J.D. Moyer

science fiction author, beatmaker, against fascism

Category: Alternative Economics Page 2 of 6

Charles Koch: When Good Intentions Produce Evil Results

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On August 14

In Alternative Economics, Culture Rants/Shares, Utopian Speculations

Tim Ferriss recently interviewed Charles Koch on his podcast. At first I found it difficult to reconcile the obviously principled, kindly man, a person concerned with the state of the world and hoping to contribute as much as he can, with some of his deeds, which include:

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New Short Story, and How To Solve Homelessness

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On June 3

In Alternative Economics, Writing

I have a new short story in Issue #11 of Compelling Science Fiction called “Targeted Behavior.” It’s about a tech startup in San Francisco attempting to “solve” homelessness via pharmaceutical means (which, as you might guess, doesn’t go quite as planned). It’s free to read online, but please consider subscribing or purchasing the Kindle edition anyway. Editor Joe Stech is doing great work.

Like anyone who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, I think about homelessness everyday. It’s impossible not to, given the current state of the housing crisis. Thousands of people live on the streets without permanent shelter, some of them quite visibly in tents or sleeping rough, others (who might sleep in their cars, or couch surf) much less so.

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What Gig Needs to Do to Succeed

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On December 16

In Alternative Economics, Oakland

Almost two years ago our family embarked on a “One Month No Car Experiment” that has extended nearly two years. Since our daughter switched schools to one that is not within easy walking distance, we’ve once again been considering buying or leasing a car. But carpooling with our friends and the existence of the East Bay car-sharing service Gig has allowed us to postpone that decision, perhaps indefinitely.

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Eyes On The Prize: My Current Vision for a Messy Utopia

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On August 26

In Alternative Economics, Culture Rants/Shares, Politics, Problem Solving, Utopian Speculations

These days, reading the national news is like watching a whirlwind of shit in high definition.

Emboldened white supremacists, the orange racist-in-chief, plans for an expensive useless wall, a government actively working to roll back environmental protections of every kind. Not to mention the very real possibility of nuclear war.

So I’m writing this post to remind myself what kind of world I’d like to live in. What kind of policies I’d like to see in place, in a more sane world.

I don’t believe in the pursuit of perfect utopias. Reaching that high is like flying too close to the sun. You have to start with a clean slate to build a perfect society, which means destroying everyone and everything and starting over. Which has been tried, several times in history, and generally ends in mass starvation and/or genocide. So no thanks.

The alternative is a messy utopia, one that builds on pretty good systems that already exists, one that takes a more-or-less empirical approach to solving problems, and one that doesn’t require perfect moral behavior on the part of its citizens. I’ve written in more detail about this idea here.

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I Have Seen the Future of Local Transportation

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On July 17

In Alternative Economics, Lifestyle Experiments, Oakland


As regular readers know, my family gave up our car about a year-and-a-half ago. Our lease ended, we turned in the car, and we didn’t get another one. The idea was to go one month without a car and see if we could get around with biking, walking, public transportation, Lyft, and the occasional rental.

Overall the experiment has been a success. I’ve written about the experience at length in the followings posts:

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