“In the mid-2000s, researchers sifted through 15,000 studies on self-esteem. They found just 200 matching their rigorous standards. Of those 200 studies, few if any backed up the claims of the self-esteem movement.”
https://oxfordsour.substack.com/p/how-to-ruin-your-kids?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=291912&post_id=116507847&isFreemail=false
Although there are fortunately much more productive therapeutic sessions out there for many I know, one oddity I’ve noticed also about so much of the narrative of “self-love” and “working on myself” and such is that a lot of it doesn’t seem to ever be about a concrete, external achievement or trait. I do think it is very important for people to confront their own fears, neuroses, wishes and flaws head on, which is what I gather “working on myself” and also tracing back why exactly we may consistently stumble in some areas. However, how do we then move to the positive, post-processing stage and counter with action? I’m at much as fault as anyone else in this, as it’s far easier to just read endlessly as a form of entertainment and knowledge absorption than to put it into practice and risk failure, but eventually DOING something does seem to often be a missing piece.
“Scythes are a great example of a simple human tool that we replaced with more complex ones to dubious benefit. They can work as fast as a lawnmower, according to David Tressemer in The Scythe Book, and without any fuel or electricity. In a fuel or economic crisis they could easily be adopted again, if people knew what they were and how to wield them.”
https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2023/05/silage-and-the-silence-of-the-corncrake/
The romanticism of agrarian/pastoral life is likely to persist given the ills of modernity and urbanism, but I don’t quite see it coming back in any full swing. It’s simply too dang hard. That said, perhaps some happy medium between semi-urban, suburban existences and plenty of gardens and orchards could happen? Another key point in this piece is that tradeoffs always exist, but also, there may be unintended consequences from abandoning older technology before we realize full ramifications of its loss.
” ‘If China moves one-tenth of its manufacturing value added to India, it doubles the size of the Indian manufacturing sector,’ Cormie told Institutional Investor in an interview.”
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2bzy6y48ik0hbq5td7mrk/portfolio/why-investors-shouldnt-fret-over-chinas-diminishing-manufacturing-dominance?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Essential%20II%20081423&utm_content=Essential%20II%20081423+CID_de297e91544bbdc1d1e30859cb3176df&utm_source=CampaignMonitorEmail&utm_term=Why%20Investors%20Shouldnt%20Fret%20Over%20Chinas%20Diminishing%20Manufacturing%20Dominance
I don’t really expect the CCP to go gently into that good night, but a weaker China is better news for all – for at least a time. We should be wary and recall the lessons learned from the 1990s in Russia, as oligarchs ran amok.
