Said Marc Andreessen — with questions from Bari Weiss in brackets — in this "Honestly" podcast episode. This is a great podcast. (Andreessen, to quote Weiss, "got his start as the co-creator of Mosaic, the first widely used web browser... He then co-founded Netscape... [and] now runs a venture capital firm... [that] invested in Airbnb, Coinbase, Instagram, Instacart, Pinterest, Slack, Reddit, Lyft and Oculus to name just a few.")
Oh... that there is like tremendous reason for optimism. That like the, the, the America's best days are ahead of it. That the world is going to get much better. That there are, that kids coming outta school now are much sharper and more capable than my generation. There is no reason that this can't be a golden age.
Weiss asks "How will we know if America has won?" Andreessen says:
Oh, I mean, there will be economic indicators. There will be, you know, foreign competition indicators, you know, reduction of war, you know, economic growth will be two big ones. And then a lot of this is, I think, national spirit and psychology, animal spirits, enthusiasm, positivity, excitement.
Animal spirits! I had to look it up. There's a Wikipedia article "Animal spirits," and it turns out to be one of the most interesting Wikipedia articles I've ever stumbled across (and all because I thought it sounded quirky and woo-woo!):
Animal spirits is a term used by John Maynard Keynes in his 1936 book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money to describe the instincts, proclivities and emotions that seemingly influence human behavior, which can be measured in terms of consumer confidence.
Here's what Keynes wrote (I've added boldface):
Even apart from the instability due to speculation, there is the instability due to the characteristic of human nature that a large proportion of our positive activities depend on spontaneous optimism rather than on a mathematical expectation, whether moral or hedonistic or economic. Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as a result of animal spirits – of a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities.
And we're given this, from a 2009 William Safire "On Language" column:
The phrase that Keynes made famous in economics has a long history. "Physitions teache that there ben thre kindes of spirites", wrote Bartholomew Traheron in his 1543 translation of a text on surgery, "animal, vital, and natural. The animal spirite hath his seate in the brayne ... called animal, bycause it is the first instrument of the soule, which the Latins call animam." William Wood in 1719 was the first to apply it in economics: "The Increase of our Foreign Trade...whence has arisen all those Animal Spirits, those Springs of Riches which has enabled us to spend so many millions for the preservation of our Liberties." Hear, hear. Novelists seized its upbeat sense with enthusiasm. Daniel Defoe, in "Robinson Crusoe": "That the surprise may not drive the Animal Spirits from the Heart." Jane Austen used it to mean "ebullience" in "Pride and Prejudice": "She had high animal spirits."...
So much meat. So much optimism. All those animal spirits.
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This is why religious observance is so important. Humans are not, nor should they be, entirely rational, We are so much more than that. I’ve played organ and/or piano for five denominations, Catholic, Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran and Baptist. Each has something unique and valuable to offer. Catholicism, in particular, addresses the rational/animal duality of humans with its emphasis on ritual.
Here's how Democrats can win:
$2/gal gas
$8 ribeye steaks
20c eggs
$1/loaf bread
3% mortgage rates
Pay commensurate with affordability
Get the fuck out of our lives
The Democrats don't want ANY of this. So it's important that we as a society push them down, keep them down and beat them down for the rest of their fucking lives.
Also raping kids. Catholicism addresses raping kids.
I've always thought of animal spirits as the "boom" in the boom/bust cycle. Optimism and creativity lead to irrational exuberance. Whatever bubble has been formed is popped, and the economy retrenches, ideally at a higher point than the previous bust in the cycle. Roaring Twenties/Great Depression. Dotcom boom/bust. Real Estate Bubble/Great Reset.
I highly recommend Andreesen’s Substack. He’s amazingly well read in the great literature. He’s anything but a one dimensional nerd.
Lydia's "high animal spirits" seem more like chutzpah or self-important ignorance than ebullience.
That one doesn’t work on me. That was a politically motivated attack on the Church.
Economics is not all dismal equations and impossible-to-lab theories it’s human behavior. Social science. Choices and tradeoffs humans make given scarce resources. It’s fun…
Joe Rogan's three hours with Marc Andreessen is one of the best JRE podcasts.
