A testament...to the legacy...of breaking the rules...

Rosa Parks dies at 92...

If there is anyone who demonstrates the folly...of a "philosophy" of following the rules...

It's Rosa Parks...

Thank you, Rosa...for your courage...to break the rules:)...

Love,
Ben

The challenge in front of me:):):)...

This is why the world seems so cock-eyed to me:):):)...

Majority of Americans reject evolution...

You see...at heart:):)...I'm just a scientist:):)...

My mind thinks too logically to bottom out to the lowest common denominator of most Americans:):):)...or people, generally, for that matter:):):)...

I've had the evolution/creation/intelligent design conversation a million times:):):)...

But what it all comes down to...is that the broad, undeniable consensus within the scientific community...favors evolution...and all other theories -- various creation stories...of which intelligent design is an ingenious variation on:):):) -- are interesting cultural myths to study as a part of Western heritage, world history, and world cultures...

But science, they are not...

And I am just too intellectually honest...to try to pretend that I identify very much at all with the idea that somehow my own personal or religious dogma...could ever or should ever...trump science:):):)...or deep, profound understandings of the world:):):)...

I think the reason why I see the world so different from most people...

Is that I just don't take bullshit folk theories about the world very seriously, at all:):)...

I only take seriously the most rigorous thought...

And everything else is just kind of bullshit, as far as I'm concerned:):):)...

Most people don't think like that, I'm learning...

And my thinking on that...

They should...

And they should learn to live and think up to my standards and to the standards of the best thinkers in the world:):)...

And not me or those thinkers down...to the thinking of most folks...

And that is why I don't understand most people, much of the time:):):)...

Because I just don't take stupid that seriously, really:):):)...and I don't care how seriously others take stupid...it's still stupid, as far as I'm concerned...

And I only take smart seriously...

Smart can mean that someone understands cars...or weed-whackers...or whatever...

And it can mean that they understand people...or schools...or politics...or economics...or whatever...better...as well:):):)...

But I just don't respect thinking that takes stupid too seriously...and doesn't respect, enough, the best thinking...

And my expectation...is that people should live up to that...not me living down to stupid:):):)...

And that is the long and short of it, as far as I'm concerned:):):)...

Have a great day, everyone:):):)...

And if you happen to be one of those people who agree with the majority in this poll:):):)...

I would suggest keeping your day job:):):)...and not trying your hand, professionally, at science, any time soon:):):):)...

Unless you have a rigorously considered scientific challenge to evolution...

And it better be good...

And not some long rationalization for why "God does exist, gosh darnit!"...

Because if this is what you're going after...scientifically-minded people want proof for your ideas...proof for which yours and other ideas can be falsified...not just asserted...and not just self-righteous pronouncements of whatever dogma you ascribe to...

And my efforts are to bring folks up to that expectation...

And to stop having intelligent people...pander down to the foolishness of average folks:):):)...

Have a great night, everyone:):):)...

Love,
Ben

Why I write the way I write...

I just heard this interview by Robert Siegel of National Public Radio with Adam Rosen of the Institute for International Economics about President Bush's nomination of Ben Bernanke to be the country's next Federal Reserve Chairman...

That reinforced why I write the way I write:):)...

Adam gave a pretty typical liberal economist's perspective...at least for a liberal in the opening years of the twenty-first century:):)...on President Bush's nomination of Ben Bernanke for Federal Reserve Chairman:):)...

Robert indicated that writers at the National Review, one of if not the most important conservative publication in the country, were expressing concern that Bernanke was not a supply-side economist...referring to the economic theory espoused famously by economists like Arthur Laffer --creator of the concept of the Laffer curve, which sought to demonstrate the marginal utility of higher tax and lower tax rates -- that low taxes and other incentives to business growth were key to growing the economy, since they encouraged savings and investment in new businesses and expansion of old businesses, increasing productivity, employment, and overall economic well-being along the way...

Thanks to Wikipedia for a nice, concise explanation of supply side economics...

Adam Rosen, of the Institute for International Economics sought to put Robert's mind to rest:):)...reminding him, as a newly appointed high priest of the field of economics:):), that supply-side economics is not taken seriously by mainstream economists:):):)...

Which is poppy-cock, of course:):)...and is Adam playing politics with an idea that he disagrees with:):)...because he's a liberal economist:):)...which generally means that he believes in things like progressive taxation (meaning high taxes on the rich and lower taxes on the middle class and poor), economic regulation, and other interferences in the economy that conservatives generally abhor:):) (and I do, too, just for the record:):)...even as an independent who has been a liberal for most of my life:):)...

And it just reinforced for me why I write about complex matters of scholarship and serious ideas as casually and as interspersed with the personal as much as I do:):):)...

