Ironically many of those writers you mentioned probably call themselves Marxists, i.e. disciples of a stats-nerd obsessed with technology, who made fun of alot of people (I like to call the "The Capital" the "Great Roasting of obscure authors only rembered through this" privately) but none more than naive socialists who wanted to return to "Nature" (including his own brother-in-law).
I agree with all of this so much. To the point where it almost feels like I've spent weeks writing thousands of words to express this in a more poorly written, less well thought out way. Didn't anticipate drinking at 8 AM today but, here we are.
I will note that although I also share the feeling about this being a space inhabited by tech bros who believe in the most childish form of libertarianism, this has always been, in my view, the inherently Marxist position. And although I have (perhaps wrongly?) abandoned my youthful faith in revolution I've never abandoned my youthful faith in our ability to engineer a better world. This was also the mainline American view until about the 1970s when we our thought leaders became infected by European post-war pessimism. If this space feels flooded by Silicon Valley Ayn Rand reading hucksters, it's just because everyone else abandoned it for no good reason.
This engineer agrees completely - you can’t engineer your way out of everything, but technological problems can be fixed by technological solutions. Energy is something we produce with technology; housing is something we build. Why not engineered solutions to these problems?
For a serious comment, yeah, I find the left-leaning climate moralism bizarre. I thought the goal was to reduce carbon emissions. But, for some, it seems to be about creating a more "natural" world or something, and reducing carbon emissions are just an excuse to do so.
Jan 17, 2022·edited Jan 17, 2022Liked by Freddie deBoer
In the fusion debate I get the sense that some people really don’t want it to work. Why? Because if it works people will be happily driving their electric Tahoes to their 5,000 sq/ft McMansions an that’s just wrong.
Why is it wrong? Because of climate change. But there would be no climate impact. Well…I find that lifestyle ascetically revolting. Is the closest to an actual reason I can think of.
I'm just going through put it bluntly. Many on the left thought Climate Change would finally be their big win politically and they care almost as much about this as they do about climate change itself. I've lost count of how many times I've heard some kind of quasi vulgar materialist argument that "climate change will make things so bad people will have to turn on capitalism" or something similar. It's hopelessly naive to expect to profit politically off such a crisis. The left sure as hell doesn't seem to have benefitted much from COVID and that made a lot of people's lives worse too. The retort is often "well, COVID just didn't make people miserable enough. It'll have to get even worse to really change things." So we're firmly in "the worse, the better" territory.
One of Frazier's great insights in "the Golden Bough" was that it was easier for people to change their religious beliefs than to change their religious rituals.
As so many of our beliefs, in politics, climate, etc., have become religious in fervor and faith, while at the same time we've lost trust in institutions that could instituter change, we're in a situation where it has become increasingly harder to change BOTH belief AND practice.
There is a lot in this essay. No, No Sneering at you. It's important.
I will make 2 points.
1) Big engineering projects are everything-- Maybe people wouldn't get together or sacrifice for something grand, but they do every day pay taxes for the infrastructures that make their lives possible...and the engineering behind these is spectacular. After Hurricane Sandy --Resiliency Measures Already Incorporated Into Ongoing Upgrades at Manhattan and Gowanus Pump Stations https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/press_releases/13-107pr.shtml#.YeV9nf7MIrA
Of course do people even know about how the Boring company is changing Las Vegas right now?
2) People can come together in big numbers. I was in Athens, Georgia on January 15 for the celebration of the National Football Championship. Over 100K people all liking each other regardless of politics. Stetson Bennett at Raising Cane. You'd feel better about humanity after a day like that. Road to Glory. https://georgiadogs.com/sports/football
(knew I'd find a way to get the Georgia link to you all).
I want us to bring back the Manhattan project and Appollo mission mindset. Take dozens of our brightest minds, put them in a room, give them all the resources they want. Imagine if we did this at the beginning of Covid.
When's the last time a major institution did something remarkable and inspiring? There's a massive distrust of ambition in America right now. We have no grand narratives, or even shared plans for a better future. Is this what people mean by cultural postmodernism?
