thegraywolff

A brief gallivant about the marketplace of ideas.

Tag: Stephen Breyer

13 May 2024

Read : 2024-05-13

Articles for reading

  1. “How French intellectuals ruined the West” by Helen Pluckrose (Quillette, 2024-05-07; republished from Aero Magazine, 2017-03).
  2. “What people got wrong about the film Parasite” by Rob Henderson (Rob Henderson’s Newsletter, 2022-03-31).

Articles for reference

Business and investing

  1. “The smartest people in the room are all listening to the same podcast” by Ben Cohen (The Wall Street Journal, 2024-05-10).
  2. “How did Jim Simons’s firm make $100 billion? He told his secrets to our reporter” by Gregory Zuckerman (The Wall Street Journal, 2024-05-10).

Cybersecurity

  1. “Businesses, government see progress in cyber hiring, with exceptions” by James Rundle (The Wall Street Journal, 2024-05-10).

Education

  1. “Against mandatory DEI statements” by Randall Kennedy (Persuasion, 2024-05-10).
  2. “How French intellectuals ruined the West” by Helen Pluckrose (Quillette, 2024-05-07; republished from Aero Magazine, 2017-03).

Law

  1. “Stephen Breyer for the defense” (Harvard Law Bulletin, 2024-05-03).

Mathematics

  1. “What makes 4D weirder than all other dimensions?” by Jordana Cepelewicz (Quanta Magazine, 2024-05-13).

Politics

  1. “Nayib Bukele shows how to dismantle a democracy and stay popular” (The Economist, 2023-07-20).
  2. “Robin DiAngelo’s misreading of Michel Foucault” by Jonathan Church (Quillette, 2020-11-25).

Science

  1. “Epic science inside a cubic millimeter of brain” by Anne J. Manning (The Harvard Gazette, 2024-05-09).

Society

  1. “Welcome to anti-woke hell” by Zaid Jilani (Persuasion, 2024-05-13).
  2. “Plaintext” by Steven Levy (WIRED, 2024-05-10). On “The anxious generation”, by Jonathan Haidt.
  3. “Jonathan Haidt blamed tech for teen anxiety. Managing the blowback has become a full-time job.” by Julie Jargon (The Wall Street Journal, 2024-05-10).
  4. “Generation Z is unprecedentedly rich” (The Economist, 2024-04-16). The story averages tell, and the stories they do not.
  5. “What people got wrong about the film Parasite” by Rob Henderson (Rob Henderson’s Newsletter, 2022-03-31).

Technology

  1. “Kate Crawford: A leading scholar and conscience for A.I.” by Eric Topol (Ground Truths, 2024-05-12). 51m video recording with transcript.
  2. “The death (again) of the internet as we know it” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2024-05-11).

Other

  1. “The morning” by Joseph Kahn (The New York Times, 2024-05-12). Subtitled, “Journalism with impact”, it congratulates the New York Times for industry prizes, for self-styled “[c]overage that demands attention”. Awards and honors in the attention economy.
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13 September 2022

Read : 2022-09-13

Articles for reading

  1. “How did Biden go from zero to hero so quickly?” by Christina Pazzanese (The Harvard Gazette, 2022-09).
    The press always does this. There is a meta narrative that settles into the news coverage and that frames even how journalists look at developments.
    There’s very little context, very little attempt to put into a shape and a form and background that gives people a more complete understanding. They just go for the bottom line…
    If you think about political journalists, they read each other; they talk to each other a lot. There’s kind of a groupthink about where things are.
  2. “Breyer offers advice on being on losing side” by Christina Pazzanese (The Harvard Gazette, 2022-09-12).
    Politics, deciding cases, or whatever you find controversial, that’s one thing. Human relations is something different.
    Do your job and do it as well as you can, and then maybe somebody will notice, and you’ll get a better job. Maybe they won’t, but at least you’ve done the work.
    the country would be better off if we just listen to each other and really hear what someone else has to say, and participate in public life

Articles for reference

Business

  1. “Gen Xers and Millennials, it’s time to lead. Are you ready?” by Lane Lambert (Harvard Business School : Working Knowledge, 2022-09-08).

Cryptocurrency

  1. “The ethereum merge and energy markets” by kyla scanlon (kyla’s Newsletter, 2022-09-10).
  2. “The future of crypto is at stake in ethereum’s switch” (The Economist, 2022-09-06).

