Interplace
123 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsInterplace explores the interaction of people and place. It looks at how we move within and between the places we live and what led us here in the first place.
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Episodes
Contours of Control Creep Onto Campus
April 27, 2024 14:00 - 21 minutes - 19.5 MBHello Interactors, The horrific acts of violence in Palestine have prompted acts of violence on university campuses around the world. This post is about one thing they have in common — maps. Maps legally define territory, the rights of those who occupy it, and the rights of those in power to silence them, displace them, or ‘invisible’ them. A pattern we also see with America’s unhoused. Let me try to map this out… CAMPUS CONFRONTATIONS ECHO Citing "clear and present danger," Columbia Uni...
Beyond the Façade: Tracing the Ideological and City Blueprint of Paris
April 12, 2024 16:51 - 22 minutes - 20.5 MBHello Interactors, Behind every map is intent. When it comes to making plans for a city, streets are more than mere passageways; they are the cartography of power, exacting politics and ideology for the unfolding of urbanity. Paris is the blueprint of social order and control portrayed as a symbol of beauty and progress. I wanted to unravel the threads of intent, from communal aspirations to the heavy hand of authoritarianism — a kind of narrative map of a city renowned as much for its r...
Pedals, Pedestrians, and Prejudices: L.A. Firefighters Pick a Street Fight
March 27, 2024 17:15 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MBHello Interactors, We are fully into spring and that means a shift toward cartography. I’ll be exploring how abstract symbols, lines, and colors can both represent and misrepresent people, politics, and the physical environment. Maps are tools of power and persuasion, which can shape perceptions of space and reality, influence behavior, and maintain or challenge social norms and power structures. Today’s post bridges Winter’s focus on human behavior with the maps, plans, and politics of ci...
The Sole of the Matter
March 07, 2024 18:34 - 17 minutes - 15.6 MBHello Interactors, Continuing on the theme of the brain being embedded in the world in which ‘we’ interact, I explore how the brain is also embodied in a biological system with which ‘it’ interacts. The brain conjures this sense of itself inside this thing called ‘me’. How do these illusions come to be inside a tangible body? Let’s find out… Thank you for reading Interplace. This post is public so please do something for my brain… Share it’s thoughts with people you trust. CONSTRUCTING ...
AI and Neuro-Narratives: Moving Beyond Mechanistic Minds
February 21, 2024 01:27 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBHello Interactors, All the talk and evidence of AI, chips in the brain, and robotic overlords has created emotions ranging from hysteria to malaise to clinical depression. How much of this is caused or influenced by narratives spun by favored voices telling tall tales of proximal parables and are there other ways to think about our brain than just a processor? Let’s find out… THE MENTAL MYTHS OF SILICON AND SYNAPSES Our brain is an energy intense organ. It consumes 20% of our energy but...
Frankenstein Reimagined: Bioelectricity and the Quest for Life Beyond Mechanism
February 04, 2024 21:24 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBHello Interactors, A Frankenstein announcement from Musk this week punctuated my recent fascination with the author of that popular novel, Mary Shelley. Her isolated lived experience in a time of intense technological discovery, social and geo-political unrest, AND a climate crisis rings true today more than ever. But she also was subtlety representing a scientific movement that is largely ignored today, but just may be experiencing a bit of a resurgence in areas like biology and neuroscie...
Neurons, Jellyfish, and Ants: Tales of Evolutionary Intelligence
January 28, 2024 23:49 - 9 minutes - 6.31 MBHello Interactors, It’s been a while since we’ve been together. I took some time over the holiday break. We often think of parents spoiling kids upon their return from college, but I’m the one who feels spoiled. We’re squarely in the winter season up north and that means I’ll be exploring human behavior. With all the talk of AI, I thought I’d start with its root inspiration — the neuron. How did these come to be? Let’s find out. As I stand here today, the earth’s declination angle is slo...
2023 Year End Summary
December 30, 2023 15:00 - 9 minutes - 10.3 MBHello Interactors, It’s been a great year hear at Interplace with subscriptions hitting (and hovering) around 1000 subscribers! Thank you! And thanks to Substack’s recommendation engine, the vast majority of those came from Steven Sinofsky’s Hardcore Software newsletter. Thank you! Sadly, the utility of this recommendation engine also means those Nazi newsletters Substack chooses to sponsor will also spread. It’s their choice of free speech as a publisher and seller. Just like this 193...
