Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
This post is bonus content.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
sometimes i find myself saying “thank you” to claude.ai then i wonder whether my politeness is burning down the rainforest.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
dystopia is not salutary.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
crypto begins as, its entire architecture is shaped and constrained in order to be, a form of money or commodity independent of states. it is an experimental alternative to state coordination of finance and even contracts. now it’s surging, solely as a function of expected endorsement of the state.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
i hate to link over there, but @mattbruenig.bsky.social is so good on this stuff. x.com/mattbruenig/...
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
this @mattbruenig.bsky.social piece on health care economics is a work of art. www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2024/12/10/h... 1/
Health Care Administration Wastes Half a Trillion Dollars Every Year
Link Preview: Health Care Administration Wastes Half a Trillion Dollars Every Year: Health insurers are actually very bad.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
administrative costs associated with health insurance are HUGE, not a rounding error next to inflated provider costs. 2/
Bar graph showing the scale of likely avoidable health-care administrative costs relative to comparable expenses, like running public colleges and K-12 education.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
the only justification for those costs would be to rein in provider rents, but not only do private insurers fail to, they have structural incentives to let them grow. 3/
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
read this one. /fin www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2024/12/10/h...
Health Care Administration Wastes Half a Trillion Dollars Every Year
Link Preview: Health Care Administration Wastes Half a Trillion Dollars Every Year: Health insurers are actually very bad.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
Text: The politics of stupid is believing that the way to deal with Farage or Trump type populism is to do what Farage or Trump happens to be shouting about at the time. Concern about immigration is real enough, but it is important to ask why there is concern about immigration. To put it very simply, there are probably two types of reasons why voters find populists going on about immigration attractive. The first is that these voters don’t like foreigners. Immigration numbers don’t matter to these people when there are already plenty of foreign looking people already here. The second type are voters who mistakenly think that problems like finding it difficult to see a doctor or buy a house are because of immigration. Cutting immigration is only likely to make those problems worse, by stopping doctors or construction workers coming to the UK
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
“Where are all the bureaucrats?” a useful chart by @kdrum.bsky.social (i’m hoping that’s a real rather than impersonating account?) jabberwocking.com/where-are-al...
Where are all the bureaucrats? - Kevin Drum
Link Preview: Where are all the bureaucrats? - Kevin Drum: Here are the federal agencies that America's civilian workers call home: Two-thirds of all civil service workers are in Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security. Unless you're planning to slas...
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
you know you’ve encountered a higher class of revolutionary when at least a pinky toe, if not several of the more vigorous toes, is latent.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
the last time around we had robber barons. this time we have toddler tyrants.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
is syria an isolated event or some kind of domino?
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
“The average cost of a three-day hospital stay is $30,000.” @helenouyang.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/o...
Opinion | What Doctors Like Me Know About Americans’ Health Care Anger
Link Preview: Opinion | What Doctors Like Me Know About Americans’ Health Care Anger: As a doctor, I’ve been on both sides of frustrating health care debacles.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
there was the moment they decided dark patterns are really bright patterns because they are profitable patterns, and what is profitable is efficient and good, progressive in the only way that is ultimately meaningful. that was the moment they left us, became something apart. they continue to diverge
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
a value i’ve always strived to uphold is intellectual charity. people i disagree with are good people like me. try to understand the circumstances and beliefs under which a good person might come to believe what they do. 1/
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
with age my eyesight has changed, my focal range has grown narrower and more brittle. something similar has happened to my capacity for intellectual charity. 2/
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
i do my best, of course, in arguments and conversations to behave charitably. but beyond the confines of a live conversation — in which the presence of a real human does encourage stretching toward mutual comprehension — i find myself more and more just quietly writing off political adversaries. 3/
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
these are just bad fucking people, i find myself thinking. 4/
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
i don’t take this as a positive development. i wonder how much of it is my increasing age, my decaying soul, and how much reflects the changing times. /fin
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
elon’s gonna send us all an oath where we all have to agree to be “hardcore” as citizens or be expatriated.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
“we emphasize trust and accountability, your trust and our lack of accountability.”
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
it’s gonna be unreal when shit gets real.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
"they invented a philosophy — a 'science' they called it — under which greed is reason. then they wondered why things didn't work out."
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
look at least if we have a warlord called “hagsex” the aesthetic will be something other than cyberpunk.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
“never go on Lox News. it’ll only be a total schmear job.”