Mid-summer chill

THANK YOU TO THE WEATHER GODS! Let today’s weather be the beginning to the rest of an easy breezy summer. (ha)

• Feels like you could take Ken Whyte’s analysis of a Department of Heritage briefing note on the book industry and, given sufficient sectoral expertise, critique most briefing notes. State capacity shows up in so many ways, not least the state’s capacity to know the world beyond its offices.
• Now, for someone with deep sectoral expertise, consider John Gruber’s analysis of Apple’s recent lawsuit against OpenAI. Commentary not only on the happenings, but potential mindsets and motivations, all drawing on a deep well of citations (links!).
• Nice to read Paul Wells reflecting on international affairs and Canada’s place in it, given his usual domestic focus. (A paid piece, but his newsletter is well worth the subscription!)
• Two writers whose newsletters I always open, for great links and thoughts: Laura Olin and Jack Cheng. (Jack, this week: “Would slide decks be less tedious and superfluous if we knew that each Powerpoint presentation was awake, and each chart and table nested within was happiest when able to present its information honestly?” See what I mean!?)
• Always great to hear from Martha, as in this week’s “half year note”.
• Book I look forward to reading: Seeing Like a Supply Chain, by Miriam Posner. (via Sean)
• Weird things about GIFs, by Lauren Budorick. (via Marcin Wichary)
• What might we learn from Tasha Yar’s funeral hologram? Possibly, depending how you read it, that it allows us to glimpse a future where we’re so inured to LLM text that we’re placated by a generic reproduction of a now dearly-departed friend. (Just read it, you’ll get it.)

Anyway, off to happily do some hard work. All the best for the week ahead!

Lucas