Gabriele D’Annunzio

Before he died, my uncle Tony gifted me his first Italian edition of Il Fuoco (The Flame, 1900), signed by Gabriele D’Annunzio himself. I regret that I didn’t record where or why he acquired the book. He did teach himself Italian, but I don’t know if he mastered it sufficiently to read the original. IContinue reading “Gabriele D’Annunzio”

Taleb VS Murray

Nassim Taleb has indicted Charles Murray as a “mountebank” because Murray demonstrates that measured general intelligence, G, has a high correlation with financial success. Correlation has a strong resemblance to causation, especially when the measure of success is a broad proxy like income, which can lead erroneously to social Darwinism. Because this is a dangerousContinue reading “Taleb VS Murray”

Elitism and Aristocracy

Aristo– is a word-forming element meaning “best,” or “of the aristocracy,” from Greek aristos “best of its kind, noblest, bravest, most virtuous”” (of persons, animals, things). In its Greek form, aristos denoted that which was excellent in kind, noble in bearing, virtuous in conduct. It was not yet the title of a class. The aristoi were thoseContinue reading “Elitism and Aristocracy”