Have you ever wondered what it would be like to create a utopia? A place where all your wants and needs were taken care of and there was never any fear of harm?
Creating such a world for humans may be far off, but one man did try to create a utopia for rats. He created a world that had everything they would want and where all their needs are taken care of.
It didn’t turn out like anyone expected.
Learn more about Universe 25, and how a utopia turned into a dystopia, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
In Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace(Viking, 2022), Chris Blattman explains the five reasons why conflict (rarely) blooms into war, and how to interrupt that deadly process. It's easy to overlook the underlying strategic forces of war, to see it solely as a series of errors, accidents, and emotions gone awry. It's also easy to forget that war shouldn't happen-and most of the time it doesn't. Around the world, there are millions of hostile rivalries, yet only a tiny fraction erupt into violence. Too many accounts of conflict forget this. With a counterintuitive approach, Blattman reminds us that most rivals loathe one another in peace. That's because war is too costly to fight. Enemies almost always find it better to split the pie than spoil it or struggle over thin slices. So, in those rare instances when fighting ensues, we should ask: what kept rivals from compromising?
Why We Fight draws on decades of economics, political science, psychology, and real-world interventions to lay out the root causes and remedies for war, showing that violence is not the norm; that there are only five reasons why conflict wins over compromise; and how peacemakers turn the tides through tinkering, not transformation. From warring states to street gangs, ethnic groups and religious sects to political factions, there are common dynamics to heed and lessons to learn. Along the way, we meet vainglorious European monarchs, African dictators, Indian mobs, Nazi pilots, British football hooligans, ancient Greeks, and fanatical Americans. Realistic and optimistic, this is a book that lends new meaning to the old adage, "Give peace a chance."
Javier Mejia is an economist teaching at Stanford University, whose work focuses on the intersection between social networks and economic history. His interests extend to topics on entrepreneurship and political economy with a geographical specialty in Latin America and the Middle East. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from Los Andes University. He has been a Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer at New York University--Abu Dhabi and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Bordeaux. He is a regular contributor to different news outlets. Currently, he is Forbes Magazine op-ed columnist.
Thinking about the next book you want to read? Librarians are way ahead of you. Find out how new books make their way in the Chicago Public Library system, and meet some of the librarians who make it happen.
Thinking about the next book you want to read? Librarians are way ahead of you. Find out how new books make their way in the Chicago Public Library system, and meet some of the librarians who make it happen.
What to know about President Biden's latest idea to lower gas prices and why at least one Senator calls it "dead on arrival".
Also, a powerful earthquake is adding to crises in Afghanistan, and Microsoft details Russia's efforts to target the U.S. with cyberattacks.
Plus, why one NFL team owner might have to defend himself to Congress, Amazon's new technology is meant to sort of reconnect you with people you've lost, and a planetary show that hasn't happened yet in this lifetime is now on display.
The Senate unveiled a highly-anticipated, bipartisan gun control bill on Tuesday. The chamber voted 64-34 in a procedural vote to allow for its quick passage, which some hope will happen as soon as Saturday. Chip Brownlee, a reporter at The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on gun violence in America, joins us to discuss key parts of the legislation.
And in headlines: a huge earthquake in Afghanistan left over 1,000 people dead, Cleveland Browns quarterback DeShaun Watson settled with most of his accusers, and the White House plans to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes sold in the U.S.
Operation Warp Speed was an unprecedented fusion of government and private industry to create a vaccine against COVID-19. What normally would take four or five years to accomplish was done in less than one.
Paul Mango, then deputy chief of staff for the Department of Health and Human Services, was there to make sure everything happened according to plan. Under President Donald Trump, Mango was the liaison to Operation Warp Speed.
Two top House Republicans say they won’t support the Senate’s new legislation restricting gun ownership.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell admits that raising interest rates could trigger a recession, but says “it is essential that we bring inflation down.”
President Joe Biden calls on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for three months.
Paris Marx is joined by David Nemer to discuss how residents of Brazil’s favelas reshape technologies developed in the Global North to serve their needs, and how technology alone does not solve social oppression.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.
Paris’ new book Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation is out on July 5! It’s currently on sale at Verso Books.
Ahead of hosting the World Cup, Brazil forced thousands of favela residents from their homes.
Grace Blakeley recent spoke to David Adler about Colombia’s election and the use of TikTok.
