March Bazaar
Missouri vs Biden finally reaches the Supreme Court, and other tales of wonder
Dear friends,
A hectic start to the Gregorian year has left the Bazaar living up to its ‘quasi-monthly’ epithet rather too well, but I have just enough time between meetings in San Francisco to bring y’all some interesting food for thinking.
Café Américain
First up, I am delighted to announce that I am one of the launch essayists for a new site, Café Américain, which positions itself (as I did here at the launch of Stranger Worlds) in opposition to the New Normal, that is, the international push for reimagining social and democratic norms in more authoritarian terms. The site launches on April 5th, and my piece is entitled “The Kings Are Dead - Long Live Google Rex!” I will share a link in Stranger Voices once the new site goes live. Bon voyage et bon chance!
Stranger Travellers
Asa continues to write intriguing takes on topics, in this case taking in the bizarre techno-superstitious world of “The AI Singularity Absurdity”.
...also, the wonderful A. Frank Ackerman has resumed his discussions with me about civilisation, poverty, and fairness, a stimulating exchange kicked off by a Stranger Worlds piece from December, “The Great Graveyard of Humanity”
Elsewhere
You may have missed the worrying news that the recent bill passed in the US Congress concerning TikTok also provided disturbingly sweeping powers to the US president that really ought to have been considered more carefully. Check out Matt Taibbi’s coverage of this troublesome legislation in “Why the TikTok Ban is So Dangerous”.
I also was amused by Paul D. Thacker’s coinage of ‘citation sorcery’ to describe a bizarre kind of ungrounded scholarship I myself witnessed at the British Medical Journal during 2020 and 2021. You can read more in “Scientific American’s Mask Essays are Rife with Fraud and Citation Sorcery”.
On Censorship and Murthy vs Missouri
You will likely either (a) have heard nothing of Murthy vs Missouri (née Missouri vs Biden) until just now or (b) have been waiting with frayed nerves for this court case for a long time. It’s easily the most important free speech case of my lifetime, and quite possibly the most important legal case on scientific discourse ever.
Of all the hot takes following on from the opening oral arguments, perhaps the most interesting is Roger Pielke Jr’s “Post-Normal Jawboning”, which argues - despite the appalling behaviour by the Biden Administration in terms of its coercion of social media companies to suppress legitimate dissent - this specific lawsuit might just be the wrong remedy for this problem.
Here’s two more on current censorship issues in the US and Germany from Matt Taibbi’s Racket, which is quite unmissable right now, and one from The Free Press:
“America Enters the Samizdat Era” compares Taibbi’s experiences in the last days of Soviet Russia (where he grew up) with the situation in the US now.
“‘It’s Not About Trump’: American CJ Hopkins Charged Again in Germany, Describes Global Censorship Effort” covers the extremely worrying crackdown on dissent in Germany, coming to a democracy near you soon…
And finally, Rupa Subramanya’s “New Hate Speech Laws Threaten Freedom Across the West” shows how Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom are also under siege when it comes to free speech.
Comments open. A new bazaar next month, chaos willing!
Ah! Finally! A definition of “New Normal”. Probably not complete, but helpful. Those of us that are holding court outside the Pnyx have two basic tasks: (1) pierce the collective illusions, and (2) point to possible alternatives. It is the nature of things that we will not agree. All policies can only be temporary, they must be constantly evaluated, adjusted, and sometimes abandoned.
Thanks once again, Chris, for the mention! Cheers.