Welcome back to the Stove Top weekly newsletter. As usual, each edition has a few brief stories and finishes with a mix of interesting links, hot takes, and good reads.

Enjoy.

Show Me The Incentives

What are the incentives for a company?

Primarily, it is to make money. And then hopefully through that pursuit of profit some societal benefit will follow.

Obviously this is a gross oversimplification with negative externalities and the like, but capitalism has led to the most prosperous period in human history for a reason. The money first positive impact second model has worked pretty damn well.

For example, look at oil companies. They pursued profit, and with that oil we were able to, you know, have modern life¹ .

But it doesn’t always work very well. Cigarette companies pursued profit and we got nothing but cancer. Sugar companies pursued profit and we got nothing but fat people. Purdue Pharma pursued profit, and we got the opioid crisis.

Not only did those companies bring about some truly fucked consequences, but they actively fought for profit even when they knew what the consequences were. Big Tobacco did. Big Sugar did. And Purdue Pharma did.

That’s why I’m always skeptical when some new product comes out, even and maybe especially the ones that are supposed to be good for you. So naturally, I’m skeptical of Tinder’s new $499/month plan.

The plan itself is available only to the top 1% of the app’s users and promises “unrivaled access to the absolute best of Tinder” through perks like unlimited likes and the ability to message before matching.

Let’s think about this. Tinder’s stated goal is to “maximize overall revenue”. It’s not to help you find love. That actually hurts the bottom line. If everyone found love, nobody would use Tinder, which means no moolah. It’s the same logic behind Goldman Sachs telling pharma to chill on making drugs that actually cure people.

So, Tinder rolls out this ridiculously expensive option clearly marketed toward those who can’t get any pussy. If you pay for this plan and become one of their best-paying customers, why would they help you get away? They are going to treat you by letting you message super hot chicks, but they aren’t going to cure you by getting one of those super hot chicks to actually date you.

I’ve written about this concept a bit before, but to me, this is the best case for regulation. Let the good things flourish while killing the bad things.

How to do that is another post entirely.

Africa Is The Future

Reposting this graph from August:

This graph has led many to conclude that Asia is the future, but that’s a thought that’s decades out of date. Just look at headlines like:

And:

And:

It’s pretty clear that Asia has a serious population problem. Which is why I believe Africa is the continent most likely to be “the future”.

I believe this because of graphs like:

And analysis like this:

Now look, I get it, population growth doesn’t necessarily mean economic growth per capita. But per capita is the operative word here. You gotta just grow the pie before you can think about cutting people a bigger piece. And one of the easier ways to grow the pie is to grow the workforce.

There’s no reason why Africa can’t do what India and China did.

I’d be very surprised if they didn’t.

You’re Probably Not Depressed, You’re Just Broke

When I think about all the times in my life when I was down mentally, without fail, what got me out of the rut was fixing the root cause. My sadness about basketball went away when I started getting more minutes. My loneliness went away when I got some good friends and a girlfriend. My anxiety went away when I started making some actual bread.

I don’t think talking about my feelings would’ve really helped me. At best, it’s a stop-gap solution in the same way that a lot of drugs are. It treats the symptoms, not the root cause. Maybe it gets me the initial positive energy I need to take action, but it’s just as likely that it would’ve just kept me in that rut.

Talk is ultimately just talk. You can talk till you’re blue in the face, it doesn’t change anything. Only action can materially change your fortunes.

In other words, if I gave you a social life, a significant other, more money, and better physical health, would you still be sad to the point of “needing” therapy? Maybe so, but I’d bet you feel a hell of a lot better.

Obviously, some people really do need therapy. If you have deep-rooted trauma or serious mental health issues, then talking through that might be a prerequisite to action.

But, if you’re a regular person who is generally stressed/sad/anxious, ask yourself what would make you feel better faster: more money and hoes, or talking weekly with a stranger?

Extras

• Your food probably has plastic in it. I’m talking like 90% of proteins have microplastics in them. Ew.

• Your water bottles aren’t safe either. 

• The FDA is allowing Florida to buy cheaper drugs from Canada. Now the question becomes, why are Canadian drugs so much cheaper than American drugs?

• Trump thinks that being President means you can do basically anything while President, as long as you aren’t impeached. That’s (probably?) not true.

• West Virginia is getting in the solar game.

• Plague warfare?

• If the cartel offers you WiFi, use it.

• Outlawing psychedelics was such a mistake.

• It’s time to revitalize the US Navy.

• Who needs a plug when you got a drone?

• Sorry college kids, you’re probably just average intelligence.

• The US Labor Market is looking strong.

• At this point, it’s anybody’s guess as to the right plan for post-war Gaza.

• Stop AI surveillance at work.

• Don’t even think about using Mercury as a rocket propellant.

• Half of all skills will be outdated within two years.

• If you’re an independent contractor, there’s a decent chance you’re now actually an employee.

• AI is making it a bad time to be a professional translator.

• Substack is so pussy.

• US News is one of the worst things to ever happen to higher education.

• Boeing is in some real trouble. Looks like somebody relied on heuristics that almost always work.

• Hospitals are fighting back against having to tighten their cybersecurity. These requirements include such draconian measures like using multi-factor authentication. What a clown show.

• Good job, FTC. We are now one step closer to being safe while using our phones.

• Elo is dangerously close to free speech for me, not for thee territory.

• China is hacking into your AirDrop, and Apple has known about it for FIVE years.

• Six African countries are among the world’s highest growth economies.

• AI is now out here winning sci-fi contests.

• Let the AI safety backchanneling commence.

• Nuclear batteries produce power for 50 YEARS.

• Bon Voyage, Christie. Took long enough.

• Solar will supply almost all growth in US electricity generation through 2025.

• Everything is downstream of culture.

• Cancer is starting to strike more young people. Sitting around all day and eating junk food probably doesn’t help in this regard.

• Biden is pouring a lot of money into EV charging stations…which is a good thing.

• Almost nobody is reading for what’s coming with AI.

• Weekly reminder that having a job is riskier than working for yourself.

Footnotes

1. I understand that modern life isn’t perfect. I also understand that climate change is a (fixable) problem. I’m still happy I don’t have to shit in a ditch.

Until next time, ✌️

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