Snake Oil

Key member of Swedish Academy of Sciences calls for immediate suspension of the “Nobel Prize for Economics”:

The Prize in contravention of the spirit of Nobel’s will Can contribute to increased corruption. Multiple independent research shows that those who study economics are more prone to corruption. And the behavior seems to be an effect of education. A price that risk contribute to increased corruption in the world is in conflict with the spirit of Nobel’s will, writes political science professor Bo Rothstein. 

[...] 

It is also problematic in light of Sweden distributes one of the world’s most prestigious scientific awards in the subject, namely the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, in everyday speech the Nobel Prize in economics. The price was not found in Alfred Nobel’s original testament of 1895 but were added by a donation from Sweden Riksbank in 1968. Responsible party for the dividend is the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Three more points:

• What else can one expect from a traveling medicine show pedaling snake oil?
• Of course it is corrupt, but there are different flavors, including intellectual.
• An ideology masquerading as a science is inherently corrupt--why else would it need to parasitically attach itself to Nobel's legacy?

TOR's funding

How leading Tor developers and advocates tried to smear me after I reported their US Government ties.  The author's critics don't seem to have much of a substantial case other than everyone's a whore, so it's OK if they are as well!

Who would’ve thought that many of the people we’ve entrusted with protecting our online privacy have the same values as sleazy K Street lobbyists.

They're self-described "libertarians", so sleazy isn't really all that surprising...

See also 81% of Tor users can be de-anonymised by analysing router information, research indicates.

 Guess who the 19% are?

Seems TOR is best avoided.  Don't believe the hype.

No Ethics in a Moral Society

Why Does the World Feel Wrong? describes the reasons behind the complete lack of ethics in a so-called "moral society." There are simply too many psychopaths controlling things and, since these sort are most motivated to claw their way to the top, always have. Only a decentralized society has any chance of escaping their grasp. Unfortunately, "ours" will tear itself apart before becoming so.

On This Modern Warrior Archetype Part Six.8.15

 8p. Maximum Advantage does minimize outright corruption by favoring institutional channels for the same impulses that lead toward bribery. The system thus created certainly appears more sound, but is instead infected by internal rot. Where straightforward graft affects the surface, everyone knows where things stand. Hence, legitimacy is never seriously undermined, because degeneracy is simply taken for granted. Nobody expects anything different. A system, which requires at least the appearance of popular support, that uses legality to allow the same sort of behavior in the end undermines itself. The law becomes meaningless. Its respect (or fear) becomes lost, and relatively soon its framework crumbles. Only tools respect hypocrisy.

On This Modern Warrior Archetype Part Six.8.11

8k. Maximum Advantage discounts, even as it exploits obligation. The Technical Morality demands every action result in gain. It therefore demands allegiance and loyalty, but returns very little in ever diminishing proportions. Of course, its goals and means can be upset by those holding to higher causes. It therefore seeks and rewards those whom do not take their oaths seriously. Hence, in the system thus created, ethics and the older moralities are legislated. For example, one is not allowed to profit from public service unless one waits a short period. Therefore, as befitting the actions of someone whom has been promised a reward implicitly, one only needs to always act in the favor of various interests to be ensured that one will be well paid by those same interests after parting ways with ones official posting (after a few months). One plays the game or stays for the long haul.