Let's Know Things

This week we talk about protectionist policy, solar panels, and rare earths. We also discuss Chinese business investment, EVs, and extreme weather events. Recommended Book: Meet Me By the Fountain by Alexandra Lange Transcript The Great Green Wall—the one in China, not the one meant to span the Sahel region, straddling the upper portion of Africa—is officially called the Three-North Shelter Forest...

This week we talk about the Heritage Foundation, Agenda 47, and the Democrats in turmoil We also discuss Christian Nationalism, France’s surprising election outcome, and authoritarianism. Recommended Book: Filterworld by Kyle Chayka Transcript The world is awash with interesting elections this year—there are a record number of people participating in democratic activities, from Indonesia to the EU...

This week we talk about the APA, the Supreme Court, and Marbury v. Madison. We also discuss the Chevron Doctrine, government agencies, and the administrative state. Recommended Book: A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith Transcript The Supreme Court's 1803 Marbury v. Madison decision was pivotal to US legal theory and practice because it established the concept of judicial review, which ess...

This week we talk about China, Russia, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. We also discuss BRICS, North Korea, and the post-WWII global world order. Recommended Book: Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg Transcript The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, is a defense and economic alliance that was started by China and Russia back in 2001, and which has since expanded to become the la...

This week we talk about the National Rally, Macron, and the European Union. We also discuss Marine Le Pen, elections, and the French National Assembly. Recommended Book: Pockets by Hannah Carlson Transcript The first week of June 2024, the EU held its parliamentary election, the tenth since it began holding such elections in 1979, and this one was notable in part because the number of MEPs—Members...

This week we talk about search engines, SEO, and Habsburg AI. We also discuss AI summaries, the web economy, and alignment. Recommended Book: Pandora’s Box by Peter Biskind Transcript There's a concept in the world of artificial intelligence, alignment, which refers to the goals underpinning the development and expression of AI systems. This is generally considered to be a pretty important realm o...

This week we talk about secret documents, hush-money payouts, and federal court cases. We also discuss polling, independents, and post-presidential felonies. Recommended Book: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson Transcript It's a weird time in American politics for many reasons, including but not limited to the increasing polarization of the two main parties, the difficulty in finding bipartisan...

This week we talk about the Tories, Labour, and the UK Parliament. We also discuss the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and Rishi Sunak’s gamble. Recommended Book: Like, Literally, Dude by Valerie Fridland Transcript The government of the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy led by a Prime Minister and their cabinet, the Prime Minister attaining their position through the primacy of th...

This week we talk about Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and Hamas. We also discuss Egypt, the Rafah Crossing, and Netanyahu’s motivations. Recommended Book: Going Zero by Anthony McCarten Transcript Israel, as a country, was founded as a consequence of, and in the midst of, a fair bit of conflict and turmoil. It was formally established in mid-1948 after years of settlement in the area by Jew...

This week we talk about ENSO, El Niño, and attribution science. We also discuss climate change, natural disasters, and the trade winds. Recommended Book: Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway Transcript The field of attribution science, sometimes referred to as "extreme event attribution," focuses on figuring out whether and to what degree a particular weather event—especially rare weather disasters—are...

This week we talk about APT28, spoofing, and hybrid warfare. We also discuss the Baltics, Tartu airport, and hacking. Recommended Book: The Middle Passage by James Hollis Transcript In early May of 2024, the German government formally blamed a Russian hacking group called APT28 for hacking members of the governing German Social Democratic Party in 2023, and warned of unnamed consequences. Those co...

This week we talk about Huawei, DJI, and ByteDance. We also discuss 5G infrastructure, black-box algorithms, and Congressional bundles. Recommended Book: The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal Note: my new book, How To Turn 39 , is now available as an ebook, audiobook, and paperback wherever you get your books :) Transcript In January of 2024, Chinese tech giant Huawei brought an end to its years-l...

This week we talk about STELLARWIND, 9/11, and the NSA. We also discuss warrantless surveillance, intelligence agencies, and FISA. Recommended Book: Period: The Real Story of Menstruation by Kate Clancy Transcript Immediately after the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11, 2001, then President George W. Bush gave his approval for the National Security Agency, the NSA, to run a portfolio of...

