👋, I decided to experiment with simply sharing what I’ve been reading during the month, so here it goes. I might keep the sections or change them going forward, but this is how it came out today, with ten sections. I hope you’ll find this useful.
I — The very best
I've mentioned Brink Lindsey's The Permanent Problem before. In it, Lindsey explores what he calls the "triple crisis"— one of inclusion, one of dynamism, and one of politics. No less than five new essays landed in November: the most important stuff I've read in the month. Below is a link to the latest installment.
II — Concepts
The polycrisis
It seems like we have a new term to describe global entanglement x uncertainty, and that is what crisis historian Adam Tooze calls: the “polycrisis”.
"With economic and non-economic shocks entangled all the way down, it is little wonder that an unfamiliar term is gaining currency — the polycrisis. A problem becomes a crisis when it challenges our ability to cope and thus threatens our identity. In the polycrisis the shocks are disparate, but they interact so that the whole is even more overwhelming than the sum of the parts. At times one feels as if one is losing one’s sense of reality"
"What makes the crises of the past 15 years so disorientating is that it no longer seems plausible to point to a single cause and, by implication, a single fix." (FT)
In short: a crisis, just more complex and larger in scope than what we have historically been subjected to.
Martin Wolf, quoting Tooze, also rode the polycrisis train, stressing the need to break away from compartmentalized, siloed thinking:
"It is indeed convenient to think about the world in intellectual silos, focusing in turn on macroeconomics, finance, politics, social change, politics, disease and the environment, to the exclusion of the others. In a reasonably stable world, this may even work well. The alternative of thinking about the interactions among these aspects of experience is also too hard. But sometimes, as now, it becomes inescapable."
But as noted in the comments, our state of entanglement is not exactly a new thing:
Cognitive infrastructure
This one came from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, related to its growing interest in policing speech.
“One could argue we’re in the business of critical infrastructure, and the most critical infrastructure is our cognitive infrastructure, so building that resilience to misinformation and disinformation, I think, is incredibly important.”
This is scary mental gymnastics, designed extend the DHS’s mandate into the crackdown of what it calls “disinformation”. (Excellent reporting by The Intercept.)
Performance politics
In “The Fever is Breaking”, David Brooks argues the populist convulsion has peaked, and performance politics will slow-down.
“He [Trump] ushered in an age of performance politics — an age in which leaders put more emphasis on attention-grabbing postures than on practical change.”
The modern economy of apology
Jill Lepore in the New Yorker (“The Case Against the Twitter Apology”) on performative remorse:
An unforgiving god rules Twitter, where the modern economy of apology runs something like this: If you express what I believe to be a toxic or ignorant opinion, you must apologize according to my rules for apology. If you do, I may forgive you. If you don’t, I will punish you, and damn you unto eternity.
The bureaucratization of knowledge
Mentioned in a good CWT interview of Walter Russell Mead (“The Past and Future of American Foreign Policy”).
III — Selected reads
Benedict Evans "Ways to think about a metaverse": What does metaverse mean if we strip away the noise?
Experimenting With Disaster, a three-part series from The Intercept exposing the hundreds of mishaps in American biolabs that have not been made public.
The Rising Tide of Global Sadness — David Brooks (again) investigates the rise of sadness, which seems to occupy a growing share of the cultural vibe.
Amazon Alexa is on track to lose $10 billion this fiscal year.
IV — Overheard
Audio gems captured while on the go.
Lex Fridman #331 – Balaji Srinivasan: How to Fix Government, Twitter, Science, and the FDA. 8 hours (!) but worth it.
Feeling nostalgic and perhaps in need of pep, I re-listened to some vintage Here's the Thing (Alec Baldwin) favorites: David Simon , Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Joel, Lawrence Wright.
I also really enjoy Substack's new podcast series, The Active Voice, hosted by Hamish McKenzie. Be sure to give a listen to Ep. 1, featuring the great George Saunders.
