This newsletter goes out to more than 1,000 ambitious frontier people. If you like it, share it with a friend, support me on Patreon, or apply for my online school, Roote.
Hello friend,
My dad just got his vaccine appointment scheduled for March 8. Hooray! Hope the old folks in your life are getting in line too. ❤️
1) Podcast this week: #81 Betsy Cooper: How Technologists Can Craft Policy.
Betsy leads The Aspen Institute’s Tech Policy Hub, a Y-Combinator for tech policy.
Their fellowship helps technologists learn how to enact tech policy. The program is full-time, 10 weeks, and has an $18,000 stipend. (Some of the USDR folks went through their program!) Learn more and apply here by Feb 22.
2) ContraPoints (Natalie Wynn) has new video that covers J.K. Rowling’s comments on trans folks. It’s a great example of how to engage thoughtfully with [insert random internet debate here].
2a) Before watching the video, I didn’t really have an opinion on J.K. Rowling. I knew I was supposed to feel angry at her transphobic comments. But idk, Rowling's comments (about protecting women) seemed relatively reasonable to me at first glance.
I was wrong! Natalie shows how Rowling is actually being transphobic through a semantic move—“bigotry through protecting the victim”. Here’s how it works:
Instead of direct bigotry like “trans people suck”, indirect bigotry focuses on protecting the victim. For example, Rowling wants to protect kids from transitioning before they’re mature (and then regretting the decision). And Rowling wants to protect girls from being sexually harassed by transmen. (See Pronouns Are Rohypnol.)
This is sneaky! It triggers our “care” moral foundation. I care about protecting teenagers from negative decisions. I care about protecting girls from sexual harassment. Care is good.
But in this case, the care isn’t really warranted. Rowling says there’s a “4400% increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment.” Eep, that’s a massive increase! But actually it’s because it used to be so low. (Only 32 British girls in 2009.) Even with the 4400% increase (to 0.03% of British girls), it’s still ~33x lower than we’d expect given the base rate of trans folks in the general population (1%).
Care is warranted when there’s a true victim. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. British girls are fine.
“Bigotry through protecting the victim” also shows up in other forms of bigotry. For example, white supremacists use language like “white genocide”. They turn themselves into the victim. It becomes an argument: “don’t you care about genocide?”
My key learning is to be wary when someone tries to trigger my “care” moral foundation. Ask “Who is the true victim? Who actually needs protecting, if at all?”
2b) Natalie also explains why she doesn't like the slogan "trans women are women." It pulls folks into a never-ending debate around the definition of “women”. This is similar to “sex is real”. It frames something as a fact when there's actually a political debate. (Also see 2+2=5, which we covered in newsletter #20. 2+2=5 isn’t a debate about facts. It’s a debate about politics.)
Instead, Natalie prefers the slogan “trans liberation now”. It explicitly addresses what trans folks want—equal treatment.
Choosing the right questions is important. Be wary of political debates masquerading as debates over facts.
"Some questions should be dissolved rather than solved."
—Ludwig Wittgenstein
2c) Still, Natalie does a great job of empathizing with bigotry. Natalie recognizes that bigotry comes from fear and pain:
"Feeling threatened is the distinctive psychological experience of bigotry much more so than feeling hateful."
Rowling herself experienced sexual assault as a child.
Hurt people hurt people. It's pain turtles all the way down.
Natalie goes on to differentiate when trauma-based fear can result in negative political goals:
"Having a trauma-trigger response is a real experience of suffering that is not the victim's fault, even in cases where that response is irrational or politically incorrect."
"If you got mugged by a black teen, I wouldn't judge you for being jumpy around black teens.
But if that jumpiness motivates you to push for militant policing of black folks, then you are part of anti-black racism.
That I will criticize, regardless of your trauma."
If you want to spend a fun 90 minutes, definitely check out the video. Natalie takes a bath with a Daniel Radcliffe sex doll. It’s good shit. ContraPoints is a national treasure.
LINKS
1) Citizen science is cool. There’s a crew of 100 community biologists who have been working on their own COVID vaccine. You can make 500 doses yourself for $1000. [Note: please don’t try this at home.]
Citizen criticism is also cool. Sarah Constantin is skeptical that this vaccine will work.
As citizen science becomes cheaper, expect to see more bottom-up networks like this. Community Biotech Initiative is a good convening ground for this in the bio space.
Democratize all the things!
2) Neil Harbisson is the first legally recognized cyborg. He is colorblind, so uses his implant to play different sounds when he points his head at different colors. He can also see/hear ultraviolent and infrared wavelengths. Manufactured synesthesia.
3) Hilarious ETH meme found from the depths of Reddit by my housemate, Nick.
4) The Onion: ‘Then You’ll Put Out A Nice Press Release Stepping Down As CEO,’ Whispers Rogue Fulfillment Bot Holding Bezos At Gunpoint
5) Babylon Bee: In Effort To Appeal To Socialists, Mike Lindell Introduces ‘OurPillow’
JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES
The Aspen Tech Policy Hub Fellowship helps technologists learn how to enact tech policy. It’s a YC for tech policy. The program is full-time, 10-weeks, and has an 18k stipend. Learn and apply here by Feb 22.
Clubhouse just raised $100M at a $1B valuation (with ~2M WAU). Like any social media platform, they’ll need to develop strong community norms and standards. If you want to get in on the ground floor for moderating audio, they're hiring two Trust & Safety Analysts.
Doughnut Economics is hiring an Operations Lead. Apply by Feb 11.
Open Philanthropy is hiring a Farm Animal Welfare Program Associate. 70B land animals are factory farmed every year. Help make that less!
New Sci-Founder Fellowship grants scientists $400,000 to commercialize their research. Apply here by Feb 12.
Reddit is partnering with Etheruem to decentralize ownership and control of Reddit through their Community Points program. Reddit is hiring a blockchain engineer to help ETH scale.
I’m looking for a driven and concrete co-founder for Roote. Learn more and reach out here.
EVENTS
Effective Altruist Events Calendar (recurring)
Interintellect Salons (recurring)
The Stoa (recurring)
MUSIC
This is what 425,000 COVID deaths sounds like:
It reminds me of BlackMIDI, music where the main goal is to cover the screen with notes:
Hope you have a good week! Warmth, Rhys
❤️ Thanks to my generous patrons ❤️
Audra Jacobi, Sam Jonas, Patrick Walker, Shira Frank, David Hanna, Benjamin Bratton, Michael Groeneman, Haseeb Qureshi, Jim Rutt, Zoe Harris, David Ernst, Brian Crain, Matt Lindmark, Colin Wielga, Malcolm Ocean, John Lindmark, Collin Brown, Ref Lindmark, James Waugh, Mark Moore, Matt Daley, Peter Rogers, Darrell Duane, Denise Beighley, Scott Levi, Harry Lindmark, Simon de la Rouviere, and Katie Powell.