First and foremost...it's because I want to humanize serious thought...I want people to see that it's real people who deal in it...not some distant, abstract idea-geek...who doesn't seem to have a soul outside of their immediate academic work:):)...and, as such...that we and all of us, really, are subject to human folly as much as anyone else...thought thinking seriously about life does tend to cut down on that folly, I think:):):)...

Also...because I want to be as open with my life as possible and as I feel comfortable:):)...

Meaning...I don't want people to just read my ideas...I want people to know about me...as a person...as someone who has a life outside of my ideas:):)...and that influence my ideas quite a bit, really:):):)...and I want to be honest that, like all scholars, likely...my personal life affects the way that I look at the world:):)...and think about it:):)...

But a big concern that some people might have about my writing, I think...is how casual it is...how unconventional it is for an academic to write so casually...and personally:):)...

And the reason that this doesn't bother me...is, first...because the personal stuff, I think, is really important actually...and I think it's important for people to know some of the day-to-day realities that shape me and my ideas:):)...and know that I test them every day:):)...that my ideas are not, at all, some kind of ideological agenda...they are ideas borne of very serious thought and real experience:):)...and that that is important to me:):)...and I think should be to everyone:):)...

But the reason why I'm not concerned about how people may disregard my ideas...based on how they're written...

Is borne out in that interview...

You see...Adam just disagrees with supply side economics:):)...and then found a creative, if somewhat deceptive, way to disregard ideas that he disagrees with:):)...

And that is just par for the course...in political and economic and other discussions, I think:):)...but in life, too, I think:)...

I sometimes do it...especially if I think I'm being bullied...and it's a clever and generally honest way to fight back in those situations, I think...to expect people to think seriously...rather than to mistake their groupthink and their bullying for serious thought...

But I try to be honest, generally, when I have a disgreement with someone...the higher the stakes the discussion...like if someone is impugning my character...the less seriously and the less respectfully I will take a disagreement...which I'm fine with, really...I think low-ball disagreements can expect some in-kindness in responses to them:)...

But, generally...I'll try to be as honest as possible about a disagreement:):)...

And...the bottom-line...with any idea...

Is that either you'll agree with it...or find agreement with it...or you won't...

That's really it...everything else is window-dressing...

Meaning...the formality or informality of the writing...the presentation...the grammar...the punctuation...

All the bullshit...eventually gives way...to the basic issue...

Either you find agreement with an idea:):)...or you don't:):)...

I heard about Ronald Coase's ideas on the internalization of extra-economic costs to a society for economic decisions (like environmenatal consequences, say) in a undergraduate macroeconomics class with a liberal economics professor, Martin Perline (one of my favorite undergraduate professors:):)...who dissuaded me of the kind of kooky thought of economist Murray Rothbard, in his book Bionomics, a libertarian tract that I was fascinated with as an undergrad:):)...

I've never read Coase, formally:):)...Dr. Perline did tell us that he had won the Nobel Prize in Economics:):)...and I found his ideas a fascinating opportunity to cut through a lot of the difficulty of getting businesses to think about larger environmental consequences from their business decisions and not at just narrow profit margins...

But I do know that Ronald's ideas are brilliant:):):)...and I don't give a shit about how he writes them:):)...or how he delivers them in a lecture:):)...or how he dresses or doesn't when he shares those ideas:):):)...

I just care about the ideas:):)...because I think they're good ones:):):)...

And that's basically how it works, I think:):)...

I can write in the formalities, too, of course:):)...I was in college of some sort for 12 years, for goodness sakes:):)...I would hope that I have the basics of grammar and spelling and other important formalities of writing down:):)...

But part of the way I write...is both to share of me, personally...meaning...how I'm feeling as I write:):)...like with smileys:):)...

And also to communicate...with the elipses...

That thinking is an on-going...never-ending...process...that it's never done...there are never finished answers...

And anyone who tells you there are...is not only bullshitting you:):)...but they're artificially shutting off the quest for better ideas...

Ronald Coase would never come up with ideas to "internalize the externalities," as Ronald might say:):)...

If he believed that all the important ideas in the world were all out on the table...no more thinking necessary:):)...

And neither would anyone else:):)...

Good thinkers and great thinkers know this...that's how they get to be good and great thinkers:):)...

But...my concern...was that not enough average folks...average thinkers...realized this...

That too many people thought that ideas were less open than all that...because they just look so neat and clean and polished up:):)...when they're written about in articles or books or wherever:):)...

When...really...when you get underneath the hood:):)...

All ideas...and all thinking:):):)...is in process:):)...and that nice, shiny engine:):):)...often has quite a few quirks that its most intimate mechanics know best:):):)...

And I just wanted as many of my own quirks out there as possible:):)...

