Best of Twitter - Week of December 14, 2020
New @nberpubs paper on estimating the Value of Time (VOT)
Prices and wait times on @lyft app were randomized across 14 million sessions in a dozen large US markets
with Goldszmidt, List, Muir, Smith, & Wang
nber.org/papers/w28208
ideas.repec.org/p/feb/natura/0… ungated
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We have 3 main results:
1. We obtain the average VOT being $19.40 per hour
(s.e. $1.40, 2015 dollars)
Similar value when we re-weight Lyft customers like rep US pop
Our estimate is 35% higher than the US government currently values saving time for any benefit-cost analysis
The LessWrong Darwin Games are a fascinating series of tournaments in which bots compete by playing an iterated prisoner’s dilemma variation. The bots can read each other's source code. They can simulate each other and predict each other's behavior.
The most important event in 1998 was the founding of Google. You didn't hear about it on the news, didn't read it in newspapers, didn't see it discussed online. (They were all busy talking about Bill Clinton and Monica.) What makes you think you understand 2020?
zuckerberg's extreme demonization by the media is unique among tech founders, including the richest and most powerful men in the country, any number of whom could be implicated in any number of the media's fake crimes. what is driving this specific focus?
^ interesting replies
Water being transparent is about evolution, not really water's chemistry. Eyes are sensors that are designed to work under water, it's not a coincidence (not that the tweet necessarily implies that).
Brian Skinner @gravity_levity
Underscores: not all email/sms communication has an effect - even when called "nudging".
(Possible most email/sms doesn't have an effect!). Important research.
National 'nudging' campaign produced no increase in FAFSA applications, college enrollment
Prototype of a sequencing approach from @MGI_BGI claiming a path to a $15 genome (!): "High-throughput, low-cost and rapid DNA sequencing using surface-coating techniques"
I give up. Been sending myself articles to read via e-mail. First I had a folder called "2read". It overflowed to 500+. So I started another one called "Seriously:Read". Now that is overflowing as well. I realise most of the papers will never be read. I try to kick the habit now.
i think "get your work recognized: write a brag document" jvns.ca/blog/brag-docu… is one of the most important blog posts I've written. Building a culture where people encourage each other to track & celebrate their accomplishments is really powerful.
