What I've Been Reading, February 2020

Links

Late Breaking News

• Shale Drillers Need A Miracle To Keep Production From Falling, by Irian Slav, OilPrice.com
• Putin just sparked an oil price war with Saudi Arabia — and US energy companies may be the victims, by Brian Sullivan, CNBC
• Why oil prices are crashing and what it means, by John Defterios, CNN Business
• US stocks halted after falling 7%. Global stocks plunge as oil crashes and coronavirus fear spreads, by Laura He, Clare Duffy and Julia Horowitz, CNN Business

Miscellaneous

• Bypass paywalls on popular online publications for free, by 7 Labs.
  There is a lot of important information out there that is behind paywalls, many requiring expensive subscription to overcome.
• The Day America Rejected Social Democracy and Chose More Collapse, by Umair Haque, Medium—Eudaimonia
  I could easily have fit this into several classification other than "Misc.", but I think what Umair is saying here is important enough that it deserves to appear near the top.
• The Real Stories Billionaires Tell Themselves to Justify Their Wealth, by Michelle Legro, Medim-Gen
  "A Yale professor interviewed the ultra-wealthy in Teton County, WY to find out what it’s like to be really, really rich"
• Utopia Inc., by Alexa Clay, Aeon
  "Most utopian communities are, like most start-ups, short-lived. What makes the difference between failure and success?"
• Just deserts, edited by Nigel Warburton, Aeon
  "Can we be held morally responsible for our actions? Yes, says Daniel Dennett. No, says Gregg Caruso. Reader, you decide/"
• Body composting promises a sustainable way of death, by Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, Science Magazine
  I've been saying for years that this is the burial I would prefer.

I googled "Is healthcare free in China?" and this is the answer that Google provided:
"China does have free public healthcare which is under the country's social insurance plan. The healthcare system provides basic coverage for the majority of the native population and, in most cases, expats as well. However, it will depend on the region you reside in."
As the link below shows, that's basically true, but the details are somewhat more complicated.

• How does healthcare in the U.S. compare with China’s? by Jia Guo, supchina

Coronavirus

At this point (March 10, 2020) it's starting to look like the secondary effects on production, supply chains and markets caused by large numbers of people being locked down in quarantine may be worse than the primary effects of the virus itself. And of course panic will only make things worse. There is a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) on the internet, and many are using that to drive traffic to their sites. I have tried very hard to avoid articles of that sort in choosing the ones below. I still ended up with too many articles.

The plain fact is that we don't know much about the virus at the moment. When the dust settles, we'll know a lot more. The dust will settle and the human race will carry on, hopefully having learned something from the experience.

• Keep Coronavirus insanity away by avoiding the news, by Charlie Gedeon, Medium
• The Simplest Way to Spot Coronavirus Misinformation on Social Media, by Will Oremus, Medium—OneZero
  "A digital literacy expert shares his method"
• Sifting Through the Coronavirus Outbreak, by Mike Caulfield, Infodemic.com
  "Learn the skills that will make a dramatic difference in your ability to sort fact from fiction on the web (and everything in between)."
• The WHO sent 25 international experts to China and here are their main findings after 9 days, on Reddit/r/China_Flu
• 5 lessons about COVID-9 from doctor who led WHO mission to China, with a link to an "ask me anything session" on CBC Radio's "Cross Country Check Up" call in show, Dr. Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the World Health Organization's director general, led the WHO's COVID-19 mission to China. Based in Geneva, he's originally from St. John's, N.L.
• Coronavirus: nine reasons to be reassured, by Jon Henley, The Guardian
• An interview with a hand-washing expert about coronavirus, by Noah Culwin, The Outline
  "Doctor and ‘Atlantic’ staff writer James Hamblin, the author of the one good story on COVID-19, unpacks what we should be worried about."
• A live map of the spread of the virus, from Johns Hopkins CSSE
• How to prepare for coronavirus in the U.S. (Spoiler: Not sick? No need to wear a mask.) by Lateshia Beachum, Alex Horton and Reis Thebault, The Washington Post.
• How to Prepare for a Possible Coronavirus Pandemic, by Robert Roy Britt, Medium—Elemental
• The Coronavirus Pantry Checklist, by Annie Siebert, Medium—Heated
• There’s an Epidemic That’s a Bigger Threat Than the Coronavirus , by Dr. David L. Katz, Medium—Heated
• How South Korea Lost Control of Its Coronavirus Outbreak, by Suki Kim, The New Yorker

Capitalism, Communism, Anarchy

• Class: The Little Word the Elites Want You to Forget, by Chris Hedges, Common Dreams
  "The culture wars give the oligarchs, both Democrats and Republicans, the cover to continue the pillage."

