A Reasonable Man   

I suppose I should be pleased that Obama expressed his personal approval of same-sex marriage. It is significant that a sitting president has made such a declaration for the first time, and this has a lot of symbolic value for many people.

I don't think this announcement has any great actual policy implications, since he had already decided not to defend the "Defense of Marriage Act" in court, and wants to leave banning or approving of same-sex marriage up to the states (as was the case before his announcement). People say that his statement has made the support of same-sex marriage "mainstream." But, it was already supported by most Americans, and by a strong majority of young Americans.

But, I'm wondering how many people take the president at his word that his thinking on this issue has evolved and he only recently changed his mind about whether he approves of same-sex marriage.

Did he really personally oppose the idea of same-sex couples getting married because he thought it was bad policy (for the country, not just his personal political prospects), and only recently come to decide that it would be good policy? Was he really so illiberal until a few days or weeks ago? Or, much more likely in my opinion, did he change his judgment about how support would affect his reelection prospects?

Obama publicly supported same-sex marriage when he ran for the Illinois Senate in 1996, and then opposed it publicly when he ran for the US Senate in 2004 and for President in 2008. Now, he supports it again.

It seems to me that the best theory is that he (and his campaign team) recently decided that he would personally benefit if he stopped lying about this particular issue at this particular time. That's not very noble or inspiring.

I don't see why this announcement should encourage anyone that he's likely to do the right thing on any issue until he thinks such action will help him personally.

If you want to support a presidential candidate who is more likely to do the right things, support Gary Johnson.

I'm in the happy situation of being close to finishing two great books. And, I have to decide which of them to continue with next.

One of them is the Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined which I am enjoying immensely. It's fascinating, enlightening, and even funny on occasion. Anyone who wants a better understanding of the world, and the best theories about why important trends are happening, should definitely check it out.

The other is Neal Stephenson's Reamde, which is also fascinating, somewhat enlightening, and in some ways more fun and exciting; but, very differently. Anyone who likes Stephenson's books, and may have thought some of them were too slow and devoid of action, should definitely check it out.

Actually, all smart people should read them both.

Before anyone else calls me one, I've already considered the similarity of my situation to that of Buridan's Ass.

It's not very common for me to read books in parallel. I think it's happening now because they are in different media formats, and I make progress on them under different circumstances. The Pinker book is on my Kindle, and I'm listening to the audible.com version of Reamde.

I only wish all of my problems were as pleasant.

I'm in the process of moving the blog to a new host. Expect things to break occasionally for a while.

Late last year, I bought Penn Jillette's God, No! book. I brought it on my vacation to Vegas, and had both Penn & Teller sign it for me after one of their shows. Unfortunately, I'd only read a bit of it by then, and my wife thought it would be a bad idea to mar that signed edition after that.

But, fortunately, she also gave me a three-book trial gift subscription to Audible.com, and I picked that book as my first one. I'm glad I did.

The book is really a series of personal anecdotes (built around the idea of an Atheist Ten Commandments), and hearing Penn read it in his own voice, with the intended emphasis, really adds a dimension to it that makes it much better than merely reading it yourself. I got a real kick out of the book. Penn is great; and he's much more thoughtful and intellectually humble than the impression many have of him.

So, you should get it (in the audible form if possible). Be warned that it's probably not for the easily offended (he talks about going to a San Francisco bath house in the 80's, having sex underwater, losing his parents, etc.)

Twenty-five years ago today, my wife and I exchanged wedding vows in front of a guy, in Las Vegas, who reminded us of a game-show host.

We're both very happy we did.

And, now (well, beginning June 7th, actually), it's possible for gay couples in Washington State to get married, too.

Progress can be slow, but it's happening.

I'm fascinated by thinking.

I really want to know about what kinds of biases and errors our brains are prone to; both because the subject is inherently interesting, and because I want to have the best possible chance to avoid mistakes.

So, I'm happy to report that I really enjoyed reading Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. It's very well written and filled with great insights about all sorts of cognitive errors that we all tend to make.

I did have a few quibbles toward the end where he seemed to endorse the "libertarian paternalism" of Nudge, and the idea that money ceases to improve happiness beyond a certain point (see this Justin Wolfers interview video to hear the other side).

But, I'll try not to fall for the common bias of letting the ending overwhelm my judgement of the book, nor ignore the quantity (duration) of great content.

Reading the book has made me smarter, and I suspect it will have that effect on almost everybody who reads it.

So, if the troops overwhelmingly support Ron Paul, shouldn't those who claim to "support the troops" support Ron Paul, too?

Otherwise, it seems like they don't really support the troops at all. They support sending the troops to fight and die for causes that the troops think are mistaken.

I hope such people never support me.

My family is going to continue our recent tradition of heading to Vegas for a week to celebrate my birthday (on the 21st) and Isaac Newton's (on the 25th). We're flying out tomorrow.

I wish you all a great holiday season.

I'm not rich enough, and I lack the level of professional ambition, to be in the "1%" but I stand with the 1% against the bullies of the 99%.

I'm not religious, but I've always said that I'm jewish if there are anti-semites around.

I stand with any intended victims against any mob that makes unwarranted claims, by virtue of their numbers or physical power or ability to muster political influence, against an identifiable group of scapegoats, or just against the rest of us.

If scenes like this make you want to join the crowd, then we're very different.

I am the 1%.