Issue Thu, Jan 01 06:15 AM
Pennsylvania making abundant policy moves
https://share.inquirer.com/ZILS3G
Pennsylvania has embraced the Ezra and Derek's abundance policies and has reduced the permitting process from 300 days to 30 days to keep projects that were moving to other (red) states and keep them within PA.
Note: I realize that PA isn't exactly a blue state, it's purple, but Josh Shapiro could champion this to the White House.
By u/kr4spy ⬆️ 54
The Roots of the ‘Vibecession’
By u/dwaxe ⬆️ 28
Science Communication Failures During COVID and MAHA
I am reading In COVID's Wake by Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee. This is a book which has received a tremendous amount of attention and criticism. The overarching message of the book is that science communication during the pandemic failed. That science communicators were too quick to come to consensuses on the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), which ran against previous pandemic plans, and were quick to shut down dissent, and too comfortable with over stating the confidence of their claims. I think this book is an essential companion to Ezra's discussion on MAHA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCaD4vh4XhI). (Note that there is a extensive criticism about this book see the Atlantic article "COVID Revisionism Has Gone Too Far")
I think the rise of MAHA is deeply linked to failures of how science was communicated during the pandemic specifically in the case of NPIs. The science on how effective NPIs are is simply not as robust as those for vaccines. They are like every public policy where the effects will never be as cleanly identified as RCTs with vaccines. However, during the course of the pandemic science communicators gave all NPIs a similar evidentiary confidence as vaccines. Communication was mixed. Many in the beginning of the pandemic understood that the goal was to eliminate the virus -- this was impossible but not communicated reliably to the public. Furthermore, the threat of the virus itself often hinged on presenting it as deadlier for younger people than it actually was. Most people vastly overestimated the risk for young people. Republicans, not Democrats, were more accurate in their assessment of age stratified risk. There was also weird communication on natural immunity, where the biological fact that being infected leads to immunity was downplayed over fears it would lead to more support for a "herd immunity" approach.
I think this overstated confidence eroded trust in scientific expertise faster than they would have if science communicators were more open about uncertainties in pandemic mitigation. By doing this science communicators would have also had more leverage to emphasize how much more confident we are that vaccines work.
I should state that I am American but have lived in Sweden for the last nine years. Sweden famously had a light touch approach to COVID. This obviously colors my perspective. While the Swedish authorities (which was fully technocratic, totally run by the health agency), made several claims that were overstated and spoke with a bit more confidence then they should have, they were also very clear and consistent about their aims which was policies that would be sustainable in the long run. They were also quite clear that the virus would not be eliminated.
None of this is to say that we should excuse the rise of hucksters and opportunists who took advantage of the COVID pandemic to foster more anti-elite, anti-expert sentiment, with horrific deadly consequences due to vaccine skepticism. However, just because these actors exists doesn't mean that experts cannot be self-critical of how science communication failed during the pandemic.
By u/Hobby_account_ ⬆️ 26
So... coming from a Republican voter, what exactly is Abundance?
A bit of my background... I'm actually a Gen Z Republican voter. Not some Nick Fuentes groyper BS. I was heavily into the Tea Party and Ayn Rand when I was in high school, and I voted for President Trump in the last two elections (but not the first time even though I was old enough to) in part because of my views on limited government (read: DOGE), and because I figured he would lean into the AI race and work to support the infrastructure for such (AI data centers, investments, energy, Pax Silica, etc). However, I'm a bit alarmed at what young people in my party (and in general) are turning into, with this anti-science, anti-liberal, anti-capitalist, anti-growth, anti-semitic mentality that has totally gripped young voters in what feels like a rapid succession of events from the last several months. I don't know what triggered this shift, but it has me reconsidering my political future. I want a future for the GOP after Trump leaves that is dominated by pro-tech and pro-growth interests, but I can easily see it slipping into something totally illiberal like almost all of society is nowadays.