V — The undercurrents
Whenever I find a piece of writing that strikes me as having possibly larger explanations, causes, and/or ramifications, I like to peruse the comments to map three to five “ways to think about…”. I like to gather a range of views that either support or infer my priors and help remove unwanted blind spots.
Here’s some of the stuff I found in the undercurrents that resonated with me (I included the commenter’s handle, which was pseudonymous in most cases.)
State-sponsored addiction: Sports Betting & Gambling
The NYT investigated the world of sports betting. What are we to make of the rise of sports betting and the gambling addiction in general?
Most reactions are pointing to the exploitation by states and governments of the most vulnerable, at great cost to society:
"With the freedom we enjoy comes the very strong necessity to look out for your own well being. Our government is slowly turning away from looking out for the individual. We gave up taxing the rich in any meaningful way and now make up for it by convincing the not-rich to buy lottery tickets, drink highly taxed booze, smoke highly taxed cigarettes, and now put the last few dollars on sports betting." — Lee Eliott
"Online sports betting will slowly addict and drain the bank accounts of millions of Americans (mostly men). The tactics of these sports betting companies is relentless and preys upon psychological vulnerabilities. When people are struggling more and more to save money and invest in our futures, why do our leaders keep placing bets on sports gambling? Because someone is winning, and it’s not your average American. — Brendon
"Gambling is one of the leading causes of domestic violence around the world, it should not be glorified by "stars" whom are wealthy and powerful with significant name brand recognition.” — Ralph Aquila M.D
On that last point, there seems to be plenty of evidence that supports the point linking gambling and domestic violence.
Geopolitics, FIFA, Qatar: “The World Cup That Changed Everything”
Another great investigation by the Grey Lady, this time regarding QATAR/FIFA. (See also the Netflix four-part documentary “FIFA Uncovered”, worth watching.)
To sit and watch grown men bat around a soccer ball knowing that the stadium was built by the slave labor of desperate humans who literally sacrificed their lives, churns the stomach — Badger Beth
The tentacles of obscene wealth are strangling us all. If you think this is indicative of rot in sports, same as the golf mess, then you should have no trouble linking this behavior to the activities of actual governments including supposed democracies — Ides of March Brown
It's important not to frame this is ultra rich vs poor. It's not ultra rich vs poor, it's ultra rich against everyone else, the law, and anything not aligned with their interests (which include firstly, increasing their wealth and power, and secondly imposing their worldviews, rooted in tradition and magic, upon the rest of the world) — Tim
An obscene spectacle of extravagant spending, worker exploitation, corruption and tone deafness when it comes to human rights. What a mess. I yearn for the days when oil is no longer driving world events — JVG
Indeed, energy from fossil fuels is the main vector for pretty much everything, but someday the world will switch to green sustainable energy so it is no surprise that oil-rich countries are trying to find alternatives. For Qatar it is football, for the UAE it is Dubai, for Saudi Arabia its larger-than-life projects like Neom (h/t Scott Alexander).
VI — The graphic truth
FTX — Relationship status: it’s complicated.
VII — Obits of note
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, Who Inspired ‘The Terminal,’ Died in Paris Airport — The end of a sad and fascinating story. I was surprised that Nasseri, the Iranian refugee who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal 1 in Charles de Gaulle Airport, was still there when he died.
Dietrich Mateschitz, Creator of the Red Bull Empire, passed away at 78 — Mateschitz saw potential in a little-known Thai beverage, then built a global empire around this single product, launching a market now worth 50 billion. Fascinating case study of “world-building” in marketing, where the various content platforms around the product (that give you wiiiings) have become almost more important than the product itself.
VIII — Curiosities
I never knew of Wikipedia’s reliable/perennial sources page. Note how Al Jazeera is green, while The National Review is yellow. (h/t Balaji Srinivasan)
IX — Books & Mags
I spent most of the month on Suicide of the West, by Jonah Goldberg.
Asterisk magazine launched.
X — Inner life
I was reminded of “RAIN, a framework for radical compassion by Tara Brach: Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Need.
I call them tickets because they opened a door in my mind and briefly turned me into an investigator, wanting to know more. Perhaps they will have the same effect on you.