3 most frightening stories
- Drought in the Mekong region continues to get worse. James Hansen is worried about ice melt…and sea level rise…and superstorms.
- As some are suggesting about Trump now, in 1922 the New York Times said maybe Hitler was just saying those awful things to get attention. Ted Cruz, on the other hand, almost certainly means to do awful things if elected, like torture and kill civilians in foreign countries. Even The Economist doesn’t like Trump. None of the Republicans (or at least half the Democrats running for President) are likely to do anything about corporate dominance of the U.S. political system.
- An IMF official uttered the words “economic derailment“. That sounds like it could be a real train wreck. Meanwhile Robert Gordon has expanded his pessimistic article on future growth into a book.
3 most hopeful stories
- Self-driving cars have the potential to save a lot of lives. Each self-driving car might replace about 9 traditional privately-owned cars, which would mean a drastically reduced demand for parking. And perhaps most importantly, we can look forward to mesmerizing simulations of cars rushing through intersections without slowing down.
- Moral and economic arguments for conservation don’t have to be at odds.
- There are some serious proposals to produce carbon nanotubes from sequestered carbon dioxide.
3 most interesting stories
- (more depressing than interesting, really…) The founder of the Creative Commons license committed suicide after being threatened with 95 years in prison over a copyright violation.
- Brookings has proposed a new vision for how to do local economic development right.
- Michael Pollan urged us to eat food. not too much. mostly psychedelic mushrooms.