Nov 082022
 

Red, yellow, purple, against the background of green, the flowers emerge to cheer me on this cool fall dayreminding me that Voltaire might have been right about cultivating,The world turns into a place of despair, but not my garden.The blooms remain optimistic, seeking to propagate, naively believing the earth will not changeso their seeds will sprout in the same soil as they,with rain coming down as it used to, sun shining, air warm but not […]

  •  November 8, 2022
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Sep 012021
 

In my previous blog post, I commented on a talk by Michael Sandel based on his book The Tyranny of Merit. I have now read the book itself. In the most insightful and (to me) novel parts he links the question of merit to a deeper discussion of justice, emphasizing that even talents (and presumably personal drives) are a result of luck, both as to inborn abilities and family position in the world. In other […]

  •  September 1, 2021
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Jun 212021
 

I recently listened to short presentation by Michael Sandel about his new book, The Tyranny of Merit. Though I have yet to read the book, the basic thrust of his ideas seem to coincide with what I have thought for quite a while. Here are some of my thoughts. Theoretically, of course, meritocracy is to be distinguished from hereditary leadership, based on nothing but inheritance of status and position. The implication, of course, is that […]

  •  June 21, 2021
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Mar 262021
 

A recent podcast interview by Ezra Klein was of an acknowledged expert, Cal Newport,  on “knowledge work.” Newport proposed that knowledge work, whatever it is, could become much more efficient and even more enjoyable if it didn’t involve so many emails and Slack interactions. In other words, knowledge work should be done in relative isolation.  The entire analysis leaves unanswered the question of what “knowledge work” actually is. To put it another way, is such […]

  •  March 26, 2021
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Mar 092021
 

Perhaps I spend too much attention on NY Times columnists, but they are very thoughtful, usually.  For instance, Farhad Manjoo recently wrote a hopeful op-ed about the beginning of the end of NIBYism in Berkeley, where I live, to help increase housing options this built-up city. I’m certainly in accord. But could it be Manjoo also wants to find homes for extra-terrestrials, since his prior op-ed was about trying harder to search for them?…. When […]

  •  March 9, 2021
  •   Comments Off on If Farhad Manjoo wants homes for extra-terrestrials, he should recall Fermi’s Paradox
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Feb 232021
 

When Charlie Warzel interviewed me for his New York Times column, one question he asked was what can be done by Democrats to reconnect with Trump supporters (my paraphrase, perhaps somewhat off). I had pointed out than in the competition for attention many of MAGA supporters may feel they have gotten the short end of the stick. For instance, because the are mostly not college graduates, they find themselves and their experiences ignored, often, by […]

  •  February 23, 2021
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Feb 152021
 

Republican Senators  mostly voted “Not Guilty” in the Impeachment trial, citing the absurd argument that a government officer cannot be tried on the basis of impeachment once out of office. Their real motivation was their fear of Trump and Trumpism. They want to be re-elected without being primaried, or to do well if  running for some other post—either Governor of their state or even President. (I think such ambition explains the retiring Rob Portman’s vote. […]

Feb 092021
 

1 With the second Impeachment trial underway, our country now has a chance to put some of the worst features of the Trump era behind us. But how safe are we? Can we transcend the threats implicit in the January 6 storming of the Capitol? The shock is still reverberating. What can we glean from a closer examination of it? First, only by good luck did the country dodge a real bullet. Had the insurrectionists […]

Aug 252016
 

I’m delighted to announce that my wife, Karen Weinstein, is running for the board of Trustees for our local Community college system. You can help. Go to karenweinsteinforperalta.com . That’s http://www.karenweinsteinforperalta.com

  •  August 25, 2016
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Jun 022014
 

Annika Janssen, a reporter for the German (print) Economics journal PVM (Portfolio Verlag) recently sent me some questions. Here they are with my answers: –          The theory of attention economy was first mentioned in the late 1990s. To what extent is it still valid today? –          And in which areas of life, society, politics, economy (…) can we still observe actions or phenomenons that can be related to the theory? Especially looking at the social networks and […]

  •  June 2, 2014
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  •   Writings