iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

3. My personal favourite claim: narcissistic voters are less likely to support narcissistic leaders. Makes a lot of sense. If you think you're better than everyone, you'd hate if you see someone else who shares the same view!

2: In Ch.3, he claims that being a dark politician generally has no impact on their electoral chances. I have some scepticism to this claim and might investigate this further. But I think it does have some credit. If Nai is right, then the rise of dark politics might not be a strategical decision.

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1: Nai finds that dark politicians have no effect of voter turnout. I find this perhaps most intriguing. He does acknowledge that it could simply be that new engaged voter groups are directly substituting disengaged disengaged voter groups. But this is definitely something worth looking into!

Yit Xiang Wong @yitxiang.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

I saw @lalamur.bsky.social's 2024 book list and read @alessandronai.bsky.social's Dark Politics before going back to thesis writing. The book was an absolute eye-opener. Even spent a few hours playing around the NEGex dataset he used to write the book. I definitely recommend it! Some cool ideas:

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Didn't realise ACX was on BSKY. Check out their account and other articles. @astralcodexten.com.web.brid.gy

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Yit Xiang Wong @yitxiang.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Been using the end of 2024 to read stuff beyond my field and figure out my future academic goals. One of the best things I have read is this ACX article on prisons. Really good introduction into why prisons are not cost-effective. www.astralcodexten.com/p/prison-and...

astralcodexten.com

Prison And Crime: Much More Than You Wanted To Know

...

Max Boot @maxboot.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

Reposted by Yit Xiang Wong

This is another argument, if any were needed, for even stricter sanctions on the Russian economy and even more support for Ukraine. Only by making Russia pay a high price for its violations of international law can the West dissuade Putin from further aggression. bit.ly/40aUmjN

bit.ly

Opinion | Russia has a history of downing passenger planes — and covering it up

The track record tells you what Moscow’s word is worth on the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243.

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Yit Xiang Wong @yitxiang.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Marking papers get exponentially depressing because of those who don’t write an answer good enough but not an answer bad enough. This also so happens to be the peak of the bell curve. Academics truly don’t get paid enough.

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iea.blob.core.windows.net

Source: IEA (2024) Coal: Analysis and Forecast to 2027 iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/a1ee7...

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Again – this is not suggesting that the EU is not doing enough. There is more to the story. One of the reasons are that industries that were easy to transition (the low hanging fruits) have done so, and hence other industries are harder to transition. (5/5)

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This by no means go against the conclusion of their report. What is misleading is that we might intuitively believe that the villains are China and India from the graph. Instead, they will be the ones driving the plateau, as EU's ability to phase out coal declines. (4/5)

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By that same logic, the IEA also expects the rate of China, India, and ASEAN to reduce coal consumption. Take India as an example, they saw a 70Mt increase between 2023-24. But the increase average annual increase between 24-27 is merely 36Mt. That's nearly half! (3/5)

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But there's more to the story: The reduction of fossil fuels in the European Union has decreased. Between 2023-24 they reduced 42Mt. However, between 24-27, they will only reduce an average of 23Mt a year. IEA expects the EU's coal phaseout to slow down. (2/5)

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This graph from the @iea.org can be slightly misleading. Here's what it broadly shows: 1. Global coal consumption is rising. This is driven by the ASEAN, India and China's increasing use of coal. 2. The West (EU and the United States) are reducing their coal consumption. (1/5)

Shocked by the number of abstentions and some of the countries on the list. Went on to look for the resolution - attached here. Will include any official government statements I can find when I wake up tomorrow documents.un.org/doc/undoc/ge...

documents.un.org

That being said – it's not surprisingly that these two events are ever so slightly correlated. Both Germany and South Korea are countries that are strong economic hubs, but are at risk of being left behind in the climate race. Maybe this has led to increased levels of political volatility?

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This was my dissertation title two weeks ago. This is what the world looks like today. Maybe I should reevaluate my case study selection strategy

Met a key deadline yesterday and finally had the time to go back to reading fiction. Really enjoyed the short stories series by this year’s Nobel Prize winner Han Kang. Absolutely phenomenal how she comes up with these ideas.

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As someone who spent the better half of his Christmas break researching Germany's geopolitical ambitions under Scholz for his dissertation, this is possibly the worst news I could ever receive.

