POW: Alex Steffen

LSE hosted Alex Steffen for a discussion of where the world in general and cities in particular are going.  I thought the most interesting take was the concept that what will save us is better data.  He talks about how everything from how we drive (mileage meters) to how we use power or water will eventually automatically record data and then give us information- how do we do compared to average?  How are we doing compared to yesterday or the year before?  To me it is a profound example of tech making what was once arbitrary and irrelevant into something specific and purposeful- changing how we use the gas and break pedal to be more efficient, connecting actions with consequences.

There is a downside though, in that the process of converting data into knowledge is not value free.  Someone has to determine what the average is and how it should be calculated, someone determines the scales on which we judge ourselves.  For example with utilities is the relevant average per household or per person?  For vehicles should they be judged by class (hatchbacks separate from SUV’s) or all together?  Those questions establish norms for society, but because of their “back room” nature it is unlikely people will be aware of them or the values embodied in their selection.  It’s analogous to what insurers do in developing classification plans, except that if people don’t like the way an insurer classifies them it’s easy enough to find a different insurer.  Not so with society…

POW: Delete

LSE hosted Viktor Mayer-Schönberger for a podcast discussion of his book, Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age.  I’m a big fan of technology and its ability to shift information through space and time.  Mayer-Schönberger describes significant downsides to this ability, and how it conflicts with human cognitive function. 

Forgetting isn’t just loss, it is a curating process in which the necessary is separated from that which we don’t want or don’t need to carry forward. Forgetting defines and creates us as much as it destroys.  By putting so much of ourselves online we lose control over that process, the cloud forgets nothing.  Alternatively we could become luddites and withdraw from technology, but who would want to do that?  Mayer-Schönberger suggests an alternative solution:  building the ability to forget into cloud systems and making their function a little more human.

Interesting stuff.

POW: John Mearsheimer

John Mearsheimer led a discussion promoting his new book, courtesy of the Cato Institute. He discusses why leaders lie, fib, prevaricate and otherwise answer other then truthfully. He describes how lying tends to correlate with trust: Governments lie to their own citizens much more then they lie to each other, and democratic governments lie more often then non-democratic ones. Lying over wars of choice gets particular attention, with contrasting views of Bush and FDR (crafty enough that he didn’t need to lie).

Interesting and timely material.

POW: Michael Scheuer

Michael Scheuer makes for an interesting lecture, even in a post Bin Laden world.  He provides a sharp critique of the American war on terrorism and the “they hate us for our freedoms” meme that I usually only see from Glenn Greenwald.  I’m a sucker for grumpy old folks pounding the table about how everyone is wrong, especially when there’s some truth to what they’re saying.

What I’m listening to

The podcast interview of Peter Godwin, on Robert Mugabe’s efforts to hold power.  Interesting enough that I’d put him on my reading list.

POW: Scorpions (not the band)

After Words produced a nice interview podcast with Noah Feldman discussing, Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices.  The story is how FDR nominated four great liberal judges, and the surprising manner in which their careers on the bench played out.  It makes for a neat parlor game to pick four comparable contemporaries.  I come up with Cass Sunstein, Eliott Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, and Eric Holder.  Politics was a very different animal back then…

POW: Robert Fisk

Here is a very good lecture by Robert Fisk, sponsored by Georgetown’s Center for International and Regional Studies from about a year ago.  He discusses how western and US media in particular have become subservient to government authority, and how that perverts public discussion of foreign policy.  The themes will be familiar to fans of Glenn Greenwald, but it is more powerful hearing about them from someone inside and “on the ground” among foreign correspondents.

Worth listening to for the story of the soldier from the 82nd airborne 33 minutes in.

Health Care Hearings

The Oregon Senate Committee on General Government, Consumer and Small Business Protection chaired by Chip Shields is meeting on Wednesday to hear testimony on Drivers of the Cost of Health Care.

This will be the third such meeting dealing with health care, the prior two dealt with Oregon’s insurance regulation framework and a review of how other states regulate health insurance. Both hearings were highly informative and are worth listening to (podcasts are available on the committee web page).

The speakers scheduled for Wednesday are:

• Leanne Gassaway, Senior Regional Director for State Affairs, America's Health Insurance Plans
• Ken Provencher, Chief Executive Officer, PacificSource Health Plans
• Aaron Crane, Senior Vice President of Operations and CFO, Salem Hospital Regional Health Services
• Dr. Rick Wopat, Oregon Academy of Family Physicians
• Linda L Morley, RN, MN, PMHNP
• Sean Colmer, Deputy Administrator, Office for Oregon Health Policy and Research

Why health care costs are rising is the $64,000 question when it comes to health insurance reform.  Here are the questions I want asked:

1. Oregon health care costs are rising by approximately 12% a year.  Why?  What cost increases are you seeking from insurers in your contract negotiations, and where is the extra money going?
2. Please provide a walkthrough of how your rates are set, from start to finish.
3. How much cost shifting occurs, and what oversight is there of that specifically in the rate setting process?  (Side note:  compare and contrast the doctrine governing insurance rate making and hospital ratemaking).
4. Do you offer discounts to people who pay their bills immediately with a  credit card?  (Side note: At least one Portland metro area hospital did as of 2009, taking up to 20% off the bill.)

I look forward to hearing this.

POW: David Eisenhower

Milt Rosenberg put out a nice interview with David Eisenhower, grandson of Ike.  Interesting enough that I’d look at his book.  I see it as a complement to Nixon Agonistes.  Perhaps what Wills saw as contempt looked like formality to a member of the family…  I wonder how that worked once the kids got married.