The New Fascism, and Antifa

I hear a lot of well educated people saying that the people some of us are calling fascists don't meet all the criteria for being "real" fascists. Others have even accused us of calling anyone we disagree with a fascist. I predict that a few decades from now those same people will be saying they wish they hadn't been quite so fussy with their definitions, and had acted sooner to oppose these "new fascists", even if they weren't identical to the fascists of the twentieth century.

• The FBI Just Put White Nationalists and Neo-Nazis on the Same Threat Level as ISIS, by Tess Owen, Vice
• The Giant Ball of Fascism at the Center of the World, by Umair Haque, Medium—Eudaimonia
  "What Happens to a World Whose Rate of Exploitation is Skyrocketing?"
  In this one Umair finally admits that resource depletion is real, although that isn't the main thrust of the piece.
• (Why) The Future is a Choice Between Two Socialisms, by Umair Haque, Medium—Eudaimonia

Collapse

• The Collapse of Civilization May Have Already Begun, by Nafeez Ahmed, Vice
  "Scientists disagree on the timeline of collapse and whether it's imminent. But can we afford to be wrong? And what comes after?"

Peak Oil

• Government Agency Warns Global Oil Industry Is on the Brink of a Meltdown, by Nafeez Ahmed, Vice
  "I now see peak oil as being defined by a contracting window between an oil price high enough to keep producers in business and a price low enough for consumers to access oil derived goods and services."

Climate Change

• Greta Thunberg says EU is 'pretending' to tackle climate change crisis, ABC News
• Fossil-Fuel Subsidies Must End, by Geoffrey Supran, Peter Erickson, Doug Koplow, Michael Lazarus, Peter Newell, Naomi Oreskes and Harro van Asselt, Scientific American
  "Despite claims to the contrary, eliminating them would have a significant effect in addressing the climate crisis."
• An Open Letter to Greta Thunberg from a Gen-X Investment Banker (and a Plea for Working Together), by Sasja Beslik, Medium—Environment
  I read this mostly out of curiosity, and was largely disappointed. But really—what can you expect from a banker.

Genetic Engineering

Before jumping to the erroneous conclusion that this section was paid for by Monsanto, stop for a moment and understand that organic agriculture/food is a multi-billion dollar per year industry that relies on fear to get people to buy its product. Millions of dollars are spent to convince you that non-organic food is dangerous. In fact both conventionally grown and organic foods are equally safe. Sadly neither method of agriculture is even remotely substainable.

• Swiss Scientists Have Recreated the Coronavirus in a Lab, by Emily Mullin, Medium—OneZero
• Panic-free GMOs, A Grist Special Series by Nathanael Johnson
  "It’s easy to get information about genetically modified food. There are the dubious anti-GM horror stories that recirculate through social networks. On the other side, there’s the dismissive sighing, eye-rolling, and hand patting of pro-GM partisans. But if you just want a level-headed assessment of the evidence in plain English, that’s in pretty short supply. Fortunately, you’ve found the trove."
  A series of articles that does a pretty good job of presenting the facts about GMOs. I plan to include one article from this series here each month.
• Genetic engineering vs. natural breeding: What’s the difference?, by Nathanael Johnson, Grist

Canadian Politics

• The draft deal between the Wet’suwet’en and the government, explained, by Emma McIntosh, National Observer
• True test of reconciliation: respect the Indigenous right to say No, by Pam Palmater, Canadian Dimension

Politics

• Politics Without Politicians, by Nathan Heller, The New Yorker
  This is not talking about anarchy, just about a different way to run a state. It is very unclear to me how we would get from the current neoliberal plutarchy to open democracy such as is suggested in this article. And even if we could, such a government is not still likely to be able to deal with the sort of predicaments that we are currently in any better than any other style of government.

Debunking Resources

These are of such importance that I've decide to leave them here on an ongoing basis.

