2nd Selected Links

This will be my final email for the year.

Four tidbits for your consumption, including my latest podcast episode:

1. I just released a new episode with David Sloan Wilson, one of the world's greatest evolutionary biologists. We discuss the evolutionary origins of cooperation, what makes societies successful, whether Ayn Rand's influence is deserved, and more. You can listen on iTunes here or Spotify here.

2. I’ve been reflecting on Eliezer Yudkowsky’s classic "Bleggs and Rubes" blog post in the context of the long-running debate over an Australian housing “bubble”. You can read the original post here.

3. Perhaps the most famous line in all of Tacitus is Calgacus' denunciation of the invading Romans: "[W]here they make a desert, they call it peace." But the whole speech is just as good. You can read it in The Agricola, between paragraphs 30 - 32, here. (Control+f "make a desert" if you can't find it.)

4. The most underreported story of the year. I've been following this with muted fascination since The New York Times first broke the story in 2017, and feeling like a crackpot. You can read their recent write-up here. And here is former CIA Director John Brennan on Tyler Cowen's podcast lending more credence to the story. 2020 has been a weird year.

To a better 2021! (It shouldn't be that hard, right?)

Best,


Joe