I’ve got quite a few events coming up in the next couple of weeks.
* On 13 and 14 May, I’m running a workshop at the University of Queensland on Epistemic & Personal Transformation:
Dealing with the Unknowable and Unimaginable. Details here.
* On Thursday 16 May, I’ll be at ANU for the official Australian launch of Economics in Two Lessons. Details are here. If campaigning permits, Andrew Leigh will say a few words about the book. There will be a launch at Avid Reader in Brisbane in late June (date tbd), and in Sydney and Melbourne a bit later
* On Wednesday 22 May, I’ll be delivering the Keith Hancock lecture for the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, at the University of Queensland. Topic is The Future of Work. Details here.
* I’m doing a number of radio interviews related to Economics in Two Lessons. I talked to Radio SER in Sydney yesterday. On Saturday 18 May, at 7:45 am, I’ll talk to Geraldine Doogue on Saturday extra, then on Wednesday 15 May to Steve Austin on ABC Radio Brisbane Drive.
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John Quiggin 
“Dealing with the Unknowable and Unimaginable” – Sounds like people are trying to mentally get ready for catastrophic climate change.
Good luck for your Aussie lauch. can’t wait to get my copy. Congratulations.
It seems Quiggin has some substantial followers.
https://insidestory.org.au/markets-are-great-except-when-theyre-not/
I trust the advertised ptogramme of the workshop on “Epistemic Transformation” bears no relation to the extreme tests out of Borges, Calvino or Poe to which the participants will be actually subjected. Starting with a triathlon in identical Donald Trump costumes, perhaps.
No Monday Message post, so I’ll note OT that Angela Merkel has at last committed to Germany going net zero by 2050. (*****climatechangenews.com/2019/05/14/merkel-pledges-make-germany-carbon-neutral-2050/) .This is major news, German fence-sitting has emboldened the delayist/denialist camp within the EU (led by Poland and Italy) against the eight progressives, led by France and Spain, who have been pushing for 2050 neutrality. Now the activists clearly have the upper hand.
Excellent news, James. There’s no reason for Australia to not do the same given our excellent solar and wind resources, aging fossil fuel fleet, and greater per capita currently existing hydroelectric capacity.
I think we should be aiming for net zero by 2030. That will take some active removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, but — barring some kind of disaster — it’s doable.
I see Merkel hasn’t technically committed, she has left wiggle room in her statement, but “serious consideration” from her is worth more than a pinky promise from some other leaders.
Also, she explained what a thing she was talking about was. I had forgotten people in government could do that.
She said that her climate policy committee shold discuss how, not if. I reckon that justifies the language of the report. She has left herself some wiggle room, but very little. And unlike some other politicians I could mention, she is a careful leader who weighs her words.
“History is not produced by the dramatic actions and postures of leaders, but by complex combinations of large numbers of small actions by unimportant people.”
The above I agree with (albeit with the caveat that natural biosphere processes will hold the ace-high straight flash in the last hand of the night, where everything is in the pot.)
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/heroes-history-lessons-leadership-tolstoys-war-peace
The next part of the quote I do not agree with.
“War and Peace suggests that leadership may be better served by passivity and opportunism rather than by the pursuit of bold goals.”
The novel “War and Peace” does NOT evince this latter view. That is a misinterpretation of Tolstoy’s views insofar as they are developed in W&P. Certainly, the relative passivity of General Kutuzov is contrasted with the active opportunism of Napoleon. However, both are shown as having little to no influence on larger events. But if I hammer on about this latter point it will take me off the topic that is already off topic. 😉
Suffice it to say, that what we do en masse from now on will determine the outcomes re climate change provided we have not already unleashed runaway processes which could run for millennia at least. A big part of the evolving situation is what the Chinese people will do. They are now an enormous part of the equation. They seem to be placing near term wealth and ease above long-term sustainability, just as we did. Nature is yet to give all of us the full demonstration lesson of the foolishness of this course.
Hi John, was the Saturday Extra interview rescheduled?