Nick

“Like stem-cell research, another potentially transformative force for good, free trade is held in check largely by the stupid, the ignorant, and the superstitious.”
― Steven E. Landsburg, The Big Questions: Tackling the Problems of Philosophy with Ideas from Mathematics, Economics, and Physics

“Even where the experts are untrammeled, what “all the experts” are most likely to agree on is the need for using expertise to deal with problems.”
― Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society

“The phrase “Why die for Danzig?” was considered a hallmark of sophistication among the intelligentsia at the time, but was instead a sign of their dangerous talent for verbal virtuosity, which can pose questions in ways that make the desired answer almost inevitable, whatever the substantive merits or demerits of the issue. Contrary to one-day-at-a-time rationalism, the real question was not whether it was worth dying over the Rhineland, over Czechoslovakia, over Austrian annexation, or over the city of Danzig. The question was whether one recognized in the unfolding pattern of Hitler's actions a lethal threat.”
― Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society

“Many of us worry today about a growing gap between the great mass of mere mortals and an internationalised and (metaphorically) incestuous elite, flitting between the luxury hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants of London, New York and Singapore or gathering for closed-door festivals of self-congratulation in the picture-book-perfect Alpine resort of Davos.”
― Ian Morris, Geography Is Destiny: Britain and the World: A 10,000-Year History