Economic Gemology

The brutally practical application of geology to personal finance, specifically the art of buying, selling, and occasionally panicking over rocks that rich people think will hold their value better than the dollar. It’s the study of the global market forces, supply manipulations, and hype-driven demand that turns colored stones into alternative investments. It involves knowing that while a diamond may be forever, its resale value is often only for a weekend. It’s the field for those who believe their retirement plan is best secured in a safety deposit box rather than a 401(k).

*Example: "Dave ignored the housing bubble and put his life savings into a sack of raw emeralds from a sketchy website, fully believing in the principles of economic gemology. He's now living in a van down by the river, trying to trade a 2-carat rock for a sandwich."*

by Dumu The Void February 14, 2026

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Economical Sophism

The use of economic language, models, and theories to defend positions that serve wealth while appearing neutral. Economical Sophism invokes "efficiency" to justify inequality, "incentives" to defend exploitation, "growth" to excuse destruction. It's sophistry with spreadsheets: using the appearance of rigor to obscure the reality of power.

"Tax cuts for the rich will trickle down, they said—decades later, it never did. Economical Sophism: using economic theory as a promise, not a prediction. The sophistry is in the confidence: they spoke with certainty about what never happened."

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 7, 2026

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Economical Postmodernism

The application of postmodern insights to economics—the recognition that economic categories, models, and truths are constructed, contingent, and always serve interests. Economical Postmodernism critiques the grand narratives of economic progress (growth, development, efficiency) as stories that hide their costs and exclude alternatives. It emphasizes the multiplicity of economic forms, the contingency of markets, and the power relations embedded in economic institutions. Economical Postmodernism is the philosophy of heterodox economics, of alternative economies, of the recognition that there is no one true economic system—only different ones, with different effects, serving different interests.

Example: "He'd been taught that capitalism was just economics—natural, inevitable, universal. Economical Postmodernism showed him otherwise: it was a constructed system, one among many, serving some interests and excluding others. Other economies were possible; other truths could be told. He stopped defending capitalism and started imagining alternatives."

by Dumu The Void March 8, 2026

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Econdcousin

your second cousin.

John Travolta is my econdcousin.

by Econdcousin March 9, 2026

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Economics of Science

A metascientific field that examines the economic dimensions of scientific activity—how money flows through research systems, how funding shapes research agendas, how economic incentives influence scientific behavior, and how scientific knowledge generates economic value. The economics of science analyzes funding mechanisms (grants, contracts, institutional support), labor markets (scientists as workers, training pipelines, career structures), intellectual property regimes (patents, licensing, commercialization), and the economic impact of research (innovation, growth, productivity). It also examines how economic forces create inequalities within science—between fields, between institutions, between countries—and how these inequalities shape what gets studied and who gets to study it. The economics of science reveals that science is not just a pursuit of truth but an economic activity, embedded in markets and driven by incentives, and that understanding science requires understanding its economic logic.

Example: "His economics of science analysis showed how the shift to project-based grant funding transformed scientific practice—not just what got studied, but how scientists thought about risk, collaboration, and their own careers. When funding becomes project-based, science becomes project-shaped."

by Dumu The Void March 16, 2026

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