WEBVTT - Q&A Part 1 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:14.080 What's new my year ship? Yeah, new year, same ship. 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:23.480 I'm Robert Evans. This is behind the retired We retired 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.400 this bit? Who where is this time for a new bit? 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:31.880 This is it could happen here the podcast about how 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:35.800 things sometimes feel like they're falling apart sometimes and maybe 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:37.920 we can do things about that. You know what's falling 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.040 apart is me because I, during my break woke up 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:43.680 at like one thirty every day and now it's someone 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:48.040 speakable hour in the morning. I hate this the time 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:53.519 you part the time for for For one of our 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.880 first episodes of the New Year, we have decided to 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:01.200 subject ourselves to your para social whims um and we 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.080 are going to be doing maybe one, maybe two Q 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:08.679 and A episodes. Um uh giving AI's to your cues. 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.920 And I've been in the cue. It's okay. I've been 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.840 told that our producer Sophie has a list of questions 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:20.679 already prepared so that I can stop talking and she can. 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:22.919 Now you've been told you're the one who posted the thread. 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:29.040 Sophie said that she would read them. I did volunteers tribute, 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:32.360 but I might, I might. I might take that back. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:37.240 It's you how much at some point. Yeah. Uh, let's 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:41.880 let's let's start with let's start with a simply a 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:46.360 good one. Uh. What has been your favorite episode slash 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:50.120 topic to research in this past season? So since we 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:56.040 started season two? Oh god, Um, I enjoyed the metaverse 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:58.640 Facebook episodes because there's a part of me that really 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:04.600 likes shitting on bad tech industry stuff. Um. It fills 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:09.400 a deep part of me just just really comprehensively thinking 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.840 about how how terrible the vision of the future these 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.560 people have it. So that was probably my favorite. I 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:21.640 liked the Climate Leviathan stuff. Um, the Climate Leviathan, climate Behemoth, 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:26.880 climate mal climate X, kind of four quadrants. I I 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:30.399 liked learning about that, like, jeez, almost a year ago 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:34.040 actually by the time I started researching for the show. Um, 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:36.480 and I'm decently happy with the way that those topics 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.320 were presented and how they keep popping back every once 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:43.080 in a while. I think in terms of just the 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:46.520 favorite episode I recorded, it was probably the interview with 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:50.240 the Common Humanity Collective people, just because like listening to 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.200 a bunch of people who have very sophisticated and well 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:56.160 developed mutual aid project and then listening to you know 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.480 that them talking about their political development and how they've 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.359 been sort of solving their problems was really reassuring and 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:05.920 cheerful in a lot of ways. And then research wise, 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.240 was definitely the Spooky Area fifty one episode where I 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:12.080 was like, oh, I'm gonna do a fun episode about uh, 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.080 the government and aliens and it was like, oh no, 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:18.720 here's every war crime ever and like sixteen people almost 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:24.720 killing everyone on earth. This is This is Probably probably 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.359 the most fun I had was with the Chaos, Magic 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:36.280 and Esotericism episode just how silly it is? Um? Yeah, 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.080 that one. That one also was just just a pleasure 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.480 to record. I also loved having Corey doctor rowan um 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.600 because that was cool. That was cool. That was that 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.680 was very cool, how cool of us. I've enjoyed our 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.760 our fiction episodes with Margaret and with Rebecca those those 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.320 have been great. And I've loved having st Andrew. Yeah, 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.360 that has been also very cool, fantastic. What were gonna say, 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:04.760 Robert nothing, Oh great, this person says. I think I've 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.160 got my head wrapped around mutual aid, community resilience and 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:10.440 all the stuff you talk about. Any tips on how 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.360 to effectively communicate it to people who might not be 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:21.200 at least initially open to it. H Um. I mean 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:24.240 it kind of depends on why they're not open to it, right. 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.200 So it's it's a matter of are they just somebody 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.680 who has a lot of faith in in systems as 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:32.520 they exist, or they someone who's kind of coming at 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:36.480 it from more of a traditional like liberal, um status 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.560 perspective where they think the option is to get in 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.400 line with you know, the Democratic Party and support that 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.040 and that will make things better. Um. Like basically, are 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:47.640 they a top down er um, or there's somebody who 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.239 rejects it because it's like communism um, and they don't 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.840 they don't think that people have any kind of fundamental 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.280 responsibility to themselves. Um. Because you are going to have 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.440 kind of a different approach to trying to each either 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.080 of those people. Um if they're coming at it from 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:07.360 kind of more of a right wing standpoint, but they're not, 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:13.160 you know, uh talking about shooting vaccine doctors. Um, they're 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.960 just