kenny

I'm back at it again with the lazy monthly reading recap. Notes are recorded in my phone and then made into simple HTML with Claude. No frills, low quality commentary, but I like to document what I read/listen to. Here it is:

April 2

• Writing a Book is a Labor of Love (Cate Hall): A book launch announcement for Cate Hall's "You Can Just Do Things," set to release in July. The post also includes an overview of the costs of publishing.
• The American Federal Civil Service: A History (Kevin Hawickhorst on the ChinaTalk podcast): A charming overview of the civil service's evolution. Hawickhorst argues that the federal bureaucracy peaked in effectiveness before the "functional reorganization" of the mid-20th century. DOGE as ineffective and arbitrary but possibly a catalyst for actual, effective reform.
• AI, Employment, and Education (Tyler Cowen on the EconTalk podcast): Typical Cowen fare on AI. It seems so clear that universities could benefit from reorganization, but I have no hope that they'll reform.

April 4

• How to memorize poetry (Henry Oliver): Everyone should be able to recite a poem or two (or dozen). Henry offers standard but solid advice: select a poem you care about, understand the rhythm, use spaced repetition, and make recitation a habit as you move about your day. I somehow still have bits of Shakespeare and Yeats lodged into my head from these techniques.
• China's AI Education Experiment (Lily Ottinger for ChinaTalk): As is so often the case with China, the rural/urban divide seems to be the most important factor in education opportunities.

April 5

• F-15, Pete's Purges, CENTCOM Hubris, War of 1812 (ChinaTalk/Second Breakfast): An update on the Iran War, recorded as of April 3rd, shortly after a US F-15 went down and the pilot was reported missing. The pilot has since been rescued.

April 6

• Sentinel Global Risks Watch Weekly Roundup: TACO?

April 7

• Days are enormous (Henrik Karlsson): On Solvej Balle's "On the Calculation of Volume."

April 8

• Roundup #80: All AI, all the time (Noah Smith): Noah Smith with an unusually pessimistic roundup post focusing on AI-adjacent topics: biosecurity, cybersecurity, quant trading.
• Salarymen, specialists, and small businesses (Noah Smith): A tripartite division of future jobs.

April 9

• Arthur Brooks on Reinvention, Religion, and the Science of Happiness (Conversations with Tyler podcast): Brooks is vague and dodges questions, but at least he's a pleasant guest. Pop social science/self help vibes.

April 10

• My Seoul Girlfriends, and the Korea Most People Miss (Chris Arnade & Colin Marshall): An excellent conversation on Korea, Seoul, and cities. Good enough to persuade me to subscribe to Colin's Substack and reinvigorate my curiosity about Korea, the first foreign country I ever visited at the ripe age of 12.

April 12

• A Track Star, Doping Allegations, & The NCAA's Anti-Doping Policy Exposed (Jonathan Gault): An overview of the scandal involving Seth Clevenger, a cross country runner who previously competed for Iowa State before admitting to the use of banned peptides and being accused of EPO use. The combination of NIL money, weak NCAA oversight, and relatively easily available PEDs seem like a recipe for disaster in college athletics. Also interesting are the dynamics of college cross country teams recruiting older Kenyans, leading to resentment among some Americans.
• The Substack-ification of American Religion (Derek Thompson interview with Ryan Burge): On the growth of non-denominational Christianity, the subtypes of the non-religious, and the links between religiosity, political affiliation, and social connection.

April 13

• Ziad Daoud Explains How War with Iran Will Reshape the Gulf (Odd Lots podcast): This episode made me note the importance of Saudi Arabia's pipeline and geography, the importance of clear war goals (for Iran, survival), and the current Iran War as a natural outflow of the conflict in Gaza.

April 14

• How 'Zombie Flow' Took Over Culture (Derek Thompson): On algorithmic content as "bastardized flow," and the convergence of flow and familiarity as an explanation of Hollywood sequels, older music, etc.
• My South Africa dialogue with Ann Bernstein (Interview with Tyler Cowen): The latest product of Tyler's recent fascination with South Africa. These conversations have made me curious about the effects of South Africa's location (generally bad but good for safety, shipping, tourism?).

April 15

• War in Iran is Already Reshaping East Asia's Energy Future (Odd Lots podcast): Guest Alex Turnbull on the energy situation in East Asia: the current crisis is accelerating both coal and renewables, nudging Japan back towards nuclear, and dissuading Asian nations from reliance on US LNG.

