Nick's Notes #1
Hiya! Here’s the first edition of my newsletter, featuring new paintings and notes on what I’m reading and listening to.
Paintings
Writing
Still working on my first proper post. It will be a review of “Autopoiesis and Cognition” by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela.
What I’m Reading
Economics books!
The Mercatus Center generously sent me a huge box of books as part of my fellowship this semester. I’m very excited to dig into all of these!
To counterbalance the Left-Libertarian/Austrian perspectives I'll be reading in the program, I'm currently exploring some contrasting approaches to economic and social thought:
Cities and The Wealth of Nations by Jane Jacobs. For the uninitiated, Jane Jacobs was an influential urbanist writer and activist best known for opposing Robert Moses’ attempts to build the Lower Manhattan Expressway. In this book she constructs a bottom-up theory of economic development centered around the city as opposed to the nation. This was cited heavily in Charles Marohn’s book Strong Towns which was one of my favorite reads in 2020.
The World Ending Fire by Wendell Berry (h/t Jenny Liu Zhang). A moving collection of essays on sustainability, “written in defiance of the false call to progress and in defense of local landscapes.” I'm looking forward to putting him in conversation with the budding Progress Studies movement. In the article “Two Minds” he makes provocative arguments for limiting (but not eliminating) Rationalist thinking and expanding ‘Sympathetic’ or embodied, non-reductive thinking. Perhaps reconciling these perspectives is one aim of David Chapman's Meta-Rationality?
Friends and family have also recommended The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Small is Beautiful, Doughnut Economics, The Shock Doctrine, Value Chains, and Saving Capitalism. Let's see how many of these I get to :)
Around the Web
How Open Philanthropy Evaluates a Study (h/t Mako Shen). I would love to see this actively and openly maintained via a wiki. I would also like to see the inverse: a simple and comprehensive checklist and set of best practices for researchers to follow. Maybe it already exists? Also n.b. the first comment by April Harding on the tradeoffs of rigor vs implementation. Reminds me also of Paul Stares’ (no relation) article (just kidding) regarding ways we can make national security intelligence actionable, not just accurate.
The Dunning Kruger Effect is Probably Not Real (h/t Robin Hanson). I reference this often, so it's good to know that it is not supported by evidence. That being said, it's interesting to contrast it with Tim Urban's 'Knowledge vs Conviction' chart:
If we're dismissing the Dunning-Kruger model because it can't be empirically distinguished from randomness, how should we treat this (similar, but distinct) mental model that seems very useful but is only backed by personal experience and intuition?
What I’m Listening To
Janet Kay - Silly Games [Reggae]. Lovely ballad featured in Steve McQueen's ‘Small Axe’ series (which I also highly recommend). Wait for the hair-raising falsetto.
Aphex Twin - Analord [Electronica]. Lesser known eleven album(!!) series by the prodigious Cornish producer. He is considered one of the greatest electronic musicians of all time for a very good reason. Standout track: Lisbon Acid.
Roscoe Mitchell with Anthony Braxton - Duets [Jazz, Experimental]. (h/t Josh Biggs) Stunning conversations between two master artists.
P.S.
This is the first edition of the newsletter so I expect things to change! I would love any constructive feedback.
LOL