Podcasts about seeing like a state

  • 12PODCASTS
  • 18EPISODES
  • 1h 6mAVG DURATION
  • 1MONTHLY NEW EPISODE
  • Feb 26, 2024LATEST

POPULARITY

20172018201920202021202220232024


Best podcasts about seeing like a state

Latest podcast episodes about seeing like a state

The Transformation of Value
State, Money, and Pilgrimages with Andrew L. Wilson

The Transformation of Value

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2024 79:29


Andrew L. Wilson is an Author and Professor of History of Christianity as well as host of The Disentanglement Podcast, exploring privacy tech and the surveillance state. We discuss in detail severals books about the origin of the state and money, including James C Scott's, “Seeing Like A State”, Rees-Mogg and Davidson's “The Sovereign Individual”, and David Graeber's “Debt: The First 5,000 Years”. We discover some interesting parallels between the unconfiscatable nature of Bitcoin and the origins of state power with its ability to tax easily countable grain crops versus something like a potato which grows underground. We also talk about the history of the printing press as it relates to inflation within the church, and Andrew's personal proof of work undertaking a 1000-mile pilgrimage in the footsteps of Martin Luther from Germany to Rome. Connect with The Transformation of Value Follow me on twitter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/TTOVpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Nostr at: npub1uth29ygt090fe640skhc8l34d9s7xlwj4frxs2esezt7n6d64nwsqcmmmu Or send an email to hello@thetransformationofvalue.com and I will get back to you! Support this show: Bitcoin donation address: bc1qlfcr2v73tntt6wvyp2yu064egvyeery6xtwy8t Lightning donation address: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠codyellingham@getalby.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ PayNym: +steepvoice938 PayNym Code: PM8TJhcUCtSvHe69sod9pzLCBKg6GaogsMDwfGNCnL4HXyduiY9pbLpbn3oEUvuM75EeALxRVV3Mfi6kgWEBsseMki3QphE8aC5QDMNp9pUugqfz1yVc ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geyser Fund⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you send a donation please email or DM me so I can thank you! Links: Here I Walk: A Thousand Miles on Foot to Rome with Martin Luther Andrew L. Wilson - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28280211-here-i-walk The Disentanglement Podcast - https://podcastindex.org/podcast/5245113 libgen.is - The Pirate Bay for literature The Classical Tradition: Greek and Roman Influences on Western Literature by Gilbert Highet - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1731808.The_Classical_Tradition Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. Scott - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20186.Seeing_Like_a_State Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States by James C. Scott - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34324534-against-the-grain A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. , - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/164154.A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6617037-debt The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age by James Dale Davidson & William Rees-Mogg - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82256.The_Sovereign_Individual The Network State - https://thenetworkstate.com/ e-Residency of Estonia - https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/ Mother Earth Mother Board by Neal Stephenson - https://archive.is/19Msi

Made You Think
110: Fear of Oozification

Made You Think

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2024 60:12


"Oozification is the process of recursively replacing systems based on numerous larger building blocks, governed by many rules, with ones based on fewer, smaller building blocks, governed by fewer rules, thereby increasing the number of evolutionary possibilities and lowering the number of evolutionary certainties." Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're discussing Fear of Oozification, an article by Venkatesh Rao. Get ready to explore the concept of ooziness in technology, learn the signs of oozification, and uncover why the ooze should (or should not) be feared. We cover a wide range of topics including: How oozification applies in technology, nature, and more The contrast between progressification and oozification Challenges in preserving our knowledge over time Humans' natural fear of unpredictability and uncertainty Why authority and trust may be victims of oozification And much more. Please enjoy, and make sure to follow Nat, Neil, and Adil on Twitter and share your thoughts on the episode. Links from the Episode: Mentioned in the Show: Fear of Oozification Chrony Beliefs (0:32) (Book Episode) Oozy Intelligence in Slow Time (7:32) Sopranos Autopsy blog (30:44) StumbleUpon (31:27) The Honey Diet (35:57) Vesuvius Challenge (45:24) Phorevr (49:05) The Gervais Principle (51:48) The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial (51:51) Books Mentioned: The Three-Body Problem (1:42) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes) Permutation City (1:44) (Book Episode) Flowers for Algernon (1:48) (Book Episode) East of Eden (1:52) Logicomix (2:01) Seeing Like A State (23:30) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes) The Anthology of Balaji (38:22) Flatland (58:14) Watchmen (58:30) V for Vendetta (58:55) People Mentioned: Venkatesh Rao @anabology (32:06) Show Topics: (0:00) Welcome back to Made You Think! We kick off this episode by sharing our reading progress for the upcoming books on the podcast as well as anything else we're reading (or re-reading) outside of it. (5:32) Nat notes his experience with re-reading The Three-Body Problem series, the different pacing of each of the books, and other minor details that stuck out while going through it a second time. (6:43) Today, we're covering Fear of Oozification, an article by Venkatesh Rao. Nat, Neil, and Adil dive into the author's definition of oozification, and more specifically, how it applies within certain technologies such as the computer and phone. (10:52) What makes something more or less oozy? We think of the ooziness of nature where we frequently envision stable environments such as a forest or meadow. However, when a major change or catastrophe takes place, the landscape has to evolve and its trajectory changes. (14:36) Progressification vs oozification: In contrast to oozing, you can make steady and predictable progress within technology, for example. (16:50) We share our main takeaways from the article, debate what the author's view on oozification is, and how the author got his argument across.  (23:18) How oozification will happen regardless of the natural linear progression that we're on in the world of technology. As we progress and create new technologies, each new piece of tech will ooze in its own way. (26:27) Naturally, we fear the unpredictability of the future. What is it about oozification that we are more fearful of than just the unpredictability of the future? Plus, the new era of the internet vs. how things used to be in the world of blogging and social media. (31:43) Decentering and simplifying. We talk a bit about an individual health blog written in just plain text. Check it out here if you're curious! (37:39) Trust and authority, and how that links in with oozification. Nowadays, it's nearly easier to verify truth and accuracy in individuals rather than in large accredited institutions. (41:06) When something is oozed so far away from the fundamental state that we won't know how to recreate the original anymore. Plus, what really is the best way to transmit human knowledge? (46:07) How memories have traditionally been stored through photographs, both digital and physical, and what the future of storing our memories and artifacts may eventually look like. (51:37) We chat a bit about some of Rao's other articles, discuss the contrast in the way that technology and government oozifies, and provide our final thoughts of the article. (55:46) In true Made You Think fashion, we ask ChatGPT for its take on the article! (57:45) That wraps up this episode! Next up, we'll be reading Logicomix followed by East of Eden. Make sure to grab a copy of those books and read along with us. Head on over to our new website to see what's next, listen to previous episodes, and send any book suggestions our way! If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by leaving a review on iTunes and tell a friend. As always, let us know if you have any book recommendations! You can say hi to us on Twitter @TheRealNeilS, @adilmajid, @nateliason and share your thoughts on this episode. You can now support Made You Think using the Value-for-Value feature of Podcasting 2.0. This means you can directly tip the co-hosts in BTC with minimal transaction fees. To get started, simply download a podcast app (like Fountain or Breez) that supports Value-for-Value and send some BTC to your in-app wallet. You can then use that to support shows who have opted-in, including Made You Think! We'll be going with this direct support model moving forward, rather than ads. Thanks for listening. See you next time!

