Sunday, October 13, 2024

Science Fiction: The Three Body Problem Vol. 3 III: Death´s End By Cixin Liu

 


(Drivebycuriosity) - We live in an infinite cosmos, surrounded by countless stars. But so far we did not discover signs of intelligent life apart from out planet (
Fermi Paradox ). Cixin Liu speculates about the reasons in his trilogy "Remembrance of Earth". The series starts with the Nebula awarded "Three Body Problem", followed by "The Dark Forrest". This post is about Vol. 3, called "Deaths End" (amazon ).

The author narrates how the cosmos could be controlled by civilizations, that are most older and therefore much more advanced as humankind. These cosmic super powers command about technologies which are far beyond our understanding. Liu bases his tale on cutting edge sciences and uses cosmology, evolution, particle physics, string theory, quantum mechanics, but also game theory, Western & Eastern philosophies and theories of warfare. The complex novels read like Stephen Hawkins turned into an action thriller.

Liu is a pessimist and draws a sinister picture of the universe, the cosmic power games but also about human kind. Most of the leading characters behave against the interests of the fellow humans, starting with the person who invited an alien power to invite the earth and opened the way for the following disasters. These destructive characters get worse and even more irrational, but also more powerful and they are increasingly leading the developments of Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 - reminding me of Kafka`s sinister novels.

The trilogy is the proof that Liu belongs to the leading voices in contemporary literature. Liu deserves the Nobel Award. 

 

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Economics: Why Inflation Continues To Cool

 


(Drivebycuriosity) - Today we learned that the US inflation rate sank to 2.4%, continuing the retreat of the recent months ( inflation). I did expect that.

 

                         Helicopter Money

As I wrote in so many blog posts: The high inflation of the recent years was caused by a deluge of money in the years 2020 & 2021, when the Biden administration flooded the economy with stimulus checks in the value of trillions of dollars to fight the Covid19 recession (American Rescue Plan). The Federal Reserve financed the government checks by massive bond purchases (Quantitative Easing known as QE1, QE2 & QE3).  

The government money landed directly on the bank accounts of the Americans, blowing up the money supply M2 (bank notes & coins & deposits at banks). Milton Friedman described this as helicopter money (cato ).

 


  ( source )




( source)

 

As a result in the years 2020 & 2021 the US money supply M2, the engine of the inflation, jumped  40%. The money deluge met a constrained supply of goods & services partly - because of Covid19. "Inflation is caused by too much money chasing too few goods and services", taught Milton Friedman.


                        Causal connection

The causal connection between money and inflation is known since the 16th century at least! Nicolaus Copernicus described already in the year 1522 how "too much money" causes inflation. Copernicus` "quantity theory of money" is based on observations: 

Early in the 16th century Spain conquered today`s Latin America and looted the silver stocks. The Spaniards send the precious metal to Europe where is was printed into coins and used as money.

As a result the European money supply jumped, meeting a restrained supply of goods (agriculture, hand works) &  services. The flood of money raised suddenly the demand for scarce goods & services and caused a jump of the price level.

Elaborated studies by Milton Friedman, Karl Brunner, Allan Meltzer and many other economists (known as Monetarists) described already in the 1960s how and why the inflation rate follows the growth rate of money with a time lag (causal connection).

 

                      The Pull Of The Money 

Fortunately the money flood ended already in 2022 and the money supply shrank for a while. Since October 2023 the money volume is growing again, but only moderately. 

Since inflation follows the growth of money, the inflation rate (growth rate of prices) will follow the pull of the slowly growing money supply and the inflation rate will continue to cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Books: Wolf Hall By Hilary Mantel

 


(Drivebycuriosity) - England in the begin of the 16th century was a horrible place, ruled by a ruthless & sophomoric king - and lives were cheap. Hilary Mantel´s novel Wolf Hall - the first part of a trilogy - is set in these times and fictionalizes the rise of Thomas Cromwell ( amazon). 