kind of conservative. I think the way to do 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.400 it is to sort of hearken back to some of 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:23.720 these very traditional ideas of like, um, American homesteaders and 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.480 and independent you know, communities on the frontier and self 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:32.880 reliance and how mutual aid is people taking responsibility UM 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.359 for their communities rather than you know, this idea I 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.320 think a lot of conservatives have of like people UM 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.360 just kind of lazily taking charity. How it's it's different 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:46.200 from charity, and that it's a community UM seeing its 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.360 own needs and becoming independent as much as as possible 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.680 on the state from the state UM by trying to 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.719 meet its own needs. And how that UM is better 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:02.240 for people than just sort of UM like being dependent 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:04.520 upon government programs. I think that's kind of the way 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:06.760 in which to reach out to those people with that 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.600 idea if they're coming at it from more of a liberal, 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.760 top down approach, UM, I think you can get more 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:17.680 into the weeds and may argue about kind of inefficiencies 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:19.880 within the system, problems within the system. I think one 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.280 thing to really point out that will probably still be 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.280 fresh to a lot of people of that persuasion is 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:29.720 how frightening the first couple of weeks of quarantine were 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:32.000 and all of the supply line issues and kind of 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.880 the early breakdown, and be like, look, um, that didn't 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:37.080 go away, like right, you can see that that we're 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:39.239 still dealing with a lot of this and we're still 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:42.800 having supply line disruptions and the state really has not 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.040 kind of even under Biden sailed and to clear the gap. 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:50.520 And so we need these community resiliency programs, UM. And 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.800 you can you know, depending on the kind of person there, 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:57.640 you can also sort of point out, um, the degree 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.520 to which there is our attempts at kind of avatage 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.239 of any sort of of of of top down government 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.359 programs by the right, and how UM that's part of 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.920 why you need community resiliency programs because you can't guarantee 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:11.320 who's going to be in the White House, you can't 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.440 guarantee what's going to continue to get funded. Um. And 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.680 outside of kind of any of the the structural issues 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.640 um that make that stuff difficult. So I think, UM, 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:25.000 that's kind of broadly speaking, the two different ways you 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.280 you can broach those conversations with people, depending on the 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:33.160 tendencies they're they're looking at it from. Uh, let's let's 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:37.040 let's get into an unpleasant one. What's the gang's outlook 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:38.880 on this year's election and how do you think it 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:43.400 might position us for Do we see more violence sitting 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:46.800 up to the next presidential election? Well, I know we'll 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:51.400 be doing a prediction z is episode later. Um. But 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:54.400 as for this election, I have I've not looked at 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.200 anything about it. I think the Steelers are going to 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:02.640 take it all? What what? Well? What's border are the Steelers? Um? 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:10.160 One of them? That's great? Uh? I mean yeah, I 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:16.600 mean I feel like if Democrats want to keep the 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.640 power that they currently have, they will probably need to 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:23.240 do some type of symbolic action that makes people think 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.160 they actually do things. I mean, they've managed to have 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:31.600 control of every and done absolutely nothing that they so 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:34.439 I'm guessing if they want to keep that, they should 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.960 probably do something really soon, um or else I don't 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:41.400 see people being super eager to vote in two for 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.520 the Democrats. Yeah. Yeah, I mean one of the issues 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:46.959 they've got is this this thing that you know, kind 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.440 of the technocrats always have where you know, as we 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.280 as Corey pointed out when we had them on, there 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.920 have been some really positive moves by the Biden administration 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.720 in terms of like appointments and how different kind of 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:00.320 agencies are being handled. Um. But when it to the 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.800 things that he actually campaigned on, like, it just hasn't 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.720 it hasn't happened, should it? It ain't been done? Um, 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.000 like the closest we've gotten recently is yet another kick 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.440 the can down the street a little bit for student 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.520 loan repayments, And I agree, I think they need to do. 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.720 There's like two big things they could do that might 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.520 have a significant shifting effect. One of them would be 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:25.240 student debt forgiveness, and one of them would be fucking 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:30.439 de schedule marijuana. Even without Congress, Biden could could not 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.760 actively make marijuana not and like that would be number 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.000 one politically, the easiest fucking win in the world because 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.160 the vast majority of Republicans don't give a shit about 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.920 that anymore. Um, it will piss off cops, which is 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.320 probably why you won't do it. But like, those two 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.320 things could have an impact on mid terms. That's certainly 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:51.520 a thing that would like you can campaign on more. 