Wise Words
#63 Seeing Like a State - Book Summary

Wise Words

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 8, 2023 131:59


Greetings, Esteemed Wise Wordians,Welcome back to yet another captivating instalment of 'Wise Words Book Summaries.'In this episode, we delve into the insightful pages of ‘Seeing Like a State' by the esteemed James C Scott, unravelling the profound essence of its central theme.Join us as we embark on a journey through the following thought-provoking topics:How societal transformations can take unexpected turnsThe 4 critical factors leading to catastrophic outcomes in state-led changesState projects of legibility and simplificationThe repercussions of applying measures to realityThe metric revolution and its implicationsThe fascinating story behind cadastral maps and their ramificationsUncovering the origins of the modern stateIf any of these subjects pique your curiosity, we invite you to tune in. And if our content resonates with you, why not express your support by liking our episode, subscribing to our channel, or, even better, sharing your invaluable insights in the comment section below? Your feedback holds immense significance to us, serving as a compass guiding our podcast's improvement.Furthermore, should you be inclined to put into practice any of the actionable ideas we discuss in this episode, navigate over to our website at wisewords.blog, where the comprehensive summary of ‘Seeing Like A State' awaits your exploration.We hope that you enjoy it!———————Chapters:Intro-00:00:00Overview-00:00:16Introduction (The Purpose of the Book)-00:00:48How societal transformations go wrong:00:03:314 factors that lead to catastrophic outcomes in state-led societal changes:00:04:00The pitfalls of order:00:08:10Part 1 - State Projects of Legibility and Simplification:00:09:05The Utilitarian language that underpins our modern times:00:14:13Schematics of Social Order:00:20:47Uniformity in Measurement Systems:00:21:39The value in local measurements and why they aren't of use to states:00:24:57The Metric Revolution – Empowering the State:00:32:26Measuring Land Tenure – The formation of the Cadastral Map:00:36:53Initial Goals of Cadastral Maps:00:38:59Where the Cadastral map gets it wrong:00:40:21How shorthand formulas create incentives to game:00:45:32The Origins of the Modern State:00:49:06Naming Practices as a State Tool:00:50:52State Tool – Standardising Language:00:52:48Summary so far:00:54:54Part 2 -Transforming Visions:00:55:29Understanding State Simplification in Governance:00:59:09Understanding the Modern Map:01:10:54Catastrophes in State Development:01:13:55The Evolution of the State's Role in Society:01:15:13Understanding High Modernism:01:17:33Modernism and City Planning:01:23:22Lenin: The Revolutionary Visionary:01:30:18The Art of Crafting History by Victors:01:32:18Part 4 - The Missing Link - Types of Knowledge:01:35:58Technical Knowledge - The Relation with Episteme and Techne:01:36:18Techne and Science:01:39:30Practical knowledge:01:46:53Understanding Mētis:01:48:08Effectiveness of Practical Knowledge:01:53:23Valuing Practical Solutions:01:55:51Factors Contributing to the Disregard for Practical Knowledge:01:58:32How to make development planning betterIf you enjoyed this podcast make sure to check out our other content on our other platforms: Website: https://wisewords.blog/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wisewords.blog/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/wisewordsblog Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WiseWordsBlog

Oddly Influenced
/Seeing Like a State/, part 3: the users, the clients

Oddly Influenced

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2022 33:03


James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, 1998.XKCD, Always try to get data good enough that you don't need to do statistics on it.Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, 1883.Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, 1961.Rosa Luxemburg, Organizational Questions of Russian Social Democracy, The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions, The Russian RevolutionCreditsImage of a cow being given a physical exam ("bright or dull") courtesy Dawn Marick.

Work For Humans
Seeing Like a State: How Tops-Down Management Styles Create Disaster in Complex Systems | William Hurst

Work For Humans

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2022 76:24


William Hurst is all too familiar with the disasters that have resulted from tops-down governance. William has documented firsthand the chaos that ensues when decision-makers remain isolated from the realities of life on the ground in his decades of fieldwork in China and Indonesia. In this episode, Dart and William explore how companies experience similar problems when they try and optimize complex systems for narrow outcomes.William is the Chong Hua Professor of Chinese Development at Cambridge where his research focuses on Chinese and Indonesian politics. He is the author of Ruling Before the Law: the Politics of Legal Regimes in China and Indonesia and The Chinese Worker After Socialism.In this episode, Dart and William discuss:- Seeing Like a State, and other works from James C. Scott- How behavioral economics has reshaped our thinking of “the rational actor”- The failure of governments to optimize complex systems for specific outcomes- High modern authoritarianism, and how it shows up in our companies- The inseparable relationship between states, coercion, and violence- The limitations of tops-down management styles to govern at scale- How good intentions led to the starvation of 35 million people in China- The unstable future of China's economy- The qualities that make work meaningful- And other topics…William Hurst is the Chong Hua Professor of Chinese Development at Cambridge where he works on labor politics, contentious politics, political economy, and the politics of law and legal institutions, principally in China and Indonesia. Prior to Cambridge, William spent 8 years at Northwestern University where he served as the Professor of Political Science. Before Northwestern, William was a postdoctoral fellow at Oxford and an assistant professor at the Universities of Texas and Toronto.William is the author of several books including Ruling Before the Law: the Politics of Legal Regimes in China and Indonesia, and The Chinese Worker After Socialism. He is currently completing a book manuscript on the comparative politics of law and legal institutions in China and Indonesia since 1949.Resources Mentioned:Seeing Like a State, by James C. Scott: https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-like-State-Certain-Condition/dp/0300078153 Weapons of the Weak, by James C. Scott: https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Weak-Everyday-Peasant-Resistance/dp/0300036418Moral Economy of the Peasant, by James C. Scott: https://www.amazon.com/Moral-Economy-Peasant-Rebellion-Subsistence/dp/0300021909Against the Grain, by James C. Scott: https://www.amazon.com/Against-Grain-History-Earliest-States-ebook/dp/B0747RTP2WHidden Transcripts and the Arts of Resistance, by Richard A. Horsley: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Transcripts-Arts-Resistance-Applying/dp/9004130535Professor William Hurst at the University of Cambridge: https://www.devstudies.cam.ac.uk/ourpeople/williamhurstScholarly publications by William Hurst: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4YPbje4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra

