{"id":23544,"date":"2024-12-29T17:45:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T01:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=23544"},"modified":"2025-01-06T16:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T00:13:11","slug":"end-of-year-summaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2024\/12\/29\/end-of-year-summaries\/","title":{"rendered":"End of Year Summaries"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>David Brooks&#8217; favorite essays include one about how Trump&#8217;s people have no clue about how to fix complex problems, and one about why people believe *true* things;<\/li>\n<li>Two pieces from The Atlantic about 77 facts from 2024, and important breakthroughs in 2024;<\/li>\n<li>And Heather Cox Richardson&#8217;s take on the civil war among MAGA Republicans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"center\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/div>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/12\/28\/multimedia\/26brooks-ckql\/26brooks-ckql-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp\" width=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>NY Times, Opinion by David Brooks, 26 Dec 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/26\/opinion\/sidney-awards.html\">The Sidney Awards<\/a><\/p>\n<p>These are &#8220;awards&#8221; that Brooks personally announces for his favorite essays of the past year, from &#8220;small and medium-size publications,&#8221; i.e. avoiding the big papers and magazines. I&#8217;m noting this to note a couple of his selections that appeal to me and my big themes. First this:<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>What posture are we to take toward the incoming Trump administration? Some have opted for pre-emptive panic. I prefer the posture Jennifer Pahlka \u2014 who founded Code for America and served in the Obama administration \u2014 takes in \u201cBringing Elon to a Knife Fight.\u201d She <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eatingpolicy.com\/p\/bringing-elon-to-a-knife-fight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">writes<\/a> about Elon Musk\u2019s plans for the Department of Government Efficiency, dwelling on the policy substance, not the histrionics.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the point that resonates:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I take Pahlka\u2019s stance to be this: Trump\u2019s people aren\u2019t always wrong when they identify what the problems are. But they have no clue about the complicated sources of those problems, and they don\u2019t possess the right expertise to fix them. That strikes me as a pattern that will afflict the Trump administration not only on government reform but also on a range of issues, including deportations, tariffs and relations with China.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And second:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Let me ask you a question: Why is there poverty in the world? That might be the wrong question, as Dan Williams writes in an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conspicuouscognition.com\/p\/why-do-people-believe-true-things\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">essay<\/a> titled \u201cWhy Do People Believe True Things?\u201d Poverty has been the norm through most of human history. The real question is not \u201cWhy is there poverty?\u201d but \u201cWhy is there wealth?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The source essay is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conspicuouscognition.com\/p\/why-do-people-believe-true-things\">Why do people believe true things?<\/a> is subtitled &#8220;Ignorance and misperceptions are not puzzling. The challenge is to explain why some people see reality accurately.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This suggests a new dimension to the issues of why people believe weird things, or why some people are so easily duped into believing conspiracy theories. It seems that there are actually evolutionary advantageous &#8212; better safe than sorry &#8212; to provisionally accepting conspiracy theories, as writers like Michael Shermer have pointed out, as long as believing in them doesn&#8217;t cause any immediate, personal harm. Back to Brooks:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>This is called an explanatory inversion, in which you flip a common question around. For example, why do people commit crimes? They commit crimes, obviously, because it\u2019s easier to steal something than earn enough money to buy it. The real question, then, is why, in a lightly policed society, do people obey the law?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Well, this is easy: because over millions of years humans evolved a morality that enabled cooperation among larger and larger groups.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Williams points out that these days there\u2019s a lot of commentary on misinformation and on why people believe false things. But that\u2019s obvious. It feels good to believe what\u2019s convenient to believe, even if it\u2019s fake. The real question is \u201cWhy are people willing to go through the arduous process of discovering the truth and believing true things?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Well again: because believing true things enables an honest interaction with the world, the understanding of the world (through science), and the application of that understanding to technology, which has created our modern world, for better or for worse. Those who wallow in the &#8220;demon-haunted world&#8221; as Carl Sagan put it aren&#8217;t those creating new knowledge or inventing new technologies or building a better world.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Those habits, he continues, require social norms about standards of evidence. They require institutions like academic journals and the scientific method that test ideas and challenge other people\u2019s findings. Williams\u2019s key insight is that \u201ctruth is not the default.\u201d It took centuries of work to build a society in which more people would believe true things, work that is being undone in a jiffy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is Jonathan Rauch&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2023\/11\/11\/the-deep-state\/\">Constitution of Knowledge<\/a> again: the norms of science, and society, that entail the verification of policies and truths, that are now being undone by the ideologues on the religious and political right, who would return us to tribalism.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll quote one more paragraph, in which Brooks identifies his favorite sources.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>This year, as usual, I was steered toward the best essays by people who run three of the most interesting aggregators on the web: Caroline Crampton and Robert Cottrell, who edit <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/thebrowser.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Browser<\/a>, which gathers literary and other essays from all over the English-speaking world; Conor Friedersdorf, whose <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/thebestofjournalism.substack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Best of Journalism<\/a> Substack hits my inbox every Sunday with the best that was written over the previous week; and Tyler Cowen of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/marginalrevolution.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marginal Revolution<\/a>, which has remained, for many years, the go-to blog for people seeking to arouse and satisfy their curiosity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(So that&#8217;s where Conor Friedersdorf went!)<\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the end of the year. Despite religion, the world progresses.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/thumbor\/iFimu6StJ-JGDNZcq3CUJQ1nUYQ=\/0x0:2160x2700\/665x831\/media\/img\/2024\/12\/24\/20241224_funfacts_matija_medved_v\/original.