I’ve struggled with an idea for a while, the idea that economic productivity gains from technology are stalling out. Productivity in general had a good run leading up to the Great Recession, but the long run average has faded ever since (as shown in this graph from the FT). Productivity was long a key metric […]
Are Guns the Problem?
Are guns the problem? It's time to have an honest conversation. https://t.co/WhTJyQE9HQ — Governor Matt Bevin (@GovMattBevin) February 16, 2018 Kentucky’s governor Matt Bevin gave a short interview to the Cincinnati Enquirer about the issue of guns in America. Below is the CC transcript of the interview from YouTube. (Hence the lack of punctuation.) I’ve […]
Confessions of an Independent Publisher (who learns everything the hard way)
About five years ago, the idea of becoming an independent publisher, one that focused on humanity’s biggest challenges, took hold of me. It was an intoxicating vision. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off, but publishing thought-provoking books on such challenges was just the kind of work I wanted to do. I had no idea what I was […]
Degrowth is Necessary
Branko Milanovic recently published a post that tackles the idea of degrowth (an idea I favor) head on. He’s one of my favorite economic thinkers, who has spent years focusing on the topic of inequality, long before it became a topic of broad interest. That, and the fact that I find him to be incredibly forthright, […]
Something is Rotten on YouTube
I recently read something bewildering, “Something is wrong on the internet,” by James Bridle. The part cast a light on some dark corners on YouTube. (No, it’s not that. It’s far stranger.) You can go read the post, but if you choose to do so, expect to end up feeling perplexed at best. And I’m not even […]
Will Robots Do Our Work?
I contributed an article to the new edition of THink Magazine, a journal produced by the HEAD Foundation, that looks at long-running trends in the mix and availability of work, and the technological waves that drove the shifts in those trends in looking to see what might lie ahead. Please have a look, and ping me […]