Missive #2
An interview with Bill Gates, who saw this coming
ARS Technica has a great interview with Bill Gates about the pandemic response, or lack thereof. I know you all are probably tired of reading everything and anything about this topic, but I found this interview particularly engaging. Gates' brilliance is clearly demonstrated here.
At this point, are you optimistic?
Yes. You have to admit there’s been trillions of dollars of economic damage done and a lot of debts, but the innovation pipeline on scaling up diagnostics, on new therapeutics, on vaccines is actually quite impressive. And that makes me feel like, for the rich world, we should largely be able to end this thing by the end of 2021, and for the world at large by the end of 2022.
His sounding of the early warning regarding pandemics makes it especially ironic that there are conspiracy theories floating around suggesting he is somehow to blame for this current mess. That's like blaming your fire department for arson.
In praise of compact discs
Folks who know me may remember that I still listen to, and buy, CDs. In this era of streaming everything, audio and video on-demand - “Hey, I wonder if I can find the second episode of ‘Soul Train’ online?” (Yes, you probably can.) - I still favor them. Here's why.
Intentionality. When I put on a CD, or even a handful of them in the changer, I know exactly what I'm going to listen to. I choose it, and it plays. I might shuffle the order, but I know what I'm getting.
One thing at a time, dedicated device. My CD player does only one thing. I will never, ever have a Chopin étude interrupted by an ad for orthotics. (Orthotics are actually pretty good, but I don't want to hear about them in the middle of a beautiful piano piece.)
Reliability. I have spent frustrating minutes, and watched people spend even more time than that trying to get one service or another to do what they want. Unless a CD is damaged, or my player suddenly breaks, it always works. I put it in, and music comes out. Every time. No Wi-Fi, no configuration, nothing.
Better quality. Of course, it helps to have a good stereo system. As an old friend pointed out, speakers that were very good quality 20 years ago are probably still very good quality today. My system is very old, but it still sounds better than any soundbar or portable device. In fact, you can get a very high quality stereo system today for a song, locally or on eBay.
Cover art and lyrics. I don't want to spend a single minute longer staring at a screen than I choose. I certainly don't want to scroll through more ads for orthotics, or whatever crap the world of algorithms thinks I want to buy today, well I am trying to discern the meaning of a Joni Mitchell song. Although CDs are still inferior to vinyl in terms of visual appeal, they still often come with good art and lyric booklets.
A few disadvantages
Well, yes, not so portable. They take up space, although unless you are a true music hound, you can fit a lot of CDs in a small space.
They don't stream. I don't consider this a big deal, because I can just rip them to MP3s and then load that music on whatever device I want.
I know CDs are almost dead. Many artists have stopped releasing them, though if you want a box set from an established artist, you can often find that. I'm not sure these words will persuade anyone to return to the CD era, but I will sure miss them when they're gone.
On the "far-left”, groupthink, and political correctness
I've been listing to a few podcasts lately, having discussions with a few friends about groupthink and political correctness. I identify as a progressive, and generally favor moving the country closer to Denmark and further from the predatory-capitalism-driven disaster it is currently, and I believe in the full enfranchisement of humans, regardless of skin color, sexual or gender identity. But I don't hold these beliefs because my friends do, or to be part of a crowd. They come from reading, observation, and experience. As a progressive, I suppose I could be considered to be on the far-left.
However, there is a strain of the left that is alien to me. It is characterized by groupthink, political correctness, and cancel culture.
To be continued…