The Wayward Axolotl

For over a century, we have been debating the merits of capitalism versus socialism. Although the debate rages on, economies around the world have been converging on a hybrid system, which I will call the modern economic system. The modern economic system uses both the state and the market to organize production and distribution. The market solves problems that the state cannot solve, and vice versa. In the modern economic system, capitalism directly produces most of the wealth (the goods and services that we use). The state expropriates a significant percentage of that wealth and uses it to do a lot of things. Some is distributed to the poorer members of society through welfare programs. Some is used to provide services, such as roads and education. Some is used to maintain state power internally and externally. A considerable amount finds its way into the hands of elites, where it funds both extravagant lifestyles and the pursuit of political power. The system tolerates an unequ...

In this essay, I will argue that most academic research is fake. The modern academy is not a reliable source of knowledge. Instead, it produces the pretense of knowledge. Academic research can be fake in different ways. It can simply be false. It can be emotionally manipulative propaganda masquerading as knowledge. It can be irrelevant or meaningless. These are the main causes of fake research: Ideological Bias Perverse Incentives Social Circularity Naive/Fake Empiricism I’ll describe each and explain how it causes fake research. Ideological Bias Ideological bias is a huge problem in the academy. The vast majority of professors are left-wing, so the academy has a big political bias. Certain fields, such as “gender studies” and “ethnic studies” are dedicated entirely and unapologetically to left-wing political advocacy. Other fields, such as sociology and communications, are mostly advocacy and blur the line between inquiry and advocacy. Advocacy research ...