Recent articles
1. Our tort system is a huge part of our broader regulatory system. Thus while repealing Section 230 (which shields tech companies from liability for material on their platforms) might be seen as “deregulation”, it would actually represent a huge increase in the government’s role in our economy.
Both Dems and Republicans want to get rid of 230, but for opposite reasons:
While the Constitution’s First Amendment protects the speech of these private companies, Republican lawmakers blame Section 230 for allowing Big Tech companies to moderate content too aggressively — and Democratic lawmakers say it promotes the companies not being aggressive enough.
What could go wrong?
2. A very interesting study by Pramod Kumar Sur and Masaru Sasaki showed that the Chinese famine of 1959-61 had severe long term effects on those born during this period, even for the very highest income groups in society:
We provide strong evidence suggesting that exposure to famine has a large negative effect on the wealth of individuals born during this period. Additionally, we show that the effect is present after more than half a century, and it is even persistent among the wealthiest cohort of individuals in China today.
As with any study that relies on natural experiments, our results can be considered local to our context. However, we believe this context is of particular interest as we examine the economic consequences of a famine of which millions of survivors are still living today. In particular, investigating the historical persistence of famine among ‘literally billionaires’ who belong to the strongest and wealthiest cohort of individuals in present-day China, and showing that decades of rapid economic development may not mitigate the adverse impact merits important implications for understanding how profound is the impact of famine in China.
Recommended.
3. Previously, I’ve discussed polls showing increasing support for international trade. Some commenters suggested that might just be an artifact of Trump being president. A new poll suggests that there is indeed a Trump effect, but just for Republicans. The increase in Dem support for trade seems more durable:
4. Matt Yglesias has a great post on one specific form of wokism that has gone off the rails:
Strange ideas about nonwhite people
At this point, I think it’s worth pointing out that Tema Okun is white.
She doesn’t put forward any evidence or arguments in favor of her claims (and indeed, “objectivity” is seen as a manifestation of white supremacy culture), but this is also not a lived experience argument. Instead she credits the second-hand wisdom of the late Kenneth Jones who was her co-author on the original version of the workbook that featured the list. And the reason it feels like an op to destroy progressive politics is that she’s pretty clearly not talking about race or racism at all. This whole document instead comes from a place of extreme characterological aversion to hierarchy and structure.
I don’t know if Trump is using his billions of dollars to fund the woke movement, but if not he should be. It’s the best way to advance his white nationalist agenda.
5. Unfortunately, both the left and the right tend to ignore the war on drug using Americans:
With so many states choosing to legalize marijuana, it’s easy to forget how draconian the penalties for possession can still be. Case in point: The Mississippi Court of Appeals just upheld a life sentence for 38-year-old Allen Russell for being in possession of about one and a half ounces of the drug.
Remember, Russell did absolutely nothing wrong in possessing marijuana, which is legal in 17 states. The legislators who passed these laws are the evil ones. Keep these cases in mind when you think about human rights in other countries.
6. I don’t read much sci-fi, and thus hadn’t even heard of Gene Wolfe until a few years ago. Now he’s one of my favorite writers, in any genre. Oddly, he’s not fully accepted by either the sci-fi community or the highbrow literary world. This article is a good introduction:
Gene is hailed as one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time, perhaps the greatest. He’s hailed as a great American writer, full stop. It’s because of New Sun that Ursula K. Le Guin later calls him science fiction’s Herman Melville. It’s because of New Sun that Neil Gaiman says he’s “possibly the finest living American writer.”
Yet the books don’t sell in large numbers, possibly because many people can’t make sense of them. He doesn’t inspire a wave of copycat writers, like William Gibson does around this time. He doesn’t conquer the bestseller lists like other creators of large-scale fantasy series. He doesn’t become a convention superstar like George R.R. Martin or a cultural icon like Le Guin. He’s written a work that proves (if you needed proof) that SF can be high art, yet not many people even within SF read it. He’s written one of the all-time masterworks of science fiction, and it’s hard to say whether he influences the genre at all.
Sci-fi requires two distinct talents. It’s rare to find someone that is really good at both.
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14. May 2021 at 10:20
Gene Wolfe, may he RIP, was an amazing writer. I remember being completely blown away by the New Sun. It is unlike any other SF that I have ever read. He is incredibly underrated, I agree completely.
14. May 2021 at 10:33
I’m embarrassed that I’d never heard of him until two years ago. Yes, the New Sun is great, but some of his other stuff is also outstanding.
14. May 2021 at 12:13
Biden looks about as bad as Trump on free trade. It is in his power to reverse Trump’s protectionism but he’s not reversing it. Biden also seems to be pushing for buy American provisions in government procurement.
Trump hit the solar industry with tariffs on solar cells and panels which are now at 18% and due to expire in Feb. 2022. The Solar industry had high expectations that Biden with his election would eliminate these Trump tariffs.
14. May 2021 at 13:24
Richard, Sad. Does Biden even care about global warming?
14. May 2021 at 16:45
In a post 230 world, I expect some providers to run two businesses. One business will be a common carrier and will filter nothing at all. The second company will provider a viewer with configurable filters. I think that would work around the problem. The first company would effectively be immune to content related suits by being a common carrier and the second company would just be a glorified search engine, not responsible for the content it returns.
14. May 2021 at 23:33
I’m sorry maybe I’m dense but when you say “sci-fi requires two distinct talents” I can’t tell from what you wrote what you think those are. Or do you mean that it’s just general knowledge what those two talents are? Anyway, I’ve added Wolfe to my list to try. Thanks!
