TJ Palanca

Thoughts

Thoughts are evolving thoughts or opinions, and may or may not be fully accruate. The intention is to checkpoint how I think about a particular idea over time an share my viewpoints.

2012-04-20

On Graphs: Finals Week

This finals week was definitely the most gruelling of my college life. Here are a few visualizations that sum up my sentiments:





2012-04-19
On Trial, Error and the God Complex
Tim Harford, who writes one of my favorite blogs, The Undercover Economist, speaks at TED about the merits of trial and error, the failures of the God complex, and the importance of making good mistakes. It seems so obvious when you listen to him, but it’s when you look around and see everyone trying to fix the world’s problems with their own preconceived master plans that you see how few people grasp the beautiful heuristic process of variation and selection.
2012-04-19

On the Concorde



The Concorde’s elegant delta-wing design enabled it to fly supersonic speeds, yet unmatched by the commercial jets of today that still rely on the traditional fuselage and wing design.

The Concorde. It’s a beauty; it’s just about the most beautiful man-made thing in the world.

What a shame that it guzzled gas, made so much noise, and was eventually put out of service.

Still, its elegant silhouette, as well as the fact that it can travel at twice the speed of sound, inspires me to no end.

I remember from a documentary that New Yorkers who were protesting on the noise of the plane stopped in hushed awe when the Concorde was wheeled in.

It was just that stunning.

2012-04-19

On Quotes from F.A. Hayek



What a glorious mustache

Here are some interesting quotes I dug up from Friedrich A. Hayek:

On the inherent conceit of top-down approaches:

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they know about what they can imagine they can design.”

It’s amazing how the simple yet powerful price mechanism coordinates and optimizes the structure of production in the economy, and how plans by the many and not plans by the few allow this mechanism to operate well.

On redistributory mechanisms:

There is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal.

Only what one deserves.

2012-04-19

On Man's Insignificance



Yes that’s the earth right there.

This is a passage from Carl Sagan, noted astronomer, commenting on the photo below, which is a view of the Earth from the Voyager spacecraft, four billion miles away (6.4 trillion kilometers, down with the cursed English system). It’s a beautiful description of man’s insignificance in the true sense of the cosmos.

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2012-04-19

On the Opinion Entitlement Fallacy



The process of argument has, for me, always been a journey towards the discovery of truth. However, seldom does this process go well. People usually end up with more questions than answers and the matter is almost never resolved. One of the reasons is because of certain fallacies that just won’t die.

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