Look no further than my town, Evanston Illinois, to see that it's easier for the local university to fill in the lake than it is to deal with the NIMBYism and CAVES (citizens against virtually everything)
I know this was not the focus of the article, but you once again mentioned that you believed “vaccines, boosters, and masking are essential precautions in a pandemic.” 100% with you on vaccines (and boosters). But I have yet to hear a compelling argument for continuing to wear a mask. To protect myself? Couldn’t care less if I get COVID (again). I’ve taken the basic precautions necessary to minimize my risk of severe illness (i.e. I’ve been vaccinated and boosted). Protect the unvaccinated? Sorry, but a some point it’s incumbent upon others to protect themselves. Health insurers should have stopped covering the cost of COVID care for them long ago (but that’s a separate issue). Protect those too young to be vaccinated? If you’ve been paying attention, you know perfectly well that young children (including unvaccinated young children) are at extremely low risk of severe illness from COVID. Protect the old and/or the vulnerable? In many parts of the country, I think there’s some merit to that point. In New York City, I call bullshit. Why, 2 years into a pandemic, would you choose to still live in the most densely populated city in the country? If you know you’re at high risk of severe illness, and knowingly choose to stay, that’s your prerogative. But don’t lecture me about my responsibility to keep you safe. And if you’re still living in NYC despite being very worried about COVID, why are you still living here? It’s not for the cheap rents, and it’s not for that Big City lifestyle. Finally, should I still wear a mask to reduce the spread of disease, thereby reducing the risk that our health systems are overwhelmed? Now I admit, that’s actually a compelling argument...EXCEPT that we just had by far our biggest wave yet, and ICU beds in New York are still not full (the NY Times has a tracker you can check). And in the event that staff shortages have posed threats to operating at full capacity, we’ve been able to fall back on the National Guard and the Army. So...I’m still waiting for a compelling argument. Bring it on.
Ironically many of those writers you mentioned probably call themselves Marxists, i.e. disciples of a stats-nerd obsessed with technology, who made fun of alot of people (I like to call the "The Capital" the "Great Roasting of obscure authors only rembered through this" privately) but none more than naive socialists who wanted to return to "Nature" (including his own brother-in-law).
I agree with all of this so much. To the point where it almost feels like I've spent weeks writing thousands of words to express this in a more poorly written, less well thought out way. Didn't anticipate drinking at 8 AM today but, here we are.
I will note that although I also share the feeling about this being a space inhabited by tech bros who believe in the most childish form of libertarianism, this has always been, in my view, the inherently Marxist position. And although I have (perhaps wrongly?) abandoned my youthful faith in revolution I've never abandoned my youthful faith in our ability to engineer a better world. This was also the mainline American view until about the 1970s when we our thought leaders became infected by European post-war pessimism. If this space feels flooded by Silicon Valley Ayn Rand reading hucksters, it's just because everyone else abandoned it for no good reason.
This engineer agrees completely - you can’t engineer your way out of everything, but technological problems can be fixed by technological solutions. Energy is something we produce with technology; housing is something we build. Why not engineered solutions to these problems?
This was fantastic.
I wrote this idea in the comment section for the COVID article. I expect royalties
For a serious comment, yeah, I find the left-leaning climate moralism bizarre. I thought the goal was to reduce carbon emissions. But, for some, it seems to be about creating a more "natural" world or something, and reducing carbon emissions are just an excuse to do so.
In the fusion debate I get the sense that some people really don’t want it to work. Why? Because if it works people will be happily driving their electric Tahoes to their 5,000 sq/ft McMansions an that’s just wrong.
Why is it wrong? Because of climate change. But there would be no climate impact. Well…I find that lifestyle ascetically revolting. Is the closest to an actual reason I can think of.