'T'was the Night Before Christmas': A Poor Home Invader Who Leaves Gifts for Wealthy Kids
December 24, 2023 15:00 - 8 minutes - 9.58 MBHello Interactors, On the day before many around the world pull out ‘T’was the Night Before Christmas’ to read to their kids, maybe drop a little context to the origins of this tale. This is an excerpt from a longer post I did in 2021 on Black Friday. It touches on how the rising wealth in New York leading up to 1900 brought about shifts in attitudes around how the powerful elite should deal with ‘the masses’ of poor, and increasingly urban, immigrants. Included are themes emerging today ...
The Neocolonial Invasion of Techno-Libertarians
December 18, 2023 02:09 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBHello Interactors, This is the last post on economics for 2023. Next up for winter is human behavior. This post bridges where we left off with traditional colonial nation-states by talking about how similar philosophies are motivating the formation of neocolonial micro-states. What causes people to seek freedom in new places by limiting the freedom of those found in such places? Let’s dig in… THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS In 2009 the venture capitalist, techno-optimist, and libertarian politi...
The Shaky State of States (Part 2 of 2)
December 11, 2023 05:00 - 14 minutes - 13.4 MBHello Interactors, Part 2 talks about the failures of borders, some recent alarming and revealing data about America’s ‘shared identity’, and some potential paths toward embracing the shaky state of states. Let’s get into it… NEWLY PROMISED LANDS Part 1 left us at the Paris Peace Conference and Western-style cartographic geo-political mandates. Amidst these mandates was an admission by one leader that these arrangements would need subsequent alterations. Take this quote, for example: “T...
The Shaky State of States (Part 1 of 2)
December 03, 2023 22:32 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBHello Interactors, There’s a lot of talk of states these days. Palestine and Israel, one state or two? Ukraine and Russia. One state or two? The United States. E pluribus unum. Out of many, one…right? What about that one D.C. federal district, or those five territories, and a bunch of ‘minor’ islands? And don’t forget the many tribal nations within the nation-state of the United States which can often spread across many state borders! I started writing about all this and it got long, so ...
Is America's Manufacturing Boom Doomed?
November 17, 2023 15:00 - 14 minutes - 13.6 MBHello Interactors, A series of U.S. federal legislation under the Biden administration has spawned a manufacturing boom at a scale not seen in decades. Unfortunately, the country is repeating the same socio-economic, land use, and transportation policy mistakes that have lead to many of the ills we’re seeking to remedy. Are we missing an opportunity to build back better? A MANUFACTURING RENAISSANCE Clearcut a forest and build a factory. Now build an even bigger parking lot around the fact...
Hallowed Be Thy Harvest: The Genuine Gist of Halloween's Past
October 29, 2023 15:00 - 17 minutes - 16 MBHello Interactors, Trick-or-treat! It’s that time of year for Americans, and a growing population worldwide, to dawn a favorite costume and consume copious amounts of candy. It’s also a time for kids to parade for treats and for adults to decorate with ghoulish goblins, ghosts, and other frightful festoons. And excuse to cosplay without criticism. Americans will spend an ungodly amount of money on this conspicuous occasion. Like most holidays in America, it’s a chance to fire up the capita...
Migration's Blend and the Capitalist Brew
October 13, 2023 14:30 - 15 minutes - 14 MBHello Interactors, This post brings new meaning to the phrase ‘reading the tea leaves’. Watching my tea diffuse recently, I got to thinking about how humans diffuse around the globe like tea particulates in a teacup. Some migrate intentionally, others are forced, and some are lured across borders — as if by osmosis, like tea through a strainer. It’s tea time somewhere in the world, so grab a cup and let’s go… DRINKING DYNAMICS AND HUMAN DIFFUSION I’m a tea drinker. I relish the ritua...
"People are a lot dumber and nicer than economists think"
October 06, 2023 15:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBHello Interactors, Cued by shifting hues comes a call for the leaves to fall. Which means Interplace, like the weather, turns to the tumultuous territory of economics. Economics, like fall weather, is not all that predictable — both systems morph in response to layers of interconnected webs of complex systems that adapt, respond, and influence social, environmental, and political interactions. I recently heard Sean Carroll, an influential theoretical physicist known for his work in quantum...