Oddly Influenced
/Seeing Like a State/, part two: recognizing your High Modernist eidolon

Oddly Influenced

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2022 25:09


James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, 1998.Paul McCauley has used the idea of eidolons in more than one series. (Two that I know of.) The most recent is in his "Jackaroo" series of two novels and a few shorter pieces. The first of the novels is Something Coming Through. Here's a review. "Something Happened Here, But We're Not Quite Sure What It Was" is a short story that I think stands alone. I quote from the second Jackaroo novel, Into Everywhere, but I wouldn't read it first unless you're a fan of Gene Wolfe and like figuring out the backstory yourself. E. H. Gombrich, The Story of Art, 1995Paul Feyerabend, Bert Terpstra (editor), Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstraction versus the Richness of Being, 2001Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States, 1972. CreditsWorker and Kolkhoz (collective farm) Woman Monument from C.K. Leung, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Although I don't dwell on it in this episode, Scott uses the Soviet collective farm as a big example of a failure of Seeing Like a State.

Oddly Influenced
E17: James C. Scott's /Seeing Like a State/, part one

Oddly Influenced

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2022 22:08


James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, 1998.The Mastodon companion to this podcast: social.oddly-influenced.devCreditsSatellite image of Brasilia courtesy Axelspace Corporation, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Made You Think
75: Data & Control: Seeing Like A State

Made You Think

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2022 104:07


"The despot is not a man. It is the Plan. The correct, realistic, exact plan, the one that will provide your solution once the problem has been posited clearly, in its entirety, in its indispensable harmony. This plan has been drawn up well away from the frenzy in the mayor's office or the town hall, from the cries of the electorate or the laments of society's victims. It has been drawn up by serene and lucid minds. It has taken account of nothing but human truths. It has ignored all current regulations, all existing usages, and channels. It has not considered whether or not it could be carried out with the constitution now in force. It is a biological creation destined for human beings and capable of realization by modern techniques."   Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, Nat and Neil are joined by Adil Majid to discuss their key takeaways from Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott. This book discusses how states seek to make the territory more legible in order to guide its functioning. However, this planned social order often disregards vital features of any real, functioning social order. How do certain schemes to improve the human condition end up failing?   We cover a wide range of topics including: Government's desire for legibility vs. local control and power Infinite coastline paradox The importance of feedback loops and adaptability in a system How high modernism has been implemented and why those implementations have failed Connections between the book and cryptocurrency   And much more. Please enjoy, and make sure to follow Nat, Neil, and Adil on Twitter and share your thoughts on the episode.   Links from the Episode:   Mentioned in the show: High modernism (5:58) Window tax (20:25) The Blind Cafe - San Francisco (35:32) The Infinite Coastline (43:22) Rise Roar Revolt (1:07:14) India's Economy Hinges on the Return of Workers Who Fled to Their Villages (1:14:58) Stepn (1:31:38) Will STEPN Bring Crypto to the Masses? (1:36:23) Slate Star Codex Book Review (1:40:57)  A Big Little Idea Called Legibility (1:42:25) The Intellectual Yet Idiot (1:42:36) Books Mentioned: Seeing Like a State Extreme Ownership (22:31) (Nat's Book Notes) Scale (23:19) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes) Four Thousand Weeks (37:47) Merchants of Doubt (49:49) (Nat's Book Notes) The Fourth Turning (1:08:55) (Book Episode)  The Dictator's Handbook (1:20:43) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes) The Conscience of a Conservative (1:39:43) People Mentioned: Nassim Taleb (9:06) Jocko Willink (22:32) Geoffrey West (23:19) Arthur Hayes (1:26:28) Barry Goldwater (1:39:44)   Show Topics: 1:04 Today we're joined by Adil Majid (previously in episodes #7, #33, #34, #35, #71, #74) to cover Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott. There's often an assumption that it's the fault of the people when planned systems fail, when really it's the fault of the governing body implementing these rigid systems.   5:58 There are a few major concepts in the book. One of these main concepts is legibility. A state needs to understand what's happening on the ground and also needs a way to measure it. Scientific forestry as a way to produce timber more efficiently.   11:56 “Thus, plants that are valued become "crops," the species that compete with them are stigmatized as "weeds," and the insects that ingest them are stigmatized as "pests."”    Scott argues that there's more variables than any of the high modernists can understand. A high modernist cannot acknowledge that there are more variables than they know, and that they are not in full control of those variables. You can't adjust one variable and be able to fully predict all the effects.   15:01 One of the mistakes of the high modernist desire for legibility is confusing the visual external order with internal underlying order and structure. Things can have a deep sensible underlying order that doesn't make sense from the outside. Trees as an example; The distribution of roots, stems, and leaves is efficient in capturing light and water but if a human designed a tree, it may look real different. This same idea can be applied to cities.   17:10 The systemization of last names.    19:48 There are consequences of implementing these rigid systems. Many times, the systems put in place end up changing the exact thing that they're supposed to regulate.    21:31 The government uses legibility to make things easier to understand, and it's how they gain control. The amount of control you have can depend on how many levels are within your system. This ties into Extreme Ownership where the military has different levels of hierarchy, but on the ground, you get a lot of individual freedom to execute the mission. If you try to maintain strict order all the way down, things can go poorly. If you allow things to spread out and have variation at the ends, the system tends to be more resilient.   25:11 Authoritarianism is high modernism without feedback loops and democracy is high modernism with feedback loops. Adil describes metis (local knowledge) and techne (mathematical absolute truths). Things naturally float to the top, and you have to fight to keep the local knowledge at the local level.   29:10 High modernism is suitable for techne. You need to have these slightly chaotic systems where you can experiment and fail in order to better develop. The beauty of the local knowledge is that it's experimental. Feedback loops and being able to adapt.   34:11 How did our five senses evolve to be the way they are? Our visual life is very stimulating. We lock on to things that are bright, surprising, fast-paced. Screens give us so much of that novelty that other things can appear boring to look at.   39:18 The book talks about grouping people, and they lose their individual characteristics by being dropped in the buckets based on non-representative characteristics. The map vs. the terrain.   43:08 The infinite coastline. The more you zoom into it, the more you have to add variations which makes it longer and longer. Theoretically as you zoom into something so deeply, you have an infinitely long coastline. Nat, Neil, and Adil discuss: What are the implications of higher fidelity?   46:30 High modernism works if you can convince people it's the best way forward. The element of authoritarianism; the more you try to force people to go along with an idea the more negative pushback you'll get. The recycling and no smoking movements.   51:37 Complex systems can get wrecked by very small changes. Some systems need every moving part in order to run efficiently, and just the absence of one part can throw the system for a loop.    55:22 Adding chips to farm equipment. What was the efficiency improvement? These highly industrialized systems can be good at increasing output, but one little ding in the system and it can fall apart.   1:03:45 India and their legibility efforts. Neil talks about the national ID card for banking and other purposes. A lot of underground stuff goes on in order for people to avoid getting their ID card. The government has gone as far as banning the largest paper currency note overnight and issuing a new one in hopes to get people to go to a bank to switch it or deposit it.    1:08:58 Would India be a country if the British had never come there? India was originally made up of hundreds of individual states, so there are many regional identities still today.   1:11:17 National languages and global languages: How do they come to be, and is it even possible to change them now that they're established?   1:14:48 During Covid, people in India who moved to cities for jobs ended up moving back to their villages as the cost of living wasn't worth it. Within the village is their support system. This move from a legible system back to an illegible system is a good thing for the individual, but not necessarily for a government that wants more legibility.   1:17:27 Nat summarizes the core ideas of the book. Highly authoritarian states such as China and North Korea and censorship on the internet. How North Korea has been so authoritarian for so long and has been able to keep it that way.   1:21:35 Work-to-rule: This is where employees do just the minimum that is required from them and follow all regulation and safety guidelines. This in turn can lead to a decrease in productivity as workers are no longer working during weekends, breaks, etc.    1:23:31 How does this book tie back into crypto? A lot of the early crypto crowd is inherently anti-legibility.    1:32:42 Stepn is a lifestyle app that encourages its users to “move-to-earn”. Nat shares 3 ways you can tell that it's time to exit the project so you don't lose your investment.    1:39:20 Thanks for listening! Got any book suggestions for a future episode? Hit us up on Twitter!   If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by leaving a review on iTunes and tell a friend. As always, let us know if you have any book recommendations! You can say hi to us on Twitter @TheRealNeilS and @nateliason and share your thoughts on this episode. You can now support Made You Think using the Value-for-Value feature of Podcasting 2.0. This means you can directly tip the co-hosts in BTC with minimal transaction fees. To get started, simply download a podcast app (like Fountain or Breez) that supports Value-for-Value and send some BTC to your in-app wallet. You can then use that to support shows who have opted-in, including Made You Think! We'll be going with this direct support model moving forward, rather than ads. Thanks for listening. See you next time!