This week we talk about diplomatic immunity, Trump’s court cases, and the Supreme Court. We also discuss Nixon, Clinton, and the US Constitution. Recommended Book: My upcoming book, How To Turn 39 (https://books2read.com/htt39), which is available for pre-order today :) Transcript There's a concept in international law—diplomatic immunity—that says, in essence, certain government officials should...

This week we talk about Linux, backdoors, and the Open Source community. We also discuss CPU usage, state-backed hackers, and SSH. Recommended Book: The Underworld by Susan Casey Transcript In the world of computers, a "backdoor" is a means of accessing a device or piece of software via an alternative entry point that allows one to bypass typical security measures and often, though not always, to...

This week we talk about cacao, plantations, and bean-to-bar chocolate. We also discuss black pod disease, swollen shoot virus, and seed pod currency. Recommended Book:   The City & The City by China Miéville Transcript The cocoa bean, also called "cacao," is a seed derived from the cocoa tree, which is native to the Amazon Rainforest in South America. More than 5,000 years ago, near present day Ec...

This week we talk about the Rwandan genocide, the First and Second Congo Wars, and M23. We also discuss civil wars, proxy conflicts, and resource curses. Recommended Book:   Everyday Utopia by Kristen R. Ghodsee Transcript The Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, was previously known as Zaïre, a name derived from a Portuguese mistranscription of the regional word for "river." It wore that mon...

This week we talk about mergers, acquisitions, and the Shale Oil Revolution. We also discuss liquid natural gas, energy diplomacy, and political hypocrisy. Recommended Book: Eversion by Alastair Reynolds Transcript For the sixth year in a row, the United States is the largest oil producer in the world. As of March 2024, it's producing an average of 12.93 million barrels of oil per day, according t...

This week we talk about foreign aid, brain drain, and long-term economic consequences. We also discuss the Rasputitsa, counteroffensives, and strategic rethinks. Recommended Book: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi Transcript We've done this a few times before, but it's been a while since I've done a real update on Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine—September of last year, I think,...

This week we talk about virtual reality, the Meta Quest, and the Apple Vision Pro. We also discuss augmented reality, Magic Leap, and the iPhone. Recommended Book: Daemon by Daniel Suarez Transcript Ransomware is a sub-type of malware, which is malicious software that prevents its victim from accessing their data. So that might mean keeping them from logging into their cloud storage, but it might...

This week we talk about the Meiji Revolution, shoguns, and the Lost Decade. We also discuss NVIDIA, economic bubbles, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Recommended Book: The Blue Machine by Helen Czerski Transcript What became known as the Meiji Restoration, but which at the time was generally, locally, called the Honorable Restoration, refers to a period of massive and rapid change in Japan following...

This week we talk about virtual reality, the Meta Quest, and the Apple Vision Pro. We also discuss augmented reality, Magic Leap, and the iPhone. Recommended Book: Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz Transcript The term spacial computing seems to have been coined in the mid-1980s within the field of geographic information systems, or GIS, which focuses on using digital technology to mess with geogra...

This week we talk about The Messenger, ads, and generative AI. We also discuss search engines, algorithms, and Semafor’s new curation tool. Recommended Book: The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman Transcript There was a piece published on McSweeney's, a humorous, often satirical writing site, recently, entitled "Our Digital Media Platform Will Revolutionize News and Is Also Shutting Down," written by...

This week we talk about CAR Ts, lupus, and antigen-presenting cells. We also discuss Hashimoto’s, potential cures, and allergies. Recommended Book: The Avoidable War by Kevin Rudd Transcript Chimeric antigen receptors, usually shorthanded as CARs, are a type of protein structure that receives and transmits signals within biological systems. The term "CAR T cell" refers to chimeric antigen receptor...

This week we talk about robo-Biden, fake Swift images, and ElevenLabs. We also discuss copyright, AI George Carlin, and deepfakes. Recommended Book: Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber Transcript The hosts of a podcast called Dudesy are facing a lawsuit after they made a video that seems to show the late comedian George Carlin performing a new routine. The duo claimed they created the vid...