Cromwell, being the son of a blacksmith & brewer, was considered as a lowbirth in the world of aristocrats, but he was smart, eloquent, well read & traveled and he made himself useful for the mighty. Today we would call him a lawyer, economist, administrator & counselor. Mantel seems to like Cromwell´s character - and how he dealt with his family and those who depended on him - and casts some flashlights on his steep advance in the world of high born gentlemen and the reader gets an impression how Cromwell became the favorite of Henry VIII - against all odds. Mantel`s Cromwell even expressed solidarity with those who fell into disgrace, without regard to his own person.

Some chapters focus on Austin Friars, a former monastery, that Cromwell owned and had turned into flourishing enclave, almost a little paradise, where - under his custody - people got educated and learned gardening, growing fruit, cooking and many other basic skills, but also self-defense. Cromwell`s people there were protected from the random dangers of 16th century England and the place become a shelter for some to protect them from the fanatic hunters of heretics. "At Austin Friars, there is little chance to be alone, or alone with just one person. Every letter of the alphabet watches you. In the countinghouse there is young Thomas Avery, whom you are training up to take a gripe on your private finance............Down in the kitchen .., the garzoni are learning to make spiced wafers. The process involves a good eye, exaxct timing and a steady hand. There are so many points at which it can go wrong". 

Large parts of the novel describe at length Henry`s juvenile treatment of his first wife Katherine - her alleged virginity moved into the center of European politics - and the rise of the wilful & scheming Anne Boleyn, her powerful family and her supporters.

The author imagines sheer endless dialogues between Cromwell, Henry, Katherine (Henry´s first wife), the Boleyn sisters, Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More (the fanatic hunter of heretics), dukes, ambassadors and many other more or less important persons. These conversations are sharp, witty, entertaining and plausible. Maybe they are written for TV but they give an impression how politics might have worked on England´s court in the 16th century. 

I learned a lot about the power plays between Henry, the almost almighty Pope, the Emperor (of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) and the Kings of Spain & France. Mantel also elaborates the foaming violent conflicts between the ruling Roman Catholic Church and the followers of Martin Luther and other reformers and how Henry curtailed the Church in England. 

I also learned about the economics of the Renaissance: "The world is not run from where he thinks. Not from his border fortresses, not even from Whitehall. The world is run from Antwerp, from Florence, from places he has never imagined, from Lisbon, from where the ships with sail of silk drift west and are burned in the sun. Not from the castle walls, but from counting houses, not by the call of the bugle but by the click of the abacus, not by the grate and click of the mechanism of the gun but by the scrape of the pen on the page of the promissory note that pays for the gun and the gunsmith and the powder and the shot".

Mantel introduces the readers into the complexity of warfare: "The thing people don´t understand about an army is it great unpunctuated wastes of inaction: you have to scavenge for food, you are camped out somewhere with a rising water level because your mad capitaine says so, you are shifted abruptly in the middle of the night into some indefensible position, so you never sleep, so you never sleep, your equipment is defective, the gunners keep causing small unwanted explosions, the crossbowmen are either drunk or praying, the arrows are ordered up but not here yest, and your whole mind is occupied by a seething anxiety that things are going to go badly because il principe, or whatever little worshipfulness is in charge today is not very good at the basic of business of thinking".

She adds: "No ruler in the history of the world has ever been able to afford a war.....You enter into one and is uses up all the money you´ve got, and then it breaks you and bankrupts you".

It is pleasure to read her atmospheric descriptions of London; Henry´s court and everyday life in England. "If you were born in Putney, you saw the river every day, and imagined it widening out to the sea. Even if you had never seen the ocean you had a picture of it in your head from what you had been told by foreign people who sometimes came upriver. You knew that one day you would go out into a world of marble pavements and peacocks, of hillsides buzzing with heat, the fragrance of crushed herbs rising around you as you walked. You planned for what your journeys would bring you: the touch of warm terra-cotta, the night sky of another climate, alien flowers, the stone-eyed gaze of other people`s saints". 

But some parts of the book were very tough to read. Mantell describes painstakingly the burning of the alleged heretics; and how the mob indulged into the awful spectacle and celebrated the brutal killing. She also confronts the reader with the details of the torture and the bexecution of the unfortunate.

