The Case Against Education

"The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money" by Bryan Caplan argues that a significant portion of education is not about acquiring useful job skills, but rather about signaling to employers. Caplan suggests that much of education's value comes from the signal it sends about a student's intelligence, conscientiousness, and conformity, rather than from the skills and knowledge they acquire. He believes that this signaling explains why employers value degrees even in fields unrelated to the job. Caplan also argues that this focus on signaling leads to a waste of resources and time, as students are made to learn subjects that are not directly useful to their future careers. He suggests that a more efficient educational system would focus more on vocational training and less on traditional academic education. He dispels many arguments that are taken for granted by looking at actual numbers.

Reading List

Books I read (listened to) recently and liked, in no order:

• Free Will
• How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big
• On Tyranny
• The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945
• Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949
• The Lion's Gate: On the Front Lines of the Six Day War

Software manager reading list

A few days ago, a manager friend of mine asked me for advice about what to do on a project that was nearing crisis—that is, it had missed a deadline and looked like it would go over budget.

Crises are common in software projects because their complexity usually goes beyond our ability to predict time and resource requirements. I offered my friend the following books and recommended that he read them before demanding that his team start working overtime:

• Waltzing with Bears
• Death March
• The Mythical Man Month
• The Logic Of Failure

These books will ground him in reality and make him realize what kind of mess he is in. I also told him that he should only tell his superiors the truth if he is certain they actually want to hear it. Often, people want only good news and are content to remain ignorant until the consequences hit.

If you sense that your superiors prefer to live in a fantasy land, never tell them the bad news, because you will be labeled a pessimist. Even if your predictions later prove correct, the label of “nuisance” will not easily be erased.

These books will help you understand what is likely to happen and why. You might not be able to change the outside world, but you will feel less stress internally, free from guilt, knowing you did the best you could.

Book: Dark Sun: The Making Of The Hydrogen Bomb

Dark Sun: The Making Of The Hydrogen Bomb, Rhodes, Richard, documents the history and politics of hydrogen bomb development both in the USA and the Soviet Union. For the story of atomic bomb development see my previous post.

Book: Command and Control

Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety Schlosser, Eric, details how fragile nuclear weapons safety is.

Book: The Dictator's Handbook

The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics, de Mesquita, Bruce Bueno, Alastair Smith, explains why people in power might do seemingly irrational things and why loyalty is much more important than competence.

Similar previous blogpost: link 1, link 2

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Book: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams, is about trying different things, failing often, learning as much as possible from each failure and be ready when luck finds you. Highly recommended...

Less Medicine, More Health

Less Medicine, More Health was especially relevant to me because my mother (65 years old) underwent colonoscopy as part of a routine control in which the doctor removed a few polyps and one of them had cancer cells close to the colon wall. Three out of four doctors said that she must have an operation which would remove a quarter of her colon (without saying anything about the risks of the operation). Only one doctor pointed out that may be all the cancer cells were taken out during the polyp removal, the risks and probability of success of the operation (which were horrible numbers). In the end my mother reasoned that the operation was not worth it. This was 6 months ago. Today she is alive and well, tending her garden.

Almost everybody has some sort of abnormality that won't hurt him but becomes a problem due to early diagnosis, i.e. you would be better of if did not perform the checks in the first place. Lesson: Don't do full checkups, only deal with things that you have symptoms of.

It shows the importance of randomization and biases that can be overlooked when performing medical trials, for example a trial based on volunteers can be biased because health conscious individuals are healthier than the average.

The International Bank of Bob

The International Bank of Bob explains how the microlending platform Kiva works by visiting the recipients of such lends around the world.

I find Kiva convenient for two reasons: It makes it very easy to find someone who could really use financial help and it is as transparent as it gets.

Before thinking about the details of microlending and Kiva you have to ask yourself "do I really care about the plight of others so much that I can part with my $25?" You have to give an honest "yes" before coming up with questions about how reliable/efficient Kiva is. I suspect most of such questions stem from not being that committed to helping others but being ashamed to admit it and instead formulating more rational sounding questions. After you gave that first "Yes", read this book. In the words of Bob, "Pretty much the only things we do get to choose are how we treat others and conduct ourselves in the world. Are we honest? Are we caring? That’s who we are."

Kiva team: Friends of Bob Harris

Kiva fellows blog

Thinking Fast and Slow

Thinking Fast and Slow shows how hard it is to think and how often people avoid it and makes me wonder if anything I know is truly correct. "Considering how little we know, the confidence we have in our beliefs is preposterous".

It is depressing to realize the difficulty of changing our own faulty ideas, let alone changing others. To help myself, I read books like this one. When arguing with stubborn people who are not interested in the truth, I don't bother with being fair because they never return the favor. I just silence them with a few simple tactics so that they don't think that what they present is irrefutable brilliance. Schopenhauer's "Die Kunst, Recht zu behalten" has good techniques.

Thinking as correctly as possible is not some academic detail. I recently had to confront two important, life-changing challenges: One was which house to buy and the other was whether my mother should have a risky operation. With rationality and luck, both turned out very well (We bought the best house possible and my mother rejected the operation which in hindsight was a good decision).

Another application of this book might be using it when raising a child (I have a 3 year old son). The hard way is to use rationality and correctness of argument. The easy way would be to appeal to the inherent weaknesses present in every human being [as politicians and marketers do].

The moral of the story is: be aware of your limitations (this book is for that) and think... a lot!

The Honest Truth About Dishonesty

The Honest Truth About Dishonesty shows how people rationalize their dishonest actions and what factors increase or decrease dishonesty. Why should you read it? In the words of the author "recognizing our shortcomings is a crucial first step on the path to making better decisions, creating better societies, and fixing our institutions."