Made You Think
74: America Reborn: The Fourth Turning

Made You Think

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2022 101:03


“A Fourth Turning lends people of all ages what is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to heal (or destroy) the very heart of the republic.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, Nat and Neil are joined by Adil Majid to discuss their key takeaways from The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe. The authors uncover how history moves in cycles, or "turnings", and how our past could very well predict our future. This episode will challenge the way you have traditionally thought of time as linear, and open your eyes to cycles that are much bigger than ourselves. We cover a wide range of topics including: What is a turning, and how does each generation influence the next turning? Gold, Bitcoin, and inflation of the US Dollar The possibility of parallel systems Current events that may be leading us to the climax of the crisis era The four themes (High, Awakening, Unraveling, and Crisis) and the ways they have tied in to the events of American history And much more. Please enjoy, and make sure to follow Nat, Neil, and Adil on Twitter and share your thoughts on the episode. Links from the Episode: Mentioned in the show: Athletic Greens (1:41) Major brands freeze Youtube ads (2:15) Blinkist (2:48) Oatly: The New Coke (3:25) Bankless (5:09) Martyrmade Podcast: Thoughts on Ukraine (47:05) China and Taiwan conflict (50:14) SNL Skit: Republican or Not (1:06:19) SNL Skit: Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks (1:06:39) The Political Compass (1:08:40) Balaji Srinivasan on Communist Capital vs. Woke Capital vs. Crypto Capital (1:09:59) Full Send Podcast with Donald Trump (1:15:34) Man enters White House with knife (1:22:56) "I support the current thing" Meme (1:25:32) Operation Warp Speed (1:32:00) Cases of Polio-like Symptoms in the Bay Area (1:35:07) Dalio's Long-Term Debt Cycle (1:38:32) Episode 7: A Crash Course in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cryptocurrency (1:40:12)   Books Mentioned: The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe Dictator's Handbook (4:23) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes) Sovereign Individual (6:15) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes) King, Warrior, Magician, Lover (32:14) (Book Episode) The Mandibles (43:14) Seeing Like A State (54:15) (Nat's Book Notes) Demon in the Freezer (1:30:48) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1:37:35) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes) Alchemy of Finance (1:39:13) Denial of Death (1:40:21) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes) Scale (1:40:35) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes) Sapiens (1:40:40) (Book Episode 1) (Sapiens Episode 2) (Nat's Book Notes) Homo Deus (1:40:40) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes)   People Mentioned: Neil Howe William Strauss Ray Dalio (45:36) Lyn Alden (51:04) Joe Rogan (1:14:05) Steve Bannon (1:35:35)   Show Topics 0:19 Adil Majid joins the podcast today to help Nat and Neil break down The Fourth Turning by and William Strauss Neil Howe. You may remember him from some of our previous episodes (#7, #33, #34, #35, #71), so go check those out if you haven't already! 4:39 The Fourth Turning was written around the same time as Sovereign Individual, and shares some connections as both books discuss adapting to the next phase or cycle in civilization. 9:18 The four turnings: "The High", "The Awakening", "The Unraveling" and "The Crisis". The current cycle, also known as "The Crisis", would have started around 2005, and may go on until around 2026. These turnings are such a zoomed out way of looking at periods of time, and most people that are living have not been around long enough to experience each turning. "Over the millennia, man has developed three ways of thinking about time: chaotic, cyclical, and linear. The first was the dominant view of primitive man, the second of ancient and traditional civilizations, and the third of the modern West, especially America.” 14:51 Neil talks about some of the bigger, zoomed out cycles such as the ice age cycles and climate cycles. We only see the micro-cycles because that's our perspective on time. 15:40 In some religions such as Christianity, time is thought of as linear. Rather than accepting the cycles and seasons of the year and time, we try to fight them to create this linear constancy, because that's what we are familiar with and what we can see. 17:50 Trends in substance abuse and alcohol. The way that our parents' and grandparents' generations treated alcohol is much different than how the younger generation treats it. This brings us to the four archetypes discussed in the book: Prophets, Nomads, Heroes, and Artists. Prophets give birth to Heroes, and vice versa while Nomads give birth to Artists, and vice versa. In theory, this will determine your archetypal behavior. 24:17 The turnings tie into the generations. As one comes of age, they influence the next turning. Based on the timeline from the book, we've all been in a Crisis era for most of our adult lives (if you're around 30). What does it mean now that we're within a few years of coming out of this period of crisis? 