Nathan Taylor

Football, Boxing and head injuries

Last year Tyler Cowen wrote a speculative piece about how football might go into long term decline due to head injuries. Then Ta-nehisi Coates, a lifelong football fanatic, started posting how he was losing his love of football as he learned more about brain trauma. This got me wondering. The right analogy here is probably boxing, which… Continue reading Football, Boxing and head injuries

Gay marriage is conservative

Since most Americans now support same-sex marriage, it’s become a question of when same-sex marriage will be the law of the land, not if. I think that’s great, and a rapidly growing majority agree. The progressive narrative on gay marriage has been around equal rights, as the red equal signs on my facebook feed show. Again, quite… Continue reading Gay marriage is conservative

College athletes should be paid

With March Madness 2013 finishing up, the contrast between the half billion dollars of college basketball revenue versus the amount paid to the players (nothing) has never been starker. By now there are plenty of people pushing the idea of paying college players. And of course I think it’s a good idea. But an interesting way to… Continue reading College athletes should be paid

What are the risks of a global pandemic?

David Quammen’s latest book Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic is wonderfully written. As expected from someone the New York Times says “is not just among our best science writers but among our best writers, period.” And the Times is right, Quammen is awesome. I loved his widely praised The Song of the… Continue reading What are the risks of a global pandemic?

Digital Economics: Content wants to subscription stream

This is a multipart series on digital economics. More here. Maybe ten years ago I read a provocative article arguing that music, TV, movies, newspapers, and other types of media were all evolving towards subscription streaming as their end point. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a link. But by now we’re familiar enough with paying a monthly fee for… Continue reading Digital Economics: Content wants to subscription stream

Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes

This is part 2 of a two part series. Part 1 is here. In last week’s post we contrasted the “energy in/energy out” model of getting fat with the “wrong kinds of food” model. This framing comes from Gary Taubes’ book Why We Get Fat. Again, be warned I’m a fan of Taubes and his book. With… Continue reading Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes

Two Models of Why We Get Fat

This is part 1 of a two part series. Part 2 is here. Why do we get fat? The prevailing model is energy balance, pictured above on the left. When people eat more than they burn off, they get fat. All calories are the same. Just do the math. In contrast, on the right is a… Continue reading Two Models of Why We Get Fat

What sport are humans best evolved for?

Cheetahs are the fastest land animal. Sailfish the fastest swimmers. Pumas the highest jumpers. So which sport do humans excel at? Slate claims it’s endurance running. They made this claim as part of their coverage of the totally awesome Man versus Horse marathon, a 22 mile long annual Welsh race of humans versus horses. Now… Continue reading What sport are humans best evolved for?

How much should we worry about the Population Apocalypse?

Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 bestseller The Population Bomb starts with an introduction “The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now.” Of course 45 years later food has never been cheaper or more abundant. So… Continue reading How much should we worry about the Population Apocalypse?

Articles worth thinking about – Feb 2013

This week’s post is commentary and links to other essays and posts. It’s a common way to blog, so let’s try it out. The selection criteria was for essays or posts that made me think.