On Thursday I posted a “placeholder” post just so that any of my tens of readers would know I was still alive and posting and not missing a day. Today as I write is Friday and this post will replace the placeholder from Thursday. Another post, for today Friday, in a bit.
So on Thursday I visited my regular doctor, i.e. my PCP, primary care physician, in downtown Oakland, at this relatively unprepossessing location on 16th Street, a few blocks from Oakland City Hall. Photo:
A few Facebook saves from this past week. About conspiracy theories, Fox News’ misinformation, trust in government (rather than science), why people don’t *want* to protect themselves, and an endpiece.
Michael J. Walsh (a dealer of SF books I’ve met many times over the years at conventions), passes along a couple memes, with comments:
Catching up on current links I’ve saved from web-browsing over the past few days.
First a Facebook meme: Kids with Lice
Two pieces about politics, but not for their political content, exactly. Plus an endpiece.
This is fascinating *not* because it’s political, but because it’s evidence that however much some of us think the world “progresses,” there will always be atavisms. With a Randall Munroe namecheck at the end.
NYT, Jon A. Shields, 3 Feb 2022 (print paper 5 Feb 2022): How Trump’s Brutish Code of Honor Explains His Feud With Liz Cheney
Here’s my second concluding post about Harari’s third book.
As usual, I find it hard to condense my notes too far, when the author has so many interesting things to say, especially in this second half.
In the range of topics this book discusses, it’s one of the best books I know of that addresses the big issues of our day, and of the future. And final chapters delve into deep matters that are almost a separate topic, but worth deep thought.
This 2018 book is Harari’s third, of the three he’s published so far. It follows in ways from his second, HOMO DEUS (see here), in exploring some of its themes, but differs in being not a narrative, but a set of lessons, about where we are heading right now. The text is about 320 pages long; thus each lesson gets about 15 pages on average. This post covers about the first half of the book.
Only a whiff of politics in today’s posts, about the current pandemic and public understanding of science, and the practice of scientific pre-prints.
Ls&Qs&Cs: Rights and Responsibilities; Authoritarian News Filters
Quotes and comments about an essay by Thomas L. Friedman about rights and responsibilities, and an article about what Fox News doesn’t cover.
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