We Are Not Saved

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/05/31/eschatologist-17-weve-solved-all-the-easy-problems-only-hard-problems-remain/

Abortion is back in the news, but rather than arguing for one side or the other I thought I'd take a look at the arena of moral debates in general. Are we getting better at solving these thorny problems or worse? I suspect we're getting worse, both because of internet echo chambers, but also because we've solved all the easy problems and only the really tough ones remain.

As you can imagine, this is bad.

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/05/26/conscience-authenticity-and-true-freedom/

In an episode that draws heavily from the book The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos by Sohrab Ahmari I consider the apparently conflict between being authentic and doing what you're "supposed" to do.

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/05/19/thoughts-on-yard-care-and-the-modern-world/

I'm moving and as a result I'm thinking of my decades long battle with my yard, and I'm wondering if there is any lesson for the modern world. I suspect that there is, but you should also consider that fact that I really hate yard work.

1. The Divide: How Fanatical Certitude Is Destroying Democracy by: Taylor Dotson
2. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by: Mark Fisher
3. The Age of AI and Our Human Future by: Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher
4. A Confederacy of Dunces by: John Kennedy Toole
5. Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation by: Roosevelt Montás
6. Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen by: Steve Sims
7. The Thursday Murder Club by: Richard Osman
8. The Weird of Hali: Dreamlands by: John Michael Greer
9. Homefront (Expeditionary Force, #7.5) by: Craig Alanson
10. Valkyrie (Expeditionary Force, #9) by: Craig Alanson

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/05/01/eschatologist-16-the-right-amount-of-danger/

You may be familiar with the hygiene hypothesis, which holds that the increase in allergies we've been seeing are due to inadequately stressed immune systems. That in the absence of parasites and pathogens our immune systems overreact to things which aren't dangerous. Is it possible that something similar is going on with our psychological immune systems? If so what sort of "pathogens" should we be introducing?

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/04/28/the-drug-crisis-part-2-wrapping-up-and-maybe-some-solutions/

I wrap up my discussion of the drug crisis. I begin with discussing the fact that the US appears to be unique in the rate at which overdose deaths are increasing. This is not quite true, but there are some peculiarities which make the US a nice juicy target if you were interested in selling opioids, and other drugs, this goes both for legal and illegal drugs. Given the scale of the problem we've discovered a lot of things that don't work, and a one big thing that made the problem worse (the pandemic). But we don't have a lot of good ideas for how to fix it. Nevertheless I offer up some ideas.

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/04/18/the-drug-crisis-part-1-the-role-of-progress-and-technology-in-creating-the-crisis/

An examination into how deaths from overdosing on drugs got so bad. Everyone knows how Oxycontin contributed to the problem, but there's far more to the story than that. Join me for a discussion of drug marketing, meth, benzodiazepines, and cocaine, and how it all combines into one of the deadliest trends of our time, one with no signs of slowing down.

1. When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by: Roger Lowenstein
2. How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by: Arnold Bennet
3. Burning Chrome by: William Gibson
4. Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy: How Generals, Weapons Manufacturers, and Foreign Governments Shape American Foreign Policy by: Richard Hanania
5. Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class by: Catherine Liu
6. Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by: Stephen Fry
7. Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures by: Stephen Fry
8. If You Absolutely Must…: a brief guide to writing and selling short-form argumentative nonfiction from a somewhat reluctant professional writer by: Fredrik deBoer
9. Expeditionary Force Book 8: Armageddon by: Craig Alanson

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/03/31/eschatologist-15-covid-and-ukraine-the-return-of-messiness/

The last few decades have been a historical aberration, a time when things seemed simple and progress seemed inevitable. Alternatively we threw up our hands and assumed that our problems were so great that they risked causing the "End of the World". Reality is more messy, we will neither be permanently saved or irrevocably destroyed. Rather the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine demonstrates that messiness has returned, and we need to get better at dealing with it.

I initially decided to to weigh in on Ukraine because so many other people were. But as the situation becomes more and more potentially apocalyptic it started to appear that I would have to. But don't worry, I don't rehash the same talking points as everyone else. My big worry is whether we can figure out some point of stability where nukes exist, but no one uses them. We had that during the Cold War, but that was a bipolar situation where both sides were very similar in strength. Essentially the easiest situation imaginable from a game theory perspective. Unfortunately the future promises to be multipolar, contain lots of nations with nukes who all are at various power levels. How are we going to navigate this treacherous situation? Is it even possible?