The media isn’t good at telling people what to think. The media is good at giving a false impression of what others — the general public — think. This isolates people and allows false consensuses to prevail while true consensuses are functionally suppressed. — This effect, rather than being diminished by the Chomskyian tradition of media-critique, is magnified. We are all aware of the media’s power to brainwash other people. And so when we see them pushing, however ham-fistedly, a particular message, we tend to assume their success, often in its absence.

On how we can use video bibliographies and research transparency to create “time and motion studies of the mind”:

Do the maths before you rush into any decisions. At least sometimes, renting is still the smart thing to do. Consider this listing, and this listing, both for a lovely house in the picturesque town of Blackheath, just at the outer edge of the Sydney commuter radius. The house is on the market for rent, and for sale, simultaneously, with the owner clearly keen to test both markets and…

But also… so what? As someone who has dedicated large portions of their life to the fight against disinformation and misinformation, it’s painful to admit you’ve made a mistake. It is however, significantly less painful than being burned alive, bombed, shot, or crushed under rubble, etc. And, I have long argued that only a…

Video Bibliographies as proof of life. I hope this reaches you before the machines take over. We don’t have long. Things could get very tower-of-Babel very quick from here on out. In the media, academia, and elsewhere, the question of “did a human write this?” is now an ever present concern. This is going to get…

That doesn’t mean he did anything right. But neither did the chorus of talking heads now vilifying him. The only thing the RBA governor is guilty of, really, is expertise. He is a professional, university trained economist, competently implementing textbook monetary policy as widely accepted by the rest of the accredited economic community. If he’s wrong, and I am not saying he isn’t, then he’s wrong in excellent…

What if I told you we could have strong wage growth, a robust social safety net, affordable housing, and a dynamic high-productivity economy, all without inflation? Well we can. We just can’t have all those things and have low interest rates. I’ve written about this from the other end —…

And Jonathan Ferro should have called him out. Because a) I am pretty sure there’s a global monetary, financial and economic crisis on the way, and b) I am settling into early middle age more comfortably than I expected. I’ve taken to watching a bit of Bloomberg. I recently saw…

First of all a statement about my motives: I am going after the Greens (and the ABC) precisely because I expect better of them. I have no faith in anyone working for either of the major parties to be anything but a venal, self-serving cretin. I have always thought of…