Because I want people to realize...that anyone can do this:):)...it just takes some effort...and some desire...some practice...and a lot...a lot...a lot...of study:):):)...

And I was just thinking today:):)...as I was mowing the same lawns that I just mowed last week:):):)...

How much I love working with these ideas:):):)...

How important it is to me...

How in awe I am of people who develop genuinely new, interesting, constructive ideas...to make the world better...

And writers, generally, who inspire me to look at the world in a different way:):):)...

Adam Rosen is a fine economist, I'm sure...

But his comments were not on par with the really influential ideas of Ronald Coase...or Amartya Sen...or Fredrich Hayek...or Milton Friedman...or John Kenneth Gailbraith...or John Maynard Keynes...or Robert Heilbroner...or Carolyn Minter Hoxby...

Economists who sought/seek to explain the most difficult and important economic, political, and social phenomena...with deep, broad explanations...that are very diverse...and often in conflict...

And which all add to our understanding of the world:):)...

Adam's comments on NPR didn't really add much to that understanding, in the broadest sense...as very good an economist I'm sure he is:):)...and as much as I learned from him about Ben Bernanke...

I hope my ideas will contribute to that broader discussion in similar ways...

But I've made my peace with the fact that there will likely be people who disagree with me:):)...and probably will be on my death bed and long after I've left this tiny little planet, third from our sun:):)...

And that...either people will find the ideas useful:):)...or they won't...and everything else is just window-dressing:):)...

And in the meantime...I want to leave something of me that is more personal...more...me...than just my ideas:):)...as important as ideas, generally, and my ideas are to me:):):)...

To share of the life that those ideas are meant to help understand...and improve:):):)...

Have a good night, everyone:):):)...

Love,
Ben

I have to admit...

...the prospect of giving up on my friends depresses the hell out of me...

I've premised almost everything I think...in education policy, at least...and on a lot of domestic policy matters...but just the way I think about and care about people, generally...

...on the idea that all people can learn to think through serious issues...

That there is no need for either the contempt of those who are more convinced that people can think more and think and act better but refuse...

Or the condescending sympathy of those who are convinced that people may just not be able to think through matters better...

My premise has been that people can and need to think and, as a consequence, act better...and that better engaging serious issues with more thoughtful people gives them an opportunity to learn how to do that better...

And you would think that if I can't even do this with some of my best friends...then I just can't do it at all...

It is complicated...

These particular friends do seem convinced that such thought just doesn't apply to them...one of my better friends spends a lot of time pretending that more thoughtful ideas and movies and books, etc., just don't apply to him...that the values taught in places like school are just some vast illusion that he has somehow seen through...

A lot of people play this game, I'm learning...especially when they were less successful in school...I guess it's just easier on the ego than admitting that they just weren't as good of a student as they needed to be...even as schools and teachers must learn to better accommodate the learning needs of all students...

But I just think all this denial of the obvious reality that being smarter matters...and that it matters everywhere...no matter how important or menial the effort seems...that denying this reality just makes us all -- all of us...not just those engaged in the denial...active or otherwise -- weaker...less prepared...less able to take on important challenges in our lives and our workplaces and our communities...

I want to teach in public schools...and I want my kids to go to public schools...and I want to teach in a public university...

Not because I'm defensive of public schools...but because I genuinely believe in them...as the best opportunities for learning in schools...that folks either take advantage of or not...

Private schools are the same situation, I think...but I think public schools offer better opportunities...because they offer the better and more real-life challenge of working and learning and leading in situations with a broader group of folks...no matter how frustrating it is...which is more reflective the how the real world works...that we don't get to insulate ourselves in the real world from people who we think are dumber than us...or of a different religion...or not a true Christian...or whatever other ways that people try to insulate themselves and one another in university settings:):):)...

But the one thing that is a serious advantage for almost any school situation...where folks choose to be there...

Is that you're not dealing with the really most frustrating and fundamental difference between smarter students and less bright students...

Which is the stubborn refusal of some people to learn...no matter how much it is needed...

And since kids in public schools more often than kids in private schools, I imagine...don't choose to be there...they are more likely to rebel against learning and the learning process, I imagine...

There's some of this in private schools, as well, of course...but private schools can always kick such kids out...and then public schools end up absorbing them, often...if they can't get into other private school situations...

And that is how life works...

It would be great to think that someone we could just kick out all of the people in the world that we don't like...or don't like to work with...

But it just doesn't work that way...I've learned very much the hard way...that we often have to work with folks that we may have even imagined, at one point...as I did...that we'd never have to work with...

We just have to learn to work with all kinds of people...

The trick, though...is that we all still need to choose to learn...we just can't do it any other way...we can refuse to do or rebel against doing just about any damned thing we please, really...

