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Showing posts from April, 2024

Claude responds to my comment in reply to Jennifer Ruben

I wrote a reply to Jennifer Rubin's Opinion piece in the Washington Post. She was arguing for continuing efforts to hold to account those who participated in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Claude responded to my comment: Your response raises some excellent points about the systemic issues that contribute to societal discontent and create fertile ground for demagogues to gain influence. I think you articulate well the economic and environmental challenges we face, as well as the inequities in how natural resources and wealth are distributed. Your proposal for charging substantial fees on emissions, resource extraction, and habitat destruction, with the proceeds being shared equally among all people, is an intriguing one. It gets at internalizing environmental externalities into the costs of production, while also providing a form of universal basic income funded by extraction of shared natural resources. This type of policy could help orient the economy towards sustainabili...

Claude says analogies can be helpful

 JC: We should recognize by now that we are a global community. Trade, people, pandemic risks and environmental impacts cross national borders. Our environmental regulations should ___ a global perspective. I'm looking for a verb. Claude: The verb that best fits in the given context is "adopt" or "embrace". We should recognize by now that we are a global community. Trade, people, pandemic risks and environmental impacts cross national borders. Our environmental regulations should adopt/embrace a global perspective. Using "adopt" or "embrace" in this sentence suggests that environmental regulations should take into account and incorporate a global viewpoint or approach, recognizing the interconnectedness of nations and the need for a broader, more unified strategy when it comes to environmental issues that transcend borders. JC: I started with, 'embrace', but thought I'd get a second opinion. ('Take' also came to mind. ...

Address Societal Flaws to Deny Traction to Demagogues

  S omeone on social media said that people need to know that Trump is unfit for office. I admit to being discontented with a political system wherein it is common for campaigns to try to increase their chances by saying how bad the competition is. I'd rather see clear statements about how a candidate perceives the challenges we face and what they intend to do to meet those challenges. My response to the post: People knew that four years ago, yet he appeals to a significant minority of voters. People welcome a disruptive figure when the society they live in suffers from systemic defects, but those defects are not being addressed. (This trait, along w/ an impulse to polarize, facilitated dissolution of ailing societies in times past. The factions would be amenable to being absorbed into one or another neighboring tribe. The process is analogous to apoptosis in a biological cell.) Our now-global society is plagued by dishonest prices (which make harmful practices profitable and, ...