You’ve Been Gamed! How To Understand Modern American Society

This about Society, tagged , , , was written by for on June 27, 2012 .38 Comments

And no, I ain’t talking of that von Neumann crap. 🙂 Game theory as developed by Heartiste and Co (1, 2, 3, 4). Before we start, there are two concepts we must avail ourselves of. Female hypergamy: Woman’s tendency to mate up the social hierarchy. Soft polygamy: See picture right, as helpfully illustrated by yours […]

The 5 Types of Russian American

This , about Society, tagged , , , , , was written by for on June 11, 2012 .172 Comments

In my nearly 20 years experience as a Russian living in the West, I have found that almost all my fellows can be reduced to five basic types: 1) The White Russian; 2) The Sovok Jew; 3) The Egghead Emigre; 4) Natasha Gold-Digger; 5) Putin’s Expat. My background and qualifications to write on this topic? My […]

Money Mania, By Country

This about Society, tagged , , , was written by for on June 4, 2012 .8 Comments

The Economist lies about Russia, it has beef with France, and in general it is far more useful as a barometer of Anglo-Saxon elite opinion than as a good source of objective information on the real world. Nonetheless, it does have the occasional gold nugget, and even one gold vein – its Daily Charts blog. After all, one can rarely […]

National Comparisons: The People

This about Society, tagged , , , , , , , , was written by for , on April 8, 2011 .39 Comments

The second part of my series comparing Russia, Britain, and the US focuses on the people themselves. What are their strengths and foibles? How do they vary by class, region, race, and religion? How do they view each other and other countries and peoples? What do they eat, drink, and watch? Where do they travel […]

IQ and Industrialism

This about HBD, tagged , , , was written by for on June 26, 2010 .25 Comments

My recent post on demographic myths unleashed a lively discussion on the issue of race and IQ in the comments section. I’m not too interested in wading into it: not out of any misplaced respect for political correctness, of course, but simply because though I think there are good arguments for both sides, it misses […]

Book Review: Peter Turchin – War and Peace and War

This about History, tagged , , , , , , was written by for , on April 8, 2010 .21 Comments

Then you might get something like Peter Turchin’s War and Peace and War, which I’ve finally read on the recommendations of Kolya and TG. Ranging from Ermak’s subjugation of the Sibir Khanate to the rise of Rome, Turchin makes the case that the rise and fall of empires is reducible to three basic concepts: 1) […]

Diasporas and Barbarians

This about HBD, tagged , , , , , was written by for on November 7, 2009 .8 Comments

During one conversation at Sean’s Russia Blog, the commentator Evgeny referred me to a work by Russian political analyst & nationalist Konstantin Krylov, Поведение (“Behavior”). In it he tries to classify the world’s civilizations into four ethical systems (South – tribal, East – collectivist, West – individualist, North – kind of like communism?, and not […]

America’s Liberty Cycles

This about Philosophy, tagged , , , , , , was written by for on September 2, 2009 .6 Comments

This is my first follow-up post to The Belief Matrix, in which I attempted to advance a universal model for civilizational responses to subsistence crises (The Malthusian Loop) and the Western challenge (The Sisyphean Loop).  The first country I’ll apply this too is the US, because doing so will allow me to make several important […]

The Belief Matrix

This about Philosophy, tagged , , was written by for on July 20, 2009 .9 Comments

Consequent to my post Categorizing the Russia Debate and the lively debate it spawned, it occurred to me that much of Russia’s tortured and intriguing history could be rationalized as a self-reinforcing loop within a belief matrix. This can even be extended further to many other societies – I will also have similar posts up […]

Education as the Elixir of Growth II

This about HBD, tagged , , , , was written by for on July 18, 2008 .No Comments

A while ago I wrote Education as the Elixir of Growth on DR, in which I noted that in most countries the educational profile is closely correlated to their level of productivity. The major exceptions are nations with resource windfalls (inflated productivity) and socialist legacies (deflated productivity). Furthermore, the greater the gap between the ‘potential […]