Professor, have you never seen the “Boom and Bust” rap video of Hayek vs. Keynes. Very funny.
https://youtu.be/d0nERTFo-Sk?si=sIVlzYLPHKavdE5m
Charming, Dixcus. Have we reached the point where Althouse bans your latest iteration?
"I don't need you knocking on my door."
Ben Wikler doesn't care what you like. He and his jackboots are coming. He's no longer that kid that stop by the house. Time to get your mind right Althouse.
@Dixcus -- Of course, pederasty exists in all institutions that have children, including all religious denominations, youth organizations, and at higher rates in public schools, but bigots are going to bigot.
In which we learn Trump is not Hitler and is a fan of Diet Coke.
I think in some transcendent way reason is perfectly aligned with all virtues. In other words, when reason leads to selfishness or sin it is false reason.
Dixcus. Every one of the denominations I listed has been as financially devastated by the tsunami of sexual abuse lawsuits as the Catholic Church. The churches were incredibly tempting targets for the lawfare of the sexual abuse hysteria.
I surely hope Ben Wikler gains the DNC chairmanship. His plans for the DNC are a perfect welcome mat for an era of Republican dominance not seen since in more than a century. He thinks the drubbing they took in November arose from a marketing problem. Perfect.
For Ann’s further education:
https://youtu.be/d0nERTFo-Sk?si=pyrbHWliiyiwCguL
I can't remember who said it - it might even have been Russell Brand - but I was struck by this person's observation that the Roman, Greek, and Eastern rites are actually a very slow dance.
Recently we attended friends' church - Methodist, not a sect I know much about. Its lack of structure and ritual left me cold, though I very much appreciated the preaching. That is, I did eventually discern that there was a structure, but it wasn't marked by congregational participation, the celebrant's actions, or communal spoken or sung prayer or anything, so it was more like, "First we give praise, then we give thanks, then we ask forgiveness, then we learn, then we celebrate communion."
Ugh, and the music. I wish I could, but I just can't.
It is a source of distress for me at present that I left my (rather "high church" Episcopal) choir at Easter last year, have kind of left that church (the whole choir left, over the Vestry's treatment of our director of music ministries - a money thing, of course, but there are kind ways to give bad news and the Vestry used none of them), and cannot for the life of me find a church that does good music liturgy in a reasonable distance. Sigh. I may end up rejoining the nascent choir under the new, inexperienced (therefore cheap) but at least traditional organist-choirmaster at my old church, just because of the repertoire. And lack of giant screens and microphones and amps.
Again, I wish I could feel worshipful in a contemporary-music service, but I lived through the post-Vatican II singer-songwriter phase in Catholicism and managed to escape to traditional Episcopal/Anglican, where Herbert lyrics and Vaughan Williams music reign, where composers knew how to do polyphony and choirs understand how to do chant, and I just can't go back.
More door-to-door selling? Better candidates?
How about changing what you're trying to sell us? Here's a clue. We don't want unlimited, unvetted immigration. We don't want mandated EV or anything else pushed down our throats. We don't want trans-anythings in our kids' bathrooms. And we don't want our free speech canceled or throttled. Why is that so hard to understand?
"In which we learn Trump is not Hitler and is a fan of Diet Coke."
The most revelatory films of Adolf Hitler were taken by his girlfriend and not at all by Leni Riefenstahl. The scenes of Hitler taking high tea with his pinkie crooked presents us with a man who ate and drank like Barbara Cartland.
Trump eats like a big rig trucker with a weight problem.
…while she’s tuned in somebody send Ann a copy of Wealth of Nations stat…
Keynes v Hayek. Round 2.
https://youtu.be/GTQnarzmTOc?si=N02hXHas-_2pk_Ld
@Jamie. That’s a surprising reply. I’m a lifelong pro popular musician as well as a classical and sacred musician. I’ve played through the Episcopalian hymnal, which is, indeed, great, but rather formal. The UMC hymnal is a fantastic treasure of Americana music, full of great tent revival rock stompers. It is one of the most important foundational texts of the great Americana music… folk, blues, rock, country and bluegrass… that the entire world loves.