Awed by a Flawed Cape Cod
September 19, 2023 18:19 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MBHello Interactors, After dropping our kids at college, my wife and I spent some time on Cape Cod. She had gone here as a kid for summer family vacations to enjoy the sand and salty air, and she wasn’t alone. Now people come from all over the world to visit this soggy, sandy, stretch of land surrounded by sea. But it’s capacity is being tested, cresting waves are gobbling the coast, as warming water turns sea life into ghosts. It’s survived this long, but how long can it carry on? ON SCAR...
Clarkson’s Farm: The Grand Tour of the Rural-Urban Divide
August 23, 2023 00:36 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MBHello Interactors, Our family got sucked into watching the Amazon Prime show, Clarkson’s Farm. As a suburban Iowa boy who knew just enough farmers to know how hard it is, I found this show relatable. Apart from the entertaining allure of many staged reality shows, I realized it also highlights topics I investigate here on Interplace. Especially the interaction of the ‘rural’ and ‘urban’…or lack thereof. Let me know in the comments if you’ve watched this show and what you think! I’ll be ta...
Spawn, Spore, Store, and Restore or Bloom, Consume to Our Glume and Doom
August 11, 2023 23:39 - 16 minutes - 14.7 MBHello Interactors, Summer is waning and nature’s energy is draining. Meanwhile, record heat and fires in the northern hemisphere remind us the sun has yet to relent. But plants know what to do to prepare. They slow down and repair. They store and restore through the winter snore for when the sun comes back for more. Why can’t we humans, and our societies, learn this rhythm of life? Maybe we’re just not as smart as plants. Yet. Hey, Interplace hit 1,000 subscribers! 🙌🏼 Thanks, Interactors...
Boogie, Wipe Out, and Freak Out
July 29, 2023 21:52 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MBHello Interactors, Our family took a trip to San Diego to visit friends. We got to spend some time in the warm Southern California water at a time when the news was filled with stories about sensational oceanic anomalies. Was the warm water we felt an anomaly? How certain could I be and how certain can anyone be about climatic statistical anomalies? Let’s unpack it. BOOGIE WOOGIE FREAK OUT I felt the current sucking my legs out to sea as a wave formed behind me. I struggled to hurl myse...
Crayons, Touchdowns, and a Gallery of Monsters
July 14, 2023 18:47 - 9 minutes - 11.3 MBHello Interactors, My last post on fractals led me to refamiliarized myself with the man who coined the term, Benoit Mandelbrot, and his influential work on the fractal-like wonders of nature. I didn’t realize he was following in the footsteps of 19th century mathematicians critical of the absolutist purity of Euclidean geometry – themes I recently explored here and here. My journey led me to a memory of a plane landing on a plane and the complexities that surface on the surface. Please ...
Van Gogh's Starry Night Unveils Earth's Fractal Delight
July 02, 2023 20:29 - 8 minutes - 9.51 MBHello Interactors, We’re officially in the summer season here in the northern hemisphere, and that means we transition to physical geography. Much attention has been given to the staggering heat in the U.S. lately, so I thought I’d start there. Please give me like, if you like. And share if you dare! Now let’s go… On June 19, 1889, Vincent van Gogh wrote in a letter to his brother, "Finally, I have a landscape with olive trees and also a new study of a starry sky." It is largely beli...
The Interwoven Splatial Dimensions of Space and Place
June 25, 2023 00:31 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBHello Interactors, We’re now into summer, but I wanted to sneak in one last cartography post. It’s a leap from last week’s post into the field of human dynamics. If you don’t want to read the whole thing (shame on you 😉), I asked ChatGPT to make a poem out it. In the realm of spatial analysis, behold the shift, From mere location's grasp to a deeper rift. No longer bound by cartographic tradition's way, We delve into place's essence, where dynamics hold sway. In the web of relational sp...
