019: Oligarchs vs Corporatists, Authoritarians vs the Law, Skynet

We discuss how weird it is that authoritarians choose to operate under a veneer of legality instead of just abandoning laws. We talk about Skynet and our future robot overlords (will the Waymos rise up?). We wrap up by sharing some things that give us pleasure these days—MiLo makes vegetable soup and is learning how to sew; Shawn likes listening to fiction, especially when it’s read by the author.

Mentioned in this episode

The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality (book) by Katharina Pistor

An Artist Used 99 Phones to Fake a Google Maps Traffic Jam

E.O. Wilson’s observation about how contemporary civilization is so precarious because “we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.”

The Streisand Effect — an unintended consequence where attempts to hide, remove, or censor information instead increases public awareness of the information.

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