The Counterpoint: 2024 Year In Review
The Counterpoint is a free newsletter that uses both analytic and holistic thinking to examine the wider world. My goal is that you find it ‘worth reading’ rather than it necessarily ‘being right.’ Expect semi-regular updates and essays on a variety of topics. I appreciate any and all sharing or subscriptions.
It was a good year for The Counterpoint. Total subscribers grew by ~25%, which was more a function of the overall modest number to begin with. Modesty aside, I am genuinely thankful and appreciative for each and every one of you.
Much of that growth occurred in the second half of the year, when I made an effort to post more frequently. They do say one of the best ways to get more readers is to post more, so I am aiming to keep the increased cadence of about two posts per month going through 2025.
The end of the year isn’t just a good opportunity for some self-reflection and review, but also to dredge up the back catalog for newer subscribers. I try to write on about a very broad variety of topics, and as I say in the preamble, my goal is that you find it ‘worth reading’ rather than it necessarily ‘being right.’ So in that vein, all of 2024’s posts are linked below, plus five of my personal favorites from earlier years.
Thank you again to all my subscribers, whether you’ve been here since the beginning, or only just started reading. Here’s to an even better 2025!
2024 Articles:
How American Gray Wolves and Integrated Pest Management Explain a New Way To Treat Prostate Cancer - A fascinating examination of a promising new paradigm in how we approach and treat cancer. And it somehow all relates to Richard Nixon.
Kumazawa Banzan: The Samurai Ecologist - A book review of “Governing the Realm and Bringing Peace to All Below Heaven,” the magnum opus of the polymath samurai Kumazawa Banzan, that is considered to be the first major writing on political economy in early modern Japanese history.
Pandemic Lesson #5: No One Is Stopping Us But Ourselves - The final entry into the “Pandemic Lesson” series, a dose of optimism into the modern environment that is so overrun with misery.
Seven Lesser-Known Things I Learned Living in California - For six years, I lived in Los Angeles. I wrote above seven subtle or not-as-widely-known things I learned about life in the Golden State.
'Not-So-Crazy' Crazy Idea #1: The American Prizes - Why do we let Sweden have the preeminent global awards? We shouldn’t, and here is my plan.
Steelmanning Degrowth: The Catalytic Society - An extended piece of ‘the catalytic society,’ where total energy and material consumption is substantially reduced, while preserving and improving quality of life.
The Election Wasn't a Red Wave - Some post-election analysis mainly about how it wasn’t a “landslide” victory.
Blue Glade Farm: Our Third Year - In my spare time, I own and operate a permaculture farm. This is our annual report for the year.
The Ten Best Books I Read In 2024 - Brief reviews of the best books I read this year, in no particular order.
Older Articles:
Progeria: When Aging Isn't Aging - How a cathedral in Venice changes our understanding of a rare genetic disease.
Pandemic Lesson #4: Was Donald Trump the Best Of All Possible Worlds? - Perhaps one of the spiciest takes ever written, sure to infuriate “both sides.”
No, Long COVID Doesn't Affect 25% of Kids - A deep dive into a meta-analysis in Nature that claimed that the incidence of Long COVID in children was ~25%, and why that was absurd.
Our Fundamental Problem: Adolescence, Mouse Utopia, & Multi-polar Traps - Reflections of some very high level meta problems that are plaguing modernity.
Pandemic Lesson #2: The Complexity Ocean - Have we hit a tipping point in complexity?