tripu @tripu@qoto.org

@gasull
I think that within secular, liberal, parliamentary democracies, that distinction between monarchies and republics is moot. Switzerland could very well have a King and be as prosperous as it is, and I don't think replacing the King of Norway with a President would change much, either…

@gasull
I took that to mean that #capitalism and #markets tend inherently towards #cronyism *as long as there is central power to grab*, ie when there is a government to be lobbied and there are laws that can be distorted.
Of course among the different types of government, autarchies and oligarchies will be very crony (almost by definition), while democracies should be less corruptible. In anarcho-capitalist societies and minarchist states, on the other hand, capitalists simply would have no government institutions to bend to their will.
So the point, I think, is that if we want both capitalism and democracy, we have to be on guard against that danger.

This. This all the time.

On #FakeNews and #DeepFakes (and #PersonalResponsibility!):

“It's not really the #journalists that are being taken in by things. It's readers. […] The only solution that I could imagine is some kind of new norm by readers. That is, by consumers of media. Right now, I don't get a sense that people feel much shame when they find out that they've been had. If you share a video […] and it turned out not to be real, then: ‘yeah, too bad’. […] I would certainly like more of a burden to be placed on readers. That is, if you're not going to feel ashamed about that kind of thing, then I would hope that the people you shared it to, encourage you to feel that shame. […] I don't see the #media as being the problem here.”

— #GraemeWood, on the #MakingSense podcast (in the subscriber version)

https://samharris.org/podcasts/216-september-3-2020/

“There is an inherent tendency in #capitalism towards cronyism, and democracy enhances it. That means that capitalism is not sustainable in a #democracy, and those of us who defend #markets need to take that part of the argument from the left seriously. #Cronyism is not the opposite of capitalism. It is something that capitalism turns into in a political system that allows #freedom, and we should be worried about that. We should credit that as legitimate #criticism.”

— #MichaelMunger, on the #FreeThoughts podcast

https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/capitalism-and-its-critics

❤️ 🎵
https://soundcloud.com/theweeknd/blinding-lights

@mathlover FT: I can't either (I'm in Spain). Someone else copypasted it for me.

The capitals of the world are broken — #London, #NewYork…
#cities

https://nypost.com/2020/08/24/sorry-seinfeld-your-love-of-nyc-wont-change-the-facts-about-its-crisis/

https://www.ft.com/content/d8eb62ef-a1cb-4597-867b-15a79dbdcd5d

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53887947
#goodnews #africa #health

https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/08/05/we-need-to-be-braver/
#freespeech #cancelculture

I love the #EffectiveAltruism movement because people and organisations around it are focusing on what is really, really important — with an analytical mindset.
Often their ideas are so simple and powerful that I feel they would be pages of a hypothetical book entitled “Instructions for #Life”.
A recent example:
https://manuherran.com/what-can-i-do-to-prevent-my-own-intense-suffering/

What pisses me off the most about #ArturoPerezReverte is that, being so learned and having travelled so much, he has made a career out of stressing the uniqueness of mediocrity, ignorance and backwardness in #Spain. As if we were really unique for the worse. Or for the better. The more I travel and read, the more I despise that #chauvinism, and the more I recognise shared human experience. There are corruption, bigotry, embarrassing or absurd customs, and missed opportunities in every society.

@gasull
I'm glad there's much overlap in our way of thinking about these issues 😊
I take that point re the many personal areas one can improve by learning, thinking & discussing. I've applied the same argument to the news and to reading, although I still have doubts:
https://tripu.github.io/Vita/doc/logic#21-about-the-importance-of-reading
I'm curious: don't you feel bad somehow about being ignorant of a lot of politics and “the news”? And, do you read any books that are neither hugely entertaining per se nor actionable, but are widely considered paramount or influential (eg, “The Iliad”, “Walden”, “Das Kapital”)?
About #newsletters: I've been a daily reader of the NYT's “Morning Briefing”; recently I've subscribed to around 16 newsletters, from different outlets, from several countries, with varied editorial stances, in the three languages I can read — planning to share a detailed comparison, and keep only the two or three of them I consider best and mutually complimentary. (Hopefully soon on my GH.)

“On 28 June 2009, Professor #StephenHawking held a party at the University of Cambridge specifically for time-travellers, with Krug champagne and hors d’oeuvres. In order to prevent frauds from attending, the renowned theoretical physicist only announced the party after it had finished. Sadly, no one turned up.”
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/aug/08/facts-entertainment-16-fascinating-things-weve-learned-from-podcasts