The pandemic has revealed a collective inability of our leaders to govern today’s globalized and inextricably interconnected world. Stagflation as a real threat to economic outlook cannot be ruled out. New research suggests that brains don’t systematically stagnate with age – some vital abilities even get better. Science is short-changing both young and old sufferers of long COVID. The philosophical face of rock climbing.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“If 2020 was a trial run, we should be worried” (Adam Tooze about the way in which global cooperation has failed to deal with the pandemic in the article of the week)
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
Adam Tooze, What if the Coronavirus Crisis Is Just a Trial Run?
(The New York Times, 1 September 2021)
This superb op-ed from a major thinker sums up the most significant political and economic lessons of the ongoing crisis and what they portend for future crises. His conclusions are rather discouraging: “The world’s decision makers have given us a staggering demonstration of their collective inability to grasp what it would actually mean to govern the deeply globalized and interconnected world they have created.” Read on to understand why money has become a “mere technicality” and why “too big to fail” has become a systemic imperative (paywall likely but not systematic – reads in 7-8 min).
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Nouriel Roubini, The Stagflation Threat Is Real
(Project Syndicate, 30 August 2021)
The stagflation hypothesis is gaining some traction among contrarian economists and market participants. Contrary to the growing consensus that inflationary pressures and growth challenges are mainly attributable to temporary supply bottlenecks that will be soon alleviated, they argue that “mild” stagflation is already present in most advanced economies. Inflation is rising and despite massive monetary, credit, and fiscal stimulus,
growth is slowing sharply. Besides, there are nine “persistent negative supply shocks” that threaten to reduce potential growth (metered paywall – reads in 6-7 min).
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Jim Davies, Here’s Where Our Minds Sharpen in Old Age
(Nautilus, 1 September 2021)
A new study concludes that many things improve with age, including some cognitive aspects that had previously been thought to get worse. There are in fact ways we get smarter with age, even in the domain of fluid intelligence (which includes thinking about new things, thinking quickly, and abstract reasoning). As this article argues, given that age tends to increase abilities in vocabulary, language comprehension, reading others’ emotions, and knowledge, having heads of state in their 70s “shouldn’t worry us too much. At least as far as brain power goes”! (metered paywall – reads in 5-6 min).
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Ed Yong, Long-Haulers Are Fighting for Their Future
(The Atlantic, 2 September 2021)
This well-researched article states that after a year and a half, the risk of long COVID – a condition that affects many young and healthy, people, both unvaccinated and vaccinated, is one of the pandemic’s biggest and least-addressed unknowns. Many people with long COVID feel that science is failing them, but as this article argues, neglecting them could make the pandemic even worse (metered paywall, reads in about 15 min).
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C. Thi Nguyen, The aesthetics of rock climbing
(Philosopher Magazine, 11 August 2017)
On the eve of our Summit of Minds in Chamonix, it seems opportune to bring to the attention of our community this article which we read thanks to our friends at The Browser. The pleasures of rock climbing (or more generally mountaineering) and the pleasures of philosophy are strangely similar. Like philosophy, climbing is “a subtle, refined and often hyper-intellectual sport. It’s solving puzzles, with your body and mind” Read on (free access – reads in 7-8 min).
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