ArcticGong

Maybe so. One video doesn’t do Jiang any justice. It would be like watching part 2 of Leo’s deconstructing rationality series and dismissing his entire case I meant to say that Jiangs game theory series made me reconsider Trumps intentions and capacity. Granted that it’s more difficult to build something than destroying stuff, Jiang credits Trump with a foresight ability to make a measured controlled demolishing act that would profit him massively.

I have assumed that Trump and his administration has been dumb for years, until lectures like this one and other from Jiangs previous videos on game theory. Jiangs argument is pretty solid: the previous world order is unraveling, so, Trump may just speed up the process so that his people can gain from the chaos. With the strait of Hormuz being closed that makes the world more dependent on America for energy, and a reset on the game might become profitable for the US. Furthermore, this is a blow to China which is a large importer of oil from the Middle East. My dislike for Trump have always biased my analysis of his actions, but Jiang made me reconsider. Trump seems stupid but he might not be that stupid. I would not go as far as calling him a genius as Jiang suggest in this video. All in all, this series have been insightful and interesting so I highly recommend it.

My mixed analysis: oil shortage is friendly and expensive reminder that the world is interconnected. People like to fool themselves into isolationist thinking that one part of the world does all heavy lifting for our living standard ,sloppy anti globalist talking points. Also, there might be a real risk of hunger and famine which would be a catastrophe.

Imagine if democracy was let to reign supreme in Iran instead of intervention to remove Mossadegh. The Islamic republic government model seems to be a survival response to its circumstances. Democracy was clearly not viable because of the foreign economic players interest. The monarchy was hated by its people.

Aren’t many comedian podcast doing this? Criticising all day. I like some good criticising done well, like George Carlin. Yet, there is something slightly toxic there.

The winter Olympic is going on and an old sport phenomena is repeating itself: home advantage. Italy seems to take home more medals. It just goes to show that home advantage does make a difference. The interesting question is to what extent this advantage is phycological or practical?

Right-wingers are busy trying to rationalise and sane-wash this behaviour. http://youtube.com/post/UgkxgnZMhB6mWC8O_qYkqPr7r0V5-kh1fF1v?si=OTsbY02I5149KfVI

Funny thought experiment; imagine a nice country, like a nice guy/girl. I see Denmark plus some other Nordic nations as nice countries. If US takes Greenland, it will be a clear reminder that the world don’t run on niceness. Rather it is run by power, at a much higher extent than people are willing to admit.

@BlueOak more poles= no order is sloppy analysis. Just because hard power is being distributed around the world does that not mean no-order. The limitation of power based-order makes more sense then. Rules implies that the actors involved are subordinate to rules, which is not the case. why are these nations arming themselves?

Rules-based for thee, not for me. Perhaps an overly cynical view of global institutions and norms, but invoking democracy and freedom is mostly a joke, considering the circumstances under which that pretext is made. “It stopped the planet turning into a wasteland.“ Fair point, but what does this have to do with the rule-based order? You’re making a survival based argument here.

he is playing the game of politics in a mask off mode . Previous leaders had more finess. If they wanted to change a foreign leader or some territory, they would at least give some plausible excuse. Not anymore. What purpose did the rule based order serve? That purpose is expiring, I guess.

Stealing land is an old thing. The unique thing about what trump is doing is that he consider to steal from allies. People are chocked but this is not a surprise. Stealing and acquiring property goes way back.

Let’s see how other countries respond after this. If “allies”call out violations or if they spin it to support their buddy’s action. It will take balls for smaller countries to call out this behaviour, but some pressure is better than none.

Most types of conformity that supports survival is worth maintaining like using cutlery, hygiene.

Grammar seems like a reasonable type of conformity; otherwise, people will only speak and write unintelligibly to one another. Furthermore, clarity seems like a reasonable principle to strive toward. I remember Leo suggesting that people need to put more effort into their grammar, yet he included it in his list of acts of conformity. Obviously, you don’t need to be overly pedantic—there’s a balance to be found.