Altruism, Bloomberg Terminal, Climate Science, Sunni Islam, Germany, Police, Greece
The Logic Of Effective Altruism
Peter Singer | Boston Review | 6th July 2015
"Effective altruism is based on a very simple idea: we should do the most good we can. Effective altruists do things like the following: living modestly and donating a large part of their income to the most effective charities; choosing a career in which they can earn most, not in order to be able to live affluently but so that they can do more good; giving part of their body — blood, bone marrow, or even a kidney — to a stranger" (3,700 words)
The Bloomberg Terminal
Robin Wigglesworth | Financial Times | 8th July 2015 | | Read with 1Pass
The Bloomberg terminal is clumsy, expensive — and totally addictive, not only for its data, which rivals can match, but also for its chat channels, which they cannot. "DINE allows financiers to quickly check out local eateries vetted and reviewed by price-insensitive colleagues and rivals. POSH is a classifieds site where bankers and hedge fund managers buy and sell sports cars, condos or holiday homes in Gstaad" (1,125 words)
When The End Of Human Civilization Is Your Day Job
John Richardson | Esquire | 7th July 2015
Leading climate-change scientists have stopped trying to tell the whole truth, because the truth is too depressing for them and for us, and because they are tired of being met with incomprehension, indifference or hostility. "Bad things are going to happen. What can you do as a person? You write stories. I do science. You don't run around saying, We're fucked! We're fucked! We're fucked! It doesn't incentivize anybody to do anything" (6,985 words)
ISIS And The Crisis Of Sunni Islam
Alastair Crooke | Conflicts Forum | 12th June 2015
Most Sunni Muslims in the Middle East see Islamic State as part of the solution, not part of the problem. "They fear the growing power and influence of Shi’i, and of Iran in particular ... They have come to see ISIS as a necessary corrective element to the decayed Arab Order". And by enacting the absolute supremacy of literalist Islamic theology over modern science, ISIS resolves the identity crisis caused by trying to reconcile the two (3,000 words)
Merkel Must End The Devil’s Pact With America
Editorial | Der Spiegel | 7th July 2015
America's "Orwellian spying machine" has destroyed German trust in America. "The German-American friendship no longer exists. It may still remain between citizens of both countries, but not between their governments. Perhaps it has always been an illusion, perhaps the United States pulled away over the course of time. But what binds these two nations today cannot be considered friendship" (670 words)
A Woman In Uniform
Anafelle Liu & Anonymous | Grey | 10th March 2015
Diary of a New York police officer. "It’s already been the worst tour of my life. A woman on a scooter gets broadsided by an SUV that was speeding up to beat a red light. I’m the first cop on the scene and she dies in my arms. Then my lieutenant, a skidmark of a man, makes me deliver her personal effects to her family because I’m 'sympathetic and good at talking and shit' and also because he’s too big of a coward to do it himself" (2,330 words)
The Greek On The Street Wants Grexit
Dimitris Dalakoglou | The Conversation | 8th July 2015
Anthropologist joins the queue at a Greek ATM and listens to the conversations. The public mood of anger and radicalism has hardened since the referendum. Greeks feel they have little left to lose. The Greek on the street wants Grexit. "People still loudly translate their 60-euro allowance into the old Greek currency. They talk about how much they could buy with 20,000 drachma and how little they can get with 60 euros" (800 words)
Video of the day: Seven Seven
What to expect: One person's account of the London bombings ten years ago (4'40")
Thought for the day
Of course I believe in luck. How else does one explain the successes of one’s enemies?
Jean Cocteau