26:06 The "High" occurred post World War 2, between 1946-1964. This period of time was big on collectivism and community. It was not a High for everyone, however, as this was before the civil rights movement and the women's suffrage movement. After WW2, people began creating a better life and enjoying the high after surviving the war. Their children grew up in a time of abundance, but the abundance wasn't experienced by everyone, and this led to different civil movements as they entered the period of Awakening. 30:55 Between the Awakening and the Unraveling is a long period of decline. The Awakening is a period of challenging the morals of the previous generation, and the Unraveling is putting those things into practice. From there, it then leads to the period of Crisis. 34:36 We see this conflict today where older Gen Z and Millennials are growing up with student loan debt.  The previous generation grew up in a period of abundance off the High of post WW2, which paved the way for that generation to live a comfortable life. 38:28 Where did the Crisis start? Nat, Neil, and Adil discuss several events such as 9/11, the Iraq war, and the 2007 financial crisis that may be marked as the start of the Crisis. 45:26 Not every Fourth Turning has to end in war, but every previous one has ended in a war, thus why the conflict in Russia/Ukraine is so notable, as well as conflict between China and Taiwan. 50:33 Gold, Bitcoin, and inflation. Which country could tip the scale?  55:03 Preparing for the Fourth Turning. Neil makes a connection to The Mandibles, where if the Government ever decides to cease wealth or shut down the stock market, the value that we currently hold in the market will decrease significantly, although we may have thought it was safe.  “Really know where your money is.” 1:00:28 Adil describes the technological arms race that's happening. Ideas shifting in political parties even within the past decade.  1:09:55 Woke capital, communist capital, and crypto capital. Is there a possibility for parallel systems where one area of the country/world may align with one ideology and another area aligns with another approach? The Internet, as an example. 1:16:59 Another symptom of the crisis mentality is mistrust of organizations that were typically trusted by previous generations. 1:21:09 The storming of the Capital on January 6th. This had the potential to be a climax moment, but didn't end up turning into something massive. 1:25:29 This year's Oscars brought a shared moment between everyone. Most things you see in the media will produce two total opposite reactions, whereas in this particular moment, the experience and reaction was very much the same across the board. These shared moments create a sense of unity. 1:35:16 This book is controversial, partly because the concepts in this book are hard to prove as factual. It's comfortable to think we have everything figured out, without challenging anything or institutions. 1:38:41 Thanks for listening! Make sure to grab a copy of the next book we will be covering, Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung. Stay tuned, as Adil will be back for another future episode where we discuss Seeing Like A State.   If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by leaving a review on iTunes and tell a friend. As always, let us know if you have any book recommendations! You can say hi to us on Twitter @TheRealNeilS and @nateliason and share your thoughts on this episode. You can now support Made You Think using the Value-for-Value feature of Podcasting 2.0. This means you can directly tip the co-hosts in BTC with minimal transaction fees. To get started, simply download a podcast app (like Fountain or Breez) that supports Value-for-Value and send some BTC to your in-app wallet. You can then use that to support shows who have opted-in, including Made You Think! We'll be going with this direct support model moving forward, rather than ads. Thanks for listening. See you next time!

FUTURE FOSSILS
178 - Chris Ryan on Exhuming The Human from Our Eldritch Institutions

FUTURE FOSSILS

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2021 75:07


The longest-incubated episode of Future Fossils ever! "Vanthropologist" Chris Ryan and I discuss his book, Civilized To Death: The Price of Progress, and the conflict between human beings and our institutions. What is the bright side of collapse? What syntheses of wilderness and culture can we foster in the years to come? This was a blast...✨ Housekeeping• If you want to see these conversations thrive, support Future Fossils on Patreon and please leave a good review on Apple Podcasts! As a patron you get extra podcasts each month, book club calls, and early access to new writing, art, and music.• Meet great people and have awesome conversations in our Discord Server & Facebook Group, which is going to convert to patrons-only in January 2022.• When you'd rather listen to music, follow me on Bandcamp or Spotify. (Here are my listening recommendations.)✨ Music & Art by Michael Garfield• Intro music from the Martian Arts EP. • Outro music: "Seeing Like A State" available soon to Patreon and Bandcamp supporters.✨ Other ways to support the work that goes into Future Fossils• Venmo: @futurefossils• PayPal.me/michaelgarfield• BTC: 1At2LQbkQmgDugkchkP6QkDJCvJ5rv3Jm• ETH: 0xfD2BC66586FA4FBA189992E9B0037CD5cb9673EF• NFTs: Rarible | Foundation | Voice | Hic Et Nunc | Mint Songs Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/futurefossils. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Pb Living - A daily book review
A Book Review - Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. Scott

