Brief Defense of the Avid Amateur

I was thinking about Noah's post where he was curious about amateurs with an interest in economics, and it got me thinking.

A lot of the early post-enlightenment advances in science were made by avid amateurs in fields as varied as geology, zoology, and chemistry.

When I think of guys like these (and they were mostly guys) I think of someone like Joseph Priestley. He isolated Oxygen, amongst other claims to fame.

But he wasn't a scientist as we know it. He was Minister. (Lots of churchy guys going cool science stuff, like Mendel).

So basically the idea of scientist doesn't come around until there is institutionalized science. Then you can throw up the walls and point at the avid amatuer and call him a birdwatcher and not a zoologist.

This also is the case in economics. The early econ stuff is narrative. There's not a numbers. But you math it up a bit and use differential calculus the you can draw a sharp line. If you're not doing math, you're not an economist (Not to speak ill of math and graphing, it still can illustrate important concepts to entry-level students).

Charles Murray Book Club

I found it a bit problematic when Noah dropped his post about how cool Charles Murray is.




I decided that -- well of course Noah knows more than I do -- to not judge.




So I'm going to have a Charles Murray book club here. I got a copy of The Bell Curve coming my way from my library

"Your Request

Your request for The bell curve : intelligence and class structure in American life was successful.

You will be able to pick up this material at Brookfield Public when it is ready."

Not sure when it will get here, but I thought all of us Noah fans might want to have a place where we can talk about Noah -- and that other guy.






I'm looking forward to the conversation!

Noah as God on Earth

I've been debating on if Noah is a God on Earth,

Or if his divinity will not manifest until his ascension to the divine world of ideas.

Either way, here's a mock-up of what that will look like.

Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!