15. May 2021 at 04:17
What book of Wolfe would you recommend? To begin with.
15. May 2021 at 08:37
Mark, What about my blog? Do I need two?
Riccardo, The ability to think up interesting sci-fi plots, and the talent to be a good writer. Conventional novelists only need the latter.
Pietro, The Book of the New Sun is generally viewed as his classic.
15. May 2021 at 18:28
I am a huge fan of Gene Wolfe; glad you found him. I really like “There Are Doors” which is not his best known work.
16. May 2021 at 12:00
The real problem is that Twitter, Facebook & Google control greater than 95% of the advertising market.
If one is blocked, for political reasons, wokism or otherwise, it severely effects their ability to market their product or themselves. These companies can destroy the competition with a click of a button. The issue is not 230. The issue is whether a company should have 1 trillion in revenue and dominate the marketplace – including the marketplace of ideas.
For years, people have dealt with consolidation in the beverage industry. They dealt with Starbucks, Walgreens, and other behemoths destroying mom and pops. Those companies gutted downtowns and destroyed America’s beauty – and health – but they didn’t destroy free speech. They didn’t arbitrarily ban people. They didn’t attack the bill of rights.
16. May 2021 at 15:20
Jonathan, Thanks for the tip.
Ankh, Starbucks “gutted” downtowns? Okaaaay . . .
16. May 2021 at 16:27
@Scott, Gene Wolfe is fantastic. If you are after a groundbreaking and excellent fantasy series I highly recommend “Malazan: Book of the Fallen”.
Only written and finished within the last 20 years but in my mind unquestionably will go down as one of the great epics of the genre. The first two books are solid but can be a little slow (and confusing as like Wolfe, Erikson does not hold you hand and explain exactly what is going on) but from Deadhouse Gates onwards the series achieves greatness.
17. May 2021 at 06:17
One reason that so few attempt to mimic Wolfe is that his writing chops are exceedingly rare. Adept unreliable narration as an almost defining motif and theme is also characteristic of Nabokov and… who even else?
If you enjoyed the non-explicitly post-fall sci-fi/fantasy trapping of New Sun, apparently Terry Brooks’ Shannara series is supposed to largely be the post-apocalyptic US Northwest.
17. May 2021 at 07:20
Best post fall sci-fi IMHO is Virconium by M. John Harrison.
17. May 2021 at 07:44
So when people say Wolfe is difficult to read – are we talking James Joyce Ulysses or Finnegans Wake?
17. May 2021 at 08:23
Everyone, I’m not much of a fan of sci-fi; I’m a fan of Gene Wolfe. I’m not really looking for more sci-fi to read, unless the author is as talented as Wolfe. I did enjoy reading H.G. Wells when I was young, he’s also a good writer.
Jim, He’s easier to read than either of those two books.
17. May 2021 at 10:02
I might be keeping the topic further from that which is desired, but Riddley Walker was also a good Sci-Fi book if you like language, symbolism and depth in meaning. I didn’t enjoy it as much as my favorite novels from Wolfe, however.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and Cloud Atlas were influenced by Riddley Walker.
17. May 2021 at 12:19
“with so many states choosing to legalize marijuana, it’s easy to forget how draconian the penalties for possession can still be. Case in point: The Mississippi Court of Appeals just upheld a life sentence for 38-year-old Allen Russell for being in possession of about one and a half ounces of the drug”.
This is wonderful news.
Stop selling drugs that kill people, and you won’t spend your life behind bars. It’s really that simple.
He made the choice to sell because he thought he would get away with it, and he thought he could get rich quick. He was wrong on both accounts, most certainly because his IQ is below 80.
Now it’s time to rot in a cell.
Nobody is being treated unfairly. The law applies equally to everyone. You sell drugs that kill people, you rot in a cell! What’s your choice?
Most of us choose to get a job!
17. May 2021 at 13:07
“This is wonderful news.
Stop selling drugs that kill people, and you won’t spend your life behind bars. It’s really that simple.
He made the choice to sell because he thought he would get away with it, and he thought he could get rich quick. He was wrong on both accounts, most certainly because his IQ is below 80.
Now it’s time to rot in a cell.
Nobody is being treated unfairly. The law applies equally to everyone. You sell drugs that kill people, you rot in a cell! What’s your choice?
Most of us choose to get a job!”
That’s might be a fine argument for crack…but marijuana isn’t a deadly drug else it wouldn’t be getting legalized everywhere.
17. May 2021 at 15:21
Long time sci-fi and fantasy reader here. My perception is that the critics and fellow writers have always recognized Wolfe’s genius. He just never generated the sales numbers of an Asimov. Note that he won a total of about 16 Nebula, Locus and World Fantasy awards and he was given a life time achievement award. He is fully accepted by hard core sci-fi community. Not so much by the people reading the pulp stuff and romance parading as sci fi.
https://nebulas.sfwa.org/grand-masters/gene-wolfe/
Steve
17. May 2021 at 15:24
Gene Wolfe science fiction is a science fantasy. He likes to write puzzles and labyrinths in his books. Book of the Short Sun hit me really hard when I read it. It has some controversial stuff in the first part but it’s such a trip I have to recommend it. Did you figure out hidden stuff in his books?
18. May 2021 at 09:40
Rinat, A conservative is someone afraid of pot and vaccines, but not afraid of Covid.
Thanks Steve.
Federico, I generally don’t read books to figure out hidden stuff, but I do occasionally notice multiple layers of meaning.