{"id":7785,"date":"2025-09-05T18:54:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T01:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7785"},"modified":"2025-09-05T18:54:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T01:54:47","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-520-the-honesty-tax-and-other-counterproductive-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/09\/05\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-520-the-honesty-tax-and-other-counterproductive-things","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 520: the honesty tax and other counterproductive things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>\n<\/p>

You\u2019ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Inter\u00adest\u00ading<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Fri\u00addays I share articles\/resources about broad cul\u00adtur\u00adal, soci\u00adetal and the\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal issues. Be sure to see the expla\u00adna\u00adtion and dis\u00adclaimers at the bot\u00adtom. I wel\u00adcome your sug\u00adges\u00adtions. If you read some\u00adthing fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading please pass it my way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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  1. The Hon\u00adesty Tax<\/a> (Kelsey Piper, The Argu\u00adment): \u201cWe set high \u2014 stu\u00adpid\u00adly, coun\u00adter\u00adpro\u00adduc\u00adtive\u00adly high \u2014 stan\u00addards and then min\u00adi\u00admal\u00adly enforce them because full enforce\u00adment would be a dis\u00adas\u00adter. So, almost every\u00adone just lies. Then, the peo\u00adple you pun\u00adish are the peo\u00adple who are unwill\u00ading to lie, or who don\u2019t know the rules about what kinds of lies are \u2018nor\u00admal\u2019 and what kinds are seri\u00adous\u00adly out of bounds. Those less like\u00adly to know these infor\u00admal rules are not a ran\u00addom\u00adly select\u00aded group of peo\u00adple \u2014 the more con\u00adnec\u00adtions you have in D.C., the more you know what \u2018not to men\u00adtion.\u2019 But lying is bad! Select\u00ading for liars is bad! This may end up look\u00ading sort of sim\u00adi\u00adlar to the result you\u2019d get if you just had a rea\u00adson\u00adable pol\u00adi\u00adcy in the first place, but it\u2019s actu\u00adal\u00adly a lot worse \u2014 you screened out every\u00adone who wasn\u2019t will\u00ading to be dis\u00adhon\u00adest.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. What Is Man, That Thou Art Mind\u00adful Of Him?<\/a> (Scott Alexan\u00adder, Astral Codex Ten): bril\u00adliant and dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to excerpt. Dwarkesh Patel hosts a pod\u00adcast with God debat\u00ading Iblis over whether humans are tru\u00adly intel\u00adli\u00adgent and whether bio\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal intel\u00adli\u00adgence is even pos\u00adsi\u00adble. Don\u2019t assume it is Chris\u00adt\u00adian based on the title \u2014 it is def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly not. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. What Hap\u00adpens If No One Reads<\/a> (Spencer Kla\u00advan, The Free Press): \u201cIf Chat\u00adG\u00adPT could tell you what a meal tastes like, would you not feel the need to eat it? \u2026I asked Grok about The Broth\u00aders Kara\u00adma\u00adzov<\/em> and it told me, \u2018We\u2019re all a mess of con\u00adtra\u00addic\u00adtions.\u2019 And so we are. Why didn\u2019t Dos\u00adtoyevsky just say that?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The Mil\u00adlion\u00adaire Who Left Wall Street to Become a Para\u00admedic<\/a> (Christo\u00adpher Maag, New York Times): \u201cJonathan Kleis\u00adner didn\u2019t know what he want\u00aded to be when he grew up, except a suc\u00adcess. After attend\u00ading Ford\u00adham Prep, a Jesuit high school in the Bronx, he went to Boston Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty, drop\u00adping out a semes\u00adter before grad\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion to take a job at a small trad\u00ading firm on Wall Street for $40,000 a year. It was 1991, it looked as if the reces\u00adsion was over and the mood on the street was buoy\u00adant.\u201d\n