So this brings me to Abundance. I've been lurking this forum for some time, believe it or not, and I'm actually left with a positive impression of some of the ideas I see being discussed. My understanding is that the Abundance platform is essentially a repackaging of liberal/urban neo-capitalism, but I would like to have this clarified. I haven't yet read the book by Ezra Klein, but this is something that is of interest to me, and can help dictate my political future in the event the Luddites in the GOP become too powerful.
I added a blog post about Abundance by Andrew Yang above, which discusses a possible Democrat civil war between progressives and Abundance Bros, and criticisms Abundance Bros and the progressives are aiming at each other. However, I want to know more about what Abundance does for someone on the right like me, particularly one who supports artificial intelligence, housing, domestic manufacturing, deregulation, and oil and nuclear energy. Anything helps, I'm seriously interested in learning more about Abundance and if there may be a future for me with such, and not with whatever the hell Tucker Carlson is trying to sell this time by gaslighting everybody. I'm also open to discussions in the comments, assuming I have the time and willpower for such lmao.
By u/gauchomuchacho ⬆️ 24
Brian Eno's Book and Music Recommendations
By u/dwaxe ⬆️ 11
Business Insider: Energy Costs
A little preaching to the choir but I appreciated the emphasis on poles & wires and the permit process that's holding up a huge amount of generation.
By u/SnooMachines9133 ⬆️ 4
Ezra’s 12/23 podcast - “this is something that traditional economics isn’t prepared to deal with”
Please listen to the name of this pod, Ezra show. They can’t deal, so throw out these guests. I genuinely love Ezra and value his perspective…but I can’t with the “economy” analysis in this episode. I can’t with the metrics about everything is okay and how resilient we were through COVID. Yes. Corporations were incredibly resilient during COVID and pivoted with amazing speed…but who benefited from that? The workers? Society? Yeah that’s LAUGHABLE. We all know who benefited.
PLEASE cover the economy through the lens of the regular person. Wages up? No. Jobs up? No. Opportunity for young people? No. Industries booming that demand more people to hire? No. Trade war? Sorry if your stats show otherwise, but it’s not good for prices..or anyone. We have a stagnant wage economy, shrinking jobs, and rising prices. So podcasts like Ezra’s say they want to get to the bottom of the real economy. They say they want to report actually useful information and points of view people need to know. Well I’m patiently waiting.
Meanwhile, this episode talked about AI like it’s an industry that will benefit the U.S…like all of it. Is there anyone here who thinks the benefits of AI will truly go beyond making billions for like musk and bezos? Please chime in why, I’d love to know what people think. Give me a scenario where average people benefit from all of this investment in AI. Because I’m listening to them talk about “so and so” company’s owner making a pitch to shareholders about AI, and it’s like once again…we’re talking about the economy like it’s founders and shareholders! The economy, is the whole country! And btw that includes millions of people with shitty jobs or jobs that are getting cut. I thought the Ezra pod knew that. And there was a hint of the classic “people are freaking out”…they just don’t get the economy metrics…but we know, us experts, that everything’s great…..
If you think I’m exaggerating just point to the part of the pod where they talked about historic layoffs and the future of work……yeah they didn’t. They questioned how real the numbers of layoffs are, and sympathized with companies getting rid of people, also recommended they (companies) stop advertising jobs. Great to hear the voice of the people!
PS. Can we eliminate the AI race thread forever? Name me a person who gives a $&@! if Google or meta or Amazon or whoever “wins.” We know it will be someone who exploits us and we know people broadly won’t benefit. Am I crazy?
And don’t get me started on what they didn’t cover. It’s insanity. I usually love Ezra’s analysis and his guests, even when I don’t agree with them, I always learn something. I’ve never posted before, I’m just offended by this episode. Please don’t advertise this as something helpful for understanding the current U.S. economy, or some sort of deep dive
By u/Unfair-Wallaby-404 ⬆️ 4
Brian Eno on Working with David Bowie, John Cage and Other Iconic Artists
By u/dwaxe ⬆️ 1