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.480 But I don't. I don't know that I think he'll 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:56.520 do that. And of obviously I guess another big old 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.080 payment to stay home, But I think that shipped un sailed, 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.000 Like honestly, like, I don't think they want to win, 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.079 so they can sit there and then and go, oh, yeah, 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:10.360 we can't do anything because Republicans control the House, and 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.240 you guys need to like you guys need to like 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.640 save us in this is the most important election of 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.320 our lifetime. It's like, and they will keep doing this 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:20.760 over and over and over again until literally the seize 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.240 boil and everyone, you know, everyone is being heard into 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.440 concentration camps. Like they will just keep doing this and 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:27.959 and like I think that's that's the thing that's actually 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.120 important about the two cycle is that like the Democrats 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:35.000 have you know what, you know what the rejection of 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.480 Brinie Sanders sort of is is the Democrats essentially going, 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:39.800 we are not a popular party, right, like we we 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:41.880 are not a party that is going to like like 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.640 we will not even give the pretense of like having 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:46.520 a base that we represent and we do things for 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:48.800 like we're just we're just in it for ourselves. We're 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.040 in it's just like, you know, give all of our 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.439 weird like black Rock friends positions in the government, and 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:56.480 we don't you know, and it's you know, it's it's 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:58.840 we we don't have a policy agenda, and we don't 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:00.520 care if we lose because if we lose, all you 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:02.760 people just have to go put us back into office 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.560 because the alternative is just more death camps. Yeah, I 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:09.040 mean I think there's a broad belief like within kind 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.880 of the Democratic Party that things are still business as 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.680 usual and that the Republican Party is still a political party, 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:17.400 and so kind of the handing off and switching of 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:21.840 power is fine. That's seen as business as usual, rather 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.920 than the Democrats are the Republicans are continually ratcheting away 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.240 from there being any chance of a switch of power, 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:31.000 um at least through legal means. Like that's the whole 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.880 thing they're doing. And the failures to pass any kind 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:37.360 of voting rights and the failures to see like a 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:41.200 voting right reform as an existential issue for not just 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:45.640 the party, but like the concept of uh democracy in 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:50.480 this country is is I think evidence that. However, you 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:53.120 kind of try to rationalize in your head why it's happening. 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:57.959 There's a real disconnect between the party leadership and understandings 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:01.520 of the new nature of reality. Yeah, well that the 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.439 other thing. I mean, they'll be fine, right, like outside 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.840 of like another January six killing them all, Like, they'll 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:10.760 be fine. It doesn't like for them, it basically doesn't 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:12.679 matter if Republicans take power. Maybe maybe some of them 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:14.600 will get impeached. They'll be like a show trial for 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.160 like two people or something, but like they're gonna be fine, 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.040 and you know, that's that's the thing that motivates all 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:21.800 of their thinking, is that they can they can survive 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:25.760 another public administration. Like we're you know, we're dying under 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:29.120 both of them. And you know, like, I mean, this 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:30.240 is this is partially you know, if you want to 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.199 talk about sort of the COVID response for a second, 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:34.040 in the relation that has to the election, it's like, yeah, 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.880 the Democrats are just like completely given up even the 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:42.480 pretense of doing literally anything about COVID literally because literally anything, yeah, 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.560 go out and die, like so we can talk about that. 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.679 That's a separate Yeah, yeah, that's a separate issue, I think, 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.760 just in terms of like how how to interpret what 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:53.959 they're doing with COVID and the degree to which I 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.960 think they even have a chance of uh whatever. Um. 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:00.520 But yeah, it's like they don't care if we live die, 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.920 like we care if we live or die, and we're 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:04.920 gonna have to do stuff on our own outside of 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:09.560 this because they're just gonna kill us. All. Yeah. I 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:11.880 mean I think that it's hard for me to tell 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:17.440 where the elections are going to go precisely. Uh Biden's 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:21.360 polling certainly isn't great. It's also not like wildly out 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.800 of step with how where presidents often are kind of 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.800 at this point UM in in their cycle. So and 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:33.520 also it's pretty normal for the party that just won 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.200 the presidential election to lose at the midterms. That's more 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.120 normal than not UM, I think. So, I think the 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:40.960 big questions are number one, like the degree to which 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:42.960 it's a wide sweep, which is going to depend on 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.719 the actual impact a lot of these UM efforts to 