To follow up the talk I organized for Srikumar Rao, Srikumar’s business manager offered deep discounts (almost half price) for members of the Columbia Business School alumni club (anyone can join, whether they went there or not) to take the New York session of his course, Creativity and Personal Mastery (CPM). Having taken it about four years ago, I recommend the course without reservation. Click here for a pdf with[…] Keep reading →

Reading the spate of articles on Kim Jong Il and North Korea, I’ve seen what look from my perspective misinterpretations. Reporters repeatedly succumb to ascribing to the leader what I consider properties of the system. I think they adopt a great-man model that says if something is working, someone must be making it happen. With only Kim Jong Il or Kim Il Sung around, it must be them. Misallocating causes[…] Keep reading →

Following up my series on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth in the realm of food, let’s continue with environmental reasons since I listed it next on my list a few days ago. People who don’t eat meat often point out that eating meat pollutes the environment significantly more than not eating meat. As[…] Keep reading →

Following up yesterday’s post on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth, let’s start with health since I listed it as the first non-issue two days ago. First, nobody chooses what they eat solely for health, so claiming to eat meat or not as a wholesale policy based on health is a red herring. Next,[…] Keep reading →

People spout tremendous nonsense on why people should or shouldn’t eat meat. My next several posts will point out flaws in their reasoning. I think in the echo chambers of their minds, people come to believe their reasons for eating or not eating meat are grounded in absolute truth. Or they only talk with people who agree with them, while arguing positionally with people who don’t, a recipe for confirming[…] Keep reading →

Niels Bohr aptly said “prediction is very difficult, especially of the future.” The main question now is what will happen next. As expected, state media named Kim Jung Il’s son, Kim Jong-un, as his successor. I’ve read speculation that unrest or power struggles may follow. I predict not. My series on North Korea strategy concluded that its power structure relies on stability and loyalty. Not only does its top leader[…] Keep reading →

I have read some people pleased with the death of someone they consider responsible for bad things, though muted relative to the rejoicing I saw at the death of Osama Bin Laden in the United States. Perhaps desired change will come, but I don’t see what one could call good, even if you don’t like him. To those who wanted him punished, he isn’t being punished. Everybody dies. And as[…] Keep reading →

North Korean television reported Kim Jung Il died. As the BBC reports The announcer, wearing black, made the emotional announcement on state-run television North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced. Mr Kim, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital, the announcement said. He[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday I mentioned I didn’t eat meat for two categories of reasons: taste and intellectual reasons. Today I’ll cover my intellectual reasons. Intellectual You know what? None. Now that I think of it, no intellectual reasons motivate my eating habits. Everything I think of that seems not based in taste, when I peel away at it, turns out based in taste. I expect your reasons ultimately are based in taste[…] Keep reading →