"he mainlines diet coke"
Truly the beverage of winners, of those who go for the brass ring. The nation is healing.
Why would he think people are any more sanguine about being urged to vote a certain way by their neighbors than by a stranger? It's fine if you're already a Democrat, I guess, but if you're a Republican? Did he not notice the middle-finger aspect of this election?
It is one of the most important foundational texts of the great Americana music… folk, blues, rock, country and bluegrass… that the entire world loves.
No argument from me - this is a me thing! And I do love the forthrightness of the late 18th century American hymns as well as the stark beauty of Sacred Harp music. I find gospel very moving. And I like Christian rock when it's not in a liturgical setting.
Apparently I'm just a reborn King's choirboy in my preferences for choral singing - I guess I should start with "I love choral singing" - and praise music, performed by a small ensemble with mikes and closed eyes, doesn't "get" me the way traditional Anglican (and baroque music modified for hymnody) does. I am 100% sincere when I say I wish I could feel it! Music has been my way into my faith since I was about five.
"The churches were incredibly tempting targets for the lawfare of the sexual abuse hysteria."
Are you seriously trying to gaslight people into believing that these priests didn't rape children?
And then help each other cover it up ... all the way up to the Pope, who routinely moved pedophiles between churches to keep them on?
It's one thing for a church to be sodden with a rapist. It's quite another when the church adopts a policy of protecting such people ... which is what the Catholic church did and continues to do to this day. It's a HORRIBLE religion. Are there other horrible religions? Absolutely. Not singling them out. Also not letting you present them as the victim. That's sick behavior on your part.
I've never seen a skinny person drink diet Coke. But there's a guy on YouTube, a professional eater (BeardMeetsFood) who swears by it. Whatever is in it allows him to eat more than he otherwise would.
Keep in mind that there are an entire political party of people who are trying to murder Donald Trump, so he has to be very careful about where and what he eats. He can't just sit down to a meal cooked for him specifically. That's how the Russians like to murder people and so do Democrats.
It was, indeed a very interesting and revealing podcast. I knew little of Marc Andreeson before this, and Rogan's podcast, and it gives me hope for the near future. You can almost feel the optimism here, where I live. It's like the throttle has been opened, and we're all rushing to catch up.
That's not all good news, however. We have had an awful lot of growth in my neck of the woods. It's getting crowded on the roads and highways. Most of the local construction is expansion of suburban housing, without any supporting industry.
I supose things will catch up, eventually. Right now, Mrs. Bar wants to leave. And go where, exactly, is what I always ask her. No answer.
Dave Begley writes, "For Ann’s further education..."
Interesting YouTube, but as hip-hop it falls short as art. Not enough n-words. Rap must have n-words, lots of 'em. One in every stanza. Words like nominal interest rate and Nakamura number.
It's not hard to understand, it's just unacceptable.
The single best plank in a reformed DNC party platform would be a full-bodied condemnation of the "Snow White" re-make, Rachel Zegler, and corporate house of horrors known as Walt Disney Pictures.
"Tomorrow you wake up and you're the DNC chair, what's the first thing you would do?"
Convene public hearings on the DNC's promotion of Trump in 2015, the sabotaging of Bernie in 2016 and 2020, and the replacement of Biden in 2024. Purge every person found to have been involved.
Diet Coke still has the caffeine. Give me decaffeinated diet Coke, acidic brown fizzy water with a bitter taste, to wash down the ribeye. It cuts the grease but adds nothing to the meal but some aspartame.
As for the DNC, I'd first hire a forensic accounting firm, and then arrest everyone who has dipped their beak in the DNC funds for personal gain. But that would just be for funsies.
For improvement of the DNC I'd purge as many Marxists and stop funding the marxist groups that overrun the DNC like cockroaches and rats in a garbage dump. Stop them using the good name of Democrats for their subversive destruction, and force them be what they are, openly, to more rapidly lead to their destruction as a political force.