I'm just going through put it bluntly. Many on the left thought Climate Change would finally be their big win politically and they care almost as much about this as they do about climate change itself. I've lost count of how many times I've heard some kind of quasi vulgar materialist argument that "climate change will make things so bad people will have to turn on capitalism" or something similar. It's hopelessly naive to expect to profit politically off such a crisis. The left sure as hell doesn't seem to have benefitted much from COVID and that made a lot of people's lives worse too. The retort is often "well, COVID just didn't make people miserable enough. It'll have to get even worse to really change things." So we're firmly in "the worse, the better" territory.
Love this. Freddie for President!
One of Frazier's great insights in "the Golden Bough" was that it was easier for people to change their religious beliefs than to change their religious rituals.
As so many of our beliefs, in politics, climate, etc., have become religious in fervor and faith, while at the same time we've lost trust in institutions that could instituter change, we're in a situation where it has become increasingly harder to change BOTH belief AND practice.
Your essay does a great jon of pointing this out.
There is a lot in this essay. No, No Sneering at you. It's important.
I will make 2 points.
1) Big engineering projects are everything-- Maybe people wouldn't get together or sacrifice for something grand, but they do every day pay taxes for the infrastructures that make their lives possible...and the engineering behind these is spectacular. After Hurricane Sandy --Resiliency Measures Already Incorporated Into Ongoing Upgrades at Manhattan and Gowanus Pump Stations https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/press_releases/13-107pr.shtml#.YeV9nf7MIrA
Of course do people even know about how the Boring company is changing Las Vegas right now?
2) People can come together in big numbers. I was in Athens, Georgia on January 15 for the celebration of the National Football Championship. Over 100K people all liking each other regardless of politics. Stetson Bennett at Raising Cane. You'd feel better about humanity after a day like that. Road to Glory. https://georgiadogs.com/sports/football
(knew I'd find a way to get the Georgia link to you all).
I want us to bring back the Manhattan project and Appollo mission mindset. Take dozens of our brightest minds, put them in a room, give them all the resources they want. Imagine if we did this at the beginning of Covid.
When's the last time a major institution did something remarkable and inspiring? There's a massive distrust of ambition in America right now. We have no grand narratives, or even shared plans for a better future. Is this what people mean by cultural postmodernism?
Look no further than my town, Evanston Illinois, to see that it's easier for the local university to fill in the lake than it is to deal with the NIMBYism and CAVES (citizens against virtually everything)
I know this was not the focus of the article, but you once again mentioned that you believed “vaccines, boosters, and masking are essential precautions in a pandemic.” 100% with you on vaccines (and boosters). But I have yet to hear a compelling argument for continuing to wear a mask. To protect myself? Couldn’t care less if I get COVID (again). I’ve taken the basic precautions necessary to minimize my risk of severe illness (i.e. I’ve been vaccinated and boosted). Protect the unvaccinated? Sorry, but a some point it’s incumbent upon others to protect themselves. Health insurers should have stopped covering the cost of COVID care for them long ago (but that’s a separate issue). Protect those too young to be vaccinated? If you’ve been paying attention, you know perfectly well that young children (including unvaccinated young children) are at extremely low risk of severe illness from COVID. Protect the old and/or the vulnerable? In many parts of the country, I think there’s some merit to that point. In New York City, I call bullshit. Why, 2 years into a pandemic, would you choose to still live in the most densely populated city in the country? If you know you’re at high risk of severe illness, and knowingly choose to stay, that’s your prerogative. But don’t lecture me about my responsibility to keep you safe. And if you’re still living in NYC despite being very worried about COVID, why are you still living here? It’s not for the cheap rents, and it’s not for that Big City lifestyle. Finally, should I still wear a mask to reduce the spread of disease, thereby reducing the risk that our health systems are overwhelmed? Now I admit, that’s actually a compelling argument...EXCEPT that we just had by far our biggest wave yet, and ICU beds in New York are still not full (the NY Times has a tracker you can check). And in the event that staff shortages have posed threats to operating at full capacity, we’ve been able to fall back on the National Guard and the Army. So...I’m still waiting for a compelling argument. Bring it on.
I think people are skeptical of this proposal not on the merits but because they see a city where it took 15 years to build 1.5 miles of new subway.