The Economist, Jan. 6^th-12^th, 2018

The cover article is The Next Frontier: When thoughts control machines. Oh, I will have lots to say about that one!

The world round-up is informative as ever. Protests in Iran take center stage in the Middle East. (But of course, in Washington DC, supporting the Libyan protests was bad, Because Obama, but supporting the Iranian ones is good. The difference between the two positions is um, problematic). North Korea is showing astonishing signs of cooperating with South Korea—someone there remembers what happened to Saddam Hussein, would be my guess, and is trying to make themselves look better than that. And yes, President Trump isn’t actually supposed to mention that Pakistan harbors terrorists, even though it’s pretty obvious that they do (note that President Obama did not bother the government there with asking permission when going after Osama bin Laden). When is it China’s turn to have Pakistan for an ally, anyway? But right now the Chinese are busy trying to crack down on dissident thought of any kind. What is this, a 50 year cycle? As for Russia, Tsar Vladimir continues to rule—why is he pretending to have elections, anyway? Peru continues to offer drama for South America, if nothing else. Sen. Orrin Hatch continues a wave of Republican retirements. Bitcoin continues amusing for the tulip crowd, but the real news is the glitch in the design of computer chips. Oops.

The essay on the next frontier in re brain/machine connections is fairly optimistic. Is it just me, or will interrogators in the future take advantage of this, too? (what a pity that Professor Snape is unavailable to offer Occlumency lessons).

The essay on pardons might be an object lesson for some other president, oh say, the one we have in the United States? But so far the current president of Peru is still in power—the sordid bargain has worked just fine for him so far. The essay on Iran’s protests is also quite good, though it could all end in Syria redux, only with nukes on the side. Let us hope that Iran’s leadership aren’t pushed against the wall so hard that they need Russians to help them murder their own people.

Pakistan’s school reforms only look good because the government schools are so bad. But of course the Islamists are still in power, and since these private schools apparently do educate girls (though I looked for an explicit statement that they did, and failed to find it), the private schools are likely to come under attack, too. I also take issue with the statement that it doesn’t matter what you pay teachers. Perhaps in the inelastic middle this might be true, but if the pay is too low, you’ll get slackers and people who don’t mind losing money to practice their special hobbies. Of course, if the country is one where teaching and nursing are women’s only careers, as used to be the case, the teaching might remain of a high enough quality—up till the moment women are allowed other careers.

I loved the article on California and pot. One notes that the state of Alabama acted as amicus curiae before the Supreme Court a long while back on pot—not that Alabama was for medical marijuana, but that they considered such matters to belong to states’ rights. I find it fascinating that the author considered advocating for human rights for all citizens to be Wicked Social Change, but there you are.

Ah, the letters! Nothing like an official spokesperson to put a good face on current Chinese policies. I suspect that those people being sent away for a tenner don’t think what China is doing is ‘soft power’, mind you. The apologia for Dr. Carson is clearly sincere and well-meant…but since the good doctor isn’t actively destroying the agency or personally profiting off of it, this is considered progress these days. I liked the letter on Howard’s End; it’s quite true. In an upcoming revival of the TV series ROSEANNE, the main character will be played as a Trump supporter, which is certainly a creative choice bound to stir debate, and ratings.

The article about Pakistani educational reforms offers more detail than the opening essay. It will be interesting to see how outsourcing education will work. Will the private schools be attacked the way that the state ones were for educating girls? Or will madrasas find that they are being out-competed and spur such attacks? But inexperienced teachers don’t always last very long, and if they do, risk being co-opted into a culture of corruption. How many teachers will find they cannot raise families and leave the profession? And how many women will be forced into teaching for lack of entry into any other profession—and be open to attack from Islamists themselves?

Blue state Republicans may well become an endangered species, but they have only themselves to blame, since most of them voted for the very bills that cause them trouble at home. I look forward to see what positions they take when Speaker Ryan goes after Social Security and Medicare. Yes, a lot can change before November—but Trump will remain Trump, as we have all seen, and those who feel forced to support him may wish they hadn’t. So far, only Republicans who aren’t up for election (voluntarily or otherwise) have felt able to distance themselves from the biggest albatross of all.

When you cut the safety net, people die. The safety net in the US has suffered repeated cuts ever since the days of Reagan. It’s not surprise that the Boomer generation, who has felt the effects the most, is the one to suffer the most. Growing up as a Boomer, there were always too many of us anyway, and we were always replaceable. Republicans want to write off anyone who isn’t rich anyway, and most Boomers, guess what, aren’t rich. Boomers paid for the retirement of the GI Generation and the Silents, and for most of the college of the Xers and the Millies. So now we’re not needed—sucks to be you! (Mr. Christopher Buckley wrote the most fascinating book on his fantasy of all the Boomers dying and leaving the wealth to Xers. I wonder if he wrote it before or after his father died?). And Trump? Oh, yes, opioid addiction is an epidemic—more for his supporters than for the liberals—but of course there’s no money for it, after all, that huge tax cut was way more important.

