Good write up. A nice lesson in the power of money to ruin happiness, rather than create it.

A valid take. I too feel the serious as a bit overwhelming. In the case of Dune, it's a bit of a problem with the source material. There are good and evil characters but no likeable characters.

Great article about an absurd aspect of our late-stage consumerist obsession.

The only thing you need to read about Meta in my opinion.

Great read, I’m not familiar with the literary commentary on Dune. Very interesting to see that scholars are positive about the verisimilitude of his depiction of an Arab-Muslim culture. The downplaying of this in the film is regrettable, but almost inevitable in this day and age given the commercial pressures. (I doubt the Chinese censors are oblivious to a Muslim desert uprising as a movie theme.)

I don't know about you but Wikipedia is a pretty big part of my life. It behooves one to be reminded of what goes on behind the scenes.

Terrifying. One more way in which reality is trying to become a science fiction dystopia.

When a former conservative PM is calling out Murdoch like this, you know it's serious.

The author piles on the self-deprecation a bit thick, but the point is bang on. Creation and growth are essential.

Sums up the doldrums into which Australian politics has sunk perfectly.

Sums up the doldrums into which Australian politics has sunk perfectly.

Interesting take, though few solutions are presented. Surely there will always be a short period available between the game being in good enough shape to review and being released? Really we just need to learn some patience. Reviewers should also come back and update their reviews after a bit more reflective time.

Australia did have international clout. We are shedding respectability almost as quickly as Trump’s America, showing disdain for international institutions when they are inconvenient economically or politically. When we speak up for Taiwan, will anyone bother listening?

Facebook are desperate; young people are leaving and brand is cancer. To keep their valuation up they need to maximise user engagement via hook or crook. This article is another window into that struggle. He’s right that it’s anti-consumer; it’s anti human!

I found this interesting but entirely unconvincing. The argument is that blockchain and the internet are analogous to Luther and the Protestant reformation. The analogy is a loose one at best. But the next step in the argument doesn’t seem to be there. How will nation states go away? If the internet and blockchain will weaken them, why doesn’t this seem to be happening already? What will come after? Who will provide security and the services we depend on governments for? When will this happen?

Finally, even if this was happening, would we want it to? I think my country is run by a circus of mediocrities, and not at all up to the challenges of the future. But I’d still rather take my chances in the commonwealth of Australia than a blockchain-powered anarchist commune.

Yes. When it comes to climate I’m with Greta: are you promising to make a real change right now? Or are you promising to do something of dubious merit a decade or more away? Greenwash is everywhere.

It looks like parental regret is tracking at 5-8% according to the various statistics in this article. That's actually pretty low. In other words, parental satisfaction is north of 90%. That's higher than I would have thought. Parenting is one of those things where the negatives are a bit taboo (or joked about), so lots of people (I believe) go into it less well informed than they could be.

I am sure you can hate the tedium of parenthood and its other costs in terms of self-sacrifice, without resenting or taking it out on the child. I have a.. friend... who has experience of this.

Regarding factory farming, he's not wrong on the moral and environmental costs. But it's hard to respect someone who says "I am a monster" but dismisses the relatively simple expedient of eating less meat in favour of a decades-off technological solution from the lab. Something about this makes me think of "carbon capture" spruikers; technology will fix things so we don't have to change our lifestyles. Whew.

Yes, most people won't become vegetarians, but if you're motivated enough to write this article, why dismiss vegetarianism for the few who can and will manage it? I wasn't a vegetarian for most of my life, then I became one. I knew everything about the costs of meat, and eventually I just decided to face that little voice in the back of my head. It was an interesting experience, because once I stopped a whole lot of empathy for the animals appeared as if out of nowhere. I must have been suppressing it - cognitive dissonance. Smith conjures up the empathy and then sets it aside as something for the next generation to deal with.

I'm in Melbourne. This article is accurate, but there's some nuance missing. Yes, we have a long and awful lockdown, even with a curfew - it's pretty crazy and very, very hard to live with. However - and this is key - there is still very broad support for the lockdown measures. That's coming to an end, as the article points out 'indefinite' restrictions on liberty are not sustainable or compatible with a free society. We now have a roadmap out of lockdown. But I do think a strict lockdown with a solid rationale and popular support is a very different proposition to, say, an unpopular government banning protests for political reasons.

He's right. But we (at the level of a society) can't choose to have less. It's not in our nature. Makes one rather sad to know what's coming.

I was an early bitcoin adopter (if I still had my coins I’d have no mortgage and then some) and I’m technical enough to understand public key cryptography and the principles behind the blockchain. I’ve slowly come around to this author’s point of view. The environmental issues are real, but after all this time I haven’t heard a comprehensible blockchain pitch. Literally none of it makes sense to me. Of course it’s possible I don’t understand something or simply haven’t encountered a compelling explanation. Based on what I know now though, I think it’s the blockchain hype that won’t age well.