The Ungoverned

Thoughts on man and his universe
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  • David Veksler

Four reasons to practice evidence-based medicine Dec 27, 2014

Few people would openly admit that they prefer irrational treatments and doctors.  But most people do in fact advocate irrational health practices – using pseudonyms for “irrational” as “holistic,” “alternative,” “homeopathic” and the deadly “natural.” Medical practice requires an understanding of cause and effect The human body operates according to certain causal principles. If we wish to make a change in our health, we must understand some of those causal principles and act according to our understanding. To act without a rational basis is to disconnect our goals from their achievement. Irrationality does not guarantee failure — it just means...

By David Veksler Vote12 1

Why I eat Paleo Dec 26, 2014

We are animals not far removed from the jungle. Genetically, we are nearly identical to primitive man. Our bodies have been shaped by our environment to make the best of the resources available to us. Our genotype (the DNA) only develops a healthy phenotype (our body and mind) in response to the environmental inputs it evolved to thrive in. The trouble with our modern, industrial lifestyle is that it is very different from the environment our bodies evolved to thrive in. As a result, most of us are plagued by chronic illnesses that our ancestors never dealt with. If they...

By David Veksler Vote14 3

A harmony of values: political versus market solutions Dec 24, 2014

People tend to become better at doing thing they are rewarded for doing. Entrepreneurs are good at turning money into products, politicians are good at getting votes, and bureaucrats are good at increasing their budgets and influence. In markets systems, there is a tendency for explicit and actual motivations to match.  For example, Apple, BMW, or Wal-Mart want to make stuff I want because they are rewarded to the extent that they make stuff I want. In politics, the trend is reversed.   Incentives in politics are often the opposite of political promises or goals.   For example, politicians and bureaucrats may honestly want...

By David Veksler Vote7 1

mass luxury and capitalism: Vertu vs. Apple Dec 16, 2014

Vertu is a luxury phone maker. They sell jewel-encrusted phones for $10,000 to $100,000. Vertu is a successful company, but in both style and substance, the iPhone is probably the best phone you can buy. The vast majority of people who can afford a Vertu still choose to purchase an iPhone, presumably because they believe it is a better product. The reason why reveals a deep truth about how a capitalist economy works. In order for the iPhone to exist, consumers must spend hundreds of billions on the smartphone ecosystem, which then pays for the research and development of devices, applications,...

By David Veksler Vote8 0

The myth of “talent” Nov 20, 2014

The common concept of "talent" may be one of the most destructive fallacies ever invented by human beings. So many people give up on their dreams because early setbacks lead them to believe that they lack the "talent" to become great at something. In truth, expertise at anything comes by persistent self-improvement. For example, here is how I became good at photography - you can apply this to anything: 1: Study the technical principles of photography 2: Look at lots of photos taken by the best in the field 3: Take tons of photos. Be your most honest, ruthless critic....

By David Veksler Vote7 0

Against cynicism Nov 18, 2014

In today's postmodern age, it is popular to adopt a universal cynicism which questions every tale of heroism and finds fault in every profound belief and insight. Such people think they are the enlightened intellectual superiors of the gullible masses who are fooled by popular mythologies and overly simplistic explanations. I myself advocate a rational skepticism, which asks "is this really true" of every claim and demands to see the evidence. My skepticism is fundamental in the sense of questioning basic assumptions of religion, politics, ethics, science, common sense, etc and also radical, in that I disagree with many of...

By David Veksler Vote11 1

Hard truths about “net neutrality” Nov 17, 2014

This is a follow up to my case about "net neutrality."  There is a reason the net neutrality debate is has dragged on for many years. In reality, "neutrality" is not a coherent concept that applies to the Internet. There is no objective definition of what "neutrality" means or how it may be implemented. The real Internet is not the simple political model of backbone providers, ISPs and consumers, but a complex balance of peering arguments, CDN's, and "short-cut" interconnects. Non-neutrality is already an essential part of the modern Internet. What the net neutrality lobby really wants is a competitive market....

By David Veksler Vote11 3

Why no self-driving cars? Blame the politicians Nov 14, 2014

The average commute in San Francisco is 32.2 minutes. The employed civilian population is 837,442. There are 251 working days per year, so the average worker spends 16164.4 minutes/11.23 days commuting per year. That is 13,536,747,464.8 minutes - 25,754 years for the Bay Area population per year. Assuming a life expectancy of 80 years, 322 lives are wasted every year due to the commute time in SF. Given an average San Fransisco per capita income of $46,777, the average hourly rate is $23, which means the commute costs San Franciscans alone $5,189,086,528 - five billion dollars. If 100% of the working population...

By David Veksler Vote9 2

The ownership experience & mass production Nov 13, 2014

The way we value mass produced objects is weird. For example, I love my MacBook. I value it as an essential daily tool, but I also value it for its beauty and other reasons which go beyond immediate practical value, in the same way that I suppose a woman might feel the same way about her diamond necklace. My MacBook happens to have a small scratch. I would exchange it for an identical laptop without the scratch without no any sense of loss or regret. Furthermore, unless Apple screws up, I would happily exchange it for the next year's model,...

By David Veksler Vote11 0

Colonize the universe or starve Nov 11, 2014

For 99.99% of the two million years that humans have been around, the entire species lived in harmonious balance with nature -- that is, perpetually on the edge of starvation, acquiring the bare minimum of sustenance necessary to sustain the present population. Every now and then, a change in the environment, a new disease, or perhaps a tribal conflict caused a mass die of some percentage of the population. This provided a rare opportunity for a surplus of food to become available, and the population quickly grew in prosperity and (presumably) happiness until the ecological balance was restored and the...

By David Veksler Vote7 1

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