Controlling the narrative

Info wars

To build a narrative that lasts, it is not enough for it to go viral. Virality lasts until the next exciting dopamine hit. You need to institutionalize your narrative internationally, not just let it go viral.

A remarkable CNN Covid story

State of knowledge

As of summer 2026

Covid vaccines roughly halved the chances that a US adult would need to visit the emergency room or be hospitalized with their infections last fall and winter, one study found. But HHS rejected that study from being published in the CDC’s own flagship journal, despite leading the research. It was instead published in JAMA Network Open, a peer-reviewed journal from the American Medical Association.

…

Mild side effects are common – including soreness at the injection site, headache and fatigue – but serious side effects have been generally rare.

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Covid-19 wasn’t immediately recognized as a disease with airborne transmission with the potential to spread beyond the 6-foot social distancing measure, especially in places with poor ventilation or around activities with heavy breathing.

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Overall, at least 1.2 million people in the US died from Covid-19, according to the World Health Organization — representing more than 1 in every 7 Covid deaths worldwide, more than any other country.

Logotherapy

Victor Frankl has a view of human motivation

Whereas Freud believed the core drive is towards pleasure, and unhappiness stems from repression,

And Adler believed the core drive is towards power,

Frankl believed that the core drive is for “meaning”

The only way forward

The ecological crisis appears to be a real thing 

Expecting elite institutions to provide the necessary public benefits is foolish 

Tom Harris has a great slide deck with the state of play as of mid 2026

The talk will walk through the physics of climate change using the very latest satellite data to show how the planet is out of energy balance, is accumulating energy at an accelerating rate and how this energy is taken up as heat in different Earth systems. The up-coming ‘Goliath’ El Niño effects will be looked at with reference to past events and the phenomena of temperature ratcheting uncovered, leading to predictions for the second half of this decade. Tipping points are the next topic focussing on the ocean currents and Amazon rainforest as well as the economic consequences of the continued warming. The talk will then look at the triad of measures we still have available to combat the predicament - decarbonising the economy, removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and deploying solar geoengineering. Finally we’ll try and answer the question of whether this is a new normal.

Prediction markets

A history 

How Polymarket arose and what it means 

Why we can’t have nice things

Even though we can clearly “afford” them.

Capital refuses

A reading list

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/05/coffee-break-the-furies-are-coming-for-us.html

Ashrae standard for airborne virus

https://www.ashrae.org/about/news/2023/ashrae-publishes-standard-241-control-of-infectious-aerosols

Covid zine

On masking in 2026

State of the world 2025

Kyra Scanlan has a lot of great ideas despite the apparent bleakness of the current situation 

Poverty in America

Michael Green discusses better measures of the poverty line 

More discussion 

For our economy to provide a nice life for all we will need structural reform. How bad is it? This bad.

COVID, analogous to smoking

ACE receptors everywhere

Coronavirus does permanent damage 

Lots of links to sources

It’s pretty discouraging…. 

Smoking took decades to reveal its true cost. COVID is speedrunning the whole thing. We’re seeing the consequences in real-time, and we’re still pretending we don’t.

Your body doesn’t forget. Every infection leaves a mark. Every “mild” case adds to the pile. You might feel fine now. You might feel fine for years.

But the bill always comes due.