Open thread, June. 12 - June. 18, 2017

Thomas

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If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post, then it goes here.

Notes for future OT posters:

1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.

2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one. (Immediately before; refresh the list-of-threads page before posting.)

3. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.

4. Unflag the two options "Notify me of new top level comments on this article" and "Make this post available under..." before submitting

I can gesture in the direction of some points that make it appeal to me:

I like the concept of legibility. It's a new one for me and I find it useful
I like the lack of clear-cut heroes and villains -- it is complicated
I like the attention paid to what can be expressed in what language and the observation that there are real concerns which cannot be readily expressed in the language of rationality
I like the recognition of the role that power plays in social arrangements, regardless of what's "rational" or not
I like the pushback against the idea -- very popular among rationalists, mind you -- that we have a new shiny tool called math and logic which will solve everything so we can ignore the accumulated local knowledge deadwood

All in all it's smart book written by someone on the other side of the ideological fence (AFAIK James Scott is a Marxist, though not entirely an orthodox one) which makes it very interesting.

Goodness, you said something definite! :)