I enjoyed this Adam Mastroianni article from late 2024 on apocalyptic beliefs - obviously still relevant! He argues that they are so common across cultures because of the nature of comparing the past to the present . Because the negativity of the past fades faster than positivity, the ratio of good to bad memories is higher in the past than the present. Seems like a reasonable mechanism and fits the data, though Mastroianni stops short of actually proving this is the root cause. The end is nigh and here’s why — Adam Mastroianni
Another great Dan Davies article where he applies cybernetics and public choice to outsourced state functions and identifies “management capacity” — the ability to process information and respond to feedback — as the load-bearing missing quantity in modern bureaucracy. Applying this framework to science, we can see that the slowness of scientific communication reduces its responsiveness Taming the unaccountability machine — Dan Davies
Max Langenkamp on why ethicists behave no better than other academics, with the operative analogy being that thought experiments are to moral behavior as bike manuals are to bike riding. Wholeheartedly agree. Being good isn’t about knowing rules. Ties somewhat to Brewer’s article I linked yesterday - when pressure is on, rules forsake you because executive function shuts down. Knowing the rules won’t help. You do not need ‘ethics’ to be good — Max Langenkamp
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