Quote of the day 27th February 2020

“If people seem slightly stupid, they’re probably just stupid. But if they seem colossally and inexplicably stupid, you probably differ in some kind of basic assumption so fundamental that you didn’t realise you were assuming it.”

(This is a line quoted by science writer Tom Chivers in a review on the Unherd website of the book 'Radical Uncertainty: Decision-making for an unknowable future,' by Mervyn King and John Kay.

The review is called "Are Economists really this stupid?")

Comments

Anonymous said…
Michael Gove supports an independent Scotland - "The experience of history tells us that those countries which have the maximum amount of control over their own destiny are the best equipped to succeed economically and indeed to ensure a greater degree of equity for all their citizens."
6:53 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
1) Michael Gove supports an independent Scotland but only as part of an independent UK.

2) On the basis of the Tom Chivers quote, it would appear that I and the person who posted the above quote differ on some fundamental and basic underlying assumption.
12:17 am
Anonymous said…
Since when was the UK a country?
3:02 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
Since the act of Union in 1707.

You can split as many hairs as you like, I note that Wikipedia describes the United Kingdom as a country, even if it is also one that has four constituent countries, and on this one I agree with them.
11:54 pm
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