Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Kurt Cobb Increasingly, it seems that the ongoing spread of bird flu among cattle and the possible evolution of a strain that can be transmitted between humans will be the biggest story of 2025. I hope I’m wrong.
All the recent talk about government Bitcoin reserves has gotten me thinking about what happens when governments speculate.
Somebody needs to buy U.S. trade policymakers a periodic table of elements. China last week banned export of the key high-tech metals antimony, gallium and germanium to the United States. In this case, China has the upper hand.
Those coming into power now on a worldwide wave of discontent appear to understand little about the ultimate underlying causes of that discontent.
Deglobalization is proceeding apace for many reasons. Here’s one more.
Concern about a surprise acceleration in the decline of human fertility is missing the most critical factor.
The same factors that led to Donald Trump’s election in 2016 are still with us. The French philosopher Bruno Latour made the case that Trump’s perplexing popularity could be traced to his ability to give voice to the anger and fear generated by the effects of Globalism.
“The Democratic Party has a major working-class voter issue. It started a decade ago as a working-class White issue. It’s now gotten even worse and spread across racial lines.”
“Metabolical”, a book by a medical researcher and physician, tell us that the relationship between our diet (heavy on processed foods) and chronic disease is far more profound than we’ve been told.
Is the next pandemic on its way? The dramatic spread of bird flu in American cattle is very concerning.
Modern humans have come to believe that new technology is better and also benign. The downsides of AI and synthetic biology are already visible. Now, they are being combined.
What if we presented possible options for future human developments—let’s say human population as a solid example—and pretend it’s a menu from which we get to choose.
