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  • An objection: Rationality does not imply everything is OK.

    An argument which comes up in this podcast, and which seems to come up repeatedly in criticisms of economics, is that the assumption of rationality implies that everything ''will work out okay''. This is incorrect, and whenever I hear someone say it--including Justin Fox at the beginning of this podcast--it makes me question whether they are ...
    Posted to Moneybox by Mike Hammock on June 18, 2009

  • Commentary on the commentary!

    Hello boys, Thanks for the entertaining, verbal ping-pong match on the book The Year of Living Biblically by Mr. A.J. Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs: You have written a hilariously funny book on a profoundly-important topic. As a born-again, spirit-filled, charismatic Catholic whose little brother is a Lubavitch Jew, I have a few opinions of my own ...
    Posted to Dialogues by EFThompson on May 11, 2008

  • "Irrational" prices

    As a resonse to you ''The Price is Right'' post, I would point to a very rich literature in game theory. There are people trying to put ''Reputation'' into equations while striking down the idea of ''Pareto Optimality''. Since these companies are still going to be around tomorrow maximizing profit _today_ isn't necessarily the best plan. ...
    Posted to The Undercover Economist by tomtemple on March 29, 2008

  • Re: Christian and Atheist Moral Absolutes

    Sorry, but in my atheist view of the world there certainly are moral absolutes, one of which is devotion to the truth, so far as I can understand it. Very few people with any religious belief share that devotion. First, there are all those people who follow a religion because it provides them with some kind of comfort or feeling of security - if ...
    Posted to Dialogues by anarch on October 4, 2007

  • What Do Christian Republicans Want?

    Just finished ''God's Harvard.'' But it left one big question unanswered: If they had political power, what would these folks do with America? Let's say Christian Republicans win the presidency and veto-proof, fillibuster-proof control of Congress - what will they do? Obviously, abortion: outlawed. But beyond that, would I even recognize ...
    Posted to Dialogues by Sealion4000 on September 22, 2007

  • Re: Afraid of? Absolutely nothing (except perhaps ignoranace

    JGC does a great job of explaining the nature of scientific study. Science is an attempt to explain observable phenomena; the explanations beget predictions; if possible such predictions are tested by experimentation and the observations made from those experiments are added into the growing body of observations that allow the explanations to be ...
    Posted to Dialogues by Orual on September 20, 2007

  • Re: God's Harvard-Patrick Henry

    Here's another summary of more deeply held beliefs: 1. A long time ago, a young girl who never had sex with a man gave birth to a child. 2. That child grew into a man who was killed quite thoroughly by the Roman standard method of execution at the time. He remained dead for three days then came back to life. 3. After walking around for a ...
    Posted to Dialogues by Rael on September 17, 2007