R.E.M. Takes a Stand on Space
June 18, 2023 00:30 - 12 minutes - 11.2 MBHello Interactors, Who would've thought that R.E.M.'s hit tune "Stand" held the secrets to Western spatial thinking? This week I break it down for you. From Aristotle's "Stand in the place where you live" to Newton's "Carry a compass to help you along," it's like they were dropping knowledge bombs all along! So next time you get this '80s hit stuck in your head, remember, you're getting a crash course in geographic philosophy. Rock on! As interactors, you’re special individuals self-select...
A Geography Revolution: Complexity and Connection in Successor Evolution
June 10, 2023 23:39 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MBHello Interactors, I’ll admit it, the early summer weather here in Seattle has been a distraction. So, I turned to a writing companion this week to help. I took my notes from a talk I saw at the AAG conference in March, and you know what comes next…I pasted it in ChatGPT. I then took some papers referenced in the talk, grabbed their abstracts, and pasted those in ChatGPT. After a few iterations of ‘expand on this’, ‘merge these…’ and ‘shrink this to three sentences’ I had all the working ...
United We Stand or Divide and Conquer?
May 26, 2023 23:27 - 22 minutes - 20.2 MBHello Interactors, As I was preparing for my talk at Harvard last month, I was finishing a book called The Patterning Instinct by Jeremy Lent. He explores how culture shapes values, and those values shape history. Hat tip to Kasey Klimes over at rhizome r&d for the recommendation. Lent uncovers the history and evolution of dominant Western culture through the lens of evolutionary biology and neuroscience and the role patterns play in cognitive and cultural development. He then compares it...
On PCs We Work, From Within Cars We Lurk
May 06, 2023 00:39 - 24 minutes - 22.8 MBHello Interactors, I recently returned from an extended trip back east for a talk at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (GSD). I also threw in quick visits to Boston and New York to visit my kids, and then stopped over in Kansas City to visit family on the way back to Seattle. I was invited to keynote a two-day symposium hosted by the Laboratory for Design Technologies on the role of technology in micro-mobility in urban environments. My friend and colleague, Allen Sayegh, has ...
Bringing Light to Geography
April 05, 2023 15:00 - 10 minutes - 9.76 MBHello Interactors, I’ve been absent the last few weeks. First our kids were back for spring break and then I was off to the American Association of Geographers (AAG) national conference in Denver, Colorado. Both were fun, exhilarating, and inspiring and I’m bursting with things to write about! We’re officially in spring here in the northern hemisphere. I now turn to cartography and the role mapmaking plays in shaping how we interact with people and place. There will be themes of cartograph...
The Universal Uniformity of Urban Mobility
March 11, 2023 00:53 - 14 minutes - 13.6 MBHello Interactors, I’ve been delayed getting this one out after being hit with a stomach bug. But I’m back in business and back to looking at urban behavior. This time, I dig into a power law that proves a Geographer right (again) while making the dizzying array of diversity in human urban mobility look shockingly similar. As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your partici...
The Psychology of Neighborhood Defenders
February 19, 2023 23:20 - 19 minutes - 18.1 MBHello Interactors, I’ve recently been sucked into a conflict over the fate of a cherished section of our small downtown area. Emotions ran hot, but I think they ought not. Everyone has reasons for why they react they way they do, but I wondered what they are. I don’t like seeing distress, so into the rabbit hole I went. As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your partici...
Will Work for Food. A Quirk or Accrued?
February 05, 2023 01:29 - 18 minutes - 17.4 MBHello Interactors, I asked you last week how you get your groceries. It led to some good discussions! Thanks to all who contributed to the poll and left comments. This question was prompted by recent local events in my town around why more people don’t walk to shop when they can. But it raised bigger questions in my mind about how other animals seek food and how we’re different. It turns out our brains have evolved to work nearly 99% like rats and raccoons. And those living in a city may ha...
Hierarchy of Needs or Just More Greed?
January 22, 2023 19:25 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBHello Interactors, Winter break is drawing to a close for my two kids who just wrapped up their first semester at college on the east coast. We’ve had a lot of conversations about what it’s like living in a new city. My daughter is particularly impacted having moved to New York City from a relatively small town near Seattle. But she’s not alone. More and more people are moving to urban areas, but does it necessarily make them happier? As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selecte...
