mayonesa

By improving working conditions and monetary value so that a home needs only one working parent.

The best financial incentives for childrearing are ones that remove the financial deficits caused by having a stay at home mom.

I seem to recall defending monarchy back in '12:

http://lesswrong.com/lw/2/tell_your_rationalist_origin_story/7e8p?context=3

The point of reaction is thus:

Conservatism and liberalism are each spectrums of political ideas: conservatism is based on correspondence to the logic underlying reality, liberalism is based on projection of the logic of the human mind and its desires.

Thus liberalism clusters all of its ideas around the notion of "equality" where conservatism focuses on consequences; this is why we might draw a line between preference-based ut... (read more)

When I was a child, I read the classics of literature and philosophy and quickly became a realist.

I don't say I'm a rationalist because rationalism implies a universal quality to human judgment, when empirical evidence convinces me no such thing exists.

Since then, I've left behind liberalism (pure emotion, defensiveness) and become a conservative realist, monarchist, conservationist and idealist (in the Kant/Schopenhauer sense).

If you like the Aurelius, also read the Schopenhauer book of aphora:

http://www.amazon.com/Parerga-Paralipomena-Short-Philosophical-Essays/dp/0199242216

I agree.

GG&S has crossed the line from "exploring possibility" to "fanatical propaganda."

I realize he just wanted to rebut The Global Bell Curve, but it's poorly done.

Collapse, on the other hand is great, especially if you read it in conjunction with its clear inspiration, Garrett Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons"

http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_the_commons.html

Not to be a cynic, but:

Zero-sum is not an illusion.

Every single thing has opportunity cost.

It may not be another person that pays if I pick up my toys, and go found my own community elsewhere.

It may be fewer trees and less open land.

We're all in this together, on the same planet, sharing the same air and water. Nothing is positive-sum if it involves using physical resources.