Weekend Reading #164
Photo by Daniel Álvasd on Unsplash
This is the hundred-and-sixty-fourth weekly edition of our newsletter, Weekend Reading, sent out on Saturday 16th April 2022.
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What we're thinking.
In a really action-packed week, the biggest story was quite obviously Elon Musk’s bid for Twitter. As avid users of Twitter ourselves, we can say that it definitely needs new stewardship. Although not always in agreement with Musk’s antics in this case he is the perfect suitor to bring the change that is needed. He can inspire pretty much anyone to join his crusade for free speech (if it is indeed what this is really about). What we find really fascinating is that through history, the wealthy and powerful have sought to control the means (memes!) of communication whether it be print, radio or TV and Elon Musk has worked out that there is no bigger or better platform than Twitter. He already has over 80 million followers, more than the population of most countries and he can use it as a platform to do whatever he likes. Alternatively, as we have surmised, Elon cares about really big picture issues – human survival (Mars), climate change and all those grand things. What bigger cause could there be than preserving freedom of speech? What will be really fascinating will be to see if the US government (one way or another) allows such a potent platform to fall into the hands of someone so deeply influential on modern psyche and culture. Whichever way Elon could influence politics, it most certainly not be good for entrenched politicians wherever they sit.
On the topic of politicians, this week was quite possibly the straw that broke the camel's back. In a press release warning of an “extraordinarily high” CPI number, The White House blamed it on Russian President, Vladimir Putin, calling it “Putin’s price increases”. This just took things from the realm of shocking policy to the realm of sheer ridiculousness. Anyone who has read our (and many others’) musings will realise that inflationary pressures have been building for some time in the US, almost entirely as result of poor policy decision making. Obviously, the war in Ukraine has affected supply chains and commodity prices but to disingenuously suggest its “Putin’s price increase” runs the risk of major political backlash in a country where the population doesn’t trust the government in any case. It's no surprise that this has happened given that inflation has become some time ago the number one issues for voters in America. Time will tell whether this sowing the seeds of scapegoating succeeds or not. Our bet is that people are too smart and informed to fall for this type of stuff anymore. We just hope that scapegoating doesn’t lead to war as Luke Burgis’s recent book on mimetic desire suggests.
Away from markets, life is about celebrating. A lot. We would like to wish our Jewish readers a Chag Sameach for this weekend’s Passover, our Christian readers a Happy Easter and our Muslim readers well in the ongoing month of Ramadan. We will be taking some time to catch our breath and hang out with family and friends. We hope you do too!
What we're doing.
As the summer begins to roll around, it’s once again that time of year when the weather starts to get warmer. With that in mind, I went for my first round of golf for the year at a local club close to my house in SE London. For those interested, Birchwood Golf and Country Club is a delightful golf course with both an 18-hole course, a 9-hole practice course as well as a modern driving range and clubhouse with great facilities. What used to be an abysmal and rundown club has really seen some fantastic improvements over the past few years, and I’m sure I’ll be down there a lot over the summer months. Last week, I enjoyed a quick go on the 9-hole and a bit of range practice, but this week I think it’s about time to once again tackle the 18-hole. HS
What we're reading.
As readers will know, we follow the developments in the field of psychedelic research very closely and this week saw a key milestone when the results from a small study at Imperial University in London were released. The study was a small one and the results were not statistically significant, but they did show that treatment with psilocybin was as effective at least as leading antidepressant drugs for sufferers of depression. The improvements were faster and greater in magnitude. What’s potentially exciting about psychedelic treatments is that other studies in the US have shown a “one and done” approach seems to work. As opposed to a regime of regular medication which may last up to a lifetime (and cost a fortune), treatment with psilocybin can show lasting effects even from just one session. Still a long way to go in this field, particularly with the psychedelic companies up against a formidable lobby of entrenched pharma companies, but with each month, the data seems to suggest that some wonderful things are possible that could alleviate the suffering of millions of people world-wide with depression, anxiety, addiction and PTSD.
I’m not usually a massive fan of Ray Dalio but this piece released containing his thoughts on a changing global order was really good. He lays out the variables in a very logical way and highlights what to keep an eye on when studying the Ukraine War for clues as to where we could be heading. Definitely worth a read.
Still on the topic of Ukraine, this interview between Niall Ferguson and David Petraeus, the celebrity former 4-star general who led the military campaigns in both Iraq and Afghanistan, was great reading. In it they cover Petraeus’s assessment of how Russia is doing and what may still unfold. With Ferguson’s historical angle and Petraeus’s military and strategic one, it was a great discussion. DC
What we're watching.
