Saved comments from December 2015 about 'Star Wars,' technology, and the economy

[neonvincent]

My comment on Retrotopia: Economics by Other Means

So next week that will be the long-awaited drone shoot episode. I'm looking forward to it. It should be great fun.

As for the strategy described, it looks like what the U.S. ran into in Iraq and Afghanistan as implemented by Midwesterners pretending to be the Swiss. Even though the land is flat and open here, adding barriers like canals would make the country a lot less friendly to invaders. That will make the Swiss impersonation a little more convincing. On a related note, I'm surprised you didn't add in bicycle infantry, which you've mentioned as a use of appropriate technology in a deindustrializing future before.

Speaking of appropriate technology and the theme of the past few weeks' posts about the technology people use being a matter of choice and not necessity, I've run into two stories where well-meaning residents of the county where I live convincing people who had abandoned driving out of necessity into driving again by getting new cars. The first was James Robertson, ABC's Person of the Week from February. He took a bus to the end of the line and then walked many miles to work and back, as his job did not pay enough for him to buy a car. A good Samaritan saw him walking the same route day after day and offered him a ride. When the driver found out about Robertson's situation, he told the local media about it and an online fundraiser was set up to buy Robertson a new car. He ended up getting so much money that he moved out of Detroit into the suburbs to be closer to work and live in a safer neighborhood.

That story repeated itself last week, when a man named Tony was biking to work in a snowstorm. A car salesman saw him and offered him and his bike a ride, first to work, then to look at a van. The salesman then set up an online fundraiser himself to get money for the van. It worked and Tony now has a lightly used van. The car salesman also made a sale for his dealership. Win-win, except for all the externalities.

In both cases, the media spun the events as heartwarming human-interest stories. While they were successes of charity, both incidents displayed the failure of metro Detroit to provide adequate public transportation. The response also sent a message that Americans think that car dependence is a virtue, not a vice. They also enforced the use of the prevailing level of technology, although the recipients were willing.


My comments on “Shining a Light”

"Much of what passes as journalism today, particularly online, is simply advertisement disguised as entertainments."

I found a good example of that this weekend, when I blogged about the Detroit Free Press reporting on how Fiat Chrysler uses the power of The Force to sell cars. It was big news in the paper's business section that the former number three car company in the U.S. has partnered with LucasFilm to cross-promote both their automobiles and the movie. That reverses your formulation, making it entertainment disguised as advertising. As for how the paper justifies it, well, what's good for General Motors, or in this case, Fiat Chrysler, is good for the country.

Another example came the week before that, when WXYZ and MLive reported on a man named Tony who was biking to work in a snowstorm. A car salesman saw him and offered him and his bike a ride, first to work, then to look at a van. The salesman then set up an online fundraiser himself to get money for the van. It worked and Tony now has a lightly used van. The car salesman also made a sale for his dealership and got it in the news. The media spun the events as a heartwarming human-interest story--advertising disguised as entertainment, indeed!

As for our host's musings on "Spotlight," a Wall Street Journal critic ended his review of the James Bond flick "SPECTRE" by praising "Spotlight," saying it was a much better movie. That didn't stop "SPECTRE" from becoming number one at the U.S. box office, staying there until "The Hunger Games" Mockingjay-Part 2" dethroned it. Oh, well, no accounting for the taste of the movie-going public. Maybe the voters for the awards shows will give "Spotlight" its due.

NOT POSTED THIS TIME: I also appreciate our host's use of the problems of the news media, particularly the legacy newspapers, as an example of the diminishing returns of technology. He's often pointed out that technology is no substitute for resources and that faith in technology allowing us to live the way we live now into the indefinite future is misplaced.


My comment on The Flutter of Space Bat Wings

Congratulations on getting Hollywood's attention, even if you eventually found it unwelcome. It means that your ideas are interesting enough that someone found them profitable to exploit. I shouldn't be surprised, as "The Hunger Games" Mockingjay-Part 2", the culmination of a series that features both apocalyptic collapse and continued technological progress simultaneously (but in which the loss of space travel is mourned in passing, pun intended), is big box office. At least that is more realistic than a future in which Fiat Chrysler uses the power of The Force to sell cars.

As for that hurt final email, I think the writer/producer was ticked off that he lost a chance at a meal ticket riding the wave of DOOM and then hope because of your artistic and philosophical integrity. Honestly, if that's what he wants, there are plenty of good classic science fiction stories still to be made, including the promised Ringworld movie. I've been waiting for someone to produce that for thiry years, ever since Larry Niven sold the movie rights the first time and I lost my chance to write scenarios for the Ringworld role-playing game.

As for the advent of Into the Ruins, may it indeed incubate a new subgenre of speculative fiction as you hope. I'm looking forward to one of the stories eventually being nominated for the Hugo Awards, although I have a feeling it might take the kind of concerted voting that made this year's list of nominees so controversial. Be careful doing that. It might be a misuse of the topic of your other blog.


My comment on Fedpocalypse Now?

People I know who are paying attention to Yellen and the Fed are also concerned. While I was lecturing on the relationship between energy price and the U.S. economy last week, the subject of raising the overnight rate came up. The person raising the topic was quite aware that the Fed might be taking away the punch bowl too soon and starting a recession the old-fashioned way, instead of waiting until oil prices rose high enough to suck money out of the consumer economy, which has been correlated with recessions since U.S. oil production peaked in 1971. Wow, an economic contraction that isn't an oil shock--I barely remember any of those.

Trump is indeed odious--the f-word has been applied to him, and I don't mean the one for sexual intercourse. However, people are still capable of laughing at him, as Darth Trump attests. In that video, he's more gauche than sinister.

As for "something in the air like a gigantic static charge, longing for release," a lot of that anxiety has gone into Americans are buying more guns in response to terror and mass shooting. Black Friday set a record for background checks related to firearms sales. Happy Holidays and be careful when you open that present!


My comment on Christmas Present

"Theory du jour: the new Star Wars movie is sucking in whatever meager disposable lucre remains among the economically-flayed mid-to-lower orders of America. In fact, I propose a new index showing an inverse relationship between Star Wars box office receipts and soundness of the financial commonweal."

In that case, as you conclude, the American economy is in real trouble, as "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" blasted off to new U.S. box office records. It beat "The Hunger Games" for advance sales, the first "Hobbit" movie for December opening, and "Jurassic World" for opening weekend box office. The critics and fans applauded it. J.J. Abrams should hang a big banner that reads "Mission Accomplished" on Disney's studio in Burbank, so long as he doesn't wear a flight suit with a codpiece while doing so.

As for the American public, they'd prefer Obi-Wan Kenobi for President and even vote for Darth Vader over Trump. Hillary Clinton would still win an election over the Dark Lord of the Sith, but lose to both Ben Kenobi and Yoda. Clinton herself may have wished that The Force be with us last Saturday, but it's The Farce that is instead.


Notes for my replies to comments on "Doctors to Congress: Fund gun violence research at the CDC and NIH"

The CDC considers suicide a form of self-directed violence, listing under "Definitions: Self-directed Violence" along with suicide attempts and suicidal ideation. It also refers visitors to its website to the CDC publication, "Self-directed Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements."
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/definitions.html

"Can I commit a “Self-Directed Mugging”?" Ask Tyler Durden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pJC0FLA3Sk