Pb Living - A daily book review

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2021 10:37


Compulsory ujamaa villages in Tanzania, collectivization in Russia, Le Corbusier's urban planning theory realized in Brasilia, the Great Leap Forward in China, agricultural "modernization" in the Tropics—the twentieth century has been racked by grand utopian schemes that have inadvertently brought death and disruption to millions. Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? In this wide-ranging and original book, James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields. Centrally managed social plans misfire, Scott argues, when they impose schematic visions that do violence to complex interdependencies that are not—and cannot—be fully understood. Further, the success of designs for social organization depends upon the recognition that local, practical knowledge is as important as formal, epistemic knowledge. The author builds a persuasive case against "development theory" and imperialistic state planning that disregards the values, desires, and objections of its subjects. He identifies and discusses four conditions common to all planning disasters: administrative ordering of nature and society by the state; a "high-modernist ideology" that places confidence in the ability of science to improve every aspect of human life; a willingness to use authoritarian state power to effect large- scale interventions; and a prostrate civil society that cannot effectively resist such plans. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pbliving/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pbliving/support

Slate Star Codex Podcast
Contra Weyl On Technocracy

Slate Star Codex Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2021 36:26


https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/contra-weyl-on-technocracy   I. I am not defending technocracy. Nobody ever defends technocracy. It's like "elitism" or "statism". There is no Statist Party. Nobody holds rallies demanding more statism. There is no Citizens for Statism Facebook page with thousands of likes and followers. Yet for some reason libertarians don't win every single national election. Strange, isn't it? Maybe it’s one of those Russell conjugations - "I am firm, you are obstinate". I support rule of law, you're a statist. I want checks and balances on mob rule, you're an elitist. I like evidence-based policy, you're a technocrat. I am not defending technocracy. But I do like evidence-based policy. So I read with interest Glen Weyl's Why I Am Not A Technocrat. It starts with a short summary of Seeing Like A State. It ties this into modern "evidence-based policy" and "mechanism design". It talks about how technocrats will always have their own insular culture and biases and paradigms, which prevent them from seeing the real world in its full complexity. Therefore, we should be careful about supposedly "objective" policies, and make sure they are always heavily informed by real people's real knowledge. Then it draws on vague rumors of the "rationalist community" and a shadowy figure named "Eliezer Yudkowsky" to create a completely fictional reimagination of us as a group of benighted people who don't understand any of these things, and just go around saying "hurr durr top-down systems are great, no way there could possibly be anything our models don't capture."

The Human Risk Podcast
Gerald Ashley & Rory Sutherland on Prosilience

The Human Risk Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 28, 2020 41:52


What is Prosilience, and how can organisations ensure their people provide it? That's where the discussion between my guests on this episode, Gerald Ashley and Rory Sutherland, begins. Where it goes from there, is a joyous adventure in which two great thinkers explore a range of Human Risk related topics. * Listener Warning: the episode contains adult language * This episode is the 100th in the Human Risk podcast series and is a continuation of a discussion which began in the 99th episode. I recommend listening to that first before exploring this one.You'll find my earlier discussion with Rory here: https://www.podpage.com/the-human-risk-podcast/rory-sutherland-on-compliance/and Gerald here: https://www.podpage.com/the-human-risk-podcast/gerald-ashley-on-uncertainty/As with the previous episode, I'm providing more detailed show notes given the breadth and depth of issues covered. 05:18 Rory refers to Seeing Like A State by James C Scott. More on that here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State05:54 Gerald talks about the metrics used to measure Soviet bicycle manufacturing. This article doesn't feature bicycles, but covers the idea and features a wonderful cartoon from a Soviet magazine: https://econlife.com/2015/08/the-incentives-that-metrics-create/09:32 Rory talks about his appearance on Bloomberg TV. You can watch that here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-03-25/advertisers-becoming-too-obsessed-with-tech-sutherland11:50 Rory mentions Rod Liddell in the context of a story about the BBC's travel policy. To learn more about Rod: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Liddle12:34 Gerald mentions Peter Turchin, who Rory explains is a Cliodynamicist. You'll find Peter's website here: http://peterturchin.com/ and a guide to Cliodynamics one that website here: http://peterturchin.com/cliodynamics/14:10 A rare intervention by me to mention David Graber's book Bullshit Jobs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs14:30 Rory refers to 14th Century Middle Eastern Historian Ibn Khaldoun - https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-Khaldun15:04 Gerald talks about The Great Wave by David Hackett Fischer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_(book)18:25 Rory talks about Daniel Kahneman's research into risk appetites of CEOs and division heads. You can read more about that in this HBR article: https://hbr.org/2020/03/your-company-is-too-risk-averse19:40 Gerald talks about the Lockheed Martin Skunkworks. You can read about the history of that unit here https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/history/skunk-works.html and its current role here: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks.html22:59 Gerald talks about Nudgestock, the annual Behavioural Science festival hosted by Rory. You can read about that here: https://www.nudgestock.co.uk/The presentation he refers to is by Jules Goddard called The Fatal Bias and can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNlzl37GLdA 24:46 Rory highlights the story of mathematician's Abraham Wald intervention in the Second World War. It is explained in this excerpt from Jordan Ellenberg's excellent How Not To Be Wrong: https://medium.com/@penguinpress/an-excerpt-from-how-not-to-be-wrong-by-jordan-ellenberg-664e708cfc3d25:56 Rory talks about IBM's Thomas Watson and his desire to have Wild Geese. In actual fact, Watson talked about Wild Ducks (https://www.mbiconcepts.com/watson-sr-and-wild-ducks.html). Interestingly, the Duck story actually comes from an original fable by Søren Kierkegaard about a Wild Goose. For some reason Watson preferred Ducks! You can read the Kierkegaard story here: https://www.maxelon.co.uk/2015/01/domestic-geese/26:18 Rory refers to James C Scott's idea of an Anarchist's Squint. You can read more about that in his collection of essays called Two Cheers for Anarchism: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/james-c-scott-two-cheers-for-anarchism32:33 Gerald talks about how the British government sold Rolls Royce engines to the Russian government. You can read about that here: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/how-british-turbojet-allowed-russias-mig-15-fight-the-air-2638532:50 Rory explains how penicillin was passed by America to supposedly neutral countries during World War Two, against British instructions. It ended up saving Adolf Hitler's life after a bomb plot on 20th July 1940. More on the research behind that here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/154-1.17501840:05 Rory references British supergroup The Travelling Wilburys. Find out who they are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling_Wilburys. You can hear them on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2hO4YtXUFJiUYS2uYFvHNK?si=eqMFhifpSIai03kZPFHOVQ