POW: Bob Packwood

Interesting speech by Bob Packwood at Portland City Club a few weeks ago.  Packwood was a popular republican known for his skill in building bipartisan coalitions.  Key legislative accomplishments include the 1986 tax reform and deregulating the trucking industry.

His comments on the need to disempower the parties and the wingnuts who control them are particularly apt given the results the recent election.  Perhaps some people were paying attention:

There were also reports last week of moderate Republicans and Democrats meeting to form a new majority coalition that could elect its own speaker.

Good luck, folks!

PS.  to Bob Packwood:  Don’t be a stranger!

POW: Ha-Joon Chang

LSE sponsored an interesting lecture by Ha-Joon Chang.  An asia centric economist, worth listening to for his dismissal of western veneration of entrepreneurialism (stability matters).

POW: Geoffrey Robertson

LSE sponsored Geoffrey Robertson speaking on the Vatican’s possible criminal liability under international law for it’s conduct in covering up and perpetuating the sexual abuse of children.  Robertson made a compelling case, far stronger then I expected.  The money line was the anecdote about how the pope had made the act of ordaining  a woman as serious an offense against the church as molesting a child.  This should be considered progress, as previously the Church thought ordaining women was worse…

POW: Bacevich on Extension 720

Milt Rosenberg recently had Andrew Bacevich on his show, Extension 720. This was a very brave discussion as Milt in the last few years has evolved into a conservative wing-nut. I'm shocked and immensely pleased that Milt hosted the show as well as he did.

Bacevich is one of the most perceptive critics of American foreign policy writing today, and his views deserve far more attention then they get. Kudos to Milt for giving him a platform, and constructively engaging his ideas.

POW: Clay Shirkey

I just got around to listening to a very good lecture by Clay Shirky sponsored by LSE.  Shirky discusses his concept of "Cognitive Surplus".  The gist of it is that by converting a small sliver of the time otherwise spent watching TV (passively consuming) into active creation we are able to reap enormous benefits.  For example, the total number of all hours spent creating wikipedia is less then the time we spend watching commercials on any given weekend. 

The internet thus far has provided mostly private benefits.  Those interested in a particular topic are empowered to discover and create content virtually cost free, excluding time.  That isn't a bad thing, but what Shirky looks forward to is projects with a global impact- voluntary collaborative efforts that fundamentally change cultures.

This was an entertaining and interesting lecture, I strongly recommend it.

Fans of Shirky's work can find an Econtalk interview from 2008 here.

POW: Mia Bay and Pamela Newkirk

The National Constitution Center put up an interesting discussion between journalism professor Pamela Newkirk and historian Mia Bay, on the life and historical memory of Ida B Wells. I think it worth promoting because
1) I consider myself relatively well versed in American history and I didn't know who she was.
2) Her story is the story of Jim Crow, of the rollback of the rights gained after the civil war. This is an era that doesn't get a lot of play in the narrative of American history, it goes against type. The general narrative is the story of progress- rights gained, biases and bigotries outgrown, of freedom gained. The years after Reconstruction saw the reverse- rights lost, terror imposed, freedom lost. It's not surprising people don't like to dwell on it, but they should at least be aware of it.

The biography Mia Bay references is here.

POW: Georgi Derluguian

I found an outstanding lecture from 2004 by Georgi Derluguian, given at the U of C. He discusses Chechnya and the origins of the conflict there. There are a lot of ideas here on how the physical realities of living in a mountain range affect society (multiple languages, isolation) as well as specific details (didn't convert to Islam until late 17th century, the population was built by people fleeing the great invasions crossing the plains to the north, one of the early Chechen leaders was the former Soviet chief of the Air Force responsible for the bombing campaigns in Afghanistan). There is also an idea that the whole region of the Soviet Union went through a reversion, a demodernization process. "Look at the hats!"

Here is his book.

POW: Simon Schama

Carnegie has put up an excellent discussion with Simon Schama related to his new book, The America Future: A History. Schama's conversation is a work of art unto itself.

POW: Naomi Wolf

The National Constitution Center podcast an excellent interview and discussion with Naomi Wolf about her newest book, Give Me Liberty. Wolf addresses the closing of American society and it's consequences squarely, and provides useful guidance on how to combat it. It's enough for me to head to the library...

POW: James Bamford

C-Span's Book TV has a podcast interview of James Banford, author of "Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America". This book broke the story about how the NSA listened to phone sex between soldiers in Iraq and their spouses at home.

Bamford says some bad things about General Hayden, then head of the NSA and now DCI.

Food for thought: The NSA now and in the future is going to regularly confront messy issues over when and who they can eavesdrop on. Given that fact, wouldn't it make sense for the agency head to have some experience with the legal framework covering domestic surveillance? That is opposed to someone experienced with surveillance in foreign countries, where such activities are necessarily outside the law. Put another way, if you want a legal domestic surveillance product then you might look for someone who knows how to do legal domestic surveillance. Just saying...

The other thing I'd want to remember- Bamford's sources describe targeting people for assassination based on intercepted conversations in languages they don't even understand. Death by Bureaucracy!

Fall 2008 Berkeley Podcasts

Two courses looked interesting in the Fall 2008 Catalogue:

Economics 113, American Economic History taught by Brad Delong!
Geography C110, Economic Geography of the Industrial World

I'm looking for perspective on the current economic crisis...

I'm also trying a video cast course,
International and Area Studies 180