The steps to an American oligarchy

One of the things that all of this reveals is that the dystopian world in which AIs have taken our jobs and left us all destitute is not so much a scenario which needs endless public policy discussion. Instead it is the return of the repressed. It’s the story that our tech billionaires wish for, but still have to pretend that they don’t.

Not more but better – parts 1 and 2

The rise of supermarket chains, the fast food chains, factory farming, food waste, the conversion of landscapes into monocultures, food deserts, obesity, malnutrition, ultra-processed food, you name it –the four mega-drivers have a lot more explanatory power than the prevailing, and infantile, narrative of consumer preferences.

7 ideas for going local

This world is not a billiard ball table where we advance by banging into one another. It is a world of relationships, constantly changing, everything in some way feeding everything else. It is a world of mutuality and reciprocity.

To the lifehouse?

As I see it, people generally seek peace, health and prosperity where they can. They care less whether those things are to be found in the city or the country. It’s the things themselves that matter.

The View from Washington

Hyperbole is impossible when discussing the seriousness of what’s happening in Washington. When I speak of a wrecking ball to government, I mean federal agencies usurping the legislative branch’s powers, with a strong possibility of ignoring decisions of the judicial branch.