We're starting to see Chinese versions of those trucks on the streets here, as well. I gather they're extremely cheap.

January for an electrician? WTF? Can't you just source one on Airtasker, or something?

I live in the land of the ute, which back in the day, used to mean this sort of thing. Lately, the sort of trucks you're talking about have really gotten popular here in Oz, usually among the bogan set who don't actually need one. Truck enthusiasts can get pissed off when you point out that the tray size of something like an F350 is actually no larger than the tray size of a traditional ute.

What if it isn't social media (which James Marriott here conflates with smartphones)?

- We are not on course to make the Paris Agreement. The effects of this are actually going to be very, very bad. (This is something younger people seem to appreciate better than people my age.)

- Wealth has outpaced income for decades

- Rates of deaths of despair are rising in the developed world

- The world is teetering on the edge of a global conflict

- Whatever the fuck is happening in the US (not just the US, but you know what I mean)

I think James Marriott is probably right about the unique benefits of reading and writing in developing a critical mind (but then, I've spent my life doing these things, so I've sunk some costs into them). But it's also true that reading properly - reading well - also does demand a certain level of investment. And that investment requires a level of confidence and expectation that what you do matters. That you can change your environment by changing yourself. Are people being given much space for that confidence? It seems to me that this withdrawal into the quick dopamine fix of the screen and this broader diminishment of our cultural landscape might be a symptom of a kind of despair, rather than symptomatic of social media itself.

This is absolutely staggering to me.

The overwhelming majority of Australians are supportive of Medicare (yes, Australia's public health is called Medicare), but the tax system strongly incentivises people to get private health insurance once they start earning above a certain range. I've put private health insurance off until this year, when the tax bill just became too high.

For much of my life, a regular visit to a medical practitioner was typically free, or very close to free through bulk billing. General practitioners might charge over and above the bulk billing rate (Medicare covers most of the fee and the patient (or their private health insurance provider, if they have one) pays the difference). Over the past decade or so, fees charged by doctors have gradually increased while the Medicare rebate has failed to match it, which has meant the premium over and above the bulk billing rate has increased. In the past year or so, the Australian Government has injected significant cash back into the system to reduce the difference. Still, you might need to search around to find a general practitioner who'll only charge you the bulk billing rate (or just go to one of these, which are always free).

The Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme, which massively reduces the cost of medication, is a cornerstone of our public health system and people would probably murder any politician who tried to come for it. This table is a good explanation of why.

It mostly works and most Australians are generally happy with it.

Aged care is a completely different system to all this, though.

This reminds me of the clear disparity observed in covid-related deaths between public and private aged care providers in Victoria during the worst of the pandemic.

Cheers for the link. It's an interesting area of European philosophy that I never encountered when I was a student.

I don't know much about Thiel's philosophy. Other than that he studied philosophy at Stanford when Girard was there. Has he actually said anything in words to the effect of what you've just attributed to him, or are you extrapolating from his record?

I've seen repeated allusions to Thiel being Christian, or Christian-adjacent. I've also read of him warning about the dangers of a one world government (which seems ironic, given the whole Palantir thing). And just in the past week I've learned he's about to do a lecture series about the antichrist (which, again, irony).