Here and There #40
First, I’d like to ask you to respond to whether you find these posts, which are a potpourri of essays/posts/articles that are interesting to me—some of them important, some not so much—have value to you. So let’s start with a survey:
I don’t have thousands of readers, so there’s no great life-decision resting on the results of this poll! Thanks for filling it out.
Here’s a downer, the latest from Ed Zitron, who once again (and with some enhanced arguments) says that we’re in a bubble in the tech industry that will lead to collapse, both in the industry and to some extent in the stock market. A source who is close to me in the tech industry calls this “Tech Bubble 3.” Generative AI has no profitable products and is burning incredible amounts of money on “development,” and it cannot last.
“Success for Plantix would come at the cost of an ideal that gradually morphed from disrupting and lessening the harms of an entrenched industry to enabling it—and potentially contributing to a practice that is poisoning farmers and ecosystems the world over.” A sad story about how venture capitalism ruined a really good idea.
In an article on anti-vaxxers, Noah Smith has some interesting observations about group cohesion. Do groups hold together because of common beliefs? Or do groups (of whatever kind) cohere and then enforce a set of beliefs? Most of us would like to think that we humans form groups according to belief sets; there’s evidence to the contrary. It’s worth thinking about. Here’s a link to a PDF of his entire essay, because it’s partly pay-walled.
Christian liberal arts colleges continue to shrink, as they deal with the “enrollment/demographic cliff” and declining belief in the value of education that doesn’t produce a high-paying job. John Hawthorne describes what’s happened at Seattle Pacific University and has thoughts about what this and recent history means for people who teach in Christian higher ed. It’s grim and sad (two links: hit them both). My thought: Christian colleges will either (1) become trade schools (read “business” or something related) with a small humanities component or (2) die.
Are estate taxes “good” or “bad”? No answer from me on that or from an article on how the estate taxes are not working (gift article). Why are they not working? Three things: anti-tax warriors, artful dodging, and defunding the police (the IRS version of the police).
I’ve been following “Your Local Epidemiologist” = Katelyn Jetelina and colleagues for several years now. YLE’s latest on DJT’s appointments in Health and Human Services and a look-back on the COVID pandemic (and revisionist history) is sane and very helpful. You should read it. Our nation’s healthiness is at greater risk, going forward.
Noah Smith (already cited once in this post!), who is basically an economist, frequently challenges my thinking. He had a long post-Thanksgiving essay on the idea that acknowledgment that we live on land once “owned” by others (indigenous peoples, here in North America) and related concepts cannot be sustained through historical analysis. How far back do we go? What about countries that have many waves of different successive inhabitants? And so on. There are parts of his piece with which I disagree; and he is sensitive to the depredations visited on indigenous peoples by Western Europeans: we must teach those in school and in history generally. But read the essay and let me know what you think, in the comments. He urges a certain kind of pragmatism.
Sarah McBride is a newly elected legislator from Delaware; she previously served in the Delaware legislature, and she’s now (about to be) in Congress. And she’s a trans woman. In a recent podcast interview, she expressed remarkable wisdom and depth about the opposition she’s faced and the approach she’s taking toward those who strongly disagree with the trans movement, etc. You can either listen or read the transcript.
OK, I’m stopping with these 7 items. There’s plenty to chew on, if you wish, and as always I welcome comments from readers. Thanks for reading!