Social Learning Links

Michael Lind on superfluous college degrees; David Pinsof on tribalism; Robin Hanson on academic insulation; Lukianoff vs. Haidt on the Kids Online Safety Act

Michael Lind writes,

if a new constitutional convention were held today, it is doubtful that the delegates would set up a system in which dental aides may need to pass a different test each time they move across arbitrary state borders. At the same time, nationalizing education requirements for hairdressers and florists and casket sellers is unlikely to be a cause many national politicians would treat as a priority.

The Commerce Clause of the Constitution was intended to eliminate arbitrary trade barriers between the states. Unfortunately, the spirit of that clause has been eroded. Occupational licensing is a prime example.

The larger point of Lind’s essay is this:

we can see how today’s overcredentialed and underpaid workers can be succeeded by workers who can go from high school to practicing a trade for a living wage without a costly four-year detour on a university campus in order to obtain a degree they are unlikely to ever use.

David Pinsof writes,

you’ll begin to understand why arguing looks the way it does. The goal is not to persuade. The goal is to subtly punish people for questioning our dogmas or dissing our allies. When we argue about politics, we’re playing The Opinion Game—the secret war over social norms. And the norm we want to establish is: respect our tribe.

If you are familiar with my perspective, especially in The Three Languages of Politics, then Pinsof’s post will mostly provide rhetorical reinforcement.

Robin Hanson writes,

from ~1600-1800, prizes funded science lots, and much more than did grants. But ~1830, science elites controlling top scientific societies, in both Britain and France, defrauded donors to switch funding to grants, which were then selected by society insiders to be given mostly to insiders. Thereafter such societies insisted that donors must fund grants, not prizes, if they wanted their donations to gain their prestigious scientific society association.

Later, ~1900, tenure became common in academia. Then mid-20th century, peer review became common in grants and publications.

Prizes create a relatively open competition in scientific discovery. Subsequent developments moved in the direction of creating a back-scratching cartel.

Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch write,

KOSA is a straightforward bill that puts in place a few protections for kids online (defined as those under age 16). Its key features include: 1) setting the strongest privacy settings for kids by default, 2) restricting addictive product features and personalized recommendation algorithms for minors, and 3) mandating that companies remove design features for minors that are known to contribute to suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, and sexual exploitation, or that are advertisements for certain illegal products (e.g. tobacco and alcohol).

They are for it.

Greg Lukianoff writes,

I couldn't endorse more avidly the idea that every school in the country should be a phone-free zone. And this has nothing to do with whether or not phones are a profound vector for mental health issues in teens. It relies simply on the fact that they are highly distracting. I often say that teachers and administrators wouldn't have allowed us to have a fax machine, VCR, television, radio, or video game console at our desk back when I was in school, and they shouldn't allow them now just because all of those things fit into a tiny futuristic machine.

I had seen many proposals to try to address the problem using top-down power or legislative solutions, and being a civil libertarian, most of them concerned me.

So he is against the Kids Online Safety Act.

Note that Haidt and Lukianoff were co-authors of a book. I have not studied KOSA, but my instinct is to assume that government will not execute well. So I am inclined to share Lukianoff’s skepticism.

substacks referenced above: @

New KOSA, same as the old KOSA

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Congress Must Pass KOSA By Christmas. The Only Obstacle Seems to be Meta’s Influence

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Conquest and Liberation of Academia

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Arguing Is Bullshit