LATEST BLOG POSTS

This week I finished: The Choice: Embrace the Possible, by Dr. Edith Eger: At one point listening to this book, I started feeling choked up. Tears started welling up in my eyes. I asked myself, “When has a book made me cry?” “Has a book ever led me to cry?” I continued to ask myself. As the book continued, I started full-on bawling at the experience of the author, how[…] Keep reading →

If “transition” means we stop using the old fuel then there has never been an energy transition. You can hear more details when I post my next episode with Mark Mills, but it deserves more publicity. I recorded with him again after reading his recent piece We’ll Never Have an Energy Transition, in City Journal from the Manhattan Institute. I find his results compelling, as always. Every fuel we’ve ever[…] Keep reading →

I walked past what was once likely a planter bed filled with lovely flowers or maybe a tree. I presume it was something nice because someone installed a plaque that began “In loving memory of.” Instead of flowers, a tree, or anything lovely or nice, the bed was filled with garbage. I’ve passed it before and seen it filled with garbage. It’s nice to think that environmental problems haven’t hit[…] Keep reading →

We have never decreased using any fuels. When we find new energy sources, we use the old one and the new one. Our plans to increase solar and wind have nothing to do with lowering fossil fuel use. This ordering doesn’t work: The only ordering which can work: (Though, according to Adam Smith and the US founders, we don’t need to create new energy sources to create the most opulent[…] Keep reading →

You probably know about the effect called the tragedy of the commons. The classic case is shepherds and a common grassy area. If each lets their sheep graze so they consume grass as fast as it grows, then each has the incentive to graze more, privatizing the extra profit while everyone else loses a smaller amount, but if all do it, everyone loses. Here is Wikipedia’s definition: The tragedy of[…] Keep reading →

Walking across the Manhattan Bridge, I saw a lot of graffiti. It looked to me like it was painted by boys or young men, likely making a statement vaguely like lashing out. I’m not sure, but it didn’t look like it was designed to make the place feel safer or more secure. I thought about how many boys and young men feel motivated to show their independence and probably have[…] Keep reading →

There’s a pattern in systems called an arms race, where two or more parties get stuck, each compelled to advance its military. When one does, all the others have to follow or risk being attacked or taken over. The pattern happens in other areas, but arms and the military is the prototypical example. We’re all familiar with how this systemic pattern played out in the cold war, for example contributing[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others, by Adam Galinsky: Adam teaches leadership at Columbia Business School, where I learned there were classes in leadership and took them. In them, I learned that I could learn social and emotional skills. I eventually wrote a book on leadership, Leadership Step by Step, with a chapter called Inspire. I also recently met Adam in person at[…] Keep reading →

I’ve read several books on racism lately. One of them, I think The Myth of Race, remarked how American soldiers after D-Day found Nazi vehicles had GM and Ford engines in them. I found it hard to believe, but possible. I looked it up and found this 1998 Washington Post article, Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration: When American GIs invaded Europe in June 1944, they did so[…] Keep reading →