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This reminds me of something odd about Socrates (from memory)-- when he decides to accept execution rather than exile, all of the sudden he's talking about adherence to values-- he owes so much to Athens that he won't live somewhere else-- rather than all that questioning. How does this fit into his story?

I can make some guesses, but they're no more than that. 

1. His health was failing, and he decided to go out with a bang rather than enduring a decline.

2. No place else wanted him, either.

3. He came to realize the damage he was doing, and thought the punishment was appropriate.

 

See also the economic effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake (2011).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami#Economic_impact

The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam by Barbara Tuchman.

So far, I've only read the introduction. It pulls together things I already believe, so I like it.

First thought is James C. Scott's work-- Two Cheers for Anarchism is a good starting point. He writes about tyranny's demands for legibility.

Also, a lot of science requires taking a close look at the world.

See also "the map is not the territory"-- but it takes time to see the territory.

I've been doing qi gong-- it's amazingly easy to think I know what I'm feeling physically, and a lot of work to actually start to notice it.

And I've been thinking that a way for rationalism to go wrong is to think that good enough concepts reliably trump observation. Sometimes concepts work-- perpetual motion machines really are impossible-- but mostly you need to keep looking at the world.

Maybe there's an organization to contribute to, though I grant that isn't much of an observance. Other than that, there's telling the story.

I've found that searching on [name of product or company sucks] can turn up interesting results, or a significant lack of results.

Look at customer reviews, especially those with a geeky level of detail.

Any thoughts about supporting biodiversity (perhaps especially for food crops)?

Rats could be a good bit better than average, and still pretty bad.

Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency by Tom DeMarco

Another book: Slack (unallocated time) is essential for change, learning, and even doing things well.

I'm pretty sure this is the book with the description of what happens when two companies that don't do the work to write good contracts attempt to deal with each other.
 

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