“Monthly Roundup #29: April 2025” by Zvi

In Monthly Roundup #28 I made clear I intend to leave the Trump administration out of my monthly roundups, for both better and worse, outside of my focus areas. Again, this does not mean I don’t have a lot to say or that those questions don’t matter. It means you should not rely on me as your only source of news and I pick my battles.

They are not making this easy.

I am going to stick to my guns. Trade and trading very much inside my focus areas, but for economics roundups, and in extreme cases AI roundups. Besides, you don’t need me to tell you that tariffs not only impose immense economic costs but also fail to achieve their primary policy aims and foster political dysfunction along the way. That question should already be answered by my t-shift. I do have a word about things [...]

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Outline:

(01:12) Bad News

(02:49) Antisocial Media

(04:47) Technology Advances

(10:26) Variously Effective Altruism

(10:44) Government Working

(12:03) Jones Act Watch

(17:15) While I Cannot Condone This

(22:22) Architectural Musings

(22:26) A cool note from Christopher Alexander, I'm still a little bummed I never got to properly review A Pattern Language and it's probably too late now.

(23:49) Quickly, There's No Time

(25:14) Don't Sell Your Soul, You Won't Get Paid

(26:38) What To Do Instead

(28:18) Good News, Everyone

(30:01) We're Elite, You're Not

(33:02) Enjoy It While It Lasts

(34:44) For Your Entertainment

(37:16) An Economist Gets Lunch

(38:04) I Was Promised Flying Self-Driving Cars and Supersonic Jets

(42:22) Gamers Gonna Game Game Game Game Game

(45:05) Sports Go Sports

(45:52) The Lighter Side

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First published:
April 14th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Rwqsx4ktn8WBWaf4y/monthly-roundup-29-april-2025

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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