Some weekend reading : January 15, 2022
January 15, 2022 | Newsletter
Hi all,
Here are some interesting links for this week.
Cheers,
Nicholas.
Ideas, Hacks, Representation by Sampling and Political Theory
First up, a blog post of mine run up from a tweet thread. Asked for my opinion on New Zealand’s tilt towards proportional representation, I said I didn’t know, and then reprised an idea I’ve explored before on policy ‘hacks’ to offer some thoughts on why I thought I did know that citizens’ juries were a good idea for democracy.
How to Commit Fraud
Here’s how Chris Dillow introduces this blog post prompted by Elizabeth Holmes’ guilty verdict.
It is fitting that Boris Johnson’s premiership should be in doubt so soon after Elizabeth Holmes has been found guilty of defrauding investors, because both show us how easily people are fooled.
Inspired by them, here are some tips for any would-be con artist.
America Is Falling Apart at the Seams
In January 1838 Abraham Lincoln said this:
"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
David Brooks ponders the many signs of cultural and social decline in America today confessing.
As a columnist, I’m supposed to have some answers. But I just don’t right now. I just know the situation is dire.
Does Power Corrupt or Are the Corruptible Attracted to Power?
This is not a very good article, but it asks a good question. With decline all around us, it asks if power corrupts, or if it attracts the corruptible, a subject close to my heart. People in power have a higher tendency to turn corrupt.
Trotsky on the Class Structure of Soviet socialism
In this excellent article, the excellent Branko Milanovic explores Trotsky’s The Revolution Betrayed, in which Trotsky floats some remarkably prescient possibilities regarding the Soviet Union’s decline.
Apple at $3tn: The Enigma of Tim Cook
Various worthies and Very Serious People predicted the demise of Apple after the messiah left them. It’s now worth $3 trillion. In this FT article, Patrick McGee writes about the accomplishments of Apple, and Jobs’ replacement Tim Cook. (Likely paywalled).
Why it’s too early to get excited about Web3
The rebuilding of the web around blockchain and crypto technology has recently been dubbed Web3. So who better to pour a little cold water on where it’s up to than Tim O’Reilly who may not have coined the term Web 2.0 but he was its guru from 2004 on. A very astute observer? He’s not convinced by the hype.