We Are Not Saved

My hot take on the situation in Afghanistan.  Highlights: -Why couldn't we have maintained a presence at Bagram, even if we pulled out everywhere else (think Guantanamo and Cuba). -Biden had more flexibility than he claimed. -It feels like this might lead to a loss of confidence similar to what we experienced after Vietnam -The effect on our allies may be the worst consequence of our withdrawal.

Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race by: Shanna H. Swan End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) by: Katie Mack Facing Reality: Two Truths About Race in America by: Charles Murray Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness by: Tim Grover Streaking: The Simple Practice of Conscious, Consistent Actions That Create Life-Changing Results by: Jeffrey J. Downs and Jami L. Downs Red Rising by: Pierce Brown Coming Back Alive: The True Story of the Most Harrowing Search and Rescue Mission Ever Attempted on Alaska’s High Seas by: Spike Walker Freedom by: Sebastian Junger Faust by: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Open and Relational Theology: An Introduction to Life-Changing Ideas by: Thomas Jay Oord

I discussed Fermi's Paradox in my last newsletter. In this I discuss the hint it provides that technology may be inevitably linked to extinction. That the reason the universe is not teeming with aliens is that the technology to get to that point presents insuperable risks which cannot be overcome. As I said this is a hint, but I think it's a hint we need to take seriously.

Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters by: Steven E. Koonin Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science by: Peter Godfrey-Smith The Start 1904-30 by: William L. Shirer The Storm on Our Shores: One Island, Two Soldiers, and the Forgotten Battle of World War II by: Obmascik, Mark Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by: Robert K. Massie Tiamat’s Wrath by: James S. A. Corey What I Saw in America by: G. K. Chesterton Job: A New Translation by: Edward L. Greenstein

The massive attention being paid to UFOs in the form of the Pentagon/Naval videos has rekindled interest in the subject and by extension interest in Fermi's Paradox. I think people's interest in these subjects is entirely too trivial. Treating it as a curiosity rather than one of the most important indications of what the future has in store for humanity — either eventual doom or being terribly alone.

In a continuation of the last episode I examine my favorite explanation for the inflection point in 1971: that this is when energy decoupled from economic growth. Economic output which has no connection to energy usage is a new and strange beast, much easier to manipulate in ways that produce inequality and inflation and all the other ills which have afflicted us since the early 70s.

The website wtfhappenedin1971.com presents a series of charts which show that there was inflection in rates of everything from inequality to obesity in 1971. In every case with things getting worse. Why would that be? In this episode I examine at 8 explanations (possibly more depending on how you count). Full warning, my favorite explanation is not included. That will be the subject of my next episode.

And here is where I have cordoned off spoilers for Project Hail Mary. Listen at your own risk.

My capsule reviews for the month: Persepolis Rising by: James S. E. Corey Project Hail Mary by: Andy Weir The Perfect Dictatorship: China in the 21st Century by: Stein Ringen The Ethics of Authenticity by: Charles Taylor Legal Systems Very Different From Ours by: David D. Friedman Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by: Alfred Lansing The Graveyard Book (Graphic Novel) by: Neil Gaiman Adapted by: P. Craig Russell Illustrated by: Various Learning from Loss: The Democrats, 2016–2020 by: Seth Masket

This episode is in three parts. First is the eschatological reviews: A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence by: Jeff Hawkins One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger by: Matthew Yglesias