Thank you as always, Razib. I am finding less time recently but remain a staunch supporter of your work.
Totally off topic: I am very concerned that MBS does not have what it takes to turn KSA in a more secular direction. Recent sobering news suggests strongly that the priesthood remains in charge of public morals.
reading "the rise of the new puritans" by noah rothman. re-reading "the ends of the world."
upcoming: "trans" by helen joyce, "The Party" By: Richard McGregor, "why we fight" by blattman, "different" frans de wall, "a brief history of equality" by Piketty, "streets of gold," by boustan
"Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads"
Liked: "Why we love" by fisher. " a very short history of life on earth" "the united states of war"
Nice to find you on Substack, Razib -- and thanks for this content roundup!
I see you've been discussing the immigration / border situation, though I can't really tell what you think about it. But I've been plugging SEZs for migrants as a way to manage the border crisis in a way that could profit host states immensely -- I sent this to Richwine and others at CIS weeks and months ago. The legal details are controversial, but it could be a game changer -- and just proposing a constructive compromise is a valuable clarification of the issue, I think. If you'd like to explore it, I can put you in touch with some folks.
I found it notable that Atran writes "the luckless English soldiers had passed through in 1919 on their way to losing their third and last war in Afghanistan", which seems to be mixing it up with the first Anglo-Afghan war. Although it could be the old man he was talking to conflated them, and he's just reporting that.
In terms of monkeypox, I am gay and came out in the mid 70s.
Met people and notice the heavy talk about sex, which was weird to me, so I asked how sex partners he and a friend had had and they said 500 or 600. I asked about diseases and they told me they would just go to public health clinic and get a shot......I almost died right then and there because you know that at some point natural selection was going to select for something horrible. And by the late 70s alot of people sensed something really bad (healthwise) had entered the population.
But there was much denial when it became evident this was not your usual STD, but something worse. For several years, bathhouses remained opened while acrimonious fights raged in the gay community about closing them.
The earliest people to get the disease were those who had a heavy party/drug/sex scene. But there were enough of those people, so that HIV became widespread so even if you didn't belong to that scene, you face high odds of getting it.
Monkeypox seems to be spreading, up until now, in the same party/drug cohort. So we will see its trajectory.
I read Reich's book when it first came out and I have no background in science. It was at time a bit difficult for me, but usually very clear for a non-specialist.
Does anyone know if there is an updated version of the book? I think it was a hit when it first came out and was wondering if the paper back differs from the hardback.
Thank you as always, Razib. I am finding less time recently but remain a staunch supporter of your work.
Totally off topic: I am very concerned that MBS does not have what it takes to turn KSA in a more secular direction. Recent sobering news suggests strongly that the priesthood remains in charge of public morals.
reading "the rise of the new puritans" by noah rothman. re-reading "the ends of the world."
upcoming: "trans" by helen joyce, "The Party" By: Richard McGregor, "why we fight" by blattman, "different" frans de wall, "a brief history of equality" by Piketty, "streets of gold," by boustan
"Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads"
Liked: "Why we love" by fisher. " a very short history of life on earth" "the united states of war"
Nice to find you on Substack, Razib -- and thanks for this content roundup!
I see you've been discussing the immigration / border situation, though I can't really tell what you think about it. But I've been plugging SEZs for migrants as a way to manage the border crisis in a way that could profit host states immensely -- I sent this to Richwine and others at CIS weeks and months ago. The legal details are controversial, but it could be a game changer -- and just proposing a constructive compromise is a valuable clarification of the issue, I think. If you'd like to explore it, I can put you in touch with some folks.
https://chartercitiesinstitute.org/podcast/charter-cities-podcast-episode-30-how-displaced-people-can-build-economies-with-alexander-betts/
https://refugeecities.org/concept-note/
I found it notable that Atran writes "the luckless English soldiers had passed through in 1919 on their way to losing their third and last war in Afghanistan", which seems to be mixing it up with the first Anglo-Afghan war. Although it could be the old man he was talking to conflated them, and he's just reporting that.
In terms of monkeypox, I am gay and came out in the mid 70s.
Met people and notice the heavy talk about sex, which was weird to me, so I asked how sex partners he and a friend had had and they said 500 or 600. I asked about diseases and they told me they would just go to public health clinic and get a shot......I almost died right then and there because you know that at some point natural selection was going to select for something horrible. And by the late 70s alot of people sensed something really bad (healthwise) had entered the population.
But there was much denial when it became evident this was not your usual STD, but something worse. For several years, bathhouses remained opened while acrimonious fights raged in the gay community about closing them.
The earliest people to get the disease were those who had a heavy party/drug/sex scene. But there were enough of those people, so that HIV became widespread so even if you didn't belong to that scene, you face high odds of getting it.
Monkeypox seems to be spreading, up until now, in the same party/drug cohort. So we will see its trajectory.
I read Reich's book when it first came out and I have no background in science. It was at time a bit difficult for me, but usually very clear for a non-specialist.
Does anyone know if there is an updated version of the book? I think it was a hit when it first came out and was wondering if the paper back differs from the hardback.