Things to worry about
What is the permanent problem?—Revisiting the Edge 2013 question—Platforms & censorship.
Ticket No.3 is a short, weekly newsletter format from The Alpine Review, where we share three things that drew our attention. If you only want to hear when the next Alpine Review is ready, you can opt-out of Ticket No3 here.
Substacks of note
The permanent problem
You can judge a new Substack by the quality of its core thesis. So far, Brink Lindsey’s The Permanent Problem is the best one I’ve come across, followed by N.S. Lyons’s The Upheaval). It’s well-articulated (structurally, it could serve as a template for every new Substack) and the range of topics that the author promises to explore is impressive. A worthwhile addition to your existing stack.
I’ll mention here just a few of the topics I intend to dig into:
the economic and political consequences of technological progress’s declining reliance on mass labor;
the political consequences of the declining need for masses of young men to fight in war;
the causes and consequences of declining non-elite representation in democratic politics;
the rise of technological pessimism; “ergophobia” and how the energy crisis of the 1970s never really ended;
how affluence breeds risk aversion and complacency;
the lack of any systemic competition for capitalism and the implications for its ongoing vitality;
how the excesses of expressive individualism have not only poisoned democratic politics but also undermined our capacities for collective action in civil society as well as government;
the obesity epidemic;
the Flynn effect and its apparent reversal;
declining attachment to work, community, and family life among non-elites;
the global fertility collapse;
the relentless rise of average screen time;
the social significance of the shift in civilizational focus from solving problems in physical reality to solving problems of social dynamics and personal identity.
Foresight Dept.
What *should* we be worried about?
You may recall that this was the Edge question for 2013 and one of the most interesting in the series, which wrapped in 2018. I approached this book like a good wine, meaning I let it sit on my shelf for almost ten years before giving it a go. I enjoyed reading it with the privilege of hindsight.
Here’s Steven Pinker commenting on The Real Risk Factors For War. Pinker, an optimist, worries about the known unknowns of war and argues that its true vectors don’t tend to hit our collective imagination. He then proceeds to isolate one important vector, which feels very real in these days of geopolitical turmoil:
Narcissistic leaders. The ultimate weapon of mass destruction is a state. When a state is taken over by a leader with the classic triad of narcissistic symptoms—grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy—the result can be imperial adventures with enormous human costs.
Chronicles of censorship
At Paypal’s Sole Discretion
The big story last week was Paypal’s new user agreement that threatened to fine users up to $2,500 if they use the service to "promote misinformation”, which read:
You may not use the PayPal service for activities that…involve the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials that, in PayPal’s sole discretion, (a) are harmful, obscene, harassing, or objectionable, (b) depict or appear to depict nudity, sexual or other intimate activities, (c) depict or promote illegal drug use, (d) depict or promote violence, criminal activity, cruelty, or self-harm (e) depict, promote, or incite hatred or discrimination of protected groups or of individuals or groups based on protected characteristics (e.g. race, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.) (f) present a risk to user safety or wellbeing, (g) are fraudulent, promote misinformation, or are unlawful, (h) infringe the privacy, intellectual property rights, or other proprietary rights of any party, or (i) are otherwise unfit for publication.
Paypal was quick to apologize for what it called “confusion,” claiming it was all just an “error” ——There’s ground for concern when corporations and HR departments become the arbiter of what should be deemed “objectionable” at their “sole discretion“, which can trigger an account shutdown with a $2500 fine, when just about anything can be branded hate speech today. Applications of justice becoming liquid, informal and creeping into obscure platform T&Cs = stuff we should worry about.
Detours and other interesting finds:
The male malaise — Why men are hard to help (Reeves) and Crisis of men and boys (Brooks). Not a popular topic, but nevertheless important.
The gospel of wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care.
Choices — The enduring allure of Choose Your Own Adventure books. Rejected by every publisher (“It’s hard enough to get children to read, and you’re just making it harder, with all these choices”) the series has sold more than 270 million copies since its launch, in 1979.
Design — The Manual of Design Fiction is available for pre-order as of today. From the Near Future Laboratory, “the definitive book describing in accessible and vivid detail the origins, evolution, and practice of design fiction.”
Wildlife — Savannah Great Horned Owl Cam Season Highlights 🦉
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.
Thank goodness the AR is coming back to life ? I"ll look forward to reading some or much of what you dig into.