Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Moldbug is back

Isegoria finds it (of course!), and what strikes me is that it is a lot clearer (well, less impenetrable) than Unqualified Reservations.  For example, the post that Isegoria links to has this about the University takeover of Government, which is much clearer than anything from Unqualified Reservations:

What was happening between 1920 and 1940? The universities were taking power. In 1900, the idea of a professor telling the government what to do was borderline absurd. By 1940, it was normal. By 1960, it was universal—all “public policy” in future would be determined by “science.” 

And, because the Ring works like that, power was taking them—with its favorite toy, money. Federal funding of universities before WWII was negligible. In the prewar period, money came from the great foundations—Carnegie and Rockefeller, generally. Institutions and professors that the foundation managers liked prospered gloriously. Those they disliked vanished without a trace. As did their ideas. And after the war, Washington became the greatest foundation of all.

Most of this “science” was complete woo and balderdash—mainly selected for how much it provoked the townies. And it didn’t just provoke them. “Scientific” public policy turned the Bronx in 1960 into the Bronx in 1970. Strolled the Grand Concourse lately? Its name wasn’t always a sick joke. Nice work, Harvard.

It's really hard to argue with this.

3 comments:

Mr. B said...

The present Supreme Court is entirely comprised of Ivy League schools. Harvard,Yale, and one from Columbia, who started at Harvard. Diversity in action!

Old NFO said...

Yep, money 'talks' in the science community. Talk a good game, get a grant.

LSP said...

Harvard = Satan's Vatican.