The title of this article might seem a strange one coming from an economist. This is the third of three planned essays. The two preceding articles in this series, the first of which built a lens to observe life from a tautology and the second, took reasonable scientific inference from the first. In this article,… Continue reading In Genuine Praise of So Called Folly: Why Only Nonoptimization Matters
Author: Titus Alexander
Receptor Theory: Why Fiction is “True”
This is a continuation of the last article on The Universal Lens. But only two claims from that article are needed. -All life must in some way be a statistical response model to its environment. This is because for life to continue, it must fulfill the dual mandates of gathering energy from the outside environment… Continue reading Receptor Theory: Why Fiction is “True”
The Universal Lens: Basic Logic of Any Self Organizing System
(of which so far constitutes only life, but this logic applies to any and all future robot overlords[1]). All systems tend towards the inevitability of entropy. A drop of ink placed in a glass of water quickly and with statistical necessity will become a glass of tinted water. A rock placed in the water would… Continue reading The Universal Lens: Basic Logic of Any Self Organizing System
The Plan: A Realistic Detective Story
From hell's heart, I stab at thee. Victor knocked over the first domino, the one he knew would lead to his death. But his death didn't matter. Victor's life was but a means to an end, the end of him. It was all meticulously planned down to the last detail. His hanging body would be… Continue reading The Plan: A Realistic Detective Story
Dream Girl: Part 4
Kenji lay in bed, from the light making its way through the blinds it must have been at least noon. He had emailed Ito-san to tell him the doctor advised him rest for a day. Tomorrow it wasn’t as if anything would be better. He didn’t have enough savings to leave work, he couldn’t call… Continue reading Dream Girl: Part 4
Dream Girl: Part 3
The next morning he argued with himself over which red tie to wear to work, a casual observer might not be able to tell the difference between the two, but Kenji just really wanted to wear a red tie that day, and had suddenly noticed that while one was red, the other was a slightly… Continue reading Dream Girl: Part 3
Dream Girl: Part 2
A knock at the door, and that could only mean one of two things, a delivery or Daisuke. This time it was a mix of both, Daisuke was standing there bag in hand presenting his host with only the finest of convenience store sushi and sake. The events of the previous day had made him… Continue reading Dream Girl: Part 2
Dream Girl: Part 1
Kenji Saito woke up with his wife in his arms.He gave her a loving squeeze, patted her on the head then walked over to the kitchen to prepare his breakfast before work. As the kettle boiled, he poured in the flavoring package and the desiccated vegetables onto his ramen. If only she could cook, Kenji… Continue reading Dream Girl: Part 1
Wise King Midas:80% of Macroeconomics in One Story
King Midas is the man who can turn anything he touches into gold. He has been used several times to illustrate a few basic principles about money(with the extra assumption being that during his time, gold=money. For this story, we can additionally ignore international trade just to make life easier). First, he was introduced to… Continue reading Wise King Midas:80% of Macroeconomics in One Story
The Tale of Rather Foolish King Midas
King Midas is the King from Greek mythology who had the gift to turn anything he touched into gold. In the story of slightly wiser King Midas he gains the ability to control which things turn into gold and which things do not. This was used to illustrate that real goods, not money (in this… Continue reading The Tale of Rather Foolish King Midas
Homo Economicish 