On “technical debt”
The term “technical debt” is a useful one. Unfortunately, as with anything useful, it is overused and used sloppily. It’s also sometimes misused to disparage a historical decision somebody disagrees with. But more than that, I think it is broadly misinterpreted. The term is intended to help justify work that has no immediate customer benefit,…
We Must Invest in Public Safety
Are you having the right conversation? I want to talk about the racial through-line that has existed in American politics from the very beginning, from the 3/5th compromise in the constitution, to the Civil War, to “Birth of a Nation,” to Jim Crow, to segregation, to Nixon’s “Tough on Crime”, to Reagan’s “War on Drugs,”…
Primate Stories (1 of 3): “The Oil Drum”
Don’t make decisions by oil drum! …story time: Once upon a time, there was a group of scientists studying a troop of lowland gorillas. There was nothing particularly notable about the study, the scientists, or even the gorillas. I don’t even know what they were studying. Lowland gorillas are have a wider range than their…
First, they came for (2020)…
Protected: Publishing a book, an experiment
Polarized Morality
I’ve been spending time recently trying to understand is how it’s possible for people to overlook the harm their political stance is causing. These people aren’t sociopaths, but they can ignore the injustice of “let’s talk about the looting, not the murders” and the real harm (including deaths!) being caused by “open early” and “I…
A Response to a Friend Who Has Lost His Way
I’ve been thinking a lot about this conversation over the last few days. There’s so much wrong with it, it’s hard to know where to start. It’s impossible to address all of it. But let me start here. Civil discourse has two elements: civility, and discourse. Without the discourse part, all you have is civility;…
An Open Mind
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what it means to have an open mind. It’s hard. Background Reading Before I go any further, I’m going to ask you to look at two things other people have created. First, this brilliant comic by The Oatmeal, which describes the “Backfire Effect.” I’m not going to summarize;…
The Stories We Tell with Data
A friend of mine recently posted some data that Elon Musk cites, that compares the deaths from the flu, and from COVID-19, and then cites death statistics from tobacco, alcohol, obesity, road accidents, and pneumonia. “I’m only sharing data,” my friend noted. “Please feel free to interpret it as you see fit.” Of course, that’s…