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Suggested readings, 6 December 2020

 

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

Pat Leahy, “Ireland is becoming more unequal? Wrong.” 5 Dec, Irish Times. 
"[T]he idea many people seem to have of Ireland as a uniquely badly governed and unsuccessful country -- a failed state, almost -- is one that our peers would not recognise. Nor is it, frankly, supported by a cool-headed look at Ireland and the world."

David Robson, “It's only fake-believe: how to deal with a conspiracy theorist.” 29 Nov, The Observer. 
The five most common fallacies used by conspiracy theorists, and the best ways to respond to them.

Wendy Orent, “Want to avoid pandemics? Eliminate factory farming.” 30 Nov, Los Angeles Times. 
"[T]he far greater threat to human health doesn’t come from spillovers in the wild. It comes from the way we farm and market animals."

Morgan Schondelmeier, “The steaks are high for lab-grown meat.” 3 Dec, CapX. 
"Lab-grown meat has been the next frontier of food production for decades. With the well-known faults of traditional meat production -- cruelty to animals, environmental harms, potential for disease, or human overconsumption -- the world’s leading scientists have long had their eyes on changing the way we consume meat. While some unimaginative folk talk about unrealistic ‘meat bans’ to prevent harm, the best way to get people to consume differently is always to innovate, not prohibit."

Saloni Dattani, “In praise of the Covid superforecasters.” 4 Dec, UnHerd. 
"Unlike the vague statements made by political commentators, predictions made by superforecasters are testable because they are formalised. They are thorough and quantitative predictions on whether events will occur. They are forecasts that can be scored on accuracy, enabling an outsider to identify which specific forecasters made reliable predictions early on. In sum, they help us separate the signal from the noise."

"[I]f it would be morally OK to lock people down, it would also be OK to require them to vaccinate in order to avoid the lockdown restrictions. Though this might restrict our freedom not to vaccinate -- by creating pressure to vaccinate -- it also confers an equally or more important freedom: the freedom to avoid lockdown."


Comments

  1. simonstiel11 December 2020 at 14:22

    Do you support culture or laboratory grown food? Singapore unveiled one sample recently.

    ReplyDelete

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