The Making of the Atomic Bomb

The Making of the Atomic Bomb provides the background of scientific progress and WWII thinking that lead to nuclear weapons.

The 1986 edition that I read has a nice epilogue (40 pages long) which is missing in 2012. That's a huge loss in content because the epilogue has interesting content.

The book is

• Fun: Example: comparing Chadwick's temperament with the properties of the neutron he discovered.
• Informative: How much thought and hard work is invested into and how many small and large difficulties have to be surmounted before a scientific discovery, how good theory is needed to both design a proper experiment and correctly interpret its results (How the Curies were not able to discover the neutron even though they did the experiment first). How scientific openness in the early 1900s led to rapid progress.
• Inspiring: Kindled my interest in Chemistry (Otto Hahn, discoverer of nuclear fission was a chemist). How scientific openness could be a model for government of humanity (Niels Bohr's hope). For me, the book shows what good science and engineering is, with nuclear weapon development as a case study. Any technically inclined person would enjoy this book a lot and be motivated to do some science (hopefully for peaceful purposes).
• Horrifying: Effects of a nuclear weapon on its victims is described in graphic detail. The risk of an accidental or terrorist nuclear war is unacceptably large and the results of a wide scale war would be the end of intelligent life on Earth.

iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon

"iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon", by Steve Wozniak with Gina Smith, is the autobiography of Steve Wozniak. I only knew little about him, like he was the other Steve who got Apple started. After reading this book, I admire him as a person and can relate to him a lot (I myself am a software developer), especially the portions about having an open mind, not trusting authorities and trying to build a better/just world. It also gave me ideas about how to spark interest in my 3 year old son.

The Fall of the Ottomans

The Fall of the Ottomans by Eugene Rogan details the events on the Ottoman front during the First World War. I came to realize how complex the events were and that it would be very difficult to behave in any other way. It is a saddening and sobering read that helps in getting rid of the propagandist tales simplifying history to such a degree that the only explanations left are treason, stupidity and barbarism of the enemy.

Book: Capital in the Twenty-First Century

"Capital in the Twenty-First Century", Thomas Piketty

This is a 500+ pages book. The first 200 pages were full of very similar looking data and tables. It became interesting after page 200, and riveting after page 300. I like books that show how ignorant I am and this is definitely one of them.

Read it if the following questions are of interest to you:

• What is the source of income inequality and how does it harm society?
• How should the income from production be divided between labor and capital?
• Why is it so difficult to tax the super rich and multinational corporations?
• Is publicly available financial information enough to form a healthy opinion about financial matters?

Update, January 11th 2016: Paul Graham says that we should not attack inequality (which is an indirect effect), but directly poverty and the questionable ways of getting rich:

• Economic Inequality
• Reply to Ezra Klein

Book: How The World Works

"How The World Works" - Noam Chomsky, 2011, 335 pages

The book contains collections of interviews with Noam Chomsky. It is a good summary and I would strongly advise it to anyone interested in why the world is as it is and wants to lift the curtain of lies. An essential guide in search of the truth...

Book: The E-Myth Revisited

The E-Myth Revisited, Gerber, E. Michael.

It is a too verbose text for my tastes, so I will summarize it for you:

People usually start a business with a technician mindset but a successful business requires balanced entrepreneur, manager and technician roles.

• Entrepreneur: What do people need? How much would they pay for it? How will they know about my product (marketing)? What is my future vision for the company and myself?
• Manager: Provide structure (processes, manuals etc.) to the organization.
• Technician: Check technical feasibility of product ideas, build products.

Each role requires the same amount of time and attention. The main reason for business failures is that their founder is not aware of this and is stuck in one (usually technician) role.

Book: The Inner Game of Tennis

The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey argues that success can result only if you don't try too hard which sounds counter intuitive. Trying too hard means becoming emotionally attached and being judgmental. He gives practical tips on how to achieve relaxation while practicing. First and foremost, you have to be interested in what you are doing.

A very good book for anyone who wants to be a better person by using tennis (or any other practice) as a means to achieve inner peace and perfection.

Book: Waltzing with Bears

"Waltzing with Bears - Managing Risk on Software Projects", DeMarco, T., Lister, T., 2009, 196 pages

The book tells how things really are: People like tales more than reality, nobody likes bad news. People are 10 times more prone to believe things they like. The odds are against risk management. It is surprising if anybody can do it properly:

"We are like a primitive tribe that tries to hold the devil at bay by refusing to say his name." [p.113]

"The Ethics of Belief" published by William Kingdon Clifford in 1877, which is mentioned in the book is well worth reading on its own.

Book: Poor Economics

Poor Economics - A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, Ranerjee, A. V., Duflo, E., 2011, 303 pages.

It explains how the world looks from the eyes of the poor (i.e. < 1$ a day) and why many well intentioned programs to help them fail. It is especially eye opening for people like me, who have a secure life and are almost always totally ignorant about the poor. The chapter about education was fascinating because the problems are so relevant to my own country, Turkey. As someone who regularly donates via Kiva, the microfinance chapter showed me clearly what to expect from microfinance and what not to. I was embarrassed to see my half-baked ideas naked in front of me and from time to time I became quite emotional. Besides sadness, my disgust for lazy intellectuals who lecture the poor about what to do without bothering to listen to them increased ten fold.

In short, this is a must read book not only to Kiva lenders but to everyone because what happens to the poor affects all of us in some way or another. The privilege of having a secure life entails responsibility. To act responsibly, you must first understand what the real problem is. Detox your brain...