More links collected the past week or so, today non-political ones.
Washington Post, Perry Bacon Jr., 27 Jan 2024: Opinion | Journalism may never again make money. So it should focus on mission.
After two posts on intellectual topics, books, let’s check back in with the fringe, perhaps in a more condensed manner than I usually do.
I’ve said several times that Republicans are interested only in solving imaginary problems (wokeness, CRT), not real ones (climate change). This latest example (about the border crisis), already noted, has reached the front page of the New York Times. That and other links: the story is told in the headlines and subtitles.
NY Times, 25 Jan 2024: Trump Strengthens Grip on Capitol Hill as He Presses Toward Nomination, subtitled “The former president’s opposition has all but killed the prospects for a bipartisan border deal, reflecting how his influence in Congress has grown as he gains ground in the Republican primary.”
Proceeding with my foray into philosophy a bit discursively — not yet one of the big histories — I begin with the ‘very short introduction’ I displayed in my initial philosophy post back on 12 January. This is a volume in Oxford University Press’s huge library of “very short introductions” — they have a Wikipedia entry — that number over 700 now. Small paperbacks of 150 pages or less. Here’s the full list.
I have half a dozen of these, and have noticed that they vary in approach. Some are 10,000 foot overviews; some focus on specifics; some on general theory. E.g. you won’t brush up on your Greek mythology in the series’ mythology volume, which is more about the general idea of mythology and where myths come from.
I would call this philosophy volume more of a sampler, than a broad overview. The author is a professor at Cambridge. The volume I have is the second edition, published 2020; the first edition was published in 2002.
Herewith a summary, with [[ comments ]].
Here’s what looked like a fun, occasional book: a popular summary of a popular topic that’s well-known among followers of science and of science fiction. I bought it to glance through, not necessarily read through. But then I heard the author do an interview on Science Friday a couple weeks ago – here’s the link — and heard him make a couple key points that I wasn’t aware of. So I picked up the book and read it after all.
(Harper, Oct 2023, xviii + 215pp including Notes, Recommended Reading, and Index)
Today, another trip into the city, to CMPC, to see one of the cardiologists and status my health, two years and eight months after my heart transplant. Had bloodwork done last Friday, and chest X-ray, and echo-cardiogram done today just before cardiologist visit.
Everything’s fine: blood, x-ray, echo. Earlier symptoms have almost all gone away. We didn’t have any issues to discuss except the precise amounts of two blood pressure meds I’ve been taking, and we decided to make no change. Then we went to Mel’s Diner and I had huevos rancheros for lunch.
Today, two items that caused me to furrow my brow. Then some fringe topics.
Another storm blowing through the Bay Area today. Jets are flying into SFO from the north, a rare circumstance. (I can see them from our balcony.) Our three kitties lie near me in my living room office, to be near the gas fireplace. It’s cold and wet outside, but the gas fireplace keeps the living room warm.
Is this restating the obvious, or is there something new here?
The Guardian, Rachel Donald, 13 Jan 2024: Human ‘behavioural crisis’ at root of climate breakdown, say scientists, subtitled “New paper claims unless demand for resources is reduced, many other innovations are just a sticking plaster”
First let’s visit the article I noted yesterday, about what “science” is revealing about American politics.
Washington Post, Joel Achenbach, 20 Jan 2024: Science is revealing why American politics are so intensely polarized, subtitled “Political psychologists say they see tribalism intensifying, fueled by contempt for the other side”
Quick post.
We spent all afternoon watching Killers of the Flower Moon — a very good film, worth the 3 1/2 hours — so I only have a moment to post something before dinner.
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Washington Post, Joel Achenbach, 20 Jan 2024: Science is revealing why American politics are so intensely polarized, subtitled “Political psychologists say they see tribalism intensifying, fueled by contempt for the other side”
Joel Achenbach has written at least one book that I have (Captured by Aliens, from 1999). Haven’t read this piece yet, but it’s notable for how the whole field of evolutionary psychology and its understanding of tribal forces that rule basic (dare I say, conservative) politics is rising into the common parlance of ordinary journalism, rather than being confined to books only science nerds would read. Something similar has happened with the related field of psychological biases — motivated reasoning and so on — terms once confined to textbooks. Will read the article and comment tomorrow.
Here’s an item about mathematics and beauty, and the lure of intelligent design.
Big Think, Ethan Siegel, 19 Jan 2024: Ask Ethan: What explains the Fibonacci sequence?, subtitled “The pattern 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc., is the Fibonacci sequence. It shows up all over nature. But what’s the full explanation behind it?”
I said I would downplay political and religious items on my daily posts, but this item today is as much about culture as politics per se, and it seems to relate (I haven’t read it yet) to an idea of the kind of ‘fandom’ that has always been part of the science fiction community. I’ll discuss that more depending on what this article says…
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Vox, Aja Romano, 18 Jan 2024: If you want to understand modern politics, you have to understand modern fandom, subtitled “You don’t just vote for Trump. You stan him.”
Which causes me to immediately wonder: does this mean “modern fandom” is just another set of tribes? Communities connected via modern social media, rather than physical communities living in proximity to one another? Let’s start reading. It’s about six screens long.
