I don't think Scott Alexander is entitled to get annoyed about excessive anti-racism programmes in the workplace given that he is well known to be very racist.

Hell, maybe he has done an above-average number of unconscious bias trainings and DEI workshops and racism book clubs, but it's because he keeps talking about how black people are mentally inferior at work and making him do training is cheaper than firing him.

What does he look like now? I shudder to think.

Wow, this wrong and unfair but it's also just stupid. Especially this:

The homeless theory of cities:

SF is idealistic and trusting because the homeless are mostly peaceful addicts commiting slow suicide

NYC is ruthless and status-obsessed because the homeless are aggressive and confrontational

I should probably give it a go!

I will always remember Sam Bankman Fried saying it's obvious that Shakespeare can't be the greatest author ever because it's unlikely. Just because something's unlikely doesn't mean it's impossible! You need to independently evaluate the evidence!

In the Going Clear documentary an author says that because Scientology was built by and for L. Ron Hubbard, people who follow Scientology are gradually moulded in his image and pick up his worst traits and neuroses. LessWrong was founded by a former child prodigy.....

You're right. I was thinking more of the lesswrong types than about Akon.

TESCREAL libertarians ignore the last 50 years of planning & urban studies because they think it's all a conspiracy to destroy innovation. Celebrity cryptofans ignore it because they don't even know the last 50 years of planning & urban studies exist.

My armchair analysis: The dream of "starting fresh" isn't just that you end up with a new city, but that the kind of people who live there are new too, either because you believe that the quality of the urban environment affects people's morality (as many people thought in the 19th century) or because you've hand-picked the kind of people who will live in your city (as crypto-fascists seem eager to do). So a city is more exciting than a new airport or a new railway because it's about who people are, who people want to be.

E: & also a lot of TESCREAListas are convinced that San Francisco, New York etc. are "failing" cities, that urban life is falling apart

Well, it's a hell of a distraction!

Augh, augh, I'm starting to sound like one of those conspiracy nuts who think Beyoncé times her album releases to distract people from what the illuminati are getting up to. Time to stop....

We're actually having a housing crisis at the moment (like everywhere else) so I dunno about property prices...I think it's the extremely receptive attitude of the Irish government.

Our entire economy since the 80s has been reliant on neo-colonial relationships with multinational companies unfortunately

The mask is off for silicon valley

This is just like the flat tax. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, for every social welfare benefit, there is a "reform" which is simpler, easier, and totally wrong.