On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.
This is a shorter-than-normal edition because I’ve had a busy week and haven’t read as much as I normally do.
Things Glen Found Interesting
- There’s more herding in swing state polls than at a sheep farm in the Scottish Highlands (Nate Silver, Substack): “How many [recent polls] showed the race in either direction within 2.5 percentage points, close enough that you could basically call it a tie? Well, 193 of them did, or 78 percent. That’s way more than you should get in theory — even if the candidates are actually exactly tied in all seven states, which they almost certainly aren’t.… Based on a binomial distribution — which assumes that all polls are independent of one another, which theoretically they should be — it’s realllllllllllllly unlikely. Specifically, the odds are 1 in 9.5 trillion against at least this many polls showing such a close margin.”
- Christianity Today’s podcast The Bulletin ran interviews with three Christians voting different ways. Presented in the order in which they aired:
- Voting Third Party (Matt Martens): “He’s a trial lawyer, a former federal prosecutor, a seminary graduate, a legal ethics professor, and an award-winning author. Martens’s writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other outlets, and he has spoken at numerous universities across the country.”
- Voting Democrat (David French): “He’s a columnist for The New York Times and a former senior editor of The Dispatch. He’s the author most recently of Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.”
- Voting Republican (Eric Teetsel): “Teetsel was vice president of government relations at The Heritage Foundation, was chief of staff to US senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, and served as president of the Family Policy Alliance of Kansas.”
- What economists don’t know (Scott Sumner, Substack): “I am not impressed when someone tells me that a small homogeneous country has less inequality than the US. I am impressed by the fact that almost every single ethnic group in America is more successful than the equivalent ethnic group in their home country.… Right now, the US economy is the envy of the world. Before we replace free markets with an industrial policy, we might wish to compare upside and downside risks from interventionism. Given that our living standards are currently the highest in the world (at least for countries of more than 10 million), in which direction are the risks the greatest?”
- The author is an econ professor at Bentley.
- How Many Continents Are There? You May Not Like the Answers. (Matt Kaplan, New York Times): “The dispute arises in part because there are really two types of continents: Those recognized by cultures around the world, and those recognized by geologists. Cultures can define a continent any way they want, while geologists have to use a definition. And geological research in recent years has made defining continental boundaries less simple than it might have once seemed as researchers find evidence of unexpected continental material.”
Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen
- Side Effects (Pearls Before Swine)
- In Order To Vote (Pearls Before Swine)
- Social Media (Pearls Before Swine)
- Consciousness (SMBC) — amusing with a point worth pondering
- Rational Addiction (SMBC)
Why Do You Send This Email?
In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.
Disclaimer
Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.