The article about Congress not having much time and too much to do has been heavily illustrated this week, with a shutdown looming (one that Trump seems in favor of, probably feeling he can blame it all on the Not A Majority Democrats). He likely feels that since Congress so far has been able to write and pass bills with no Democrats allowed, that they should be able to keep on doing it ad infinitum. Granted, Sen. McConnell would probably really like that, but he has yet to get rid of the filibuster entirely.

High-tax states are beginning to get creative when it comes to taxes. Given some recent maneuvers from the federal government, I can’t say I blame them. How lovely that the deficit means nothing for tax cuts, but everything as a motive to destroy social programs! A little reclassifying of taxes vs. charitable donations seems quite pedestrian in comparison.

Voting and making sure Democrats can’t seems to be a priority for Midwestern states, though I am not entirely certain why people who do fall off the polls for non-voting don’t just re-register. Now, with Operation Crosscheck, simply having a Hispanic name means that it’s kind of futile, but this seems to be a trifle different. But of course it would be much too difficult to keep up on address changes any other way…right? Personally, I suggest that minorities register as Republican—it will make primaries much more fun, and the general elections exciting, when all those stealth members surprise everyone.

I like California’s approach to marijuana. Let a hundred flowers bloom! And then some. <G>

Sorry, you can’t make me care about Peru, no matter how hard you try, but good luck! Columbia’s mining policies actually seem to be improving for the mass of workers, though that further isolates those left out of the system. As for Canada, I feel sorry for those people whose streets are changed into a town that has more letters than most of the computer registries are able to deal with. And it’s going to cost everyone money and time to change their addresses in any system. If I lived there, I would just ask for a name which wasn’t longer than my grocery shopping list. I can both spell and pronounce Nunavut, but some of those other proposed names are doozies.

One has to wonder how many Asians are attracted to evangelical Christian churches because of their ‘prosperity’ message—‘the poor are always with us’ is still not a popular message.

I would play a violin for feudal landlords in Pakistan, but I can’t find one small enough. Of course, some may realize that allowing their serfs to have meat—oops, I meant cash—is the real problem, not the way they’ve run things for centuries.

Sadly, NHK is just a symptom of what is wrong with Japanese journalism; there’s such a thing as too much cooperation. A little lively competition would reduce boredom. However, that’s not what the government of Japan wants.

It’s good to see the victims fighting back and helping themselves in regards to child pornography in the Philippines. What a pity Duterte doesn’t seem to think it’s a problem in the way he does drug use and sales. And yes, raising the age of consent would really help. I’m not holding my breath over it, though. One has to wonder if the big cybersex arrests are only to cull the competition for other, better connected operations.

Nice article about sanctions and Li’l Kim, but if someone has thought of something to would calm the nut behind the wheel down, nobody has talked about it yet. South Korea may smile and accept overtures from the North, if only to irritate the US, but they know better than to think anything real is going on (rather like listening to President Trump, whose willingness to throw allies under the bus should make them wonder how loyal they should be. The parallels are there).

China is going through one of its periodic purge times of theoretically rejecting anything from the West. Good luck with that. If certain forms of encryption are outlawed, there will be other forms. If nothing else, movies that Hollywood creates with Chinese ‘assistance’ and promotion often carry some interesting memes that perhaps should be examined a little harder. If China cracks down on such ventures, of course, there will be influential Chinese businessmen who will be very unhappy. May I suggest literary criticism societies and poet circles? One notes how some ideas have been transmitted in the past (and the ending of THE LAST JEDI could be read in many different ways).

It is nice to see some environmental and ecological sensitivity from China. I still say someone ought to make the horns of Texas longhorn cattle sound like a good cure for certain manly vigor problems (“Is this how President Clinton kept Monica happy? Or President Trump keep his mistresses happy?” The slogans write themselves). A pair of longhorn cattle horns outside the place of business ought to be impressive enough.

How many articles about the protests in Iran are enough for one issue? Especially since they seem to go over the same ground. Yemen is a mess, alas, and qat chewing the least of their problems, though it doesn’t help. (In a parallel situation, pot only makes people more hungry…).

The article about Liberia is interesting and hopeful. I have a friend who was a doctor on the Northwest Medical Team who worked in Liberia and had some of his memoirs critiqued in the writers’ organization I belong to in my town. It’s a small world out there!

The section on brain/machine interfaces was fascinating, but again, the potential for misuse by eager interrogators isn’t really mentioned. Perhaps obstacles to some of this technology should not be overcome? I don’t want a five year old to be able to order toys without Mom watching (a child was able to order toys through Alexa, and his parents Are Not Amused). More precautions should be taken than people think.