April 16

• Brad Setser on the War in Iran and the Future of the US Dollar (Odd Lots podcast): Brad Setser on Iran, the history of petrodollars, and much more. This podcast dispelled some of the bearishness on the US dollar as a reserve currency that I've heard.

April 17

• Orban Was Bad, Even Though We Don't Have A Perfect Word For His Badness (ACX): Orban may not have been a dictator, but that doesn't mean that democratic backsliding doesn't exist.
• You are what you consume (Noah Smith): Noah argues for reversing the common idea of regarding work as meaningful and consumption as frivolous and driven by corporations.
• How to walk through walls: on hacker mindset (Henrik Karlsson): Hacker mindset isn't about shortcuts, at least initially.

April 20

• wisdom through the awful grace of God (Henry Oliver): Henry Oliver visits Arlington. Embarrassing to admit as a supposed historian, but I didn't know about the relationship between George Washington Park Custis and Robert E. Lee.
• Updated thoughts on industrial policy (Noah Smith): After decades of disdain for industrial policy, the IMF and other institutions are beginning to reconsider. Noah argues that FDI is preferable to picking national champions or following China's playbook.

April 22

• Daniel Yergin Sees a 'Different World' Emerging After the Hormuz Crisis (Odd Lots podcast): One point I found interesting was the discussion on the death of ESG and shift to "infrastructure" caused by the AI boom, demands for energy security, and, of course, the end of the Biden era.

April 23

• Steaming manholes, dolphins, and burnt-out houses (Henry Oliver): Henry Oliver's impressions of Baltimore.
• Money Stuff: There's No Time to Buy Cursor (Matt Levine): I recently started reading Matt's newsletter after seeing it recommended on ACX. Excellent quality so far. My favorite section of this one was on the increasing feasibility of bespoke insurance (e.g. a personal rain gauge for customized flood insurance).

April 24

• James Bosworth on the "Orange Wave" Happening Across Latin America (Odd Lots podcast): Bosworth outlines the political situation in Latin America. He places the odds of a Trump-aligned administration in Cuba at 70-80% within the next year (with the situation looking more like Venezuela than true regime change).

April 26

• My Best Idea: Decision Markets (Robin Hanson): Yesterday was the 30 year anniversary of Robin's first post on decision markets. I'm disappointed it's taken thirty years, but I'm thankful his idea is finally getting a try. It's messy, especially when intermingled with the existing taboos against sports gambling, but I think it's important.
• Is China's soft power really rising, or is America's just crumbling? (Noah Smith): Noah argues that the recent trend of Chinamaxxing says more about youth dissatisfaction with the United States than the virtues of China, with Japan and Korea continuing to dominate in terms of tourism and cultural influence. I still want to visit Chongqing.
• A painter's painter (Scott Sumner): Scott Sumner on the Prado as the premier museum for understanding the evolution of European oil painting. Scott also argues that abstraction in modern art wasn't solely a reaction against the camera, noting that Goya (and others) moved away from realism as they aged.

April 27

• Jensen Huang - TPU competition, why we should sell chips to China, & Nvidia's supply chain moat (Dwarkesh podcast): I'm finally getting around to this podcast after seeing it mentioned in every one of my newsletters.

April 28

• Notes on Jensen v Dwarkesh (Jordan Schneider of ChinaTalk): I'm still digesting yesterday's podcast and this is a fair summary.
• Money Stuff: Everything Is Commodities Fraud (Matt Levine): Matt argues that the volatility of the Trump administration may be partially motivated by the opportunity to profit on prediction markets. I like the idea of prediction markets, but I don't know how to protect them against insider trading.

April 29

• No Jensen, Not All Compute is Created Equal (Aqib Zakaria and Nick Corvino with ChinaTalk): An excellent explanation of what Jensen got wrong in his interview with Dwarkesh. And why export controls need to focus on more nuanced measurements like numerical precision, memory bandwidth, and network bandwidth rather than total chips or total FLOPs.
• Thoughts about making a career as a writer (Henrik Karlsson): On the Henrik Karlsson production function, with nice flowcharts.

April 30

• Scoring the Jensen-Dwarkesh debate (Noah Smith): Yet another recap of Jensen's appearance on the Dwarkesh podcast. I think Jensen was mostly wrong, but I do think they avoided the larger question of whether AI is truly a weapon, especially at this point. In my complete ignorance, I don't buy all the Mythos hype.