Adelaide, Australia
Joined November 2009
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“Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in favor of free speech.”
― Noam Chomsky
#freespeech
David Walker retweeted
I will never understand why someone who's a fabulist who has parlayed his phony stories into a comfortable job and plenty of public acclaim would choose to write a book that was guaranteed to draw more attention to his confabulations.
David Walker retweeted
I'm not a right-winger, but in a literal sense, I am a conservative
I seek to conserve the liberal system that's brought unprecedented peace & prosperity to the world, reduced the frequency of wars to an all-time historical low, and lifted billions out of poverty and deprivation
Useful way to look at the US economy – and by extension, the world economy, since much of the computing activity is located in the US, Taiwan and China.
Blanket approval of regulation or deregulation is foolish. The questions to ask include:
- Does it succeed in its goals?
- What are its side effects?
- if it does some good, is that good worth the cost?
Environmental lead rules easily pass the test.
Government regulation for the win! Lead concentration in children under 5 declines massively in the US. Well done. Source: reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful…
David Walker retweeted
Between 2001 and 2023 we deforested quite a bit of land. This chart shows not only the reason why forests were cut down (beef is #1) but also where the deforestation occurred. Source: ourworldindata.org/what-has-…
David Walker retweeted
Up until now, the poor bloody students haven’t featured in the Arday story, but this gives a glimpse into what they were getting from the mountain of debt they were accruing to be in his Roehampton class.
David Walker retweeted
It’s easy to underestimate how much the world can change within a lifetime.
Considering how dramatically the world has changed can help us see how different it could be in a few years or decades.
Read more in the article by @MaxCRoser: ourworldindata.org/technolog…
David Walker retweeted
I'm not sure folks have realized just how crazy the second half of 2026 and 2027 will be for global temperatures – on the back of a record-smashing El Niño event. Here is my latest estimate of where both years will end up compared to global temperatures since 1850.
The Suburban Rail Loop has become too big to stop just when most Victorians are aware that it makes no economic sense.
It thus follows the rule laid out many years ago by former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown:
"In the world of civic projects, the first budget is really just a down payment. If people knew the real cost from the start, nothing would ever be approved. The idea is to get going. Start digging a hole and make it so big there’s no alternative to coming up with the money to fill it in."
All systems ready for launch.
Our first tunnelling machines are in place, we’re already preparing for the second ones and station excavation is well underway.
Your next stage of SRL East is starting right here, in Burwood.
ALT An overhead view of a large tunnel boring machine named "Alice" inside the Suburban Rail Loop construction site in Burwood. The machine is cylindrical and surrounded by scaffolding, machinery, and materials. There are ladders and various cables extending towards the machine.
ALT Aerial view of a large construction site for a future Suburban Rail Loop Burwood station. The area is surrounded by roads and partially constructed buildings, with numerous construction vehicles and materials visible. Several cylindrical structures and a large green building are present. Residential houses are adjacent to the site.
ALT Aerial view of a large construction site with excavated areas and heavy machinery. Adjacent are several long industrial buildings and a section of road. The surrounding area features roads, trees, and residential buildings.
First actual literature I've read on Twitter. Just lovely, perhaps especially the last sentence.
I needed to move a sofa.
I mentioned this to an American. He said, "You know anybody with a truck?"
I did not know anybody with a truck.
He looked at me with real concern. Not pity. Concern. The way you look at a man who has told you he does not have a name.
"You gotta know somebody with a truck."
I asked how one acquires such a person.
He said, "You just do."
This is the third time I have received that answer in this country. It is the answer to everything here. You just do. There is no process. There is only the eventual fact of having.
He said, "Ask Kevin."
I do not know a Kevin. He said Kevin like I should. He said it the way you say a shared uncle.
I met Kevin four days later. Kevin owns a truck. Kevin does not own a truck for himself. Nobody owns a truck for themselves. Kevin owns a truck for a fifteen mile radius.
