ ([1](https://public.tableau.com/views/Academica20_EEU/InfografiaEEU?%3AshowVizHome=no&%3Aembed=true#7); [2](https://www.universidades.gob.es/stfls/universidades/Estadisticas/ficheros/DyC_2021_22.pdf))

**_Everything_ is quantifiable, and should be quantified.**

Everything is a #measure or can be measured.

#Science can study anything, and #mathematics is the language of science.

The fact that some aspects of life seem hard to estimate doesn't mean we are better off not even trying and coming up with our best approximation.

More #information rarely hurts, and even rough approximations (accompanied by their respective confidence intervals) are useful information.

One can measure, weigh and analyse… and still be sensitive, funny, romantic, impressionable, intuitive, creative — if one so chooses after all the (numeric) information is available.

> _“What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”_

(living thread)

https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/

I laughed out loud with this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMBzfUj5zsg

#crypto

+

#EffectiveAltruism

=

https://www.effectivecrypto.org/

RIP #Vangelis

#BladeRunner and its #music score had both a profound impact on me as a teenager, and they still give me chills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3fz6CC45ok

Ah, that new literary genre: _“I messed up real bad and my #cryptocurrency vanished in a matter of minutes, life's tough, apologies to everyone who lost a few bucks or a few millions”_…

https://twitter.com/Justin_Bons/status/1524703690921181184

Fediverse:

do you know of a reliable, robust study or paper out there analysing how the 🇬🇧 #UK feared after #Brexit (discounting the impact of #covid, of course)?

I was wondering how quality of life (in the broadest sense) improved or worsened there because of Brexit. Life expectancy, mental health, productivity, real purchase power, unemployment, GDP, crime, etc.

We've seen in the media infinite anecdotes and minute data points — in both directions; I want something painting an unbiased, comprehensive picture instead.

Cheers!