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That being said – I'm a bit sceptical about what I am reading here. I've tried to look for a different source and the original agreement that states the UK gov will compensate BP and Equinor. Can't seem to find anything on it. Love to hear from anyone if they can provide a source or context!

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Yit Xiang Wong @yitxiang.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

This feels insane, not just from a climate perspective but a state balance perspective. If states could shelter specific actors from the consequences of lawsuits, it gives certain groups insane amount of power.

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Found this excellent video by @dwnewstoday.bsky.social on Chinese companies exploiting weak financial systems in Germany. Goes to show that research on climate finance should sometimes start with: does it even exist? youtu.be/aU_S97Ae1eg?...

youtu.be

How a small Chinese company tricked the German state | DW Investigation

YouTube video by DW Planet A

Yit Xiang Wong @yitxiang.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

This shows promising signs that green financing strategies have been effective in becoming the market norm. Coal suppliers would now need protectionist measures to survive in the market, which would be political suicide in many countries (but somehow not the US).

Felix van Hoften🟥 @felixvanhoften.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Reposted by Yit Xiang Wong

Absolute must-read: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... We critically examine ten key hypotheses that form the foundations of mainstream economics. Each fails to satisfy one or more of the basic requirements of scientific practice.

cambridge.org

Sustainability scientists’ critique of neoclassical economics | Global Sustainability | Cambridge Core

Sustainability scientists’ critique of neoclassical economics - Volume 7

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Reposted by Yit Xiang Wong

Donato Di Carlo @donatodc.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

1/ 📢 How Manufacturing Interests Dominated the German Response to the Energy Crisis Check out our new article with Anke Hassel and Martin Höpner, now open access in Politics and Society! 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/0032...

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Reposted by Yit Xiang Wong

Felix van Hoften🟥 @felixvanhoften.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

The industrial revolution represented a linearization of material and energy flows with the goal to overcome the low pace and density of biological, anti-entropic, (or more contemporary circular) transformations. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

On the Circular Bioeconomy and Decoupling: Implications for Sustainable Growth

This paper explores the existing confusion around the conceptual definitions and interpretations of the term circular bioeconomy. The co-existence of …

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Yit Xiang Wong @yitxiang.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Watched this documentary when commuting today. Thoroughly eye-opening and impressive. While the message of the documentary is about corporations taking more responsibility for their waste, I think an equal argument can be made that we should be more conscious about unnecessary spending.

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Yit Xiang Wong @yitxiang.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

If Putin manages to make the WiFi in Cambridge slower than it already is I promise I will do everything in my power to end this conflict

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Yit Xiang Wong @yitxiang.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Procrastinating work to go boulder feels like a rite of passage into academia

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The biggest challenge is to accept that we need to have less classes to allow for the increased intensity of learning. Unfortunately unlikely to happen.

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The shift to essays will encourage students to formulate better opinions and read more widely. It also gives tutors an opportunity to be aware of the field of literature before moderating the discussions.

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Readings lists currently exists for three broad reasons. First is that it is an administrative method to ensure lecturers are doing their job. Second is for seminar tutors to be confident in what they have to teach. Third is for students to be able to engage in discussion.

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And why breaking out of it would require a revolution

I was going to quote it and explain it through a tweet but ended up writing a lot more than expected. I have attached a short opinion piece of my thoughts on this on an old blog of mine. TLDR: reduce the amount of classes but intensify the learning process. (1/n) open.substack.com/pub/yittythe...

open.substack.com

The University Hive Mind

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Yit Xiang Wong @yitxiang.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Every time I speak to my dissertation supervisor I get reminded why he has a PhD and why I don’t

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Attended an event from one of the authors that inspired my undergraduate dissertation. Was a pleasure to listen to @amirleb.bsky.social speak about his new book. Key takeaway: The Global North are self interested in the green race, and developing countries should find alternatives to survive.

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I’m making a similar argument for my research but it is worrying that the narrative around green transition is one of “self-interest”. It has severely affected how we view global climate financing, where we pursue self interested energy strategies instead of seeking regional integration.

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The graph from Milanovic says a lot about global inequality. Asia’s growth, specifically China, closed a significant gap between the poorest and the richest. However, our focus on global inequality can no longer be on China, but the new global poor - India, Brazil, Africa

I recommend Lebdioui’s Survival of the Greenest as a foundation to why the energy transition is necessary. I also recommend looking into Tesla’s Open Source strategy for manufacturing. Or along the same vein, China’s EV manufacturing strategies to achieve scale.