Ah, Italy! I remember seeing a news report on ‘mamani’ there about…well, I think it was twenty years ago on 60 MINUTES. Apparently not much has changed. I guess it’s all the old people’s fault for living so long. Why acquire life skills when Mama still does it all? But of course, let’s blame the teachers!

Not certain why Putin is even bothering to hold elections, mind you, the article regarding same is pretty much a repeat of the summary earlier in the magazine.

And here we are with Britain, which is undoubtedly near and dear to the publishers’ hearts. Sad t see that problems with the safety net are met by cutting it. Of course, Brits don’t riot…much…except when they do. And of course cutting the safety net and blaming it all on immigrants will never have an impact on the upper classes. Oh, wait. Brexit. One has to wonder if the falling salaries of GPs in Britain has anything to do with the larger number of women filling that role (the way it has in Russia, and the way that nurses’ salaries in the States have gone up as more men sign up for the job). And of course ruining mass transit won’t have any effect on traffic on the roads, right? Welcome to the death spiral we in the States are so familiar with these days!

And welcome to political divisions between Remainers and Leavers. The pound is already down to $1.35; how low can it go once Brexit becomes a reality? The twist here is that the current government’s base is not as well off as the Remainers’ which is out of government, and yet nothing seems to be done by the current government for its base. Oh, wait, we have that here, too.

Thank you for the list of hellish airports. I shall be certain to avoid them, although our one experience with Dulles wasn’t really that bad. Then again, our layover was long enough to where we could find out gate, some food, and the nearby pub without having to rush a great deal. We didn’t have to deal with local transportation, and it sounds like we should be happy for that.

Voluntary reform will work for a little while in South Korea, till the big boys buy enough politicians to shut that sort of thing up. I give it a couple of years, max.

Canada and money laundering? Tell me it ain’t so, as the old slogan goes. Oops.

The business section was interesting as ever, but conventional firms may not have an easy a time as the Economist thinks. Remember, Silicon Valley is run by people who think hackers are fairly cool, and sell the services that conventional firms need to track their business. Any real threats from conventional businesses may be resolved in unconventional ways.

Oh, and here’s the third article this issue about China and a greener future…but hey, anything that keeps their pollution from crossing the Pacific and hitting my state seems like a good idea.

Ah, another argument for de-regulating banks. That always works out well, right? This explains the ambivalent attitude towards the new EU regulations in the next article, I expect.

Nice that the Economist realizes that the current regime tends towards inequality. And yet, no viewing with alarm at the possible results? Then again, not every society encourages gun ownership among the poor the way the US does.

The article about emotional attachments to machines reminds me of the ‘Alexa Silver’ sketch on Saturday Night Live, where an older gentleman, who seems to be living alone, invokes the ‘uh huh’ mode on, and then rambles on with various stories with Alexa offering various soothing listening type comments. The interesting part is that Amazon apparently watched the sketch and it got them thinking about such a mode. Given the people have emotional ties to stuffed teddy bears and whatnot, this should not be a real surprise (The Playboy Adviser used to run letters from gentlemen who were really too attached to household appliances, and how to explain the situation to 911 without feeling too embarrassed).

Nice article about Fermi, though; I think the answer to many of the questions asked in the article about the great scientist can be expressed as “Yes”.

I find the Economist Diet rather silly. But hey, the authors probably sold quite a few copies, and isn’t that the measure of all things for economists? The review of THE IMMORTALISTS by

Chloe Benjamin makes me want to read the book, so good job! But I can’t help thinking of the story “Lifeline” by Robert A. Heinlein, written back in 1939, about a man who built a machine which could predict that for all his paying customers, and how the life insurance company felt about it (and in the story, it’s suggested they did something about it, too). These days, the good Dr. Pinero could have just left plans as to how to build the machine as a final farewell on his Facebook account as a rude gesture to the unpleasant people who terminated his life. But I digress, as I so often do.

I liked the word-birth article as well. So many perfectly cromulent words! (cf THE SIMPSONS). Languages besides English evolve, steal from each other, and add to the world’s culture (There is no discussion of the Academie Francaise and their eternal battle to Keep French Pure, which is unfortunate).

The final piece is a kindly look at the life of Simonetta Puccini. So, what happened to everyone else? The article doesn’t say, and given Puccini’s noted lack of discretion, I (and likely many other readers) doubt that his genetic influence is gone forever. Ah, but what a focused life she had, always looking backwards. One could have wished her a somewhat happier life, perhaps as a social butterfly, but she made herself significant in the world of music this way. How sad that she never seemed to have tried her own hand at music.

All in all, a rather nice issue, with a pretty cover.