AIDS in Africa is one of the gravest problems facing the world.
Emily Oster has some of the most interesting ideas about AIDS in Africa.
You can see and hear these ideas online, courtesy of the wonderful folks at the TED Conference.
Emily Oster on AIDS at TED Conference
TAGS: Pandemics
and 
. You can also watch it on 
No vertigo16, that’s just the point. They don’t have any issues worth repeating.
TED is attended by a bunch of liberal poobahs who think pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo when spoken in a semi-serious setting of namby-pamby lazy thinking is a substitute for actually doing something worthwhile. As if just saying it’s so, makes it so.
Well, it doesn’t. And it won’t. So they need to get over themselves, stand on the back of true giants and do some real science. Rather than pretend that they’re every thought is an original breakthrough of Darwinian importance.
Because it ain’t. And it never will be.
No vertigo16, that’s just the point. They don’t have any issues worth repeating.
TED is attended by a bunch of liberal poobahs who think pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo when spoken in a semi-serious setting of namby-pamby lazy thinking is a substitute for actually doing something worthwhile. As if just saying it’s so, makes it so.
Well, it doesn’t. And it won’t. So they need to get over themselves, stand on the back of true giants and do some real science. Rather than pretend that they’re every thought is an original breakthrough of Darwinian importance.
Because it ain’t. And it never will be.
Oh boy, its been a while since I blogged here.
The Oster talk was interesting, but the main thing coming in my mind was that a lot of it was just nonsense.
I have lost a good deal of respect for Levitt also on this issue too because he has never ever bothered to mention or respond to any of Oster’s critics including Avraham Ebenstein of Berkeley, while being the first to label Oster as some Super-genius, which I doubt she really is (check his previous post on Oster). So much for a objective persuit of knowledge!
I’ve tried to find some interaction between the Ebenstein and Oster research, but so far haven’t found anything useful and cannot make head or tails of either of them and until then I cannot take Osters opinion with a shred of seriousness.
If anybody has good statistical expertise and interested in this kind of stuff, I would highly recommend going through both Oster and Ebensteins paper. Here is the link.
http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/~ebenstei/
Oh boy, its been a while since I blogged here.
The Oster talk was interesting, but the main thing coming in my mind was that a lot of it was just nonsense.
I have lost a good deal of respect for Levitt also on this issue too because he has never ever bothered to mention or respond to any of Oster’s critics including Avraham Ebenstein of Berkeley, while being the first to label Oster as some Super-genius, which I doubt she really is (check his previous post on Oster). So much for a objective persuit of knowledge!
I’ve tried to find some interaction between the Ebenstein and Oster research, but so far haven’t found anything useful and cannot make head or tails of either of them and until then I cannot take Osters opinion with a shred of seriousness.
If anybody has good statistical expertise and interested in this kind of stuff, I would highly recommend going through both Oster and Ebensteins paper. Here is the link.
http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/~ebenstei/
I think Oster has an interesting point of view. But while many points are interesting they are also fatally flawed.
Exports perse, in african countries, do not mean greater wealth, in real terms. In terms of lack of equity, increased exporting probably adds to feelings of helplessness. Much the way terminal diseases, other than Aids do. Equating increased exports with greater wealth is one mistake.
I am also unconvinced by her projection of the amount of Aids sufferers. I would think it is at least as uncertain as the UN’s guesstimate.
I actually think Oster spoilt her analysis in trying to show that we know nothing about Aids. Although in an artistic sense, the red lines on the powerpoint were very effective.
I think Oster has an interesting point of view. But while many points are interesting they are also fatally flawed.
Exports perse, in african countries, do not mean greater wealth, in real terms. In terms of lack of equity, increased exporting probably adds to feelings of helplessness. Much the way terminal diseases, other than Aids do. Equating increased exports with greater wealth is one mistake.
I am also unconvinced by her projection of the amount of Aids sufferers. I would think it is at least as uncertain as the UN’s guesstimate.
I actually think Oster spoilt her analysis in trying to show that we know nothing about Aids. Although in an artistic sense, the red lines on the powerpoint were very effective.
Mead Over at the Center for Global Development has analyzed Emily’s findings in the context of other research about concurrent sexual relationships as a driver of the AIDS epidemic here: http://blogs.cgdev.org/globalhealth/2007/07/invisible_cure.php
Mead Over at the Center for Global Development has analyzed Emily’s findings in the context of other research about concurrent sexual relationships as a driver of the AIDS epidemic here: http://blogs.cgdev.org/globalhealth/2007/07/invisible_cure.php