Pluralistic: Machina economicus (14 Apr 2025) Arguably, we do live in the shadow of such modern demons: we call them “limited liability corporations.” These are (potentially) immortal colony organisms that treat us fleshy humans as mere inconvenient gut flora. These artificial persons are not merely recognized as people under the law – they are given … [Read more…]
When I get picky and need something unusual to read, I often go to Cory Doctorow’s blog, plurasitic.net. As an example, tonight I was reading about his March 3rd 2025 entry “Trumpism is our oil crisis” in which he vilifies Milton Friedman (rightly so) and delivers a new twist to my understanding of Friedman’s history. … [Read more…]
Place holder for The Guardian article “Human ‘behavioural crisis’ at root of climate breakdown, say scientists” “We’ve socially engineered ourselves the way we geoengineered the planet,” says Joseph Merz, lead author of a new paper which proposes that climate breakdown is a symptom of ecological overshoot, which in turn is caused by the deliberate … [Read more…]
Place marker for this Guardian article on the city owned communal buildings, January 10, 2024. how Vienna became the world’s most livable city
Behind All the Talk, This Is What Big Oil Is Actually Doing Aug. 7, 2023 New York Times In reading a few arguments about the pace of the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, some are saying that “we can’t afford this” and, as in the article above, people won’t buy it. I’m getting … [Read more…]
World’s oldest national newspaper prints final edition after 320 years – Austria’s Wiener Zeitung to publish online only after recent law change makes it unprofitable as print product The newspaper, which is owned by the Austrian government but is editorially independent, began publishing in August 1703 and has seen out 12 presidents, 10 kaisers … [Read more…]
Big Oil talks ‘transition’ but perpetuates petroleum, House documents say A House committee, accusing oil companies of deception, releases a trove of internal documents revealing how these firms view the ‘energy transition’ By Steven Mufson and Timothy Puko December 9, 2022 Some of the world’s major oil companies remain internally skeptical about the “energy transition” … [Read more…]
In The Atlantic, Patrick Sharkey writes about the causes of crime; “By zooming out and looking at the big picture, the question of what causes violence becomes quite answerable.” November 23, 2022 Patrick Sharkey is the William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. He … [Read more…]
The New York Times 11/08/2022 poking “a big hornets’ nest with a short stick.” Perhaps the best-known ecological economist, he faulted his mainstream peers for failing to account for the environmental harm growth can bring. Herman Daly, who for more than 50 years argued that the economic gospel of growth as synonymous with prosperity and … [Read more…]
On POLITICO is this article about the ECT, the Energy Charter Treaty. The world’s biggest dirty energy club is cracking up Major EU countries are quitting the Energy Charter Treaty. After a wild Twitter rant, the boss of its secretariat says he was hacked.