Thread of the best papers and books I read in 2020, roughly in order.

1. Lewin & Cachanosky, "The Average Period of Production: History and Rehabilitation of an Idea"

Good fisking & constructive replacement of the idea of 'roundaboutness' in capital theory. Even though I think they can go further. ↓ https://t.co/LgxNclt1g2 https://t.co/7yI5eVRuWQ
2. O'Hear, "Popperian Individualism Today"

Good, concise statement of an important point: https://t.co/tVaVBTDVwk
3. Zero HP Lovecraft - "God Shaped Hole"

I enjoyed last year's "The Gig Economy" better, but this still lives up to the idea of Lovecraftian cosmic horror better than anything the actual Lovecraft ever wrote. https://t.co/8cSIyuZ6lk
4. Keane, "Sincerity, Modernity, and the Protestants"

Interesting case study of the W.E.I.R.D.ification of a south pacific tribe and how the Protestant converts, unlike the Catholic ones, fundamentally change their relationship to ritual. https://t.co/vYTgufbrU1
5. Okasha - "Evolution and the Levels of Selection"

A framework for thinking about when you're looking at group-selected adaptations, and by extension, what counts as "really" rational at any given level (gene, individual, group, etc). https://t.co/vmAUtEd8YV
6. Frank Herbert - "Dune"

Didn't realize the movie was coming out when I picked it up. Lots of interesting ideas, e.g. on infohazards and institutional evolution. https://t.co/gauakeiBJC
7. Boehm - "The Evolutionary Development of Morality as an Effect of Dominance Behavior and Conflict Interference"

Talks about human morality as a negotiation between evolved dominance and submission strategies. https://t.co/ANwOc9paA7
In that sense Boehm's paper similar in spirit to my & @hiltonroot's "Feudal Origins" paper that also came out earlier this year, but for primate evolution instead of institutional evolution. https://t.co/QoPZOoeY1b
8. Grüne-Yanoff - "Evolutionary game theory, interpersonal comparisons and natural selection"

A good warning not to casually mix classical and evolutionary game theory, as many cultural-evolutionary models do. https://t.co/7S2XCqS9eG
9. Arthur - "Complexity and the Economy"

This is how you criticize neoclassical econ right: sympathetically, and without just going "BuT iT's CoMpLeX". Ok—so what do we do with that? https://t.co/jQ6Ov7zgQy

I wish SFI had hewed closer to this ethos! https://t.co/lcAEeyODos
10. Heiner - "The Origin of Predictable Behavior", which I did a thread on recently. https://t.co/ajYF8QjoDS
11. Knight, "Puzzles and mysteries in the origins of language"

Similar to his earlier v good paper, emphasizing the reliability problem in signals, but with lots more connections to other lits, e.g. animal signaling. https://t.co/jiSB0RC9wg https://t.co/GaahKU8RxT
(I should note since the first tweet is ambiguous: this is in chronological order, not rank order!)

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॥ॐ॥
अस्य श्री गायत्री ध्यान श्लोक:
(gAyatri dhyAna shlOka)
• This shloka to meditate personified form of वेदमाता गायत्री was given by Bhagwaan Brahma to Sage yAgnavalkya (याज्ञवल्क्य).

• 14th shloka of गायत्री कवचम् which is taken from वशिष्ठ संहिता, goes as follows..


• मुक्ता-विद्रुम-हेम-नील धवलच्छायैर्मुखस्त्रीक्षणै:।
muktA vidruma hEma nIla dhavalachhAyaiH mukhaistrlkShaNaiH.

• युक्तामिन्दुकला-निबद्धमुकुटां तत्वार्थवर्णात्मिकाम्॥
yuktAmindukalA nibaddha makutAm tatvArtha varNAtmikam.

• गायत्रीं वरदाभयाङ्कुश कशां शुभ्रं कपालं गदाम्।
gAyatrIm vardAbhayANkusha kashAm shubhram kapAlam gadAm.

• शंखं चक्रमथारविन्दयुगलं हस्तैर्वहन्ती भजै॥
shankham chakramathArvinda yugalam hastairvahantIm bhajE.

This shloka describes the form of वेदमाता गायत्री.

• It says, "She has five faces which shine with the colours of a Pearl 'मुक्ता', Coral 'विद्रुम', Gold 'हेम्', Sapphire 'नील्', & a Diamond 'धवलम्'.

• These five faces are symbolic of the five primordial elements called पञ्चमहाभूत:' which makes up the entire existence.

• These are the elements of SPACE, FIRE, WIND, EARTH & WATER.

• All these five faces shine with three eyes 'त्रिक्षणै:'.