The Democrats need to have a national teach-in to reeducate the American people on their five year plans to make America fabulous again.
Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler, a candidate for national chair, and he stressed building "an infrastructure" and "door-to-door organizing"
You've heard of the Fuller Brush people going door-to-door?
This would be the fulla-shit people going door-to-door.
Can’t you just imagine how much Rush would have enjoyed all this.
Seems to me the left has always and ever had as a priority the suppression of optimism in the people. They always work to suppress and control the animating spirit of human kind, to limit their ability for independent thought and creativity. They are threatened by and therefore opposed to general human flourishing and are miserly and greedy with anything that brings people pride and joy.
@Jamie, I think a lot of Democrats are still in denial that this election signaled how damned fed up so many normal people are with the extremism, and extreme authoritarianism, of the modern Democrats. Maybe most of us have forgotten Biden vaccination mandate but I haven't. It turns out that the side effects were, in many cases, even more dangerous for people -- even people in my age cohort -- than the disease itself. We remember, even if the newmedia have had convenient amnesia.
Animal Sprits= the street knows. "Mathematical expectations" derived from research in an office often doesn't tell the story of what an individual family, or person is feeling, seeing dealing with in their everyday life. But those individuals and families talk to other individuals and families. When things are going down, they feel it before the data collectors see it. When those people feel that things are about to turn up- for the better- they act accordingly- before the data collectors perceive it.
The other thing is this: There can be no doubt that those who achieve carry with them an attitude of optimism. They are upbeat, not constantly fretful, not afraid to move. Yes, they will be nervous and stressful about the downside, but also...so very excited and driven by the upside. That is why Andreessen and Trump, Elon Musk, Jon Lonsdale and others- all optimists are drawn to each other. These are people who have visions of making things happen.
The difference between this attitude and that of the Ben Wiklers of the world, is that these men (the optimists) built things. They actually produced things. They had to lay it all on the line for an idea, a vision, they took a risk. The Ben Wiklers of the world didn't really produce anything, lay it all on the line. Yet they are always focusing on the downside. The victims. And the awful state of everything around them that only more Government can make better. And of course, it never does. And all the door knockers in the world aren't going to change that. Besides, is there anyone reading this who actually likes the idea of a political person knocking on your door and telling you that you're wrong in how you think?
Anyway, two quick notes: Andreessen must be on a podcast tour because this is the third one I've heard with him in about 2 weeks. All of it interesting. Honestly Pod is great. Solid hosts who ask very good questions.
Lastly- we've long missed William Safire and his writing about language. At least I've long missed it. Ann Althouse could have been, and could still be, his replacement for that. If only the NYT could remember what it used to be at times.
Well put.
Wikler's idea of door knocking is just the cover story for massive cheating.
Dixcus wrote:
Here's how Democrats can win:
$2/gal gas
$8 ribeye steaks
20c eggs
$1/loaf bread
3% mortgage rates
Pay commensurate with affordability
Get the fuck out of our lives
The Democrats don't want ANY of this. So it's important that we as a society push them down, keep them down and beat them down for the rest of their fucking lives.
I don't think I've ever agreed more strongly with a comment on this site after 23 years of lurking.
"The difference between this attitude and that of the Ben Wiklers of the world, is that these men (the optimists) built things. They actually produced things. They had to lay it all on the line for an idea, a vision, they took a risk. The Ben Wiklers of the world didn't really produce anything, lay it all on the line. Yet they are always focusing on the downside. The victims. And the awful state of everything around them that only more Government can make better."
It seems to me this story has already been written. Thick book, near cartoonish characters- good and evil- who like to make speeches. The title will come to me shortly...
Coke Zero, please
"Dixcus
Also raping kids. Catholicism addresses raping kids.
12/12/24, 7:31 AM"
Interesting that the kids were all boys, isn't it? Somehow the homosexual aspect is rarely mentioned. That is the power of the left.
