Category Archives: IT and Internet

Hoisted from comments: Copyright, the Google Settlement and torching the second library of Alexandria

Posted on May 2, 2017 by Nicholas Gruen

One of the privileges of access to what we cool kids call the “back end” of Troppo is that when I write a long, long comment, in an old thread that has taken a new direction, I can make it … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Economics and public policy, Geeky Musings, Intellectual Monopoly Privileges, Intellectual Property, IT and Internet, Political theory | 54 Comments

The free rider problem – and opportunity: you heard it first at Troppo

Posted on April 9, 2017 by Nicholas Gruen

Well I’ve been going on and on about it, but here’s an academic paper contrasting the free rider problem and opportunity. Knowledge Properties and Economic Policy: A New Look By Antonelli, Cristiano (University of Turin) This paper explores the full range of … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, Information, Intellectual Monopoly Privileges, Intellectual Property, IT and Internet | 1 Comment

Linkbait and fakebait

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Nicholas Gruen

Time was (I’m guessing, if it was it didn’t last long) when linkbait had standards. You (I’m obviously still guessing here) took some aspect of something and beat it up a bit. Anyway courtesy of ZergNet (who knew) I just saw … Continue reading →

Posted in IT and Internet | Leave a comment

Scaleability and the knowledge economy: or the micro-economics of hyper-bullshit

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Nicholas Gruen

One of the central contemporary critiques of the industrial revolution was its undermining of crafts and craftsmanship. Today this is happening within the world of ideas. And at least right now, it’s looking like this is not a very happy development. … Continue reading →

Posted in Bullshit, Economics and public policy, Information, Innovation, IT and Internet | 8 Comments

Google Calendar and Time Zones

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Nicholas Gruen

Setting appointments I’ll be attending in London next week on Google Calendar has reminded me of a problem that online calendars haven’t sorted out – at least to my satisfaction (or perhaps knowledge); how to handle appointments when there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Geeky Musings, IT and Internet | 6 Comments

Could sortition help against corruption, part II

Posted on September 19, 2016 by Paul Frijters

In part 1, I looked at whether it made sense to have random individuals inserted into parliament, or to let policies be decided by juries full of randomly chosen individuals. Both were argued to be unworkable and likely to lead … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Ethics, History, Information, IT and Internet, Journalism, Law, Libertarian Musings, Life, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Political theory, Politics - national, Print media, regulation, Social Policy, Society, Web and Government 2.0 | 14 Comments

Free, freemium and cheap services to help run your office

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Nicholas Gruen

Lateral Economics has had occasion to compile a list of free, freemium and cheap services to help run your one person micro or several person small business. I post it here for your interest and because it may be useful to you. The latest … Continue reading →

Posted in Bargains, Blegs, Economics and public policy, Innovation, IT and Internet | 2 Comments