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Atlantic, The Atlantic Science Desk, 28 Dec 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/science\/archive\/2024\/12\/facts-blew-our-minds-2024\/681175\/\">77 Facts That Blew Our Minds in 2024<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;Chewing gum, space capsules, and minivans are just a few of the things we see differently after a year of reporting.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll note this piece simply by quoting the first dozen items.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ol>\n<li>Onions were used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2024\/11\/onion-problem-foodborne-illness\/680569\/\">treat wounds<\/a> during the French and Indian War.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2024\/07\/how-much-data-ai-use\/678908\/\">energy<\/a> required to show a new Instagram post from Cristiano Ronaldo to each of his followers could power a house for several years.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">A group of butterflies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/science\/archive\/2024\/12\/butterfly-migration-pollen-record\/680911\/\">flew<\/a> across the Atlantic Ocean without stopping. It took them only about eight days.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">Children with cystic fibrosis are no longer automatically eligible for the Make-A-Wish Foundation because <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2024\/04\/cystic-fibrosis-trikafta-breakthrough-treatment\/677471\/\">a new drug works so well<\/a> that these kids are now expected to have an essentially normal lifespan.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">Your body carries <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/science\/archive\/2024\/01\/fetal-maternal-cells-microchimerism\/676996\/\">literal pieces of your mom<\/a>\u2014and maybe your grandmother, siblings, aunts, and uncles.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">The generative-AI boom is on pace to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2024\/07\/ai-companies-unprofitable\/679278\/\">cost<\/a> more than the Apollo space missions.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">Early space capsules lacked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/science\/archive\/2024\/09\/spacex-spacewalk-isaacman-polaris-dawn\/679767\/\">handholds and footholds<\/a> on the outside, and some spacewalking astronauts really struggled to make it back on board.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">Around the world, more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2024\/01\/barcode-changing-stores-qr-code\/677089\/\">10,000 barcodes are scanned every second<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">McDonald\u2019s cooked its french fries in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2024\/12\/beef-tallow-kennedy-cooking-fat-seed-oil\/680848\/\">beef tallow<\/a> until 1990.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">The fast-food giant also grills its beef patties for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2024\/04\/kernel-robot-fast-food-automation\/678107\/\">exactly<\/a> 42 seconds.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">California grizzly bears are mostly vegan, but over time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/science\/archive\/2024\/01\/grizzly-bear-california-carnivore-meat-eating\/677070\/\">humans have made them more carnivorous<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li role=\"presentation\">A tick bite can make you allergic to mammalian meat\u2014so much so that some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2024\/10\/ticks-meat-allergy-alpha-gal-farming\/680159\/\">ranchers are becoming allergic<\/a> to their own cattle.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>And a similar piece from the same magazine.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/thumbor\/7HzStK4p4Z2aKAbZQ0fVSbC_DCo=\/0x0:2000x1125\/976x549\/media\/img\/mt\/2024\/12\/20241223_breakthroughs_bk\/original.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Atlantic, Derek Thompson, 29 Dec 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2024\/12\/2024-scientific-technological-advancements\/681158\/\">The Most Important Breakthroughs of 2024<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;This year saw several advancements across medicine, space technology, and AI that extend our knowledge in consequential ways.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll quote his headings:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>An Ingenious Defense Against HIV<\/li>\n<li>The U.S. Enters the Age of Rocket-Catching<\/li>\n<li>A Quantum Breakthrough<\/li>\n<li>Another Year of Generative-AI Wizardry<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s finish with this. As an historian, Heather Cox Richardson takes an historical perspective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, 27 Dec 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/heathercoxrichardson.substack.com\/p\/december-27-2024\">December 27, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Civil war has broken out within the MAGA Republicans. On the one side are the traditional MAGAs, who tend to be white, anti-immigrant, and less educated than the rest of the U.S. They believe that the modern government\u2019s protection of equal rights for women and minorities has ruined America, and they tend to want to isolate the U.S. from the rest of the world. They make up Trump\u2019s voting base.<\/p>\n<p>On the other side are the new MAGAs who appear to have taken control of the incoming Trump administration. Led by Elon Musk, who bankrolled Trump\u2019s campaign, the new MAGA wing is made up of billionaires, especially tech entrepreneurs, many of whom are themselves immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>During the campaign, these two wings made common cause because they both want to destroy the current U.S. government, especially as President Joe Biden had been using it to strengthen American democracy. Traditional MAGA wants to get rid of the government that protects equality and replace it with one that enforces white male supremacy and Christianity. New MAGA\u2014which some have started to call DOGE, after the Department of Government Efficiency run by Musk and pharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy\u2014wants to get rid of the government that regulates business, especially technology, and protects American interests against competition from countries like China.<\/p>\n<p>Their shared commitment to the destruction of the current government is about the only overlap between these two factions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The American revolution was about building a better society, with ideas about equality and rights derived from Enlightenment values. As I&#8217;ve suggested here several times, the idea of democracy might be a temporary glitch in the history of humanity, just as science has been. Base human nature will never go away. The religious right doesn&#8217;t believe in Enlightenment values, not even those enshrined in the US Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s reading: 75 pages of Bill Adair&#8217;s BEYOND THE BIG LIE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Brooks&#8217; favorite essays include one about how Trump&#8217;s people have no clue about how to fix complex problems, and one about why people believe *true* things; Two pieces from The Atlantic about 77 facts from 2024, and important breakthroughs &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2024\/12\/29\/end-of-year-summaries\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,54,2,47,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-politics","category-science","category-social-progress","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23544"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23616,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23544\/revisions\/23616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}