Cybersecurity

  1. “CISA to hold meetings to flesh out cyber-incident reporting rules” by James Rundle (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-09-07).
  2. “Why corporate boards need more cybersecurity expertise” by Michelle Lowry, Anthony Vance (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-09-07).
  3. “Trial of former Uber executive has security officials worried about liability for hacks” by Robert McMillan (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-09-08).

Economics

  1. “How to help with Europe’s energy crisis” by Mike Bird, Alice Fulwood, Soumaya Keynes (The Economist : Money Talks, 2022-09-07). 37m podcast.
  2. The ECB’s 2022-09-08 monetary policy statement and corresponding press conference (European Central Bank, 2022-09-08).
  3. “Pinochet’s economic policy is vastly overrated” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2022-09-07).
  4. “Governance for a healthy economy” by Dani Rodrik (Project Syndicate, 2022-09-09).
  5. “The Fed should wait and see” by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Dean Baker (Project Syndicate, 2022-09-12).
  6. “Isabella M. Weber says more…” (Project Syndicate, 2022-09-06). An interview with economist Isabella M. Weber.

Education

  1. “Harvard Grid to help researchers make leap from lab to startup” (The Harvard Gazette, 2022-09-07).

Law

  1. “Breyer offers advice on being on losing side” by Christina Pazzanese (The Harvard Gazette, 2022-09-12).

Mathematics

  1. “How Shannon entropy imposes fundamental limits on communication” by Kevin Hartnett (Quanta Magazine, 2022-09-06).

Politics

  1. “Can Liz Truss fix Britain?” (The Economist, 2022-09-08).
  2. “Elizabeth II never laid down the heavy weight of the crown” (The Economist, 2022-09-08).
  3. “Requiem for an empire” by Robert Skidelsky (Project Syndicate, 2022-09-12).

Psychology

  1. “Psychologists are learning what religion has known for years” by David DeSteno (WIRED, 2021-09-14).

Science

  1. “Randall Munroe and the power of ‘what if?’” by Alvin Powell (The Harvard Gazette, 2022-09-12).

Society

  1. “The end of real social networks” by Daron Acemoglu (Project Syndicate, 2022-09-07).
  2. “Why the bullshit-jobs thesis may be, well, bullshit” (The Economist, 2021-06-05).
  3. “Thoughts on the origins of wokeness” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2022-09-09).

Technology

  1. “The tech winners and losers of the pandemic” (The Economist, 2022-09-01).
  2. “Plaintext” by Steven Levy (WIRED, 2022-09-09). On TikTok.
  3. “Software is reorganizing the world” by Balaji Srinivasan (WIRED, 2013-11-22).
  4. “Harvard partners with Amazon Web Services in quantum internet push” (The Harvard Gazette, 2022-09-12). Interview with Professors Evelyn Hu, Marko Lončar, Mikhail Lukin, Hongkun Park.
    It’s only by taking that long view, making a commitment to collaboration—and the underlying trust that holds collaborations together—that the miracles actually manifest themselves.

Writing

  1. “What to read to become a better writer” (The Economist, 2022-09-09).
  2. “Politics and the English language” by George Orwell (The Orwell Foundation, via Horizon, 1946).
  3. “Why I write” by George Orwell (The Orwell Foundation, from Gangrel, 1946).

Other

  1. “Have a gas stove? How to reduce pollution that may harm health” by Wynne Armand (Harvard Health Publishing, 2022-09-07).
  2. “The perils of heroic individualism (and ideas for a more grounded society)” by Brad Stulberg (The Growth Equation, 2022-09-08). The author’s retrospective on his most-recent book, one year on. Or, the hungry ghost at the levels of the individual and (especially) society.
  3. “Obituary: Queen Elizabeth II” (BBC, 2022-09-08).
  4. “Books are physically changing because of inflation” (The Economist, 2022-09-08).
  5. “Taking the leap” by Joseph Politano (Apricitas Economics, 2022-09-10).
  6. “For every vacation-home fantasy, there is a harsh financial reality” by Veronica Dagher (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-09-12).
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27 July 2022

Read : 2022-07-27

Articles for reading:

  1. “In China, a three-digit score could dictate your place in society” by Mara Hvistendhal (WIRED, 2017-12-14).
  2. “Who is right about inflation?” by Brian Wallheimer (Chicago Booth, 2021-08-09).
  3. “Salacious celebrity tell-all as a vehicle of truth” by Sam Zuniga-Levy (The Harvard-Radcliffe Institute, 2022-06-29).
  4. “Meet the lobbyist next door” by Benjamin Wofford (WIRED, 2022-07-14).
  5. “9.1% inflation” by Joseph Politano (Apricitas Economics, 2022-07-16).
  6. “A radical cure: Hannah Arendt and Simone Weil on the need for roots” by Scott Remer (Philosophy Now, 2018).
  7. “A question about rotating line helps reveal what makes real numbers special” by Kevin Hartnett (Quanta Magazine, 2022-07-26). On the Kakeya conjecture. Attempts to understand the problem lead some mathematicians to the world of p-adic numbers.

Articles for reference:

Blogging

  1. “How to write a successful Substack” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2022-07-10).
  2. “So you want to start a blog…” by Daniel Miessler (Daniel Miessler, 2019-11-09).

Books

  1. “Salacious celebrity tell-all as a vehicle of truth” by Sam Zuniga-Levy (The Harvard-Radcliffe Institute, 2022-06-29).
  2. “Some dads are super, some are stupid. Meet Mr. Neither.” (The Harvard Gazette, 2022-07-13). Q&A with Keith Gessen, author of the book “Raising Raffi”.
  3. “George Orwell’s 1940 review of ‘Mein Kampf’” by George Orwell (The New English Weekly, 1940-03-21).

Business

  1. “Former QuantumScape, Tesla executive joins battery startup working on nickel rival” by Gabrielle Coppola (Bloomberg, 2022-07-21).
  2. “VW board ousts CEO Herbert Diess after pivot to electric vehicles” by William Boston, Georgi Kantchev (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-22).

Climate change

  1. “How we will fight climate change” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2022-07-20).

Critical race theory (CRT)

  1. “Jason Stanley on critical race theory and why it matters” by Jason Stanley (The Economist, 2021-05-24).
  2. “Critical race theory is appropriate in universities, but not schools, says Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder” by Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder (The Economist, 2022-07-14).
  3. “Is critical race theory taught in schools?” by Tamara Gilkes Borr (The Economist, 2022-07-18). 43m podcast. Part 2 of 3.
  4. “What is the fight over critical race theory really about” by Tamara Gilkes Borr (The Economist, 2022-07-22). 51m podcast. Part 3 of 3.

Cybersecurity

  1. “New ultra-stealthy Linux backdoor isn’t your everyday malware discovery” by Dan Goodin (Ars Technica, 2022-06-09). Linked in this post by Bruce Schneier.
  2. “Log4j vulnerabilities remain ‘endemic’, says US DHS” by Richard Chirgwin (IT News, 2022-07-18).

Economics : Debt

  1. “Does the national debt matter?” by David Andolfatto (The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 2020-12-04).
  2. “Could inflation be a good think for governments in debt?” by Adrian Ma, Wailin Wong (NPR, 2022-05-13).
  3. “The ECB’s masterplan to manipulate markets” (The Economist, 2022-07-14).
  4. “The EU’s Hamiltonian moment” by Joseph Politano (Apricitas Economics, 2022-07-23).
  5. “The 53 fragile emerging economies” (The Economist, 2022-07-20).

Economics : Inflation

  1. “There’s some good news in the bad inflation data” by Rick Newman (Yahoo Finance, 2022-07-14).
  2. “‘A dangerous level of groupthink’” by Benjamin Hart (New York Magazine : The Intelligencer, 2022-07-14).
  3. “9.1% inflation” by Joseph Politano (Apricitas Economics, 2022-07-16).
  4. “The energy crisis will deepen” by Daniel Yergin (Project Syndicate, 2022-07-11).
  5. “American inflation tops forecasts yet again, adding to recession risks” (The Economist, 2022-07-13).
  6. “ECB raises rates by half-percentage point in first rate hike since 2011” by Tom Fairless (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-21).
  7. “What CEOs are saying: ‘We see inflation deeply entrenched’” by George Stahl (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-23).
  8. “Why doesn’t the Fed just hike 200bp all at once?” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2022-07-25).

