For the Good of the Public | The Morning Five

Wear is the Love, Episode 27

On this week’s Wear is the Love, we return to our love story. The last episode where we shared a bit about our relationship (#15) seems to be a fan-favorite, and so we thought we’d pick up where we left off. This will hopefully be a welcome break from a pretty intense news cycle, though rest-assured we’ll be back to break down the news next week.

Episode notes:

From A New Brain:

The Top 5 articles for your week:

“You Can Spot Climate Change in Old Restaurant Menus” (The Atlantic)

Because seafood-heavy Vancouver is mostly serving squid these days, due to warming water temperatures. Restaurant menus are now a major marker for those measuring climate change.

“Cognitive Behavioral Soulcraft” (Hedgehog Review)

Because we’ve gone from self-help books to Cognitive Wellness Culture (CWC), a movement for dealing with distraction and the attention economy.

“A New Americanism” (Foreign Affairs)

Because while this essay is from 2019, it is an excellent history of the definition of nationalism, how it’s evolved, and how myth-making and the nation-state go hand-in-hand. It’s pertinent for today, when the term (nationalism) is thrown around a lot in current commentary.

“What Happened to Consensus Reality?” (The New Atlantis)

Because the opening salvo of this essay is a good chaser to the two articles above: “Do you feel that people you love and respect are going insane? That formerly serious thinkers or commentators are increasingly unhinged, willing to subscribe to wild speculations or even conspiracy theories? Do you feel that, even if there’s some blame to go around, it’s the people on the other side of the aisle who have truly lost their minds? Do you wonder how they can possibly be so blind? Do you feel bewildered by how absurd everything has gotten? Do many of your compatriots seem in some sense unintelligible to you? Do you still consider them your compatriots?”

“Hot regression summer” (Dirt - Substack)

Because - are we experiencing the end of original pop culturemaking? (I don’t think so; I think we’re in a time of looking back - or nostalgia - in order to make sense of the chaos right now, but I’m open to this essay’s argument)

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Wear is the Love, Episode 26

With the Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe v Wade, we discuss the fallout, and a potential, though unlikely, path forward for Democrats. We also discuss the newly signed gun reform law, which happened in almost near obscurity with all the attention on Dobbs.

Episode notes:

Dobbs reactions in Politico, including Michael’s

Michael’s essay on Dobbs

President Biden signing gun reform into law (BBC)

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The Top 5 articles for your week:

“Teenage Justice” (The Cut)

Because though we don’t necessarily agree with all the ways the author frames her arguments, this is an interesting window into young people’s desire to establish and enforce a new culture and set of norms concerning sexual harassment.

“When Innocence Isn’t Enough” (The New Republic)

Because this article shows another confounding facet of our judicial system by chronicling the life of Christopher Dunn, an innocent man, who was sentenced to life in prison but cannot get out of jail in Missouri due to state laws.

“How 2022 Became the Year of Over-the-Top Masculinity in Politics” (Washington Post Magazine)

Because “…perhaps the bigger question about the rise of an ultra-macho style in Missouri’s — and America’s — politics isn’t whether it’s effective; it’s what it all means. If this new exaggerated masculinity proves consistently appealing to voters on both the right and the left, then what does that suggest about the kinds of candidates who can, and cannot, realistically seek office in the future? About what types of issues we can debate and on what terms? About what kind of people we want to lead us — and what kind of country we want to be?”

“Brexit: Good or Bad for Britain?” (Persuasion - Substack)

Because, hey, the USA isn’t the only country with interesting fallouts from big political decisions. I really like this debate on what’s happened in the last 6 years in the UK with the 2016 vote to leave the EU.

“The Invisible Man Does Elegantly What Promising Young Woman Fails to Do with Lectures” (Freddie deBoer - Substack)

Because deBoer talks about the ham-handedness of some movies lately when it comes to being political, and where we might see filmmaking go. “I look forward to a correction for this stuff in the coming years, where getting more films by women and filmmakers of color stops being a novelty and people are more comfortable letting the stories tell the tale, in and of and for themselves.”

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Wear is the Love, Episode 25

On this week’s episode, we discuss Sen. Mitt Romney’s “Family Security Act 2.0” which is a new child allowance bill that looks a lot like his excellent bill from February 2021. We like a lot about the plan, but do have some critiques. What are your thoughts?

We also discuss this article in the NYT, “Democrats’ Risky Bet: Aid G.O.P. Extremists in Spring, Hoping to Beat Them in Fall” about some party operatives’ new strategy of propping up MAGA Republican candidates over more moderate Republican candidates. We have a lot of feelings around this one. It’s a Bad Idea.

Episode notes:

The croissant TikTok

Niskanen Center analysis of the Family Security Act 2.0

The Ariana Grande twitter thread, aka one of Michael’s viral moments

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The Top 5 articles for your week:

“The Long Shadow of Eugenics in America” (NYT)

Because the case of the Relf sisters and their government-forced sterilization has had decades of ramifications: “The concept of reparations has long been contentious, debated in Congress and elsewhere as a question of what is owed to U.S. citizens who are descendants of those who were enslaved centuries ago. But the steps to compensate the living victims of forced sterilization can also be understood as reparations, and with three states having done so, new pressure has been placed on the remaining 29 states and the federal government itself.”

“Some Quick Thoughts on LaMBDA and Sentience” (Substack - Out of the Ordinary)

Because this short Substack piece on what “sentient” actually means in the AI world and how we’re talking over one another right now on this issue is actually helpful. In particular, “Lemoine’s case also demonstrates the ease with which future AI systems may be able to manipulate humans. The large language models of five, ten, and twenty years from today are likely to be far superior to LaMBDA. How many people will these systems be able to convince of their sentience? My guess is that Lemoine is merely an early adopter of a view that will, in future decades, be held by a non-trivial share of people. And once a non-trivial fraction of people think AI systems are sentient the odds that AI comes to dominate our institutions go up. People often ask how a generally intelligent but disembodied AI could wreak havoc in physical reality; this is one clear path.”

“The End of the Asset Economy” (The Atlantic)

Because “‘Why not take the loan?’ has been a pretty good summary of American wealth building and class dynamics in the past few decades. An extended period of low interest rates has translat

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