28 Aug 23 Monday Briefing
Singapore goes to the polls to elect our president this Friday, and also, I complete 37 revolutions around the sun on Thursday. Fun times!
Prigozhin confirmed dead (so what next?), India tightens rice exports (time to stock up on ponni rice), six countries have been invited to join BRICS but Noah Smith has ~ thoughts ~, China wants its stuff back FOR FREE, and Spain’s football scene faces its #metoo moment.
Beast Off
What does a YouTuber have to do with a geopolitical furore? Why, he caused it, of course. Assigning the wrong flags to similarly-named locations, highlighting fairly unrecognised polities, oh and adding / subtracting territory. No prizes for guessing his origins / nationality.
FAFO
More on the Titan and why it was fated to join the Titanic, in this excellent long read by Susan Casey. It would seem that moving fast and breaking things should only apply in very specific industries and sectors, and that if you choose to thumb your nose at Mother Nature, you should expect to face consequences.
Deck Ninjas
This is for any one of us who’s ever had to produce a slide deck or make a living from making them. Which was the first recorded slide presentation? Why did it become the primary medium of information display and communication in the corporate world? It’s as much art and science, and like writing, the only true way to get good at it is to keep sucking at it, until you don’t.
Barbarians at the Gates
In 2060, I will be 74, and all things being equal, if a cancer or some other disease hasn’t already taken me, I’m more likely than not to still be alive. Canada is one of the countries my family and I are thinking of emigrating to, and this is what a Canadian thinks it’ll look like in 2060 – “*Summers lost to fire and smoke. Biblical floods. Dying forests. Retreating coasts. Economic turmoil and political unrest.”* This is as bracingly realistic as it gets, and yet, I’m not sure there will be very many places left on this planet that are cheery to live in. The barbarians aren’t at the gates; they’ve already slipped through.
Be Fruitful and Multiply
In the above vein, what would human populations look like in 2060? Eco-fascists would have us believe that our species is a stain upon this planet, and at times I’m inclined to agree, but evolutionary survival instincts are powerful. Our species will continue to reproduce, but what would the face of reproduction look like? Robin Hanson lays out 16 scenarios – all plausible, and some more probable than others.