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Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Hope Springs Eternal

As that great all-rounder Kenny Rogers (he mastered both country and western) says: You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run.

 Democracy is still the least-worst option we have
Human civilization as we know it is like the Titanic headed for the iceberg, whether the iceberg be nuclear, environmental or terrorism-related.
Human civilization as we know it is like the Titanic headed for the iceberg, whether the iceberg be nuclear, environmental or terrorism-related.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/marianne_williamson_635476?src=t_iceberg

 “One of the poets, whose name I cannot recall, has a passage, which I am unable at the moment to remember, in one of his works, which for the time being has slipped my mind, which hits off admirably this age-old situation.”
― PG Wodehouse  


“God has a savage sense of humour. And coincidence is his favourite joke. And life is nothing but a string of coincidences. You see, I was a stranger in town. I came from a big city, far away. I stayed there to write a book about murder. And so what if I turned out to be the killer? I’ll simply put it down as God’s work, another one of his cruel coincidences, taunting his own creation.”
“There comes a point where you have to say, Here it is. Here is what life looks like. Where you stop turning your head away, cupping your ears…because you finally understand it won’t do any good. For years now, [I’ve] been waking to the same knowledge. This is not my life. Gray eucalypts shaking out there in the stonewashed sky and Jack’s loose copper change scattered across the bedside table. No, none of this is right. None of this fits.” 
–Evelyn, Ru’s mother

ROGER SCOTT. Wentworth byelection – tale of two (other) cities.


        

Michael Pezzullo: know thy place, public servants
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: The Home Affairs secretary urges his colleagues to think more on the origins and principles of the Westminster system, and their role within it, and realise they are on the front lines of an "unceasing war" to defend the notion of empirical truth.
 

Daylight saving ends in Europe — possibly for the last time


In what could be the last time the clocks go back an hour on the continent, daylight saving time will end around Europe on Sunday, with a majority of Europeans wanting year-round "permanent summertime".



The Orwell Book Prize, a prize for both fiction and non, has now been split in two: they've announced a new Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, while the non-fiction award will be called the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. 


 Almanac: John Podhoretz on nostalgia

“The most potent form of nostalgia is for a time you never knew in a place you do and imagine was at its peak before you came along.” John Podhoretz, “She’s a Stand-Up Gal” (Weekly ... read more



“No Laughter among Thieves: Authenticity and the Enforcement of Community Norms in Stand-Up Comedy,” by Patrick Reilly, from the American Sociological Review


Why Do We Equate Innovation With Wealth?


We remember innovators for their ideas, not their wealth. Why then has innovation been co-opted largely by business interests? When most people think of innovation, they tend to think of people making money from executing novel ideas. They think of today’s successful capitalists like Elon Musk, Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. … Read More

Published in The Conversation on 

AUDIENCE, MEDIA  

Study: More Than Twice As Many Students Are Paying Attention To Political News Than In 2014


Students felt, even in their short lives, news had changed. Part of it's the Trump effect, but I think it's really that the Parkland generation is paying attention. They have an issue. I can't tell you how many times school shootings came up. It's definitely on their minds. They're going to hear about it on their phones. The 24-hour news cycle has spun out of control to this hyper-velocity model that's coming at them. The technology feeds them these stories in a way that news always has urgency. So much of news is treated like breaking news, whether it is or not. Kate Spade, she made nice purses, and her suicide is a tragedy. But is it breaking news? It's confusing to students. … Read More
Published in Pacific Standard on 


 Hauntings, haints, and wraiths of every stripe and disposition appear in today’s literary fiction. But what to make of Literature’s Spectral Moment?  
Where are the big reforms for state government?
POLICY PRIORITIES: With elections just around the corner, fast-growing Victoria and NSW must resist temptations to promise untested infrastructure projects and restrict housing development, says the Grattan Institute.

CORRUPTION: With the Morrison government losing its lower-house majority, Attorney-General Christian Porter is ready to discuss ways to strengthen the Commonwealth public sector integrity system.

Death of a bookman. Philip Dosse was a brilliant, eccentric, tyrant of a publisher. Then his empire of arts magazines failed 




What If Disruption Was Just A Tech Con Game?


Over the past year the breathless articles that used to accompany new tech innovations have dried up, replaced with dystopian concerns about the Dark Web, privacy, hacking, fake news, and the deadening and manipulative effects of social media addiction.

It’s Tricky To Talk About Celebrities Who Die Young, But It’s Important


Spencr Kornhaber: "The reasons not to speak ill of the dead are easily understood: They can't defend themselves, and their loved ones are already in pain. ... [Yet,] in each recent shocking celebrity death there are, plausibly, lessons — about mental health, substance use, social media, domestic violence, and other things — that might help curb the darker trends in American life. Can those lessons be heard and discussed without causing offense?" …[Read More]



The cost of data protectionism VoxEU. I’d love to know who paid for this, or whether this is the intellectual version of working toward the Fuhrer. And see this: Apple and Facebook call for EU-style privacy laws in US Financial Times.





An Alternative History of Silicon Valley Disruption Wired. Chuck L highlighted this part:
It is only now, a decade after the financial crisis, that the American public seems to appreciate that what we thought was disruption worked more like extraction—of our data, our attention, our time, our creativity, our content, our DNA, our homes, our cities, our relationships. The tech visionaries’ predictions did not usher us into the future, but rather a future where they are kings.

China’s robot uprising
"China's ascendancy to a robotics giant would represent a significant global shift." (Axios)

Please, not another super scheme, Mr Keating. It’s what the pension is for
"Talk about a solution seeking a problem." (The Conversation)

It’s time to demystify the use of AI in government or risk losing it altogether
"We risk missing out on the potential “Artificial Intelligence” has to improve public services, if people don’t trust what governments are up to. When it comes to AI, we hear and fear either the hype or the horror." (Centre for Public Impact)
 
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