Becoming Eden

Category: Blog

  • The Heritability of Everything

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    by

    will
    in

    The gold standard in heritability estimates is the twin study, which involves looking at identical and fraternal twins, raised together or apart. This allows the cleanest test of decomposing the variance in observed traits into genetics, shared environment (factors equally affecting all children raised together), and non-shared environment (everything else, including random noise) contributions. Generally…

  • Discussing Tricky Stuff

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    divia
    in

    When I’m discussing something hard, especially over the internet, I try to be careful about: Searching for and explicitly talking about tradeoffs, even when one option seems like a clear overall win to me. Trying to keep the ratio of positive to normative statements very high. I don’t think these points are either necessary or…

  • What Has Changed my Political Beliefs

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    by

    will
    in

    I think it’s safe to say that political beliefs are one of the most sticky types of beliefs we commonly hold. By some measures partisan polarization is at record highs for the modern era (though these figures are also debated). Politics are also beliefs that provoke some of the strongest arguments between differing viewpoints, and…

  • Summary of How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Can Talk

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    by

    will
    in

    How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Can Talk is a parenting / communication book written by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. While this book is specifically intended for parents to have better relationships with their children, the vast majority of the advice contained within applies universally to all interactions, and…

  • Boundaries

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    divia
    in

    For ages, I’ve been hearing about how important “boundaries” were, and I’ve never been quite sure what people even meant by the word. A while back I went to parenting discussion about boundaries, and I think I finally figured out what the word means! (To me, that is. I’m not sure everyone agrees on how…

  • Some Indian Recipes

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    divia
    in

    These won’t be particularly well-formatted, and I don’t have any pretty pictures to go with them at the moment, but I’ve had a few requests over the years for the Indian recipes I regularly cook, so here they are!

  • A Theory of Economic Development

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    by

    will
    in

    If I had to give the Most Underrated Professor Award to anyone I studied under, it would easily have to be Professor Meir Kohn. His work falls squarely outside the paradigm of mainstream economics, which (coming from me anyway) could not be a higher compliment – yet also makes it difficult to get traction inside…

  • (Partial) Summary of A Theory of Moral Sentiments

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    by

    will
    in

    Adam Smith is best known for being the father of modern economics with the publishing of his magnum opus The Wealth of Nations. Far fewer people know about his second most famous book A Theory of Moral Sentiments (which, incidentally, is where the term “invisible hand” actually comes from). While the book is nominally about moral philosophy,…

  • Understanding Body Language, Touch, and Appearance

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    by

    will
    in

    When it came to understanding body language, fashion, all of that kind of stuff, I used to be a typical clueless nerd. I didn’t perceive it, and I didn’t think it really mattered. I know better now. It matters. A lot. Over the years I have seen a lot of objections to learning to perceive…

  • New Perspectives on IFS

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    by

    divia
    in

    I did some IFS with a friend last night around his nail-biting, an area where he hadn’t gotten much traction working on his own. Early in the process, when he expressed some judgements about the nail biting, I clarified that I wasn’t interested in getting him to stop biting his nails if we couldn’t first…