Milo B. Beckman
Latest Articles
Opt Out
Harvard students are great at solving optimization problems — the hard part is knowing what to optimize for.
Don't Major
Coloring in as much of that picture as possible, leaving no black box unopened—that’s why I’m here. For me at least, that’s immensely more satisfying than the marginal returns from a fourteenth math class.
Why I Write Bad
Academics put out lousy writing because they went through 20 years of schooling that rewarded lousy writing.
The Death Spiral Hoax
It now seems immensely unlikely to me that Obamacare will fall into a death spiral—but I strongly encourage you to develop and present an opposing case.
The Gospel of Rational Debate
Imagine the blowback if, mid-debate, Romney had conceded that perhaps he ought to read up a bit on military spending cuts before criticizing Obama’s actions.
Nate Silver Is not a Witch
Early this year, Nate Silver wore a halo. Having called 50 of 50 states correctly in November’s election, Silver was declared the true winner of the presidential race and even the staunchest of realists were starting to suspect there might be some supernatural forces on his side. His 1.000 batting average helped maintain his book’s best-seller status, drove unprecedented traffic to the New York Times website’s politics section, and won him the uncontested title of America’s favorite statistician.
Keep The Electoral College
This month, five states announced that they are considering joining Maine and Nebraska in apportioning electoral votes in presidential elections by congressional district, rather than by the current winner-takes-all setup.