The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 12 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Roberts: Universal basic income cannot restore the human dignity lost to automation
“The idea that it's high, but you don't have any dignity, or, you know, we give you a check to replace lost income because you've been displaced, say, by technology, that that's just as good is probably not true. Probably not just as good, even though, I mean, …”
Roberts: Greed exists across all economic systems, not just capitalism
“I think it's bizarre how capitalism bears the burden of human nature. So people say, oh, the capitalism, that, I mean, that, the system is based on greed. And this is a Milton Friedman thing. He'd say, oh, as opposed to what system doesn't have greed, greedy p…”
Roberts: Meaningful evidence and understanding exist outside of quantifiable datasets
“And my view is, no, it's not. It often is. I'm very pro-information. I like data. I like evidence. But there is evidence that's not data. That's very hard for people in 2019 to remember. There are things we understand about the world that don't come from a sur…”
Roberts: Individual academic studies rarely change minds because empirical research is flawed
“There's very little academic research that changes people's minds, right? People don't go, oh, oh, you did a study of the minimum wage. I've always been against it, but now I guess I'm for it, or vice versa. Yeah. I've always loved the minimum wage. I guess th…”
Roberts: Founders are driven by parental respect far more than money
“Anything you create, the mark you make on the world that you want your parents to see, is way beyond, I think, the monetary part of it.”
Roberts: Emergent order allows company culture to solve problems without executives
“In a business, it's also useful because there are problems That your culture can solve. There are problems. There are things you can outsource.”
Roberts: Conversational audio teaches better than books by mirroring internal thought
“A book is, a lecture is a monologue. A conversation replicates maybe your own thinking processes and makes it more likely that the lesson will go in.”
Roberts: Humans fundamentally desire to be respected and worthy of respect
“Man naturally desires not only to be loved, but to be lovely, and by love, Smith didn't just mean romantic, he meant respect and honor, et cetera, and lovely, he meant worthy of honor, worthy of respect. Think about, thinking about that as an aspect of a centr…”
Roberts: Public markets trap founders on a treadmill of perpetual growth
“The stock market doesn't feel that way. The stock market includes many people who bought it recently who didn't get to enjoy those romantic idealistic times. They expect future growth. And that's a treadmill. That's the hamster wheel that, you know, I think ma…”
Roberts: Emotional ownership prevents most founders from knowing when to step down
“Very few people have the self-awareness to say, I'm not the right person for the job at this point. And the reason, what I'm suggesting here, this long rambling Set of thoughts on startups, children, and writing is the emotional part of that ownership is so fa…”
Roberts: Humans possess an innate desire for transcendence, tribalism, and belonging
“The reason I love it so much is that I think we all have a desire to be part of something larger than ourselves, something that's transcendent. In history, that's typically been religion, but it's not the only thing. It's not even close. For some people, it's …”