Friday Hodgepodge

Three Things

1. Statistician John D. Cook makes an amusing observation regarding personality classifications, such as the commonly-used (but meaningless) Myers-Briggs: "There's one thing advocates of all the aforementioned systems agree on: the number of basic personality types is a perfect square."

This makes me think of those humorous "Demotivator" posters. I see one on rationalism (e.g., Lesson 6), and another on market penetration.

2. But the second of the above jokes is rapidly losing its bite, thanks in large part to the efforts of the folks at ARI, as Don Watkins notes in his farewell post at its blog, Voices for Reason:

[I]t has never been easier to learn about Ayn Rand and Objectivism -- and the career prospects for Objectivist intellectuals have never been brighter. Without a doubt, ARI has played a central role in making that happen. I take enormous pride in having had a part in those achievements. [bold added]

Ayn Rand is all over the media, and ARI is no longer the only nationally prominent Objectivist (or Objectivist-friendly) think tank. I find both developments remarkable and inspiring.

Both Watkins and Alex Epstein (also an ARI alumnus), whom he is joining at the Center for Industrial Progress, have penned best-sellers.

3. Regulars here will know that I am no environmentalist, so they will also know that it's the interesting new application of two existing technologies I find appealing in a story from Australia regarding extremely reliable solar-powered, e-ink traffic signs.

Weekend Reading

"AIs sorting through millions of patient records without an ideological bias might invalidate many currently accepted medical practices or to validate other practices that are currently considered 'fringe.'" -- Paul Hsieh, in "AI in Medicine: Rise of the Machines" at Forbes

"[F]riendship and business relationships are two completely different things, with a completely different set of expectations." -- Michael Hurd, in "Can Business and Friendship Coexist?" at The Delaware Wave

"Problems only arise if you get less out of being with somebody than what you're putting into the relationship with them." -- Michael Hurd, in "Is 'Agree to Disagree' Really Possible?" at The Delaware Coast Press

-- CAV