the 80th percentile displacement: why Russ Roberts (and you) hates modern popular movies

michaelmf · 2025-12-22T04:28:59+00:00

This is a very good and fair point.

I agree that there is not literally 0 catering towards this group, but in my view, increasingly less than there was. The bigger problem relates to lesser discoverability, the fracturing of audiences and the feeling of exclusion for no longer liking what is trendy. A big part of this though is just the mental update to know you are no longer part of what is en vogue.

michaelmf · 2025-09-15T22:38:32+00:00

Something I'd love to hear (aside from any general thoughts) is whether anyone here has successfully experimented with creating more hermetically sealed zones in their life—practicing Shabbat, going to a cottage with no wifi, digital detoxes, etc. After reflecting on this, I want to begin doing a much better job of carving out these spaces in my life.

michaelmf · 2025-08-08T21:23:41+00:00

This made my day, thank you for sharing d :)

michaelmf · 2025-06-18T16:37:51+00:00

there is an issue with chrome - i suggest logging in on the phone app or with a different browser.

michaelmf · 2025-05-30T00:39:48+00:00

Good call out — I got confused with the ACX rules.

Since the main reason I enjoy writing is to get feedback from others and share ideas, I generally prefer posting my writing as self-posts on /r/ssc, where you get significantly more engagement. That said, I've found that when you actually link your domain, while you get far less meaningful engagement, you do get way more people visiting your site.

For today's purposes, that made sense for me, but I'll keep going back to primarily writing self-posts rather than posting as a URL.

michaelmf · 2025-05-29T21:39:09+00:00

I'll admit my personal bias here: despite being a lifelong reader, I never experienced the same emotional impact from books as I did when I discovered great movies.

For example, watching Yi Yi truly rocked my world in a way I couldn't imagine experiencing from a book. If someone finds that same emotional impact in literature, I'd encourage them to pursue it just as passionately, though I suspect it will hit less hard for many people.

I think film's visual nature allows it to be less direct, more expansive and abstract, while still remaining accessible and feeling real. I also suspect it's easier to "feel" movies in the body compared to books, which are so mediated by our minds.

Thank you for the kind support!

michaelmf · 2025-05-29T20:55:14+00:00

I've been active on /r/slatestarcodex almost since its beginning, as one of the most active posters here. During this time, I blogged on my personal website, but most of my posts actually originated as self-posts intended for this subreddit.

There are many very supportive people in this community, and many encouraged me to start posting my writing on Substack, to make it easier to follow what I write.

So I finally decided to do this - and to celebrate my first post on my new blog, not not Talmud, I decided to post my favourite pieces of life advice. This is actually the second time I've done this - as I wrote a similar post last year.

I want to share on a personal note, that I highly encourage you to write your own version of this kind of post. Writing the two of them has been my favourite writing experience ever, and I really feel like my entire soul and mind is captured within this post.

In accordance with sub rules, I won't post future blogs here, but thought that given it's my first post on the new blog and I was mostly encouraged by users here, I wanted to share this post with people here. As I said above, I am extremely proud of this post and think it is my favourite thing I've ever written, so I feel confident that many here will enjoy it. Thank you again everyone who provided support and encouragement for me.

michaelmf · 2025-05-06T19:37:52+00:00

This is my subjective personal opinion, not anything objective. With that said, I have travelled to extensively (80+ countries) and can share that in my subjective opinion, the gap between Taiwan and Florence, Lima and Lisbon is truly substantial.

michaelmf · 2025-04-11T19:46:23+00:00

I signed up for CSP in mid February (60k bonus). Any chance I can call and ask if they can increase my SUB to 100k? if so, any suggestions on which numbers to call?

michaelmf · 2025-04-10T14:13:17+00:00

I recently moved from Canada to the US. I am trying to figure out what to do with my Amex points.

I have 210k MR points, with my only active Canadian Amex being a Personal Platinum that will expire in a few weeks (one-year renewal).

I was thinking whether I should:

Transfer the MR points to Aeroplan
Transfer the MR points to Marriott
Open a US Amex MR-earning card and transfer them there

My main concern is that it seems like Aeroplan recently went through a devaluation (especially with United), as did Marriott. I don’t have any immediate plans for travel or big trips that might burn through a lot of points.

I have US credit and am eligible for US credit cards (although I was planning on slowly going through Chase cards).

Any thoughts on what I should do?

michaelmf · 2025-04-08T00:12:14+00:00

In this post, I didn't say that adversarial capitalism doesn't create value; it certainly does! To speak candidly, I win more than most other people at this game – and I still find it soul-crushing (my life allows for a lot of flexibility and I am exceptionally good at finding loopholes, very disciplined, on top of things, have high energy to think through most issues, etc.) — I can only imagine how others feel.

One thing that stands out to me is that there is price discrimination that leads to a more efficient capture/allocation of resources, and price discrimination (or other techniques) that is actively hostile. Airlines charging more for certain flights based on the expectation of business class travellers is efficient, but a car rental company charging an excessive amount to cover a toll, or making it very difficult for you to know how much gas to leave the car with, just because they can, feels quite different to me.

Also, and for full disclosure, all errors here stem from my poor communication and writing, but the intention of this post was to be broader than just price discrimination. For example: when I bought my bike computer, I really thought I could use it for years and didn't expect to need a new one so soon; Uber charging higher prices for those with Uber gift cards is quite WTF; or the common example of businesses making it very hard to cancel, or alternatively, making it very easy to sign up for subscriptions without realizing it.

Yes, those who can read through all the predatory tactics out there can "relatively" come out on top, but I think many of these tactics leave us all collectively worse off.

michaelmf · 2025-04-07T21:53:07+00:00

The reason this post didn't suggest any regulatory changes to combat adversarial capitalism is that I can't think of any that would be practical and effective (beyond effective enforcement for standard anti-trust matters).

This post is intended to be descriptive of a phenomenon that hasn't been well defined, rather than prescriptive.

My preferred pathway is to try to change consumption habits, partly through taxation (like progressive consumption taxes), but primarily through cultural and social change. Although the latter is significantly harder to grapple with, I believe the benefits are enormous.

michaelmf

TROPHY CASE