Author: Atanu Dey

The UFO I Did Not See

~ Atanu Dey ~ 12 Comments
UFO?

OK so this one’s going to be right out of left field, to use an American expression. It’s got nothing to do with economics or politics or whatever I usually discuss on this site. It’s strange, totally unexpected, utterly peculiar. And I did not see it coming. Had I been able to see it, it would not have been as mystifying. I would have noticed something moving slow across the sky but I could not have noticed something that flashed across the sky.  This is what happened yesterday (Wednesday) morning. Continue reading →

Why Do We Hate Capitalism?

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The title of this post is a question on Quora. Confession: I have a truckload of stuff to get done. Whenever I have stuff to do, I do all sorts of useless stuff. Clean the desk drawers. Or something silly like that to avoid the more difficult important tasks. I put off doing important stuff by answering silly questions on Quora. Here’s my answer to the above question.  Continue reading →

Neam Chimpsky

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OK, enough of Noam Chomsky. His brilliant theories of human language structure and generative grammar holds one’s attention only for so long before boredom descends. His opinions on politics is mildly amusing but his take on economics is totally wacko.

Let’s move on to the chimpanzee named after him, Neam Chimpsky (1973 – 2000). Nim, as he was called, was the subject of an extended study of animal language acquisition at Columbia University. To pay for his study, I suppose Nim had to do household chores, doing the dishes etc. I guess that Nim’s take on economics could not have been much worse than Noam’s.

My friend Akshar pointed me to a YouTube video in which Thomas Sowell talks about intellectuals in society. They briefly discuss Chomsky. As always, Sowell is insightful. Check it out, below the fold.  Continue reading →

Hayek on Liberty

~ Atanu Dey ~ 5 Comments

18 Hayek Quotes That Show the Importance of Liberty

by Gary M. Galles

May 8th marked Friedrich Hayek’s birthday. Called “the most prodigious classical liberal scholar of the 20th century,” Milton Friedman explained his importance:

Over the years, I have again and again asked fellow believers in a free society how they managed to escape the contagion of their collectivist intellectual environment. No name has been mentioned more often as the source of enlightenment than Friedrich Hayek’s.” Continue reading →

Chomsky, the Father of Modern Linguistics

~ Atanu Dey ~ 10 Comments

Noam Chomsky is a very intelligent person. I do have more than a hint of his brilliance in linguistics because I studied formal grammar and languages during my computer science days. It would be foolish to deny his stellar contributions to his field of expertise. It will be equally foolish to take him seriously in matters that are outside his field.

Insight, knowledge and understanding in some domain does not overflow into other domains, sometimes not even into neighboring domains. Shakespeare was a great poet and an acute observer and commentator on the human condition. But I would not trust him to teach me quantum mechanics. Continue reading →

Capitalism is based on Selfishness and Greed

~ Atanu Dey ~ 11 Comments

Bringing you lower quality and fewer choices since the 16th Century, reads the caption to the image of capitalism. The grim image of the evils of capitalism is captured in William Blake’s evocative phrase “the dark satanic mills.” Is it true that because capitalism rests on selfishness and greed that we don’t have a heaven on earth?

In human society in all ages the number of angels devoid of any greed and selfishness is astonishingly low. Most people are self-interested at least, if not outright selfish; and most people want more of the good stuff for themselves and their loved ones, if not outright greedy. That’s the truth about the human condition. That’s what we have to work with, and bemoaning that fact, or worse ignoring that fact, is not going to help at all. Continue reading →

Buffet and Munger on Cryptocurrencies

~ Atanu Dey ~ 8 Comments

I wouldn’t bother commenting on  crypto currencies because I don’t understand the topic. But this is just too good to pass up. Buffet and Munger are not fans of the stuff. CNBC reported back on Jan 10, 2018 that Warren Buffett thinks cryptocurrencies will end badly. 

Buffet considers it a method of transmitting money and has no intrinsic value. He has said that bitcoin is “probably rat poison squared” and noxious.

This is from the Berkshire Hathaway AGM last weekend in Omaha, Nebraska:  Continue reading →