[FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!??

Mon Jan 3 22:32:42 EST 2022

How 'bout methane?  The benefit of that would be that you could drop a match
in after.  

n

Nick Thompson

 <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com

 <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/>
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Marcus Daniels
Sent: Monday, January 3, 2022 4:34 PM
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!??

Nick writes:

< This may be just more of my quaint Deweyan blather, here, but it feels
like you are giving up the initiative.  You have the chance, here, to take
some teensy well-meaning future-oriented action which will, complexity being
what it is and the world being complex, actually plunge us into nuclear war
and eliminate life from the earth forever.  >

I like the sound of that.  Still, I feel I should defect on the economic
principle of the thing.  And I don't want to persuade the neighbors that I
have the cool power system and they don't.   I want them to come to an
understanding themselves and insist their government act to make it so.
Also, if possible, I would like to pump all my CO2 into a sealed 10-mile
cube above Joe Manchin's house.

Marcus

  _____  

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> >
on behalf of thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com>
<thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com> >
Sent: Monday, January 3, 2022 3:23 PM
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com
<mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!?? 

Hi Marcus, 

This may be just more of my quaint Deweyan blather, here, but it feels like
you are giving up the initiative.  You have the chance, here, to take some
teensy well-meaning future-oriented action which will, complexity being what
it is and the world being complex, actually plunge us into nuclear war and
eliminate life from the earth forever.   As Descartes said, God gave Man the
power to choose, and because he can choose, he can sin.  Good thing he
didn't give that to Women.  

n

Nick Thompson

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> >
On Behalf Of Marcus Daniels
Sent: Monday, January 3, 2022 2:44 PM
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com
<mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!??

Nick writes:

< So what do your present investments look like? >

I work at home, and like most people (during the pandemic) there's a point
at which you want some privacy and quiet space to do work.   So, I hang out
in the garage, which is fine most of the time here, except for right now.
It is the few months of the year where it is uncomfortably cold. 

I look at my PGE bill and ponder my options.  I can do nothing and be
annoyed with noise and distraction.   At about the same cost I can 2) build
an insulated ceiling in the garage and turn on heaters, or 3) not insulate
the garage and heat it.   If I heat with gas or propane, it will be a
relatively low cost.   If I use electricity, it won't be cheap.   To fix the
electricity problem, I'll need to slap down $40k or something to get the
Tesla Powerwalls + solar.   If I do that, I don't even need to insulate
since I'll have power to spare.   Ideally, I would do both 2 and 3. 

The problem is that I'm incentivized to do the lazy thing which is to get a
cheap gas heater.

They should be taxing the natural gas so much that I don't even consider it.

Marcus

  _____  

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> >
on behalf of thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com>
<thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com> >
Sent: Sunday, January 2, 2022 2:00 PM
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com
<mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!?? 

So what do your present investments look like?

n

Nick Thompson

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> >
On Behalf Of Marcus Daniels
Sent: Sunday, January 2, 2022 2:58 PM
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com
<mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!??

Nick writes:

< So, what does a healthy 2040 community look like.   What are we working
TOWARD, here.  Once of the things that the Mcnamee podcast highlighted for
me was my feeling that, in a chaotic world, people like me, planners, are
just out of tune with the world. >

I don't think it really matters how people interact in social media or what
they think.   What will matter is how people adapt to climate change and the
exhaustion of food and energy, and the migrations resulting from climate
change.  That's where the opportunities will be.   If there are millions of
people that deny it is happening like they deny pandemics, then things
simply must be arranged so that the natural accounting occurs.   The
planners will look past the chaos and make their investments.. and wait.

Marcus

  _____  

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> >
on behalf of thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com>
<thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com> >
Sent: Sunday, January 2, 2022 1:32 PM
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com
<mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!?? 

So, what does a healthy 2040 community look like.   What are we working
TOWARD, here.  Once of the things that the Mcnamee podcast highlighted for
me was my feeling that, in a chaotic world, people like me, planners, are
just out of tune with the world.  

By the way, I think "surfing the web" , as it has been used, is a terrible
metaphor.  What most of us do is like water skiing the web.  Bouncing over
the wake, never actually getting into the water.   Gives surfing a bad name.
A surfer finds the few survivable paths through an immense concentration of
hostile forces.  Surfing is more like martial arts.  In fact we must begin
to surf the web.   To realize the manners in which its hostile forces
constrain us and find the few paths that allow us to master those forces and
come out of the curl safely.  We thought it was a playground; now we see
it's a minefield.  

n

Nick Thompson

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> >
On Behalf Of Marcus Daniels
Sent: Sunday, January 2, 2022 2:18 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com
<mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!??

Nick writes:

< Imagined a world in which we all worked at home, everything was on zoom,
and everything was delivered by Amazon by drone.  I realize this is a
reductio, but hum along with me for a few bars.  There would be no
intermediate social landscape between the home and the distribution center.
No intermediate human scales.  

I can't say immediately why this would be a bad thing, but my gut doesn't
like it.>

I can't think of many examples where the intermediate scales are anything
but wasteful or intrusive.   Maybe to see a tailor coupled to the purchase
of certain clothes?  I still drive to services (dentist, doctor, hair
stylist), just not to redistributors, because they don't really add
anything.   There's still a farmer's market that seems as popular as ever --
but they DO offer something unique.    I can drive five minutes to Home
Depot but honestly half the time their inventory is exhausted for what I
want, and I end up ordering it online.    

Marcus  

  _____  

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> >
on behalf of thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com>
<thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com> >
Sent: Sunday, January 2, 2022 1:03 PM
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com
<mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!?? 

Marcus, 

I would like to be convinced .. But

Imagined a world in which we all worked at home, everything was on zoom, and
everything was delivered by Amazon by drone.  I realize this is a reductio,
but hum along with me for a few bars.  There would be no intermediate social
landscape between the home and the distribution center.  No intermediate
human scales.  

I can't say immediately why this would be a bad thing, but my gut doesn't
like it. 

Nick 

Nick Thompson

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> >
On Behalf Of Marcus Daniels
Sent: Sunday, January 2, 2022 1:38 PM
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com
<mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!??

I can see living without Facebook (I do), but why can't we live with Amazon?
It seems like they did a pretty good job of displacing the likes of Walmart.
It could happen again.  What added inherent value do stores have, other than
as a mechanism to prevent he consolidation of market influence w.r.t. to
prices?

  _____  

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> >
on behalf of thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com>
<thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com> >
Sent: Sunday, January 2, 2022 12:03 PM
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com
<mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: [FRIAM] Roger Mcnamee !!?? 

I just listened to this podcast 

https://feeds.megaphone.fm/VMP5489734702

a conversation between the former prosecutor, Joyce Vance, and the musician,
financier, turncoat Facebook investor Roger Mcnamee, who likens this moment
with big tech to the moment before the food industry regulations of the
early 1900's and anti-pollution legislation of the 60's, moments when Da
People reasserted control over over-weening industry interests.  He is
author of the book, Zucked.

An hour-long pod cast is a terribly inefficient way to learn about
something, so I hope that one you, for whom none of this is news, can offer
a more condensed source.

We are basically talking about the Amazon paradox, here: can't live with it;
can't live without it.  How much ARE we willing to pay to have the trains
run on time?

As usual, I am in need of instruction.  

Nick Thompson

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

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