Social Control, Cigarette Packs, Momentary Pleasure

Links and recommendations

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From the archives:

You Can’t Be Socially Liberal and Fiscally Conservative

You Can’t Be Socially Liberal and Fiscally Conservative

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The Only Reading App I Use:

I’ve been using Readwise since April of 2021.

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter/X, you’ll know I regularly share screenshots like this from books or articles I’ve read:

These screenshots come from my Readwise app.

Readwise aggregates your reading highlights from various sources like Kindle, Apple Books, Substack, Twitter, and so on. It stores your highlights in one place, making it easier to stay on top of your reading.

Each morning, it emails me 8 random excerpts from different books I’ve read. Since 2021, that daily message has been a quiet ritual for me: fragments from books I half‑forgot are resurfaced, like my own past self giving me a tap on the shoulder.

Moreover, when I’m thinking about a particular topic, a quick search pulls up not just my notes but every highlighted Kindle passage I’ve ever saved on the topic.

Exclusive Offer for My Readers

Use this link →  https://readwise.io/robkhenderson/ to try Readwise free for 60 days (double the length of the standard free trial).

I suspect, like me, you’ll wonder how you ever read without it.

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Links and recommendations:

• My friend Alex runs one of my favorite newsletters about books. Strongly recommended. Check it out here

• What Happens When Power and Status Misalign? by Michael Hogan

• To Reduce Welfare Dependence, America Needs More ‘Success Sequence’ Babies by Nicholas Zill

• Non-linear Ethnic Niches by Arctotherium

• Female social control & the struggle for sovereignty by Anuradha Pandey

• Why and how political ideas matter by Lionel Page

• Follow me on Instagram here. The platform is less volatile and more chill than Twitter/X, so I post some spicier excerpts from my readings on my IG stories

• You can follow me on TikTok here

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Three interesting findings:

1. Intense momentary pleasure is more addictive for males. Men generally show much greater pursuit of such pleasures than women, including not just sex but also obsessive involvement in music or sports, and drugs. Men outnumber women in nearly all forms of alcohol and drug addiction. (source).

2. Between 2000-2019, New York City subways saw an average of 2.2 murders per year. Since 2020, the city has averaged 8 murders a year—a nearly 4-fold increase—despite lower ridership, which means the risk of such incidents is even higher than the raw numbers suggest. (source).

3. Factors that facilitate the development of wisdom. (source):

•Fluid intelligence

•Mental health

•Creativity

•Openness to experience

•Life experiences

•Having relevant mentors

•Motivation to strive for excellence