Things I Ask

More than a Nudge Robert Thaler, the soon to be winner of this year's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, wrote about how organ donation rates can change significantly when the question is asked differently to potential donors . In a nutshell, he differentiates the opt-in and the opt-out method, where the opt-out method gets more people to become donors, because the default choice is to be a donor. But he goes on to mention that the presumed-content law may be upsetting to some people, and that the Illinois system, which "makes one's wishes to be a donor legally binding . . . is a winning combination." Here, Thaler, in his strict adherence to libertarian paternalism, fails to consider a morally and economically superior policy: the policy of mandatory donations. It is not hard to see that mandatory donations are economically superior. To see why mandatory donations are morally superior, one need only consider the trolley problem. Here is the thought exp

Youtube algorithms allow users to browse related videos. Recommendations are based on what other viewers, who have also watched the same videos, have browsed. This nifty feature has become an essential part of Youtube, where 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute. By clicking on a recommended video, the Youtuber can reach new content with expectations that it will fit one's taste. But what if a Youtuber wanted to learn something new? What if a Youtuber who only watches NBA highlights has an undiscovered desire to watch videos of a cobra fighting a mongoose? Though the sidebar recommendations are great at featuring interesting, related content, there is no way for interesting, unrelated content to show up. And while the Cobra v. Mongoose  example is facetious and trivial to some people, the idea of unrelated recommendations can be applied in education. Picture a curious student who wants to learn about the world. One problem that the curious student faces is that he may no

As I was reading Robert M. Pirsig's second novel, Lila , I came across the idea of "Philosophology". Philosophology, or the study of philosophy. This idea saved my life. One of my goals since graduating high school was to study philosophy, to get a coherent understanding of major ideas from major philosophers. I wanted to know enough to group philosophers, to concisely sum up their ideas, and to read their works in the original languages that they were written in. I, like the people Pirsig described, thought that knowing about philosophy was essential before pursuing my own philosophy. What if people already wrote down what I wanted to write down? What if strong counterarguments already existed? But Pirsig said the same thing that a professor from the Yonsei Philosophy Department had said to me a year ago: given our short lifespans, it would be impossible. "You can imagine the ridiculousness of an art historian taking his students to museums, having them wri

The Freakonomics guys summed it up well: "... voting exacts a cost -- in time, effort, lost productivity -- with no discernible payoff except perhaps some vague sense of having done your 'civic duty.' As the economist Patricia Funk wrote in a recent paper, 'A rational individual should abstain from voting.'" -excerpt from a New York Times article This is unsettling, because many people consider the economic policies of candidates to be of the utmost importance. (According to the Chosun Ilbo article written on May 4th, 2017, polls revealed that economic growth policy was the most important factor of the 2017 Korean elections, at a rate of 28.5%. Policies regarding job creation came in second place, at 18.8%.) What to do, when the people who allegedly know the most about the economy take no part in shaping it? Surely, this major problem is difficult to remove without hurting democracy. Perhaps, then, hurting democracy is the best way to solve thi

Sometimes, theories based on evolutionary psychology sound a bit too forced . For example, there is a claim that babies tend to look more like their fathers. The evolutionary explanation is well summarized by the Scientific American: " Fathers, after all, do not share a mother's certainty that a baby is theirs, and are more likely to invest whatever resources they have in their own offspring. Human evolution, then, could have favored children that resemble their fathers, at least early on, as a way of confirming paternity." (The actual Scientific American article debunks this view.) The reason that such theories sound "forced" is that the phenomena can have a myriad causes that sufficiently explain it. The paternal resemblance explanation is just one of the many possible explanations. Forced theories are bad because anyone can make them while no one can satisfactorily dispute them. To illustrate this point, I will propose a theory that seeks to explain

Today, our police squad went to a mountain in Seoul, looking for an elderly man who was suspected of attempting suicide. (After 6.5 hours of searching, we were ordered to end the search. As of the time of this writing, the man has not yet been found.) Because I drive our squad's bus, I had the privilege to wait inside the bus. This was in case someone tried to break in, or in case someone needed me to relocate the bus. I parked the bus on the side of the road, just below the hiking trail. During the long wait, hikers passed by left and right. I noticed that the hikers coming from the left would pause, look, and (if they had companions) mention the existence of the police bus before moving on. Meanwhile, hikers from the right rarely paused. Pause vs No Pause I believe that this behavior could be explained by an amount of time that is needed to appreciate an unexpected sight. I will call this duration surprise time . Highly unusual and intriguing moments have long surpr

I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon [...] Now Thrasymachus had many times tried to interrupt, and at last he burst out and said, "What is this nonsense, Socrates? How are we to protect ourselves without guardians at our borders? Should we allow aliens to enter our lands without restraint? What lawlessness! You wish for an ideal that cannot be translated into reality. I say that unless you provide answers to these complications, your speech is nothing but a waste of time." I was staggered by his attack but managed to answer him: "Don't be so hard on us, Thrasymachus. If we had made any mistake in the course of our discussion, I assure you we have not done so on purpose. It's the ability that we lack, and clever chaps like you ought to feel sorry for us." "I would much rather listen to you try and defend your arguments," he replied with a bitter laugh. "I will try my best. But we must first agree to ignore possible anac

Apathy. Human beings might be social beings, but most people do not enjoy drawing too much attention. True love respects this temperament by considerately ignoring the actions of others.

