From The End of the Modern World by Fr. Stephen Freemen: Modernity is a rhetorical device. The modern world does not produce wonders or even Apple Phones. Those are the work of technology, something with roots in the ancient world (cf. the Antikythera Mechanism). Modernity is simply the place where the myth was invented — not technology. And from a 2018 blog post comment (↬John Naughton): Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:

🚂 I have just completed a too-long Ipsos survey about Amtrak and felt that this was the right emoji to use. Living in DC and traveling often to New York and Boston I dream of a high-speed train, the kind Japan has had for 60 years, zipping through the East Coast. Acela is not it: boarding is haphazard, the seats are grimy, the food is an embarrassment and I could tolerate all of that if not for the 70–80 miles per hour it averages.

Halloween is nigh. This year, our eldest decided to dress up as a plague doctor, and looking through costume options reminded me of one of the worst pieces of doomscrolling churnalism that proliferated after covid. It is titled [Get Ready for the Forever Plague][1], by one Andrew Nikiforuk, “an award-winning journalist whose books and articles focus on epidemics, the energy industry, nature and more”. ⊕ Of course, back in March 2020 he was just “an award-winning journalist who has been writing about the energy industry for two decades”.

M. John Harrison writes about agency: For one thing, “main character” is a foundational pillar of storification; & the storification of everything has led directly to the Babel we live in now. The least fiction can do, now that everything–from “news” to science–is presented/exploited as story, is to destorify itself. & that’s before you get to consciously fake news & science. One reason I liked his books is that this perspective comes out very clearly.

From the Institute For Progress-supported newsletter, Macroscience: Last year, IFP brought together some of our closest friends and collaborators to put together a podcast series that would serve as a beginner-friendly introduction to metascience. The result? “Metascience 101” – a nine-episode set of interviews that doubles as a crash course in the debates, issues, and ideas driving the modern metascience movement. We investigate why building a genuine “science of science” matters, and how research in metascience is translating into real-world policy changes.

Matthew Yglesias wants D.C. to repel the century-old Height of Buildings Act so we could have proper skyscrapers in the district. I couldn’t disagree more: the city’s decentralized downtown — a consequence of not being allowed to build anything taller that 40m (130 feet) is a remarkable feature that more American cities should adopt. The are many reasons why building more high-rises are not a good idea, from enrionmental to urbanistic to Talebian arguments against concentration.