Martin SImpson, my favorite guitarist, playing “She Slips Away.” I’d love to own one of those gorgeous Stefan Sobell guitars, but even if I could afford it I’m not worthy of it.
What about the other writers, editors, and presenters at the Register and EWTN media? How are they supposed to know how to do their jobs now? If a man like Burger, who spent 11 years working for the paper, can get fired for quoting an interview subject accurately, and for reporting words said by the interview subject that are by no means out of character for that subject, then there’s really no way to know where the land mines are. Who can possibly feel confident in doing his or her job as a journalist or host in a situation like that? Who wants to work under those conditions?I don’t know what’s going on at that newspaper, but the firing of Burger under this utterly unbelievable pretense makes it seem that under EWTN’s stewardship, the most important thing is preserving the image of a beloved priest, not honoring the truth, not practicing basic journalism, and not treating fairly an employee who faithfully served the newspaper for 11 years. It is unprofessional. It is un-Christian. It is wrong.
Might be good to have the occasional sliver of cricket on that right-hand column.
I wish I had this radio
Imaging the caves of Nottingham
What was the response you received to Race Against the Machine?People accepted that technology was really accelerating and that there were going to be labor-force consequences. The broader discussion was between optimism and pessimism. Does it feel like we are heading into the kind of economy and society that we want, or the kind of economy and society that we don’t? A lot of people who commented said, “Look, if these guys are anywhere near right, we are heading into an economy that is going to be dire for a lot of people.”
What does the economy that we don’t want look like?
The spread between the haves and the have-nots continues to grow, and more importantly, the absolute standard of living of the people at the middle and the bottom goes down. That is the economy that I don’t want to head into.
What is the optimistic view?
Erik Brynjolfsson came up with a great phrase: “digital Athens.” The Athenian citizens had lives of leisure; they got to participate in democracy and create art. That was largely because they had slaves to do the work. Okay, I don’t want human slaves, but in a very, very automated and digitally productive economy you don’t need to work as much, as hard, with as many people, to get the fruits of the economy. So the optimistic version is that we finally have more hours in our week freed up from toil and drudgery.
Do you see evidence for a digital Athens on the street, in the real economy?
No. What we are seeing—and this was pretty much unanticipated—is that the people at the top of the skill, wage, and income distribution are working more hours. We have this preference for doing more work. The people who have a lot of leisure—I think in too many cases it’s involuntary. It’s unemployment or underemployment. That is not my version of digital Athens.
Temperamental conservatism understands that in order to preserve anything, it must be kept within certain limits in order to be sustainable. It recognizes that resources are finite and can be exhausted by current generations at the expense of posterity. Finally, it knows that a nation’s power and influence are things that have to be husbanded and not frittered away in pointless displays of supremacy. Many Americans still possess a conservative temperament, but if they vote for Romney they are doing so in spite of that temperament and not because of it.