Zooko read my comment on externalities and said
I strongly feel that there is a single consistent moral position on
externalities.
I think that all externalities that can be internalized without too much social
cost should be and that society as a whole benefits thereby.
I feel so strongly about it because I suspect that successful internalizations
are the root of almost all progress, historically. People might not notice
because successful internalizations are "normal property" if you were born in a
culture that had already internalized it.
This sounds good, but how do we know what "too much social cost" is? In a
sense the idea is almost tautologically true if you accept a kind of
cost-benefit analysis with regard to externalities.
It seems to me that Zooko's position is kind of like saying that virtue
consists in behaving virtuously, or that rational behavior is a matter
of doing what's reasonable. It's more interesting than those kinds
of assertions, but it still seems to have an element of circularity.
At the Noe Venable concert (mentioned below), I was thinking that
every human activity may have some externality -- a frightening
thought, a terrifying thought.
In addition to Sam Loyd's answers, quoted yesterday, there are
other
answers to Lewis Carroll's question.
I got to go to the Noe Venable
concert at the Great American Music Hall
with Riana. It was great (like the hall itself)! We ran into Cindy and
Fred there.
I feel like a proper fan if I can detect minor changes in a song, and I
did notice three changes in "Juniper": "the harrowing walk down the
narrowing streets" (for "a harrowing walk down a narrowing street");
"my father the thinker, my daughter the song" (for "my father the
preacher, my daughter the song"); and a substantial change in the melody
Noe sings in between verses. It was still a fantastic performance of
"Juniper".
I like "my father the preacher" better; compare the song "Son of a Preacher
Man". (My friend Micah is actually the son of a preacher man and was
always amused by that song.)
I need to get Noe's CDs.
One of the oddities I noticed when I went to the Supreme Court in October
was that the general public was not allowed to take notes on the argument.
(Members of the Bar of the Supreme Court, and reporters, were allowed to
take notes.)
Lodrina reports from the East Coast that the Supreme Court has finally
changed
this unpopular policy.
Here's the picture of me dressed up as the Rambam, which, as I said, is
the first-ever picture of me with a beard:
