Homework - Due Saturday, May 9, 2026
Is eating large quantities of small things a big problem?
The Homework:
This is the "real downer" homework I mentioned back in the Festivus homework. It is now time for us to put away our childish whimsy and think about something big and serious: Shrimp welfare.
Seriously? Yes, actually . . . well, maybe . . . serious minds will disagree.
You may be a meathead, but how concerned should we be about shrimp, et al.? The main assignment is to read this post and come ready to argue about it even if you aren't quite sure of your position—I'm not sure myself. My first thoughts were to question my life choices. However, Lyman Stone's debate and follow-up (second half of the post) gave me reason to believe I am not so worried about shrimp suffering.
If you want to take a deeper dive down this rabbit hole, for extra credit I invite you to start here. From there you can springboard into the debate that goes back decades between Bryan Caplan and the philosopher Michael Huemer, who Bryan says is his favorite philosopher and someone he aligns with Ninety-X% of the time—just not on ethical vegetarianism.
For extra extra credit review how Richard Hanania weighed in on this some time back. And do consider how this project runs the risk of violating Michael Huemer's position on offsetting.
Stories (Awkward and Otherwise):
How many of these commercials do you know by heart?
I’m famous: Superabundance Best of 2025: The Antidote to Irrational Pessimism (check out the back cover.)
I’ve been teaching with Josh’s doppelgänger.
IFF (looking up edition):
Have you considered how amazing the moon is?
Should we reevaluate our chances of aliens?
Kevin isn’t a Cancer after all.
That homework was heavy. Let's relax with some mellow jams:
Hermeto Pascoal - Música da Lagoa (Sinfonia do Alto Ribeira, 1985) - this might be us next CabinBrary.
See you Saturday!