This is Your Brain on English
January 07, 2023 22:56 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBHello Interactors, Happy 2023! Today we launch into a season on topics related to human behavior. So much of how we interact with people and place comes down to language. It shapes how we communicate with one another, but how much does language shape our behavior? And if one language dominates, how much does that domination shape our global society? As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive commun...
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, The Complexity of Uncertainty
December 18, 2022 02:14 - 20 minutes - 18.4 MBHello Interactors, As winter solstice nears in the northern hemisphere, this week brings a close to my explorations of economics. Next up is human behavior. I decided to stitch together this season’s economics posts into a single composite narrative. Upon reflection, I see a path my posts tend to take though it’s never premeditated. At least to my knowledge! In keeping with the theme of this post, it seems the uncertain path my essays take is a form of emergence. As interactors, you’re spe...
The Frenetic, Kinetic Cybernetics of Economics
December 11, 2022 00:53 - 21 minutes - 14.5 MBHello Interactors, The social sciences sometimes unfairly get a bad wrap for being a ‘soft science’. But are they? In pursuit of a better understanding the role uncertainty plays in economic analysis, I stumbled across some research that ties John Maynard Keynes’s embrace of uncertainty with a resolute defense of the ‘soft sciences’ by one of the heroes of the ‘hard sciences.’ And you thought physics was hard. As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evol...
An Uncertain Alternative to a Certain Thatcher
December 03, 2022 17:44 - 22 minutes - 15.1 MBHello Interactors, Last week we explored the role naturalists brought to a more open, flexible, and pragmatic approach to the Enlightenment. Today we expand on how our dominant economic ideology remains beholden to dogmatic, sterile, and abstract mathematical models the naturalists were trying to shake. One of the more popular figures in popularizing and perpetuating this pernicious economic perspective was Britain’s Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. As interactors, you’re special indi...
Maybe it was Isaac Newton Who Needed Enlightened
November 26, 2022 01:40 - 16 minutes - 22.1 MBHello Interactors, Today is part one of a two-part exploration. I was curious as to why conventional economics continues to rely so heavily on deterministic mathematical models that assume perfect conditions even though they know such inert situations don’t exist in nature. It may tie back to the Enlightenment and the popular beliefs of Newton and Descartes who merged Christian beliefs with mathematic certainty – despite viable alternative theories they helped squelch. As interactors, yo...
Is the 'Invisible Hand' Pushing a Smith Myth?
November 19, 2022 16:05 - 21 minutes - 29.8 MBHello Interactors, Last week’s post on Karl Marx introduced issues he had with the Scottish philosopher and so-called father of economics, Adam Smith. I found myself digging into Smith’s life and work before his contributions to economics. Which, as history shows, was barely recognized until 1942. His name is now more popular than ever. As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welco...
That Bullet in Germany Nearly Altered the Economy
November 12, 2022 18:50 - 21 minutes - 29.4 MBHello Interactors, I stumbled across a book that picks ten influential economists and teases out elements from each that contribute to ideas circling the circular economy. It turns out bits and pieces of what many consider a ‘new’ idea have existed among notable economists, left and right, for centuries. The first is a name known to most worldwide, even if they only get their history from Fox News. But had a gun been aimed more accurately, his name nor his global influence would have been ...
Gandhi and the Circular Economy
November 01, 2022 19:15 - 24 minutes - 33.7 MBHello Interactors, I took a break traveling to the Midwest and East Coast of the United States visiting family and friends the last few weeks, but am back now. Today I continue my inquiry into the ‘circular economy’ by exploring its history. While it is often portrayed as a recent phenomenon, the origins date back to 1945. And since then, it’s traversed a vast landscape of economic and political ideas and philosophies that are as seemingly polarizing as today’s politics and economies! As i...
ESG and the Circular Economy
October 08, 2022 15:00 - 20 minutes - 28.2 MBHello Interactors, This is the first of a series of posts where I wrangle, disentangle, and find an angle on an alternative sustainable economy. My starting point is circular economy. It’s a seemingly straight forward concept — reduce, reuse, recycle, and repair. If only it was that easy. As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your participation. Please leave your commen...