Economics : Investing and speculation

  1. “On bullshit in investing” by Benn Eifert (Noahpinion, 2022-07-11).
  2. “So what happened to crypto?” by Christina Pazzanese (The Harvard Gazette, 2022-07-13).
  3. “Stripe cuts internal valuation by 28%” by Berber Jin, Peter Rudegeair (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-14).
  4. “Investors wave goodbye to negative-yielding debt as central banks fight inflation” by Caitlin McCabe (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-26). I don’t understand how the article defines “negative-yielding debt”. Given the definition, the article provides a striking graph of global negative-yielding debt: From 0.02T USD in early 2014, it grew to over 12T USD in mid 2016, fell to around 7.5T USD in 2016–2018, then peaked around 16.8T USD in August 2018 and 18.4T USD in December 2020. The graph shows it is currently around 2.2T USD. The article cites JPMorgan Chase estimates that “Japan account[s] for 84% of all negative-yielding government debt”.

Economics : Jobs

  1. “Unions are now a lifestyle choice for some young, aspirational workers, says Walter Olson” by Walter Olson (The Economist, 2022-07-18).

Economics : Other

  1. “How higher interest rates will squeeze government budgets” (The Economist, 2022-07-12).
  2. “China property market shudders as buyers threaten to stop mortgage payments” by Cao Li, Rebecca Feng (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-14).
  3. “The war economy” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2022-07-14).
  4. “Interview: Leah Boustan, economist” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2022-07-16).
  5. “The wreck of Bidenomics” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2022-07-17).
  6. “Nutty macroeconomic theories will ruin your country’s economy” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2022-07-19).
  7. “How to manage a balance-sheet in troubled times” (The Economist, 2022-07-19).
  8. “The second derivative of vibes” by kyla scanlon (kyla’s Newsletter, 2022-07-14).
  9. “The changing economic regime” by kyla scanlon (kyla’s Newsletter, 2022-07-21).
  10. “Good links: Economic levers, education, and pokémon” by kyla scanlon (kyla’s Newsletter, 2022-07-23).
  11. “Why can’t America build trains?” by Eric Goldwyn (Noahpinion, 2022-07-21).
  12. “Why a strong dollar is a double-edged sword for the U.S. economy” (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-26). 6m video. The presentation states that (i) 6.9T USD are “held by 149 countries and other entities”, according to the IMF (reference?); and (ii) “a strong [US] dollar exports inflation” to other countries.
  13. “Did pandemic stimulus funds spur the rise of ‘meme stocks’?” by Rachel Layne (Harvard Business School : Working Knowledge, 2022-07-21).
    About $100 billion of the $814 billion the US government disbursed through stimulus payments found its way to the stock market.
  14. “The economic mess we’re in” by The Editorial Board (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-25).
  15. “Why inflation is on the way down” by Donald L. Luskin (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-25).
  16. “Chairman Bernanke’s college lecture series: The Federal Reserve and the financial crisis, Part 1” by Ben Bernanke (YouTube, 2012-03-20). 1h13m video. Part one of a four-part series.
  17. “FOMC press conference July 27, 2022” by Federal Reserve (YouTube, 2022-07-27). 56m video. The Fed provides a full transcript (including Q&A) here.

Education

  1. “Education doesn’t work 2.0” by Freddie deBoer (Freddie deBoer, 2022-07-11).
  2. “Parents: Are you putting too much college pressure on your kid?” by Usable Knowledge (Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2022-07-14). Not only parents, but also teachers, school administrators, college administrators, standardized testing services, college-ranking publications,…. It’s an all-society issue.

Fashion

  1. “This summer, stars are going vintage on the red carpet” by Christian Allaire (Vogue, 2022-07-13).
  2. “How this season of ‘Westworld’ nails Roaring ’20s style” by Christian Allaire (Vogue, 2022-07-18).