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:51.280 kind of restrict voting and jerrymander, Like what the actual 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.880 on the ground impact is UM, and the degree to 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:57.160 which we've seen an actual shift, because one of the 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.640 things that the polls don't often tell us is like, yeah, 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.880 Democrats are not popular. Most people seem to be aware 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:06.000 that a lot of promises have gone unfulfilled, But it 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:10.200 doesn't also mean that they like the Republicans UM, who 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.240 as the party of Trump, are still kind of widely 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.680 disliked by people. So it's kind of unclear to me 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:20.360 what precisely is going to go down, by which I 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:22.120 mean whether or not it's going to be a pretty 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.240 normal midterm, whether the Republicans pick up some seats or 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:28.800 like a nightmare blowout. Um And I do think that 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:31.600 has a lot to do with whether or not Biden 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:35.880 and like does a couple of the things that a 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:39.640 president can do unilaterally that would be really easy for 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.320 other people to campaign on. Um. Like he they have to, 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:46.440 like if they actually do want to win, they have 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:48.520 to they have to make a couple of big hail 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:50.840 mary's they have to do again, Biden has to do 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:52.800 a couple of the big things that a president can 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.120 do and then say, Okay, see I did a thing, 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.400 put more Democrats in, and we can do this other 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.320 big thing that a president can't do on his own 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.640 or something like that. Like I just don't see, um. 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.480 I mean, you know, anything could happen. Still, it's fucking January. 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.600 I think there's a positive if you want to be 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:13.040 in terms of things that are making me kind of optimistic, 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:15.480 um and and in terms of things that are better 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.080 about when the Democrats are in powder and then the Republicans, 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.600 you can bully the Biden administration to taking broadly positive action, 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:24.800 which is what happened with student loan repayments, right. That's 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:26.880 why that did get kicked down. The can a couple 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:30.200 of kick down the road a couple of months. Um. 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:34.840 And so I do think there's potential in um harassing 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:38.360 the Biden administration to taking actions that can make Democrats 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.040 more popular. Um. That would not be the reason to 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:42.480 do it. The reason to do it is so that 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:46.600 people don't starve trying to pay back student loans. Um. 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:50.640 But it does point to, I think in an avenue 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.040 of hope. UM, if we're trying not to be complete 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:58.160 doomers in January of two. Yeah, and speaking of avenues 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:02.400 of hope, it's time for an adverb. Ah. The only 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.760 thing that gives me hope is the products and services 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:21.120 that support this podcast are the heck we are we 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:26.960 are I've i've I have a question. I would like 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:32.120 us to talk about uma new year book list. Oh yeah, 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.960 that's so simple. So what's what's some I think we 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.800 could answer this like? And then they also someone else 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:41.400 followed up with saying, recommend some books that maybe not 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.200 just left this theory of climate change, also some like 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:47.120 fiction stuff as well. And I'm just gonna say the 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:49.680 books that I'm reading or is on my reading list, 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.320 not I'm not gonna recommend books I've already read. I'm 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.640 just gonna say the ones I'm currently reading. UM. I'm 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:59.200 still making it through hyper objects for an upcoming episode. UM. 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.320 I picked up a really a book I wanted to 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.760 get for a long time called Islands of Abandonment, which 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.600 is about um people, Well, no, it's it's it's about 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:15.000 places that have kind of been forgotten and regrown or 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:18.359 taken to have been kind of reclaimed by the area 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.840 that they were, that they were built on. And then 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:23.600 I also have a random few books on alchemy that 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:28.680 I'm going through as well. That's most of my books. Horrible. 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:34.119 UM I read. The last book I finished in was 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:37.840 in the Garden of Beasts, which is by what is 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:41.119 his name? I think it's Eric larson Um. He's a 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.119 guy who's written He wrote like Devil in the White 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.159 City and a couple of other books that people have 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:49.840 probably read Eric larson Um, And it's about the first 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:54.359 US ambassador to Nazi Germany or what becomes Nazi Journey. 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:56.880 He gets sent there right before, like like months before 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:01.000 Hitler takes power, and the book largely traces he and 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:05.760 his family's journey in Nazi Germany from like kind of 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.920 didn't really care about German politics and were often broadly 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.240 sympathetic towards the Nazis. They melt met like his daughter 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:17.040 kind of is very much like on board with the 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:20.000 Nazi revolution for like the first half year that she's there. 