A Flight From Hell
October 01, 2022 00:48 - 23 minutes - 31.8 MBHello Interactors, Fall is upon us and so Interplace transitions to economics. I’ll be writing about how location, distribution, and the spatial organization of economic activities interacts with and affects humanity. The current dominant economic model insists on persistent and endless growth despite acknowledgement of its role in climate change, income inequality, and disappearing limited stocks of natural resources. There’s got to be a better way, and I’m on the hunt to find alternatives...
King Kong Lives Among Us
September 23, 2022 20:55 - 21 minutes - 29.4 MBHello Interactors, Last week my daughter showed us a glimpse of the Empire State Building from her friend’s dorm room. Every time I see that building, I think of the original black and white movie, King Kong. The image of that poor animal atop what was then world’s tallest structure getting pummeled by machine gun fire sticks with me for some reason. Maybe it’s because it was unfair. That creature was captured from his homeland and brought to America only to be gunned down? What kind of soc...
A Playful Past Allows Us To Last: Part II of II
September 18, 2022 19:58 - 16 minutes - 22.2 MBHello Interactors, I was interviewed! Big thanks to my friend and former Wavefront colleague, Mark Sylvester, who is now the Curator, Host, and Executive Producer at TEDx Santa Barbara. Check it out! https://tedxsantabarbara.com/.../brad-weed-we-need.../ The unedited version that was streamed live is here on FB: https://fb.watch/fz9nyudo5r/ Last week I left off Part I introducing a new science proposed by two scientists affiliated with my favorite multidisciplinary institution, and le...
Tributaries of Intellect in a River of Circumspect: Part I of II
September 11, 2022 21:21 - 16 minutes - 23.2 MBHello Interactors, I’m back from planting our kids at college. Now we watch our not-so-little Weed’s grow from a distance. I had a recent visit from a plant scientist friend last week that inspired me to dig into the blending of traditional Western science and Indigenous knowledge. Each have a lot to offer human adaptation strategies to the effects of climate change, but to do so will require new approaches and increased sensitivities to generations of abuse, neglect, and disrespect. This i...
Humboldt and the Young Explorers
August 24, 2022 14:28 - 11 minutes - 16.4 MBHello Interactors, The next couple episodes will be a little off beat as I’m coming to you from the east coast of the United States. It’s time to deliver our little birdies from the nest so they may build their own. Dorm room nesting is a common sight this time of year among many young human adults seeking knowledge and independence. It can be observed in the towering cities of New York City and the smallest lowland wooded enclaves of Waltham, Massachusetts. For this momentous trip I’m lis...
A Few Green Deals and More Automobiles
August 13, 2022 20:54 - 27 minutes - 37.8 MBHello Interactors, Quite a week in political news. The United States, the second biggest CO2 emitter behind China and 12th per capita, is finally making progress on climate change legislation. It’s not perfect, but it’s cause for celebration if you care about healthy air and water, the survival of life on this planet…or getting a rebate on a brand new car! Don’t get me wrong, these laws are important and necessary achievements AND they will likely fill American roads with even more cars. Yi...
God's Wrath Meets The Cherokee Path
August 06, 2022 18:04 - 25 minutes - 34.5 MBHello Interactors, Unexpected extreme meteorological events on Biblical scales are happening all around the globe. Their intensity and frequency is only going to increase. Who will survive and who will die may come down to who chooses the right path. As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your participation. Please leave your comments below or email me directly. Now let’...
Bolivian Lithium and Planetary Equilibrium
July 30, 2022 18:32 - 26 minutes - 35.7 MBHello Interactors, EVs made headlines this week as members of the U.S. Congress continue to chase their tail in search of remnants of the Green New Deal. I talked about cobalt last week as a key ingredient for lithium-ion batteries, but a new bill offered by congress this week has implications for another, more obvious, mineral — lithium. The biggest source is in an environmentally sensitive area of Bolivia, and U.S.-Bolivian relations are equally sensitive. As interactors, you’re special ...
The EV Fairytale Turns to Dust
July 23, 2022 00:59 - 25 minutes - 34.5 MBHello Interactors, It’s easy to be seduced by the rise of the electric vehicle. I admit I’m a fan. But amidst the glimmer and sheen ugly truths go unseen. Most people pat themselves on the back for switching to an EV, and they should. But don’t pat too hard, there are some evil goblins lurking in those battery cells. As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your participation...