Should we welcome human genetic engineering? Tyler Cowen

If you could directly alter your kids genetic profile, what would you want? Its hard to know how the social debate would turn out after years of back and forth, but I was dismayed to read one recent research paper by psychologists Rachel M. Latham and Sophie von Stumm. The descriptive title of that work, based on survey evidence, is Mothers want extraversion over conscientiousness or intelligence for their children. Upon reflection, maybe that isnt so surprising, because parents presumably want children who are fun to spend time with.

Would a more extroverted human race be desirable, all things considered? I genuinely dont know, but at the very least I am concerned. The current mix of human personalities and institutions is a delicate balance which, for all of its flaws, has allowed society to survive and progress. Im not looking to make a big roll of the dice on this one.

Amazon robots bring a brave new world to the warehouse The Financial Times

Another way to look at US wage growth The Financial Times

The robot tax gains another advocate Wired

Kim got the idea of a robot tax from Bill Gates, who mentioned it in an interview in February. Since then, shes been meeting with stakeholdersunions and business types and the likeabout how San Francisco, and California, might explore such a thing.

Among the issues with a robot tax: What is a robot? Even roboticists have a hard time agreeing. Does AI that steals a job count as a robot? (Nope, but youd probably want to tax it like one if youre going to commit to this.) Were still working on what defines a robot and what defines job displacement, Kim says. And so announcing the opening of the campaign committee is going to also allow us to have discussions throughout the state in terms of what the actual measure would look like.

Video: Powerball lotteries and the endowment effect Marginal Revolution

3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet rewrites the history of math The Telegraph

Winner-takes-all effects in autonomous cars Benedict Evans

Transcript: Gary Cohn on tax reform and Charlottesville The Financial Times

FT: So what exactly will you have in the tax bill?

GC: On the personal side, we have protected the three big deductions charitable, mortgage and retirement saving. We want to raise the standard deduction caps and get rid of many of the other personal deductions. We want to get rid of death taxes and estate taxes.

On the business side, we are proposing to get rid of many of the deductions that companies can take right now to lower taxable income. At the moment we start with a high corporate tax rate in America but companies use deductions: what we are trying to do is get everyone to pay at a lower rate. This is a big base-broadening exercise.

Revenue may decline in the medium term but it will then explode for the government. When we grow the economy we will see substantial growth in revenue.

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Around the web: Concerns with human genetic engineering, Gary Cohn on tax reform, and more - American Enterprise Institute