I broadly agree. I’d add that it’s not just about abundance but lack of potentially damaging stressors.

Example: if the SEC doesn’t do it job, than you can become the richest man of the world on top of a meme.

Not that abundance wasn’t necessary but that it wasn’t sufficient.
Also, abundance is a stressor that protects from damage from stressors; so the two points above are intertwined.
A question I’ve been spending time pondering is, do we benefit from a market of memes?

In part, yes: memes can be the bridge that crosses the chasm, making the impossible possible.

In part, no: fraud and “you can do it without substance” are memes too.
That said, it’s not a false dichitomy. We can still get the best of two worlds, by cracking down on the latter while being very specific and letting the former fly.

They’re not exclusive.
(And to answer questions regarding tweet #1:

Luca, do you mean that Tesla is a meme? No but it’s valuation is

Do you mean that it made it because of fraud? No, it made it because of design, etc. But it arguably wouldn’t have survived without fraud

Is this about Tesla? Obv no)
As a large part of my 2020 and 2021 tweets, it’s about stopping trolleys going too fast before they become trolley problems.

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More from @DellAnnaLuca

8 Jan
Imagine it’s 2024, Trump runs for presidency again, and he wins.

The Democrats, surprised by the results in a few counties, ask for a forensic audit of the voting machines but some get denied, “there’s no evidence”.

1/N
2/ You, a Democrat, don’t like the answer, because the other party spent the last 4 years talking about interference during the elections.
3/ You get told to respect the democratic process.

But you do already want to respect it! Perhaps, you even believe that your candidate did lose, but now you get suspicions because the Republicans are dismissing the claims of foul play rather than investigating them.
Read 13 tweets
8 Jan
ON PRINCIPLES

The recent censorship events have shown that many don't understand what's a principle.

If you only practice it when convenient, it's not a principle.

1/11
This doesn't mean that a principle cannot be partisan.

For example, "I put the family first" can be a principle.

But then you must put your family first, both when it's convenient for you and when it isn't.

Otherwise it's not a principle.

2/11
What is the purpose of principles?

They keep us focused on the long term when the short term would misguide us

For example, I do not like Trump. And yet, yesterday I defended his free speech. Because I believe that defending free speech is ultimately good for everyone.

3/11
Read 11 tweets
8 Jan
THOUGHTS ON CENSORSHIP

1/ Censorship you don’t like always begins as censorship you like.

2/ Allowing censorship assumes that this power can be taken back and that it won't corrupt the censor. Two strong assumptions.
3/ Censorship assumes that your party will stay in charge forever and won't turn against you. Strong assumptions.

Rule of thumb: don't allow censorship if you're not willing to have your enemies as the censors.

4/ The moment you withhold your enemies a right, you open the door from it being withhold from you.

Rights are preserved by giving them to your enemies.
Read 21 tweets
6 Jan
This report, published 2 months before the COVID-19 outbreak, got it so wrong that it's worth asking ourselves what could avoid similar failures.

More competent people, yes, but there's more. Thread.

For the curious, the full report is here: ghsindex.org/wp-content/upl…

In the next tweets a few highlights.
The report got so many things wrong. For example, it gave maximum preparedness scores to the US, a country that didn't act like it was very prepared.

Does the fact that the report was largely US funded matter? Did it "force" a high score?

Read 16 tweets
6 Jan
SEMANTIC WARS

In the physical past, power was monopoly on violence.

In the digital future, it is about controlling who processes information and how.

(Thread, 1/N)
2/ First, a note. The distinction is not so black and white. For example, the use of force can still be relevant in the digital world (e.g., coercion).

As another example, in many dystopias, power is monopoly on information enforced through physical means.
3/ But the point is, the logic of violence determines the structure of society. And what is valuable and how it can be seized is a key input.

(examples over the next tweets)

Read 15 tweets
5 Jan
Also, the idea that North Korea is ranked third-last should have been a tell.

Isolation and authoritarianism seem an advantage here.
So, let's see who are the IYI who worked on the pile of BS that is this report.

"The GHS Index is a project of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (JHU) and was developed with The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)"
Read 9 tweets

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