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another small synthesis thread.
inputs:
* @St_Rev calling modern universities "madrasas"
* the economics concept of lottery professions, e.g. music, where 1 in a thousand makes big money https://www.litcharts.com/lit/freakonomics/chapter-3-why-do-drug-dealers-still-live-with-their-moms …
* David Friedman's "Legal Systems Very Different From Ours"
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2/ https://www.amazon.com/Legal-Systems-Very-Different-Ours/dp/1793386722 … I'm reading the chapter on Chinese Confucian vs Legalist traditions. The Chinese narrative is that the Confucian ideal (law is about defining virtuous behavior) beat out the Legalist (law is about setting economic incentives to behave well).
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3/ Friedman suggests that this is propaganda, and in fact a synthesis of the two schools has always ruled China. The Confucian system has a set of tests where anyone can study and then apply. Passing tests gives entrance to the civil service. One reads this and says "ah, IQ !"
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4/ And that's part of it, and you also think "ah, subject mastery ; you study the law so as to get good at the law". But... no. The tests are actually on philosophy, art. etc. That's ... odd. What gives? Friedman says "studying for the tests serves as regime propaganda".
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5/ So...aha! Here's my synthesis: The ancient Chinese civil service exam system was not only a way for select a civil service, it was a way to (a) create a "reserve army" of other candidates - this is exactly like prize / lottery economics, where every 1 Bruce Springsteen >
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6/ creates 20,000 garage bands that provide cheap / free music at local bars, (b) a system to indoctrinate all of the other people. Spend five years reading Confucian philosophy, and how can the mind virus not crawl in? Those funny Chinese ; we don't have a system like that!
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7/ ...except ... recall
@St_Rev calling modern western universities madrasas. How many people study "English" (i.e. left wing politics) hoping to become a professor with an "iron rice bowl" ? How many actually get the job / get tenure? How many study environmentalism?3 replies 2 retweets 17 likesShow this thread -
8/ Race grievance studies? Feminism? For ever one B̶r̶u̶c̶e̶ ̶S̶p̶r̶i̶n̶g̶s̶t̶e̶e̶n̶ Cornell West who wins the lottery, we get 20,000 students who fail to win the lottery, but are incentivized to self-radicalize in the madrasa.
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9/ Think about how many people call themselves "activists" and who are running around trying to push codes of conducts, trying to infiltrate publishers, trying to - in short - destroy western civilization. Every one of them is working for free, hoping to graduate to paid level.
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Activist is just another word for unemployed
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no, activists are working hard (I wish they weren't)
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