Friday Links - 7/23/21
- This video of Michael Pollan discussing the ‘caffeinated self’ led me and Kirsten to a great conversation about the substances (even common and seemingly innocuous ones) that affect our minds.
- Superb piece on the Myth of Panic, and the dire consequences that result when leaders retreat from managing a crisis to managing perceptions. I think this essay makes the case for why we ought to be more angry about the latter. This thread offers a snapshot of where we stand with Covid and the new variant.
- A timely follow-up to last week’s rec (Global Warming Ate My Homework), asking that we look at the actual causes of disasters and their impact before declaring climate change the culprit.
- ”…Criticism of the people is only valuable if it comes from a place of love.” - Zohar Atkins on the gulf between a persecutor and a prophet
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Who should John Mulaney be now?
“When he said his relationship with audiences is the longest lasting, most intimate one of his life, many began to clap. He cringed and asked them to stop — he hadn’t meant it was a good thing. The tension underscored the inherent conflict of what the comedian and audience wants out of night like this”
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Whether you’re covering the TEEMING HORDES of Asia of confronting the GALLIC LOGIC of the French, these tropes for How to be a Foreign Correspondent, 1976 still seem relevant today.
- Jack Dorsey has become the latest rule to make one of history’s classic blunders:
- Ian Leslie has a great excerpt from his work on constructive disagreement and how it is an engine for both personal and social progress.
- I really appreciated this criticism of the shallow, constant misuse of Hannah Arendt’s writings to lend a patina of oracular wisdom to obvious takes about the “post-truth” Trump presidency.
Alex
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