danielhorowitz - The Emergent Fool

Posted by danielhorowitz in Complexity, Economics, Health, Non-linearity, Science on 12 23rd, 2009 | 7 Comments

The truth is out there. Finally. The NYTimes has a piece on the problems and differences between generic and brand name drugs. Think they are the same? Think again. The article is excellent and I recommend everyone read it. As usual, I will quote liberally, with some of my own commentary. But there is a...

Posted by danielhorowitz in Cooperation, Economics, Incentives on 06 23rd, 2009 | 5 Comments

Who wants to pay for email? You just might. Many people have suggested that adding a nominal cost to e-mail would serve to fight spam by rendering it largely unprofitable. With Centmail, some Yahoo researchers propose adding a penny postage stamp to each e-mail, representing a penny donation to charity....

Posted by danielhorowitz in Common Knowledge, Crowdsourcing, Economics, Markets, Mutual Knowledge, Science, Technology, Uncategorized on 06 3rd, 2009 | 4 Comments

Everyone seems to have an opinion on the future prospects of Facebook and Twitter. Some of us even feel strongly enough to want to bet on it. Unfortunately, the companies are privately held, and unavailable to be bet on in the traditional way, via the stock market. It is not just household names like...

Posted by danielhorowitz in Asymmetry, Cancer, Happiness, Health, Psychology, Science on 05 21st, 2009 | No Comments

1. Smile. 2. Spend time with friends, or even try and make a new one. 3. Help another person. Donate a small amount of money, that has nominal value to you, but significant value to someone else. (Kiva, Vittana Foundation.) 4. Quit Smoking. It might be even worse for you today. 5. Stop worrying about...

Is the 'War on Drugs' Ending?...

Posted by danielhorowitz in Education, Government, Language, Society on 05 20th, 2009 | No Comments

A few short months ago, Hillary Clinton declared an end to the “war on terror.” Now, it appears as though the “war on drugs” is ending as well, or is it? ...

Posted by danielhorowitz in Asymmetry, Competition, Economics, Government, Health on 05 15th, 2009 | 9 Comments

As part of President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, NIH is awarding $200 million in “Challenge Grants.” But, according to Science Magazine, these grants are far more competitive than initially intended: A frantic grant-writing effort that has consumed biomedical research scientists this...

Game Theory and Military Planning...

Posted by danielhorowitz in Common Knowledge, Competition, Cooperation, Evolution, Games, Incentives, Mutual Knowledge, Poker, Psychology, Science, Social Networks, Society, Socio-technical systems, Stability, Technology on 05 3rd, 2009 | 2 Comments

In “Game Theory: Can a Round of Poker Solve Afghanistan’s Problems?” Major Richard J.H. Gash creates a simple two player game to show how game theory can be used to influence military planning. Gash’s game involves two villages in Afghanistan with the choice to either support the...

Cancer "Progress" Report...

Posted by danielhorowitz in Alternative Institutions, Cancer, Cooperation, Epistemology, Evolution, Health, Interconnectedness, Medical Breakthroughs, Science, Self-Fullfilling Prophecy on 04 27th, 2009 | 4 Comments

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars appropriated for cancer research, as well as the efforts of thousands of the world’s best minds, progress in preventing or curing cancer has been almost non-existent. I find this unacceptable. We should be doing better. We need to be doing better. So what’s...

Placebo Effects: Marijuana and the "...

Posted by danielhorowitz in Culture, Psychology, Science on 04 23rd, 2009 | No Comments

Many users, and friends of users of marijuana report experiencing a “contact high.” That is, they purport to experience some of the effects of marijuana simply by being in contact with or around those using marijuana. Virtually all users wrongly attribute this experience to the inhalation of...