Jan 2, 2023·edited Jan 2, 2023Liked by Luke Hallam
“We shouldn’t blame digital technology for all our woes. But it’s hard to see how we can unite to confront the challenges we face while such technology still has such a firm stranglehold on our lives”. I found social media called out in no uncertain terms particularly compelling. Our energy towards sustaining this world is greatly diluted by this polarized space—as I spend more than an hour on Reddit each day this break so no saint. Good to have our finger on the pulse of things but trust in journalism would help us greatly. A good piece of writing.
The fact that space exploration and nuclear energy are experiencing triumphs, while social media and cryptocurrency are suffering, is a good development. More productive labor (physical and mental alike), less waste of time and money on frivolous things.
There is another reason to be optimistic, and it relates - believe it or not - to social and (other) mass media. Whereas in the past, fringe voices were limited to a small, but growing, circle of believers until such time as reaching a critical mass that could and did act much to to our regret. Now with social media, fringe voices surface early where their propositions are debated in the light of day by believers and nonbelievers.
"Some corners of the New Right have little real connection to Trump but are nevertheless dangerous. Adrian Vermeule is an unassuming Harvard law professor who believes that it is the role of state institutions to promote a substantive Catholic vision of the “common good.” "
Yeah.... THAT sounds dangerous. Better yet, we should opine for a secular liberal new world order that eliminates law enforcement unless it is used for silencing political opposition to the corporatist state.
Please note that the fusion milestone that was announced, while a major technical achievement worth celebrating, is still way way way far from generating more energy than the total input energy required for the experiment. It just generated more energy than was contained in the optical pulse , which is about 100 fold less than the input energy to the lasers required to make that pulse. And then there is the critical question as to whether this route to fusion will ever be practical for power generation even if it generates more energy in a single pulse than was put in.
Negatives aren't reasons for optimism, so Trump in a fade is not a reason to be optimistic, since there are no hopeful signs in the Republican Party. If anything, the Party is showing signs of permanent damage from its Trump experience.
With so many of the stars of life-is-abuse-or-be-abused authoritarianism (Trump, Putin, Bolsonaro) looking like losers, liberal democracy has been given an opening. Let's see if we can take advantage of it.
“We shouldn’t blame digital technology for all our woes. But it’s hard to see how we can unite to confront the challenges we face while such technology still has such a firm stranglehold on our lives”. I found social media called out in no uncertain terms particularly compelling. Our energy towards sustaining this world is greatly diluted by this polarized space—as I spend more than an hour on Reddit each day this break so no saint. Good to have our finger on the pulse of things but trust in journalism would help us greatly. A good piece of writing.
The fact that space exploration and nuclear energy are experiencing triumphs, while social media and cryptocurrency are suffering, is a good development. More productive labor (physical and mental alike), less waste of time and money on frivolous things.
There is another reason to be optimistic, and it relates - believe it or not - to social and (other) mass media. Whereas in the past, fringe voices were limited to a small, but growing, circle of believers until such time as reaching a critical mass that could and did act much to to our regret. Now with social media, fringe voices surface early where their propositions are debated in the light of day by believers and nonbelievers.
"Some corners of the New Right have little real connection to Trump but are nevertheless dangerous. Adrian Vermeule is an unassuming Harvard law professor who believes that it is the role of state institutions to promote a substantive Catholic vision of the “common good.” "
Yeah.... THAT sounds dangerous. Better yet, we should opine for a secular liberal new world order that eliminates law enforcement unless it is used for silencing political opposition to the corporatist state.
Please note that the fusion milestone that was announced, while a major technical achievement worth celebrating, is still way way way far from generating more energy than the total input energy required for the experiment. It just generated more energy than was contained in the optical pulse , which is about 100 fold less than the input energy to the lasers required to make that pulse. And then there is the critical question as to whether this route to fusion will ever be practical for power generation even if it generates more energy in a single pulse than was put in.
It is not enough to just "defend democracy". The more important thing is to renew, reform and remake democracy https://vladanlausevic.medium.com/abc-of-liquid-democracy-82c4ea85bc1
Negatives aren't reasons for optimism, so Trump in a fade is not a reason to be optimistic, since there are no hopeful signs in the Republican Party. If anything, the Party is showing signs of permanent damage from its Trump experience.
With so many of the stars of life-is-abuse-or-be-abused authoritarianism (Trump, Putin, Bolsonaro) looking like losers, liberal democracy has been given an opening. Let's see if we can take advantage of it.