• Debunking, Wikipedia
• Pseudoscience, Wikipedia
• List of topics characterized as pseudoscience, Wikipedia
• Rational Wiki
• Science Based Medecine
• Quackwatch
• Snopes, debunks or validates urban legends
• Bad Astronomy
• The Skeptics Society
• The 8 Best Fact-Checking Sites for Finding Unbiased Truth , by Megan Ellis, MUO—Make Use Of
• Pain Science, by Paul Ingraham

Science

• How a Dispute over a Single Number Became a Cosmological Crisis, by Richard Panek, Scientific American
  “Two divergent measurements of how fast the universe is expanding cannot both be right. Something must give—but what?”
• Is Betelgeuse Approaching a Crossroads? by Bob King, Sky and Telescope

Lacking an Owner's Manual

The human body/mind/spirit doesn't come with an owner's manual, and we continually struggle to figure out how best to operate them.

• Little Phrases That Women Find Romantic AF, by Kirstie Taylor, Medium—Mind Cafe
• The Enduring Sexism of ‘Resting Bitch Face’, by Corinne Purtill, Medium—Forge
• What to Do When a Loved One Is Severely Depressed, by Heather Murphy, The New York Times
  "There are no easy answers for helping someone struggling with depression, especially if you’ve already tried and tried. Here are some tips from experts."

Gender and Sexuality

• Dear (Cis) People Who Put Your Pronouns On Your “Hello My Name Is” Name Tags, by Sinclair Sexsmith, Medium—LGBTQIA

Refugees and Migration

• Thousands of Migrants Attempt to Cross Into Europe From Turkey, by Alan Taylor, The Atlantic
• Turkey sends police to the border to stop Greece pushing migrants back, Greek City Times

Poverty, Homeless People, Minimum Wage, UBI, Health Care, Affordable Housing

• I Don’t Know How to Money, by Kristine Levine, Medium—HumanParts
  "Poverty has taught me to be resourceful — but it might be time for a new lesson"
• Beyond Bootstraps, by Chloe Hadavas, Slate
  "An Appalachian memoir that rejects the narrative of Hillbilly Elegy in favor of something more complicated."
• This Is Why Homeless People Don't Go to Shelters, by Rick Paulas, Vice
  "Cities have tried to move people from encampments on the streets to shelters, but the truth is many of them have good reasons not to go."
• TWO-HUNDRED-AND-TWENTY-TWO homeless people died in Ireland in over the last four years, according to the latest report, by Harry Brent, The Irish Post

Artificial Intelligence

• Artificial Intelligence—The Revolution Hasn’t Happened Yet, by Michael I. Jordan, Medium—Artificial Intelligence
• 2019 in Review: 10 AI Failures, by Synched
  I include this not to say that AI is impossible, but rather that is has significant challenges that haven't yet been solved—that it is far from a done deal.
• Asking the Right Questions About AI, by Yonatan Zunger, Medium—Artificial Intelligence
  "AI models hold a mirror up to us; they don’t understand when we really don’t want honesty. They will only tell us polite fictions if we tell them how to lie to us ahead of time."
  "A good rule of thumb, also recently encoded into EU law, is that decisions with serious consequences of people should be sanity-checked by a human—and that there should be a human override mechanism available."
  "We are not yet anywhere close to being able to do that in AI’s."

Humour

These are great times for political satire.

• NATO Leaders Challenge Trump to Spell NATO, by Andy Borowitz, Pocket—The New Yorker—The Borowitz Report
• Ontario teachers reject gov’s latest offer of ‘Ford gets to punch one teacher in the face every day’, by Gordon Field, The Beaverton
• Teck pulls application for oil sands mine after finding out about the existence of oil prices, by Mary Gillis, The Beaverton
• Buttigieg Quietly Drops Out After Realizing He’s Been Running for Wrong Party Whole Time, by Shea Strauss, The Hard Times
• People are sharing this anti-racist letter to the Guardian because it makes a great, funny point, The Poke

Books

Fiction

• A Million Open Doors, by John Barnes
• Creation Machine, by Andrew Bannister
• Star Trek Picard—The Last Best Hope, by Una McCormack
• Anyone, by Charles Soule

Non-Fiction

I am reading currently "The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth" by Benjamin Friedman, which was lent to me by a friend. Written by a conventional economist who doesn't even seem to know what causes economic growth, or what its consequences really are, it is pretty tough going. Important to know how the other side thinks, though, I guess.