Inside I said: THIS MAN HAS TAKEN A VOW. HE DID NOT ANNOUNCE IT. HE SIMPLY PURCHASED A BED AND ACCEPTED THE CONSEQUENCES.
Kevin arrived on Saturday. He brought the truck. He also brought a second man.
I had not asked for a second man.
The second man's name is Tony. Tony came because Kevin came. Tony did not know me. Tony did not ask what we were moving. Tony brought gloves.
They moved the sofa in eleven minutes.
I offered them money. Both of them laughed at the same time, which felt rehearsed and was not.
I asked what I owed them.
Kevin said, "Buy the pizza."
That is the price. That is the entire economy. The truck costs one pizza and the pizza is not negotiable and the pizza is also not expensive and everyone knows what size.
Inside I said: THE FEE IS FIXED ACROSS THE ENTIRE NATION AND WAS SET BY NO ONE.
We ate on the floor because the sofa was against the wall and none of us wanted to be the first to sit on it.
Tony told me his daughter plays soccer. I asked if she is good. He said, "She's aggressive."
I still think about that.
Three weeks later, Kevin texted me.
"You free Sunday? Helping Tony move a fridge."
He did not ask if I wanted to. He informed me of a fridge.
Inside I said: I HAVE BEEN CALLED UP. I DID NOT ENLIST. THE PAPERS WERE FILED ON MY BEHALF.
I went. I moved the fridge. I have no truck. I contributed only arms.
Afterward, a man I had never met asked me if I knew anybody with a truck.
I said, "Yeah, I got a guy."
I have a guy.
I am somebody's guy now, too. Tony has told two people about me.
He describes me as "the guy who's strong for his size."
I have never been prouder of a sentence in my life.
I keep running into people who think David Graeber was a talented critic of modern economies and economics.
The essay below should disabuse them:
(h/t @NGruen1)
substack.com/home/post/p-199…
David Walker retweeted
Australia’s housing crisis isn’t only about failing to build enough new homes. It’s also about existing homes not returning to the market. Around 4.5 million Baby Boomers are now aged between 62 and 80, and many are staying in large family homes much longer than previous generations. The result is a demographic traffic jam. Younger families struggle to move into established suburbs, while older Australians often remain stuck in homes that no longer suit them because downsizing options are limited and stamp duty makes moving expensive.
In the latest episode of Demographics Decoded Michael Yardney and I explore “Boomergeddon”, the delayed turnover of Baby Boomer housing, and what it means for property prices, wealth transfers and Australia’s housing market over the coming decades.
Listen here: demographicsdecoded.com.au/b…
David Walker retweeted
Are these guys able to admit that the old way of doing something isn't "just as well" if it took a 100 times longer to do it?
That's not to mention things AI does substantially better.
David Walker retweeted
Kathleen Stock @thatkstj doesn’t hold back in this dissection of the Jason Arday scandal, and why (as well as astonishing, and occasionally hilarious) it actually matters a great deal
youtu.be/2YsCTD83W0s?is=Z7gs…
David Walker retweeted
Is this what a post-literate era looks like?, on Inside Story inside.org.au/is-this-what-a…
David Walker retweeted
It is really awful the Cambridge debacle has put a lens on Sociology it is being ridiculed & delegitimised as an academic discipline. In some ways British Sociology & the Sociologists who have created this storm deserve what they are getting. But Sociology as a discipline has been responsible for important research on Class in Britain, on work, housing, leisure, education and community. Unfortunately this bread & butter research isnt fashionable in Sociology & amongst those who have power in the discipline. Like politics, the arts & culture industries Identity politics have struck again wrecking a discipline that was once important to society.
We're seeing some of this in Australia too:
– Andrew Hastie and Barnaby Joyce, two of the loudest voices on the Australian political right, both oppose key free trade policies.
– Labor, meanwhile, has a fairly rich history of free trade advocacy.
– Greens, though? Not so much.