Most people do not care much about scores after high school, and even if the topic comes up, I have found that many top scorers (understandably) have a tendency to refrain from speaking too much on it. This is not helpful for younger students who need genuine advice. Here is my experience . My real experience, not a you can do it too  success story. When I started, I had no idea where to start. I was a sophomore in high school, and all my Asian friends were studying for the SAT in hagwons . I had never been to a hagwon . The y told me these hagwons provide information on everything about the test, such as when and where to take it, the best times to take it, the best times to prepare for it, and most importantly, how to prepare for it. Very little effort was needed to convince my parents that I wanted to enroll for the summer. Come summer vacation. I took five weeks of classes in June and July, Monday to Friday, from 7 a.m. to noon. Basically it was around 2 hours of Reading

The problem with studies conducted by gathering opinions is that the measurement system is inherently flawed. Before examining the flaws, take a quick look at a sample Big Five personality test: http://personality-testing.info/printable/big-five-personality-test.pdf This test uses what social scientists call the "Likert scale". Usually, 4 or 5 choices are available, where each choice represents the feelings of the survey taker. The scale should be familiar, though its name might not be. By Nicholas Smithvectorization: Own work - Own work, based on File:Example Likert Scale.jpg Likert scales are useful for simple surveys designed to summarize the general opinion of the public. The problem starts when social scientists try to use Likert scales to conduct statistical research. Obviously, the Likert scale is limited by human irrationality. R espondents might avoid the extremes. They might respond in ways that make themselves look good. They might choose an extreme opin

This graph regularly comes up in introductory Economics textbooks. source: Wikipedia The idea is to divide the economic agent's 24 hour day into time spent on leisure and time spent on work. The assumption that most textbooks make here is that leisure is simply "achieved". This is true for some forms of leisure, such as sitting. But sometimes, it takes hard work to play hard. Fencing, chess, music, snowboarding . . . all the best forms of leisure require introductory lessons and hours of practice. Of course, it could be argued that preparation is an entertainment in its own right. But hardly anyone will not feel disappointed when they do not get to take part in an activity after all the preparation. Thus preparation is fundamentally different from leisure. Neither is it labor, for it does not generate income. The most rudimentary forms of leisure (such as sitting on the floor) are simply achieved without preparation. Higher forms of leisure require preparation

Does reincarnation maintain the number of organisms living in the world? Suppose there is a world where there are only three living organisms, and they are reincarnated when they die. What happens when one is about to die? If the remaining two reproduce sexually, will they forced to procreate as the third one dies, thereby maintaining the number of organisms in that world? What if two individuals die at once? Would single celled organisms naturally evolve out of protein? Perhaps the number of living organisms and souls is not strictly maintained. This would explain the exponential growth and decay of populations. But if everything is reincarnated, how would this be possible? Where would new life come from?

Rules are great. They provide justice, order, and stability. But must they always be followed? If not (and one would think not), which  rules can be broken, and when? The Sufficient Conditions for Rule Breaking But what about rules that do make sense—ones that serve a good, clear purpose? When can they be broken? It is not possible to consider every possible scenario regarding each rule, so here is a "Rule for Breaking Rules": When the purpose of the rule is understood, and when breaking that rule does not go against its purpose, the rule can be broken . Here are some examples worth considering. Jaywalking The main purpose of traffic lights and other traffic laws is safety. Jaywalking is morally acceptable when a pedestrian, on an empty street, for instance, correctly judges that it is safe enough to cross. In undeveloped Chinese cities, traffic lights are ignored, so attention must be paid more to oncoming vehicles than to the traffic lights. Waiting

My first post (other than the introduction ):  A discussion on the obsession with seemingly relevant, yet probably meaningless numbers (like "first"). Should We Stop Celebrating New Years? Over the last few years, I tried not to take notice of New Years. I thought it was silly of us to celebrate the fact that a 4 digit integer reached its successor. I am not saying that rather than celebrating, we should instead despair the fact that we are a year closer to our deaths (though this is true). Nor am I trying to stop anyone else from celebrating. I am simply perplexed about the fact that we celebrate an event that is, upon reflection, quite ordinary. Celebration of a new year every year suggests that there is not that much to celebrate in life and too much need for celebration. This idea can be applied on other cultural phenomena, especially anything annual, like birthdays and anniversaries, but these examples are redundant. Other non-annual applications of this idea incl

This site will be used mainly for myself. I expect the utility of this blog to include: the development of my writing skills the honing of my philosophical arguments the questioning of modern society and culture the reflection and feedback on my life the passing of my time and perhaps the list will grow as I blog. The last point is of great importance to me, as currently I am serving in my country's mandatory military service in a police station. (I will most likely post a separate article on the details of this.) As of today, I am about 49% done with my time, and I fear that the rest of my sentence may be the last time I get to have so much free time on my hands.