It is one of the most important foundational texts of the great Americana music
When I was young, we visited relatives in Kansas, and after lunch everyone gathered around the piano to sing hymns. Aunt Emmajane played the piano, and it was a revelation, the notes on the page were a bare skeleton to be dressed with embellishments and an underlying beat. She, and two other aunts, used to perform professionally, but they all agreed that she was the talented one. To my ear, they were all very good.
Her husband had a local radio show where he played mandolin, sometimes accompanied by his dog. Heh.
I thought Andreessen's response of "candidate recruitment" revealed a huge disconnect in his political thinking and awareness. That response implies that he thinks the issue that the Ds have is who the messenger is, and not what the message is. That response is given after Andreessen had talked about how shocked he was by the policies, approaches, and practices that the Biden administration had been employing - many stated boldly behind closed doors but not at all publicly - that caused him to endorse Trump for president and now to state publicly that he believes felony crimes were committed under Biden. But if placed in charge of the DNC, Andreessen's first concern would be which D is on the ballot. For a man who obviously thinks deeply about a lot of issues, he needs to think more deeply about the D party and its platforms.
And maybe also think about the nature of humans and his level of optimism about AI, and how it will be used by gov'ts, non-gov't entities, and individuals. And the observed effects on people if work becomes unnecessary. As a billionaire, I trust Andreessen has seen and/or knows more than me about how the powerful and the trust fund class think and behave.
Will there be enough trains to take us all to the re-education camps?
Well better candidates are the best way to political success. The Dems needed a better candidate than either Kamala Harris or Joe Biden.
But let's talk "animal spirits". Americans have usually been optimistic with a can do spirit. We've got larger quantities of animal spirits than most of the rest of the world. I recall reading of a German's reaction to Silicon Valley. He noted that many of the people there had gone through bankruptcies on unsuccessful startups--and wore those bankruptcies like earlier generations of German university students had worn dueling scars. You go bankrupt, you get up and start again. That's animal spirits and optimism.
""Tomorrow you wake up and you're the DNC chair, what's the first thing you would do?".
If his answer wasn't "Pull the plug", he's a Communist.
"Animal spirits" is a mainstay in economics. It says something (though I'm not sure what) that it hasn't penetrated the law school.
"It has to be candidate recruitment. Like you, you gotta get to work in candidate recruitment."
I'll guess that he had Kamala Harris "top of mind" when he blurted this out.
People who have compiled the numbers have found that the percentage of Catholic priests who are pedophiles is no higher than the percentage of Protestant ministers, rabbis, mullahs, or any other religion, and no higher than the percentage of K-12 teachers in public and private schools. Anyone who claims that it's only, or primarily a Catholic problem, is a liar or a fool and almost certainly an anti-Catholic bigot.
School administrations also routinely allow offenders to move to new schools unpunished, and have far less excuse. The thing about the priesthood is that it's a permanent condition: once ordained, a priest is a priest forever and they have to put him somewhere. Of course, they should put him somewhere without access to children, like a monastery, but there aren't a lot of those. Another problem is the number of psychiatrists and counselors who claim to be able to cure pedophiles and sign off on returning them to their teaching or preaching jobs. And another is that pedophiles in churches and schools (and church schools) protect each other.
Yes, it's a huge problem, but far larger than just the Catholic church.
If you like to mix music and economics, check out 'Merle Hazard' (probably not his real name) on YouTube. Most of his videos are about economics, but my favorite is "Gimme some of that old atonal music". Done in the Bluegrass style, if you're wondering.
The DNC thinks if they could just get Robert Preston on board they'd, at least, win the River City vote.
But they got trouble, trouble, trouble....
..with a Capital 'T', and that rhymes with 'D', and that stands for...
Coming up. Just for you, Whiskybum
I recommend sticking with rotgut whisky for the taste.
Perfect. Do them in reverse order. Marxists are rich and litigious. You can celebrate afterwards with the Diet Coke and ribeye.
Animal spirits is such weird but encouraging idea. Pre-Freud, were its woo-woo philosophers more successful than he, we would have a profoundly different view of ourselves and the world, one predicated on strength and optimism, not neurosis and victimization.
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