Suggested readings, 13 December 2020

Here are some interesting articles I've read over the past week I think are worth checking out.

Finn McRedmond, “We need to argue our way out of our ‘ideological bunkers’” 10 Dec, Irish Times.

"There are few among us who are not guilty of resorting to charged rhetoric, lambasting our opponents as cruel or ignorant. But if we care about our capacity to actually effect political change, then we know the medium of discussion must be a moderate one and must be one that appeals to the other party’s value system and sensibilities."

Michael Huemer, “Time to Stop Aging.” 5 Dec, Fake Nous.

"We’re spending billions of dollars researching many other diseases, when we could be spending those resources finding a cure for aging, which would drastically reduce many different diseases all at once."

Richard J. Evans, “What the Hitler conspiracies mean.” 2 Dec, New Statesman.

Historian Richard J. Evans on why so many people appear to believe Hitler survived the Second World War.

Charlotte Summers, “The Covid vaccine arrived quickly – but there's every reason to trust it.” 3 Dec, The Guardian.

"Much as we hate to admit it, humans are not entirely rational creatures. Many of our fears about vaccines will not be abated by people presenting us with scientific data. We make decisions like this based largely on whether we trust the advice we are being given. I could deluge you with research data about why the vaccine is safe, but I suspect the most useful thing that medics and scientists can do is to urge people to say yes to the vaccine when it is offered. And when my turn comes, you will find me waiting impatiently in the queue for my vaccination."

Saloni Dattani and Stuart Ritchie, “Can we eradicate Covid 19?” 7 Dec, UnHerd.

"To date, only two infectious diseases have ever been eradicated — the aforementioned smallpox, and also rinderpest, a particularly nasty cattle virus that can have a near-100% fatality rate, which was wiped out in 2011. That should tell us that removing a disease from circulation is an extraordinarily difficult task."

Peter Singer and Lucius Caviola, “Giving with the Heart and the Head.” 7 Dec, Project Syndicate.

"It would make a huge difference and solve many global problems if everyone gave to charity based on effectiveness. But it is unrealistic to expect this to happen anytime soon, because for most people, giving is something deeply emotional. And, unfortunately, our emotions don’t scale proportionately to the number of individuals we can help."

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