Made You Think
63: The Universal Laws of Growth. Scale by Geoffrey West

Made You Think

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 11, 2020 92:22


Scale by Geoffrey West focuses on the the principles and patterns connecting the ways that cities, organisms, and companies grow. West, a theoretical physicist, studied the way in which sizes of mammals related to their life expectancy, and further connected these laws to the growth and longevity of cities and the world of business. Nat and Neil unpack these laws and principles on today's podcast episode. We cover a wide range of topics including: The idea of '1 billion heartbeats' per lifetime How COVID has impacted growth of cities and business Human life expectancy Paradigm shifting innovations Growth in its relation to socioeconomic factors And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of Scale by Geoffrey West! Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show Readwise (0:02) Antilibrary (Umberto Eco) (4:41) Evernote (1:07) Notion (1:07) Roam (1:07) Airr (8:58) Of Mice and Elephants: A Matter of Scale (21:08) Steve Jobs introduces WiFi…with a hula hoop! (48:43) Books mentioned Seeing Like A State by James C. Scott (7:36) (Nat’s Book Notes) Antifragile (7:40) (Nat’s Book Notes) (Book Episode) The Blueprint for Armageddon by Dan Carlin (8:48) The Startup Gold Mine (Neil Soni) (13:05) Scale by Geoffrey West (14:08) (Nat’s Book Notes) Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett (27:08) (Nat’s Book Notes) (Book Episode) The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch (30:05) (Nat’s Book Notes) (Book Episode) The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin (35:31) (Nat’s Book Notes) Happy Accidents by Morton Meyers (59:02) (Nat’s Book Notes) (Book Episode) In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell (1:17:44) (Nat’s Book Notes) (Book Episode)   People Mentioned Umberto Eco (4:41) Dan Carlin (8:48) Geoffrey West (14:08) David Deutsch (27:03) Daniel Dennett (27:08) Arthur Clarke (50:14) Nassim Taleb (1:29:30) Show notes: 0:27 - Using Readwise to gather your notes to export to other sites. Scanning book pages of physical books. Nat and Neil discuss their preferences surrounding digital vs. physical books. 6:32 - Re-reading books. The difficulty of finding a ‘mind-blowing’ book to read. If you have any book recommendations for a future podcast episode, send them our way! 8:45 - Airr - Highlight audio as you listen to podcasts. How to make podcast listening more educational for yourself. Purposes of podcasts can be both educational and entertaining. The massive market for “How To” content. 14:08 - This week’s episode is on the book Scale: The Universal Laws of Life, Growth, and Death in Organisms, Cities, and Companies by Geoffrey West. The book talks about how things grow, continue to grow, decline in growth, or decay. The author primarily focuses on growth of organisms, cities, and companies, as the book title suggests, but also within these large structures are smaller substructures that grow and change, too. Some of the same laws of growth apply in seemingly different systems. 20:31 - There are many things that scale along with size that are not growing at a 1:1 ratio. The number of heartbeats in a specific mammal’s life is roughly the same across species. Neil describes an article in which each species receives an average of 1 billion heartbeats per lifetime. The heart rate varies on size of the being. Different lifespans between species. From an objective standpoint, an elephant tends to live longer than a mouse, but subjectively, do life spans feel the same length to each individual creature? 23:45 - How humans fit into this research of lifespan vs. body size. Differences in lifespan pre-technology vs. today’s era. Life extension - whether or not the maximum life expectancy can be extended. The age of 125 seems to be the maximum at this point according to West. 28:02 - Entropy and natural decay in the cell’s ability to replicate. You can bring things from disordered back to ordered, and with that creates externalities. Example: the waste created when we use the bathroom. Are there ways to minimize that?   30:46 - “The problem is that the theory also predicts that unbounded growth cannot be sustained without having either infinite resources or inducing major paradigm shifts that reset the clock before potential collapse occurs. We have sustained open-ended growth and avoided collapse by invoking continuous cycles of paradigm shifting innovations, such as those associated on the big scale of human history with discoveries of iron, steam, coal, computation, and most recently digital information technology.” (pg. 31) This quote is talking about finite-time singularity. This leads into a discussion in paradigm shifting innovations in today’s world. Resetting the paradigm clock. 35:45 - The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin - One thing brought up in this book is that humans, technologically, are an exponentially developing species. Geoffrey West brings up the possibility of hitting a wall and running out of paradigm shifts. To continue growing at an exponential rate, do we have to keep discovering this innovations at an exponential rate? 37:12 - Growth and the way society is structured. A shrink in population would pose the issue of how a generation smaller in numbers would have to be paying Social Security for the generation above them. Continued growth is ‘built-in’ to the system, and if it doesn’t grow at the anticipated rate, a collapse is possible. 41:09 - Across different cultures and countries comes different values: community, family, the state, society, tradition, religion. In America, it’s perceived that one’s self is the most valued, also referred to as individualism. 45:06 - The release of new inventions and technology in the ‘80s and ‘90s: computers, digital cameras, cell phones, and laptops. From big, clunky, and colorless inventions to high-speed and attractive new pieces of technology. It becomes interesting to think about how unique and magical these inventions feel at the time they come out, and also how quickly the next piece of upgraded technology follows. 52:11 - There are products that improve and add more features at a higher rate, and products where that growth is not as rapid. As noted in the book, these paradigm shifts happen, there’s a massive spike, and new innovations slowly come from that spike. The spike jump starts the innovations, and the innovations slow until there’s another spike. 54:26 - Discussions over whether COVID will bring a new spike. There have been many changes in our society with the way we work, make money, education, etc. that it poses the question on what will follow. Making use of underutilized resources. It comes down to what is more efficient. 56:34 - Intellectual capital has been opened up in a new way since COVID, as we are no longer expected to be in the same place. The downfall of Silicon Valley between COVID, remote work, and being on literal fire. With people working remotely now more than ever, it seems to point us in the direction of growth in the digital space and information innovation. 1:00:07 - How these changes in the way we live and work will affect the scaling laws discussed in the book. Urbanization in the U.S. People moving out of big cities. Changes in the way companies and their employees are now working. 1:06:05 - Companies and their current policies: remote, in-person, or a mixture of both. Depends on the needs and what industry they are in. Coworking spaces and working remotely around people, without actually working with them. 1:10:10 - Human’s ability to regulate their internal body temperature. West brings up global warming, and how an increase of 2 degrees Celsius could increase the pace of all biological lives by 20-30% - living and dying faster. Inversely, if you could lower your own body temperature by 1 degree Celsius, you could enhance your life span by 10-15%. 1:14:32 - Growth of cities and its relation with socioeconomic factors: wages, innovation, crime, pollution, etc. “The multiplicative compounding of socioeconomic interactivity engendered by urbanization has inevitably led to the contraction of time. Rather than being bored to death, our actual challenge is to avoid anxiety attacks, psychotic breakdowns, heart attacks, and strokes resulting from being accelerated to death.” (pg. 332) 1:20:03 - Population size in cities and productively interacting with others - discussions on whether innovations can come from a city that stays stagnant or even decreases in size. Commute times and the ‘one hour’ rule. 1:25:03 - Shared ideologies from across the world without a way to bring those people together. Sense of community from these shared interests and ideas, even if there is no physical meeting place for all to share. 1:29:58 - The next book we will be reading and discussing is Energy and Civilization by Vaclav Smil. Feel free to pick up a copy of the book to read along with us before the next podcast episode! If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by leaving a review on iTunes. As always, let us know if you have any book recommendations! Find us on Twitter @TheRealNeilS and @nateliason. The best way to stay up to date on future episodes and show updates is to join our email list at Made You Think Podcast. Check out ways you can support the show here!