Health and wellness

  1. “How the kids are getting to all right” by Bree Barton (Zócalo, 2022-07-14).
  2. “As BA.5 spreads, how long will a prior covid-19 infection protect you?” by Sumathi Reddy (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-19).
  3. “Why the omicron offshoot BA.5 is a big deal” by Brenda Goodman (CNN, 2022-07-18).
  4. “The morning” by David Leonhardt (The New York Times, 2022-07-21). Subtitled, “We look at what the latest Covid surge means for the country”.
  5. “How cesarean births became a ‘global epidemic’” by Jacueline H. Wolf (Zócalo, 2018-12-03).
  6. “How to overcome loneliness” by Brad Stulberg (The Growth Equation, 2022-07-21).
  7. “‘Weekend warriors’ can make up for missed exercise during week” (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2022-07-22). A case of misleading hyper-reductionism in headlines?
    The study followed the exercise routines of more than 350,000 U.S. adults for over a decade. Researchers found that as long as people accomplished 75 minutes of vigorous activity or 150 minutes of moderate activity per week—no matter when they did so—they had lower death rates from any cause than physically inactive participants.
  8. “Monkeypox explained: How to protect yourself and what to watch out for” by Dustin Jones (NPR, 2022-07-24).

Mathematics

  1. “A question about rotating line helps reveal what makes real numbers special” by Kevin Hartnett (Quanta Magazine, 2022-07-26). On the Kakeya conjecture.

Politics

  1. “How to judge the words of a would-be prime minister” (The Economist, 2022-07-10).
  2. “The Democrats need to wake up and stop pandering to their extremes” (The Economist, 2022-07-14).
  3. “Meet the lobbyist next door” by Benjamin Wofford (WIRED, 2022-07-14).
  4. “Is it time for Californians to vote in Florida and Texas?” by Joe Matthews (Zócalo, 2022-07-19). Hmm.

Public transportation

  1. “American public transport faces a post-pandemic reckoning” (The Economist, 2022-07-21).

Science and technology

  1. “The genius neuroscientist who might hold the key to true AI” by Shaun Raviv (WIRED, 2018-11-13).
  2. “On the dangers of cryptocurrencies and the uselessness of blockchain” by Bruce Schneier (Schneier on Security, 2022-06-24).

Social issues

  1. “The morning” by German Lopez (The New York Times, 2022-07-15). Subtitled “America’s homelessness crisis is getting worse”.
  2. “A step toward a more gender-inclusive Harvard” by Gray Milkowski (The Harvard Gazette, 2022-07-14).
  3. “A radical cure: Hannah Arendt and Simone Weil on the need for roots” by Scott Remer (Philosophy Now, 2018).
  4. “The strange disappearance of cooperation in America” by Peter Turchin (Clio Dynamica, 2013-06-21).
  5. “The strange disappearance of civic America” by Robert D. Putnam (1995).
    Their members’ ties are to common symbols and ideologies, but not to each other.
  6. “Have better conversations with friends—or anyone” by Elizabeth Bernstein (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-26). Along with clarifying “better” as “deeper”, the title becomes, “Have deeper conversations”. I agree with the suggestions to “[a]void questions with one-word answers” and not to hurry intimacy. Brings to mind the following wisdom:
    You can’t hurry love
    No, you just have to wait
    You gotta trust, give it time
    No matter how long it takes
    (They’re not called The Supremes for nothing!) See also Neil Postman’s critique of social science in “The end of education”.

Sports

  1. “The super spikes era has brought a boom in four-minute miles” by Rachel Bachman (The Wall Street Journal, 2022-07-18).

Sri Lanka : Political demonstrations (2022)

  1. “The morning” by German Lopez, Emily Schmall (The New York Times, 2022-07-24). Subtitled, “Today, we explain what led to Sri Lanka’s recent protests”.
    They treated these homes [the “presidential palace” and “the prime minister’s official residence”] like museums. They were concerned about not damaging any property.
  2. “Protesters storm Sri Lanka President House, set PM’s residence on fire” (The Tribune, 2022-07-09).

Other

  1. “Plaintext” by Steven Levy (WIRED, 2022-07-15). On Elon Musk and Twitter (again).
  2. “The post-Roe world” by Nancy Kathryn Walecki (Harvard Magazine, 2022-07-18).
  3. “Justice Stephen Breyer returns to Harvard Law School” (Harvard Law Today, 2022-07-15).
  4. “Four things I got wrong since I started this blog” by Noah Smith (Noahpinion, 2022-07-25).
    In each of these cases, I’ll try to explain what I got wrong and why, and where possible I’ll also try to point to someone who got it right. It’s good to diversify your sources of opinions and analysis!
    Holding oneself accountable, with the goals of transparency and improved understanding. I respect that.
  5. “7 rules for persuasive dissent” by Todd B. Kashdan (Harvard Business Review, 2022-07-22).
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