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  1. Jul 2022
    1. en inequality is declining worldwide. It is true that inBritain and America income equality, which had beenimproving for most of the past two centuries (British aristocratswere six inches taller than the average in 1800; today they areless than two inches taller), has stalled since the 1970s.

      Matt Ridley cites a lot of statistics in The Rational Optimist to indicate that inequality has been declining worldwide, though he doesn't do it as convincingly or as well cited as Thomas Piketty does in A Brief History of Equality.

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    1. probefahrer · 7 hr. agoAre you familiar with Mark Granovetter‘s theory of weak ties?He used it in the sense of the value of weak social connections but I am pretty sure one could make a case for weak connections in a Zettelkasten as being very valuable

      Humanity is a zettelkasten in biological form.

      Our social ties (links) putting us into proximity with other humans over time creates a new links between us and our ideas, and slowly evolves new ideas over time. Those new ideas that win this evolutionary process are called innovation.

      The general statistical thermodynamics of this idea innovation process can be "heated up" by improving communication channels with those far away from us (think letters, telegraph, radio, television, internet, social media).

      This reaction can be further accelerated by actively permuting the ideas with respect to each other as suggested by Raymond Llull's combinatorial arts.

      motivating reference: Matt Ridley in The Rational Optimist

      link to: - Mark Granovetter and weak ties - life of x

  2. Jun 2022