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:24.840 She's also like simultaneously dating the head of the Gestapo 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:28.919 and the Soviet um like assistant ambassador, which is fascinating. Like, 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:32.159 it's a very interesting book, um, And the story like 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:34.959 the journey this kind of family goes on realizing like 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.280 what the Nazis are in the perspective of that. It's 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.760 it's very well written. Um, it's very detailed. I really 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.439 enjoyed it. The thing that I liked the most was 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.680 the detail it goes into about the kind of the 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:50.560 fates of because it's it's a more you know, obviously 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.960 as much of a nerd on the history of fascism 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:55.280 as I am, I've read a lot about the Night 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.520 of Long Knives. This did the best job of kind 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:00.000 of going into detail about the kind of dudes who 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.160 the dudes who were purged in the Night of Long Knives. 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:05.480 So these guys who were Nazis in that they wore 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:07.760 swastikas and they were part of the party and whatnot. 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:12.320 But also weren't Nazis enough to not get purged And 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.160 in a lot of cases were like starting to fall 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:17.119 out of love with the party when the Night of 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:20.600 Long Knives had And so it's these it's really interesting, 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:24.160 UM and I recommend it to people. And the last 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:26.720 book I started in the first book I finished in 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:31.400 two was called Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:35.240 who is UM an interesting science fiction author, in part 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.600 because Ministry of the Future is about climate change. UM. 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:43.439 It is a a science fiction look at about like 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:47.560 a thousand different potential solutions to climate change. And Kim 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.840 Stanley Robinson is actually like an expert UM. He works 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:53.520 for the Sierra Center. I think it's called UM. He's 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:56.800 won a bunch of awards for his work on like 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.240 trying to like posit different solutions to climate change. He's 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:02.800 he he understand he's not like coming at this from 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.440 the perspective of an even even a well researched author. 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:07.639 He's he's writing from the perspective of someone who is 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:11.159 an actual scientific expert in what happens and how the 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:14.479 different solutions might work. And the thing that's really interesting 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:18.480 about Ministry of the Future is it's this fascinating melange 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:22.040 of UM. Like a number of the character the Ministry 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:25.439 of the Future is this kind of hypothetical new U 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.600 N agency that's put in place after a horrible wet 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:32.840 bulb um heat event kills twenty million people in India UM, 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:36.280 and they're they're kind of trying to push for very 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:39.600 technocratic solutions to climate change. So, like one of the 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:41.280 big things the book focuses on a lot is this 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:43.600 idea of a climate coin, which is a kind of 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:50.200 UM international backed by banks, cryptocurrency that that pays as 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:54.480 a kind of long term bond for sequestering carbon, so 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:57.639 that like countries like Saudi Arabia that have huge oil 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:01.240 reserves actually make more money by using to pump out 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:03.400 oil and thus get paid in these coins. So it's 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:07.760 really technocratic solutions like that. And then also terrorist groups 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:10.639 that may be funded by this U N agency building 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:13.600 fleets of drones to murder people on commercial air flights 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:16.760 UM in mass in order to cripple the entire air 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:20.359 travel industry and stop carbon emission and carrying out mass 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:25.320 assassinations on like CEOs of of oil companies living in 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:27.879 their private islands. So it's this really interesting mix of 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:31.679 like kind of liberal politicians and like bankers like working 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:35.560 out these very wonky solutions to things, and like terrorists 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:40.360 who have lost people in climate emergencies mass murdering um billionaires, 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:42.879 uh and and so it's it's a very it's the 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:47.280 whitest possible ranging look at kind of different solutions to 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:49.320 climate change and how they might work. And it's a 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:52.959 very optimistic book. UM. And there's there's elements of it 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:55.119 that I kind of the optimism I kind of disagree with. 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:59.439 I think oddly enough Kim doesn't give enough weight to 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:03.000 the day dangers of authoritarian populism and and the threat 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:05.040 I think they present to any of these kind of 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:08.000 potential solutions. But it's still a very well thought out 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:11.760 look at climate change and I think really worth reading 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:15.520 UM if you want something that will both bring up 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:17.480 different because he also goes into a lot of like 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:22.200 very scientific solutions, like pumping up water from underneath glaciers 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:25.000 in order to stop glaciers from sliding, and like slow 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:27.240 the rate of melt and all these these other kind 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:30.399 of like very much like technical here's a thing that 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:32.919 we can do that will reduce the effect of this 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:36.760 specific Um kind of climate change. It's really a very 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:40.840 good book. Um and it's apparently was Barack Obama's favorite 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:43.359 book of the year, which, considering the degree in which 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:47.920 it talks about murdering politicians and business leaders, is interesting 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:50.800 to me. I think he was maybe more paying attention 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.840