And the reason why I believe in as much school choice and freedom for schools as possible...is so schools and students and parents and teachers can each and all learn to be responsible for their learning and teaching, together, as much as possible...without either expecting others to do the job for us...or rebelling against the process along the way...

But the challenge is still...that...ultimately...all students have to choose to learn...or else the process just doesn't really work, really...

And my frustration with my friends is that they want to be responsible...without really taking that responsibility seriously...they want to be in charge...without really taking seriously the need to think about how to use authority...they'd rather spend their lives defending their right not to think...no matter how adolescent and useless an instinct that is...

Than to spend it thinking about how to deal with life's challenges better...

They'd rather fuck up every challenge out of experience...and worse...do what so many less educated people do...make the same mistake over and over and over and over and over and over again...stubbornly and stupidly...rather than learning from it much more quickly by thinking more seriously about it...

They just want to defend the idea that they don't need so stinkin' thinkin'...to make it through life...than to come to terms with the obvious reality for anyone who does take thinking seriously...that thinking matters...and that...in no matter what endeavor we engage in...it impacts our ability to do it better...and to think about it better...

And the most recent round of bullshit that they've put me through...is just too much...it's just a bunch of dumbasses trying to play big people that they aren't prepared enough to do quite yet...and I've had to deal with all of the fallout...

But giving up not only seems unrealistic...and heartbreaking...since I really love these friends...it seems to be giving up on that ideal...that we all have to learn to take learning and thinking more seriously...no matter how we might foolishly argue against that idea...

But...in this case...the lesson is going to have to involve them learning to apologize when they fuck up...

Because I just don't trust them, anymore...no matter how much they fuck up...I keep coming back...not expecting apologies...assuming that they're more fragile egoes have a harder time dealing with that task...

But this time is different...they've been particularly shitty to me...

And this time an apology is due...and learning to offer it is part of the lesson they need to learn, right now...

It'll be good for 'em...but more importantly...it will be the only way that I'll know that they've learned the lesson...and they won't put me through what they've put me through in the last couple of weeks/months or so again...

And now I realize it's not too high an expectation...it's the only expectation that will change the situation between us, at this point...

I don't want to live in a world where the only people expected to learn are people who have and/or take advantage of more or better educational opportunities that others...

I want a world where everyone is expected and internalizes the expectation to learn and think and grow no matter what educational opportunities they do or don't take advantage of...and where everyone has as much freedom as possible to take advantage or not take advantage of those opportunities...so that they can learn what life is like with the alternatives...and so that they can learn better to take the better paths...as they have experiences that teach them, better, that they have much more to learn...

But there is a fundamental hump that everyone has to get over for that to happen...

People have to choose to learn...and to take learning seriously...and to take the thinking that is involved with that learning seriously...for all of that to happen...

And I have learned...with this particular group of friends...and this one friend, in particular...

That I can't make them think...no matter how important it is for them to do so...

That they can refuse to take thinking and learning seriously...for as long as they'd like...

And that we all have to deal with the consequences in the meantime...

And that they...and they're children...and everyone in their lives...will have to live with the consequences of that refusal...as long as they so choose that path...

And that will be the on-going, self-fulfilling prophecy...

Until we break that cycle...that is perpetual...as long as we don't engage that challenge and address it...

I'm not interested in that self-fulfilling prophecy...

And I've never seen a challenge that I'm afraid of taking on, frankly...ever...

So I know this is one that we can and must take on, as well...

And I'm up to the job...

But this particular one...this particular situation with these friends...

Will involve an apology...

And that is the only way forward with that particular situation...period...

And this is one self-fulfilling prophecy...that I am tired of tripping us all up...all of us...

It's gotta change...

No matter how stubbornly people who take learning and thinking less seriously...cling to their defenses about what they don't need to think and learn more and better...

I just don't give a shit what folks' excuses are...

The world is better when we all take smart more seriously...and treating each other decent, as well...which we learn the smarter we get...because smart people who don't take seriously treating people decently...really aren't that smart, afterall, as it turns out...and decent people who don't take smart seriously...are just being kind of dumb, really...

When I signed the lease on this little apartment in July...I was like, "Why in the world am I committing to this shitty little neighborhood for a year?"...

The truth was...because I didn't have time to find a new place while I was searching for jobs...and I couldn't put the leasing office off any more...

But I look around this cozy little apartment...and I think about all the strong friendships I have with all my neighbors (all of us seem to be pretty much friends...and some of us pretty close friends)...

And I realize that I love this little place:):):)...this little home I have, for now:):)...

And that I love feeling at home in my little place...the feeling of real, genuine safety...that one feels...when there is plenty of love around:):):)...

I've got to get to bed:):):)...I'm exhausted:):):)...

I'll talk with everyone later:):):)...

Love,
Ben