If you've had 7 days in isolation due to an unfortunately severe bout of COVID, when you can't really think let alone read, you will likely have been, like me over the past week, a slave to Netflix. You will have had to dig deep into the algorithm to see what you can find that entertains but also makes it feel a little less like you're on a ship on the high seas. The perfect mix between engagement and relaxation is required. I'm amazed they haven't introduced a new category on Netflix yet: COVID Days 3 through to 9. Well, I've found two shows that have helped me navigate the lows and lows of the past week.
First, The Staircase is a true crime documentary charting the murder case of American novelist, Michael Peterson, whose wife died at the foot of a dark, steep staircase in their family home in 2001. The show has incredible access, remarkably so given it was made long before true crime documentaries and Netflix were really a thing, so the level of access is remarkable and very evocative of the era. And the story is jaw-dropping. I'm yet to reach the conclusion but the twists and turns that this real-life tale takes are stunning and the fact it is true crime (i.e. real life) makes it even more visceral and close to home. Being entertained by real-life tragedy always makes me feel uncomfortable but in talking to a criminal barrister friend about the show, his point was that this is not entertainment but just real life. This is how it is in courtrooms. This is how murder cases go down. This is not souped-up for our viewing pleasure. So you can feel free to be entertained by it as it's all 100% real, which is both terrifying and fascinating in equal measure.
Another show I worked my way through was pure, high-class fiction. Just like so many great and epic tales, Ozark is the story of a man who will do anything to keep his family safe, and that includes embezzling and cleaning millions of dollars of dirty drug money via a selection of businesses on the Ozark lakes in the American deep south. This is a great show. An old one, yes, and you've likely seen it, but the levels of violence I had heard about in the show always put me off up until I was desperate for content! And it turns out it's not actually too violent – and the story is so well paced and the characters so well developed that even when there is a person with their head shot off or a pair of eyeballs in a jar, it all seems necessary. A great show, especially season 1. As is so often the case, the original premise of a show like this (i.e. financial advisor must launder $8 million to save his family's life) is so clean and neat that you must ask whether the subsequent season will be as compelling and original. Let's see. I've just started season 2. EJP
What we're listening to.
Back before I had COVID (10 days ago but it feels like a lifetime!), I was just getting back into lifting weights in the gym (come to think of it, that's likely where I caught COVID!), and a great podcast episode I enjoyed was from Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist whom I've mentioned in this newsletter before, who had as a guest onto his Huberman Lab pod, Andy Galpin, a coach to elite athletes with a PhD in Human Bioenergetics. He and Huberman host a near 3-hour podcast about training, covering everything from weights to running, power to endurance and everything in between. It is fascinating, whatever your level of expertise in terms of getting fit, and I learned a tonne both about how I should train smarter and more efficiently and safely, but also about how I should recover and think about nutrition and sleep. Galpin is a fascinating character who clearly knows his onions in the weights room and on the track but the way he communicates complex ideas, turning science into real-world action, is inspiring and exciting to listen to, providing anyone who wants to get fit with a mountain of interesting pointers and tips. Post-COVID I am desperate to get back in the gym again, armed with the knowledge that this insanely good podcast episode gave me. EJP
I listened to the Bankless episode entitled “New Paradigm or Ticking Time Bomb?. Terra Bear vs Bull”. It features a debate between Delphi Digital’s Jose Maria Macedo and Selini Capital’s Jordi Alexander. Terra is a layer 1 protocol which has used an algorithmic stablecoin called UST to bootstrap its growth. UST has become so successful that it is now a heavyweight stablecoin. The “ponzinomics” of the bootstrapping process which ties the fortunes of LUNA (Terra’s native token) to that of UST leave plenty of room for disaster, yet to date, UST has weathered every test thrown at it with flying colours and is on course to create a vibrant ecosystem. The question is whether this will have an ultimate happy ending. The bigger it gets, and the more entrenched Terra becomes in the crypto system, the more important this question becomes. With recent purchases of Bitcoin and soon AVAX (Avalanche’s native token), Terra is now venturing beyond the algorithmic realm and into actual backing of its stablecoin’s peg. The market is divided as to what this means. This was a robust discussion and for anyone a bit deeper into crypto, a critical theme to be on top of. DC