“In 2021, I discussed tradeoff vs. failure models of psychiatric conditions, and said that most conditions were probably a mix of both. The new research seems to confirm this: the first genetic component of schizophrenia is a tradeoff: bad insofar as it gives you higher schizophrenia risk, good insofar as it gives you higher educational attainment. Most likely this has something to do with creativity or motivation. The second component is a failure: bad in every way, with no compensating advantage. Most likely this is detrimental mutations in genes for neurogenesis and synaptic pruning.” (03/26/26)
“The Strait of Hormuz crisis has sparked a new round of debates on the implications for China of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran. Citing China’s reliance on imports of oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) that pass through the largely closed strait, some experts argue that China has limited capabilities to protect its own strategic and commercial interests in the region. But this analysis is based on a false assumption about Chinese energy policy. It is true that China is the world’s largest importer of oil and natural gas. But Beijing has long recognized the importance of energy security and the dangers of relying on a single source of energy imports.” (03/26/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson
“Through a campaign of lying, aided by the Durham Police Department, the media, and Duke University’s administration and faculty leadership, Durham County District Attorney Michael Nifong was able to ram through false charges of rape, kidnapping, and sexual assault against three Duke University members of the lacrosse team. By June 2006, things looked bleak for the accused, as it became evident that Nifong might well succeed in getting the case to a jury, and then convincing those jurors to convict. Although a year later, the charges would be dismissed and Nifong would be disbarred, such outcomes seemed impossibly far off in the summer of 2006, as the prosecution racked up one victory over another.” (03/26/26)
Source: Niskanen Center
by Kenneth Sercy & Jia-Shen Tsai
“Next-generation geothermal (NGG) technology has advanced significantly in recent years, resulting in cost reductions and a strong cohort of startup companies seeking to develop projects that produce electricity at grid scale. The potential amount of power that could be generated by a mature geothermal industry, and the geographic flexibility of the technology, could significantly alter the generation mix across the United States. As a carbon-free power option drawn from an inexhaustible energy source with a small land use footprint, commercialization and wide adoption would help meet many energy sector objectives, such as domestic supply diversity, emissions reductions, and round-the-clock power generation for reliability needs. These attributes have earned NGG bipartisan support. Nonetheless, continued advancement and scaling are far from inevitable.” (03/26/26)
“The original X post argues that we can incarcerate our way out of crime because large majorities of those responsible for large fractions of serious crime have at least one prior arrest. The necessary implication is that the lever by which to achieve that goal is to incarcerate every arrestee for as long as it takes to reduce their threat level to zero. If the U.S. adopted this strategy tomorrow, we’d take the 5 million people who will be arrested over the next year and put them all in prison for, say, 15-20 years. In year two, arrest totals would drop …. But every year, new criminals begin their careers, some replacement occurs in drug markets, and a large number of low-rate offenders who escaped arrest in year one get caught in year two. The annual arrest numbers would never drop to zero, but the prison population would grow …” (03/26/26)
“For the second time in as many days, Meta has been found liable in court for negligence. On Wednesday, a jury in Los Angeles decided that Meta and YouTube, owned by Google, did not warn users of harms related to constant use of their platforms. That followed a jury verdict on Tuesday in New Mexico, fining Meta $375 million for failing to protect adolescent users from predatory adults on its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. You can look at these rulings a couple of ways. Meta made $60 billion in revenue just last quarter: $375 million is about half a day. Extrapolating that fine to the entire U.S. population, it’s an entire quarter of revenue, which is significant, but that would take a long time and this federal government, which just appointed Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to a council on AI policy, isn’t about to make that happen.” (03/26/26)
“The state’s legislature, echoing Trump, could oust a judge not for misconduct such as accepting a bribe, but for her opinions from the bench.” (03/26/26)
“We may have power-hungry artificial intelligence operations to thank for the fact that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a permit for the ‘first commercial reactor’ that it has approved for construction ‘in nearly a decade. It’s also ‘the first approval for a non-light water reactor in more than 40 years.’ … TerraPower subsidiary US SFR Owner has one more regulatory hurdle. (SFR: sodium-cooled fast reactor.) It must apply separately for an operating license before the projected 345-megawatt electric plant, once built, can begin operating. After that, the way will have been paved for more such plants.” (03/26/26)
“I think one of the key challenges of living in an era of internet alienation and rising authoritarianism is finding the will to be sincere, to embrace a certain unvarnished and earnest form of expression in a world where affect and posturing predominate. This means foregoing an aura of coolness or detachment in favor of emotionalism and vulnerability. It means resisting the impulse to cruelty and snark and instead opting for restraint and compassion. And it means being unembarrassed and authentic.” (03/26/26)
“Far from cementing Israel’s regional and global standing, the war has accelerated its isolation. According to a June 2025 Pew Research Center survey, majorities in most of the 24 countries surveyed held unfavorable views of Israel, while confidence in Netanyahu remained low across nearly all regions. This shift is not limited to the Global South. It reflects a broader erosion of Israel’s legitimacy, even among traditional allies. In response, Israeli political discourse has returned – almost instinctively – to the language of existential war. Even when Netanyahu attempts to revive earlier narratives about shaping a ‘new Middle East,’ the rhetoric repeatedly collapses back into warnings of annihilation. This reveals a deeper truth: within Israeli political thinking, the alternative to dominance is not coexistence, but destruction.” (03/26/26)
