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DACA and the Immigration Policy Mess: Pass the DREAM Act
Albert Wenger – Sep 6, 2017
Since I am an immigrant to the United States I want to comment on the Trump administration’s announcement yesterday to end DACA (Uncertainty Wednesday will resume next week). I first came to the States as an exchange student in 1983 [...] Read more
China, ICOs and Crypto Regulation
Albert Wenger – Sep 5, 2017
As has been widely reported, China has banned all ICOs. Given the torrid pace of ICOs in China, many of which appear to be downright scams, this should not come as a surprise. What will be interesting to see though [...] Read more
Taking a Break
Albert Wenger – Aug 18, 2017
This will be my last post until Labor Day. I will be spending as little time online as possible, reading books instead, spending time with family and friends and working on World After Capital. I will be disabling all notifications [...] Read more
Uncertainty Wednesday: Risk Seeking (Jensen’s Inequality Cont’d)
Albert Wenger – Aug 16, 2017
Last Uncertainty Wednesday, we saw how diminishing marginal utility of wealth provides an explanation of risk aversion via Jensen’s inequality. Why would it be then that lots of people seem to like small gambles, like a game of poker among [...] Read more
ICOs and Governance
Albert Wenger – Aug 15, 2017
As has been widely reported, in the last few months ICOs have raised significantly more money for blockchain startups than has come from traditional venture investors. This can be seen as a sign of the long discussed unbundling of venture [...] Read more
Preparing for Superintelligence: Living the Values of Humanism Today
Albert Wenger – Aug 12, 2017
In my draft book World After Capital, I write that humans having knowledge is what makes us distinctly human and gives us great power (and hence great responsibility). I define knowledge in this context as science, philosophy, art, music, etc. [...] Read more
Uncertainty Wednesday: Risk Aversion (Jensen’s Inequality Cont’d)
Albert Wenger – Aug 9, 2017
Last Uncertainty Wednesday, I introduced Jensen’s Inequality. I mentioned briefly that it explains a lot of things and today we will look at the first one of these, which goes by the name of risk aversion. This is simply economists [...] Read more
The Fallacy of Biological Determinism
Albert Wenger – Aug 6, 2017
In my draft book World After Capital, I write about how digital technology has given us the possibility to leave the Industrial Age behind and enter the Knowledge Age. In an early chapter on Optimism, I argue against economic, historical [...] Read more
Uncertainty Wednesday: Jensen’s Inequality
Albert Wenger – Aug 2, 2017
Last week in Uncertainty Wednesday, I introduced functions of random variables as the third level in measuring uncertainty. Today I will introduce a beautiful result known as Jensen’s inequality. Let me start by stating the inequality: f[EV(X)] ≤ EV[f(X)] where [...] Read more