Jag Bhalla…Idea Trader/Thought Plumber
@hangingnoodles
Mind Mixer—Idea Trader—Fixer of Logic Leaks & Cognitive Clogs—Eco & CO₂ Crimes—Every 0.01ºC Counts—Sci, Tech, & history of ideas—Fighting Greedocracy—RT≠love
Good on America's anti-Sputnik moment (policies that choose to lose tech arms race) "Our argument is that BRICS is important in terms of the remaking of the material world, more than finance or diplomacy" note material here alludes to crucial importance of non-financial…
metaphors for US-China technology race: Sputnik or Steampunk? buttondown.com/polycrisisdisp…
not politics as usual @GuilhotNicolas Big Tech, especially Musk, gets "to decide what is politicised, when and how" pair with The Politics of God Building (and “Eschatech”) everydayanalysis.co.uk/post/the-polit…
Great to have the splendid @GuilhotNicolas writing for @ftopinion about digital democratic centralism (aka the 'America party') on.ft.com/44Tva2r
One other thing this does—which is consistent w/ a lot of foreign aid polling—is to complicate the push to frame development advocacy as self-interest. The simple do-gooder stuff (medicine, food, etc) often polls better than “teach a man to fish” framings and even security aid
uh this is a pretty big narrative violation? 83% of Americans support giving medicine to developing nations 78% support giving them food and clothing 63% support economic development 61% support strengthening democracy close enough, welcome back liberal internationalism
"There is no more commonwealth" @nikhil_palsingh operative motto of both PMC Dems & GOP One Nation Under Greed see Our Deformed Professional Class sublationmedia.com/our-deformed-p…
This is all symptomatic of the “plutocratic revolt,” which accelerated over the past two decades. US governing elites are “takers” not “makers,” increasingly organized around pursuit of dynastic wealth and its economy of retainers, propagandists… There is no more commonwealth.
"Mamdani’s critics accuse him of being hostile to markets and enterprise, but he is really targeting rent-seeking and predation" @jhv85 & Rent-seeking and predation are synonyms for organized greed. A creed dear to PMC dems. Their operative motto "One Nation Under Greed"…
.@jhv85: Zohran Mamdani’s critics are wrong to accuse him of being hostile to markets and enterprise—his real target is rent-seeking and predation. commonwealmagazine.org/zohran-mamdani…
Can Art and Literature Change A Person? @arianareines Michael Clune and @jordan_castro2
Watch here: youtu.be/NVg-L0mklRw?si…
"there were cultural and spiritual conditions that enabled risk-taking ... but there were also bold visions [+many other factors eg] successful government intervention" + On that spiritual aspect, the idea that we "need greed" for innovation can be easily refuted…
If you're interested in reading the full article, here's a link to the digital copy @AmericanAffrs. LMK what you think. americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/05/its-so…
handy essay on history of tech & flaws in current acceleration fads @PaulCasinelli Christian “messianic” e/acc "engages in eschatology and the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven via technology" pair with The Politics of God Building and “Eschatech” everydayanalysis.co.uk/post/the-polit…
If you're interested in reading the full article, here's a link to the digital copy @AmericanAffrs. LMK what you think. americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/05/its-so…
"tribalism is the vice which liberalism was articulated to constrain" @Celestemarcus3 Core contest: is (or should) our politics be driven primarily by cultural/spiritual/moral or mainly material concerns? Trump leveraged the former, too many liberals cling to the latter…
"America, America, watch how she destroys herself. The backlash is fierce and intelligent and stupid and brutal. And it never ends. The tribal mass manoeuvres to stock courts with like-minded judges and police departments with like-minded cops."
"Emotions promote social interaction by synchronizing brain activity across individuals"
Emotions synchronize brain activity between people. This promotes social interaction & facilitates interpersonal understanding.
"this international coalition of the willing to tax the super rich is a ray of hope — the embryo of a new multilateralism focused on tax, climate, and trade justice" @gabriel_zucman
"Among the agreed initiatives, we highlight the support for the initiative to form a coalition that promotes and facilitates the establishment of progressive and fair taxation" Great support for the coalition to tax the super rich at #DemocraciaSiempre gov.br/mre/pt-br/cana…
Bari Weiss seeks more than $200mn for anti-woke media start-up The Free Press has about 1.25mn subscribers on Substack, with about 155,000 of them paying... Annual subscriptions cost $100, implying subscription revenues of about $15.5mn ft.com/content/0f1ce3…
Fruitful phrasing from @OsitaNwanevu below. We are wrestling with what it means politically, spiritually, and materially to be Americans, eg "2 visions of America [are fighting] for the soul of the country" @Celestemarcus3 prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/united-s… +Political Virtues:…
Spiritually, the right wants us to be Europeans more than those of us who materially want good healthcare, trains, and such. Fundamentally, they do not want to be Americans. This is where the appeals to "Western civilization" come from. As though it's all the same. It's not.
close, becoz the jokesters speaking of, see @fotoole Trump has developed a “comic-authoritarian politics,” a lively mix of “vaudeville and vituperation” that had “advantages over the older dictatorial style.” Trump's Superior Political Style everydayanalysis.co.uk/post/trump-s-s…
The faces of fascism?
Lol "we could have been Canada"
The New Yorker having a normal one.
"Low-income countries are spending, on average, more than 50% of their revenue on debt service to rich creditors" The richest individuals (and institutions) are starving the poorest people on the planet to fund their 4rd Ferrari
3 weeks since the Seville summit. The truth is louder than ever. Billionaires gained $6.5T. SDG financing gap? $4T. And some countries are using 12.5X more on #debt repayments than in climate adaptation. Private finance isn’t the solution! 👉equals.ink/p/finance-deve…
Why the 21st C has "no new ideas" @kitwilsonwriter + "the spirit of geometry may be carried … too far" George Eliot The Influence of Rationalism Fortnightly Review, vol. I, 1 August 1865 + way way too far issues.org/data-divine-go…
When it comes to the biggest questions, writes @kitwilsonwriter, the twenty-first century does not seem to be offering new insights thecritic.co.uk/why-we-have-no…