Slate Star Codex Podcast
Book Review: Seeing Like a State [Classic]

Slate Star Codex Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 7, 2019 77:26


Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/16/book-review-seeing-like-a-state/ I. Seeing Like A State is the book G.K. Chesterton would have written if he had gone into economic history instead of literature. Since he didn’t, James Scott had to write it a century later. The wait was worth it. Scott starts with the story of “scientific forestry” in 18th century Prussia. Enlightenment rationalists noticed that peasants were just cutting down whatever trees happened to grow in the forests, like a chump. They came up with a better idea: clear all the forests and replace them by planting identical copies of Norway spruce (the highest-lumber-yield-per-unit-time tree) in an evenly-spaced rectangular grid. Then you could just walk in with an axe one day and chop down like a zillion trees an hour and have more timber than you could possibly ever want. This went poorly. The impoverished ecosystem couldn’t support the game animals and medicinal herbs that sustained the surrounding peasant villages, and they suffered an economic collapse. The endless rows of identical trees were a perfect breeding ground for plant diseases and forest fires. And the complex ecological processes that sustained the soil stopped working, so after a generation the Norway spruces grew stunted and malnourished. Yet for some reason, everyone involved got promoted, and “scientific forestry” spread across Europe and the world. And this pattern repeats with suspicious regularity across history, not just in biological systems but also in social ones.

Spectology: The Science Fiction Book Club Podcast
12.2: Semiosis post-read w/ Nate Spence: Budding Utopia or Mutualist Dystopia?

Spectology: The Science Fiction Book Club Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2019 129:11


Matt, Nate, & Adrian have a long, rollicking conversation about Semiosis, by Sue Burke (https://amzn.to/2JGYm6C). We all really loved the book, but also have a lot of criticism of it, and we get really in-depth on what it all means to us.  The only other books we really mention are Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovski and Dark Eden by Chris Beckett. Look for our 8.1 & 8.2 episode numbers for discussion on CoT, and look out for our episodes on Dark Eden next month! In addition, if you want to go deeper on how ecologies aren't stable and why thinking so leads to bad utopias, the 2nd episode in the documentary All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace will be right up your alley. You might also enjoy the book Seeing Like A State by James C. Scott. Finally, big thanks to Nate for suggesting this book and talking to us about it for over 3 hours over these two episodes. Find his videogame on Steam Early Access by searching Ectolibrium. Also thanks to Nate's wife, Amanda, for the artwork this month, she's at @@amandalamandala on Instagram. --- We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter at @spectologypod, sending us an email at spectologypod@gmail.com, or submitting the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podcast when we talk about your comment. And if you like the episode, subscribe at spectology.com or whever you listen to podcasts, and share it with your friends! Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our music and art.

Grey Mirror: MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative on Technology, Society, and Ethics
#41 Taylor Pearson: The Blockchain Individual and (No Longer) Seeing Like a State

Grey Mirror: MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative on Technology, Society, and Ethics

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2018 53:08


Taylor Pearson, the author of EndOfJobs and an editor-at-large for Ribbon Farm. We chat about a wide variety of subjects including the Blockchain Individual and how crypto allows us to no longer see like a state. Support me on Patreon! www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark Support me with ETH on StakeTree! www.staketree.com/rhyslindmark Thanks to KeepKey for sponsoring the show! www.keepkey.com/ Thanks to Collin Brown, Mike Goldin, John Desmond, Paras Chopra, Andrew Cochrane, Sandra Ro, Harry Lindmark, Jonny Dubowsky, Sam Jonas, Malcolm Ocean, Colin Wielga, Joe Urgo, Josh Nussbaum, John Lindmark, Garry Tan, Jacob Zax, Doug King, Katie Powell, Mark Moore, Jonathan Isaac, Coury Ditch, Ref Lindmark, Mike Pratt, Jim Rutt, Jeff Snyder, Ryan X Charles, Chris Edmonds, Brayton Williams, Brian Crain, David Ernst, Ali Shanti, Patrick Walker, Ryan Martens, Kenji Williams, Craig Burel, Scott Levi, Matt Daley, Peter Rodgers, Keith Klundt, Alan Curtis, Kenzie Jacobs, and James Waugh for supporting me on Patreon! Thanks to Storecoin, Griff Green, Radar Relay, district0x, Niel de la Rouviere, Brady McKenna, and some anonymous others for supporting me on StakeTree!

longer blockchain individual eth niel jonathan isaac mark moore chris edmonds garry tan taylor pearson jeff snyder patrick walker doug king mike pratt alan curtis keepkey james waugh ribbonfarm griff green sandra ro rouviere ali shanti radar relay seeing like a state john desmond kenji williams joe urgo mike goldin brady mckenna
Scott H Young Podcast
Ep 7 Book Club: Seeing like a state

Scott H Young Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2018 48:39


This is the wrap-up video for the seventh month of the book club. This month we read Seeing Like A State by James C. Scott.

book club james c scott seeing like a state