Top all-time · #17199
Conrad Bastable
Personal blog · radicalcontributions.substack.comeconomicsphilosophyculture
Conrad Bastable writes Radical Contributions, a personal blog at radicalcontributions.substack.com about economics, philosophy and culture. Since 2024, 4 different Hacker News readers have linked it 11 times, most often “Elites Cause Crime by Acing Marshmallow Tests”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-04-03, and you can follow it by feed.
BUILDING GREAT THINGS.
Most-linked posts?
- Elites Cause Crime by Acing Marshmallow Tests3 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2024-01-13
- The Full Stack of Society: Can You Make a Whole Society Wealthier? (2019)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-01-17
What Hacker News says?
I think you are saying we should blame the victim. Bullies want you to fight back because now you're playing their game according to their rules which they know how to win and you implicitly authorise them to hurt you and often you have handed them a moral highground excuse they can spit back at you later. Bullies don't "listen" to a slap in the face, instead they escalate further: good luck! Fighting is high risk.…
Comment linking /p/escalation-theory-compliance-violence-and-overachievement-in-society
on “Stop Trying to Schedule a Call with Me”Submitted Monetization and Monopolies: How the Internet You Loved Died as a story · 53 points
HN discussionI suggest you read this: https://radicalcontributions.substack.com/p/escalation-theor... It is really insightful about how we train ourselves for compliance, but how that training struggles to cope when we interact with violence escalaters (who are common in some parts of society). I live near a port town and face and threat of violence is easily visible in men and many women.
Comment linking /p/escalation-theory-compliance-violence-and-overachievement-in-society
on “Self-control signals and affords power”Submitted Elites Cause Crime by Acing Marshmallow Tests as a story · 5 points
HN discussionParaphrase> "engineering/stem teaches you how to think" Surely there are papers studying that? I'm certainly interested if you know of any. My personal experience was the opposite - engineering degree teaching maths and how to be compliant[1] to an academic system of grading, but virtually nothing on practical engineering, causality or interpersonal skills. I have noticed the same problems in many of my academic pee…
Comment linking /p/escalation-theory-compliance-violence-and-overachievement-in-society
on “MIT MicroMasters”Submitted The Full Stack of Society: Can You Make a Whole Society Wealthier? (2019) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionYou will like this article on compliance training: https://radicalcontributions.substack.com/p/escalation-theor...
Comment linking /p/escalation-theory-compliance-violence-and-overachievement-in-society
on “Ask HN: What did you learn too late in your tech career?”Submitted The Full Stack of Society: Can You Make a Whole Society Wealthier? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionMarshmallow tests are about getting socially trained for compliance, not about self will. The test is performed by an authority figure, trying to manipulate a child. They are not about the child achieving what they want. Using Marshmallow metaphors is patronising. "How Elites Cause Crime By Acing Marshmallow Tests" - Conrad Bastable. https://radicalcontributions.substack.com/p/escalation-theor...
Comment linking /p/escalation-theory-compliance-violence-and-overachievement-in-society
on “Everything you've been told about burnout is wrong”Submitted Escalation Theory: Compliance, Violence, and Overachievement in Society as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Forsaking Industrialism: The Most Expensive Thing You Didn't Buy as a story · 1 points
HN discussion