Happy Thursday. I hope this finds you well and good and safe and healthy in these strange, strange times. Below are a couple of stories I’m keeping my eye on that have maybe fallen through the cracks over the past few days, but I also wanted to open the doors for questions and topics for the next subscriber-exclusive Dispatches Mailbag, which will be published here in the next few days. If you have any issues or queries you’d like to hear my take on, whether it’s large-scale important or smaller bits of personal taste, simply reply to this post.
I'm really torn about the healthcare/tech marriage. On one hand, there are a lot of opportunities to improve healthcare here and abroad by leveraging technology to build a more connected infrastructure between our providers. The siloed, federated approach we have is terribly inefficient and, at times, detrimental to the health and wellness of people. Similarly, we can and should use technology to help get people to the right specialists by employing algorithms and ai to pore over details and trends that otherwise can be missed by overworked staff (I had something like this happen recently, where some warning signs weren't taken seriously until I forced them to look at it, and only then did I get the help I needed). On the other hand, this should all be handled in a centralized, regulated body, not by a for-profit company who is going to make billions from our government paying them to help improve a shitty healthcare infrastructure instead of spending the billions on providing us with the fucking healthcare in the first place.
Asking my brain to toggle between hyper-optimistic talk of about "reopening" with articles like this is...something else. I work in a "secure" building (for the art, anyway) and I just can't imagine a return to the office anymore. Which is sad, really.
A run on toilet paper and guns. This country is exhausting. From one john's bed to the next.
Speaking of hyper-optimism, who's excited for peach season? I get them shipped to me from GA (with all due respect to my MI neighbors, of course). I'm gonna try them on pizza.
Hey Jared, I was watching your Bourbon Talk from May 23 and you reiterated the observation that the wealthy and powerful use fascists to carry out violence in order to retain power. My question is: What is the end result? Are fascists content enough simply to carry out violence with the excuse of maintaining the "status quo," or do they end up wanting some of the wealth and power they helped to protect? Do or can the fascists turn against the elites? (Okay, that was several questions.) Always grateful for your insights. Be well.
I'm really torn about the healthcare/tech marriage. On one hand, there are a lot of opportunities to improve healthcare here and abroad by leveraging technology to build a more connected infrastructure between our providers. The siloed, federated approach we have is terribly inefficient and, at times, detrimental to the health and wellness of people. Similarly, we can and should use technology to help get people to the right specialists by employing algorithms and ai to pore over details and trends that otherwise can be missed by overworked staff (I had something like this happen recently, where some warning signs weren't taken seriously until I forced them to look at it, and only then did I get the help I needed). On the other hand, this should all be handled in a centralized, regulated body, not by a for-profit company who is going to make billions from our government paying them to help improve a shitty healthcare infrastructure instead of spending the billions on providing us with the fucking healthcare in the first place.
Asking my brain to toggle between hyper-optimistic talk of about "reopening" with articles like this is...something else. I work in a "secure" building (for the art, anyway) and I just can't imagine a return to the office anymore. Which is sad, really.
A run on toilet paper and guns. This country is exhausting. From one john's bed to the next.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/us/gun-purchases-ownership-pandemic.html
Speaking of hyper-optimism, who's excited for peach season? I get them shipped to me from GA (with all due respect to my MI neighbors, of course). I'm gonna try them on pizza.
What is the biggest book you own? (Dictionaries don't count.)
Hey Jared, I was watching your Bourbon Talk from May 23 and you reiterated the observation that the wealthy and powerful use fascists to carry out violence in order to retain power. My question is: What is the end result? Are fascists content enough simply to carry out violence with the excuse of maintaining the "status quo," or do they end up wanting some of the wealth and power they helped to protect? Do or can the fascists turn against the elites? (Okay, that was several questions.) Always grateful for your insights. Be well.