I am looking forward to the next book of this series.

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Contemporary Art: Tableaux Rosa @ Lyles & King New York


 (Drivebycuriosity) -  Gallery Lyles & King in Manhattan´s Chinatown belongs to my favorite art places ( lylesandking). I have spotted so many amazing exhibitions there. Recently I posted about the show "Between the Lines" ( driveby). This post is about an exhibition called "Tableaux Rosa", with paintings by Regina Parr.



On top of this post you can see "Salome’s navel" (2024, Oil on Arches paper on Aluminum, 60 x 45 inches, 152.4 x 114.3 cm) followed by "Venus intoxicating Mars with nectar" (2024, Oil on Arches paper on Aluminum, 40 x 30 inches, 101.6 x 76.2 cm).

 



Above follow "I am the youngest of the Bacchantes, (2024) & "Queen of Swords" (2024).

 



Above you can see "But I to you offer a white goat and I will pour wine over" (2024, Oil on Arches paper on Aluminum) plus a detail shot.

As a bonus I add below images from another show at Lyles & King by Kate Meissner







 

To be continued

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Books: Ripley`s Game By Patricia Highsmith

 


(Drivebycuriosity) - Recently I watched "The Talented Mister Ripley" on the screen - both versions, the 1999 movie by Anthony Minghella and this year´s sinister Netflix show "Ripley". Both visualizations waked my appetite for the real thing. So I rereads Highsmith´s "Ripley`s Game", the third book in her Ripley series ( amazon).

This Ripley is older, he lives now in France, and he is well-off, totally straight and married with a beautiful woman. Ripley became a more cunning and seasoned criminal. He starts a psychological game, a revenge for a petty insult, that creates great dangers for him and others (this is a spoiler free blog). 

The novel is a drama, diving deep into the psychology of twisted persons - typical for Highsmith - , but the book is slowly gaining speed and turns into a thriller with nail-biting action. She wrote very clearly and I had the feeling that I was part of it and cared a lot about the characters. "Ripley´s Game" belongs to the best she wrote.  

There is also a movie version with John Malkovich as Ripley (imdb ). Book and film are highly recommended.

Friday, September 27, 2024

Books: China. A History By John Keay

 




(Drivebycuriosity) -
Action, homicide, revolution, treason, intrigues, heroes & villains, blood and thunder. You will find all that and much more in just one book: "China. A History", by John Keay (amazon ). It`s not just another history book, it`s a thriller, but not solely based on fiction. The author describes the ups and downs of a gigantic nation.

Keay explains why China´s rise, the awakening "of the dragon", is just a comeback, a reawakening. In the 16th century China was already the largest and wealthiest nation on Earth. 

And the Asian giant had many "golden ages" before then. The Han Empire (202 BC till AD 220) was as large as the coeval Roman empire, and China`s brightness lasted until the end of the millennium, not just half way through it. But for China, after each "golden age" came a deep fall.

The history of China is as colorful as a Chinese New Year Parade. It´s also a tale about fights, and a permanent struggle about power. Keay describes the many battles between the "Kingdom of the Middle" and her neighbors, the clashes between emperors and their usurpers or families about dominance. Very often the rulers struggled with the bureaucrats, who were very powerful eunuchs. Most of the time the administration was the true ruler of the vast empire.

The giant struggles China had to suffer in over 2,500 years brought the world many gifts. China invented paper, book printing (long before Gutenberg printed his Bible), the compass, banknotes (paper money), kites (ancestors of airplanes), rockets, noodles (spaghetti) and much more.

"China. A History" is highly recommend, not just for historians or students of economics and politics, it helps everybody to understand why the globe is changing again now.  And - it is an exciting read.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Books: The Healer By Antti Tuomainen

 


(Drivebycuriosity) - Antti Tuomainen belongs to my favorite writers. I like his dark humor & his surreal descriptions of weird characters and situations and I enjoyed his droll novels "Little Siberia", "Palm Beach Finland" & "The Man who died" (my reviews Siberia  Palm   The Man Who).

The novel "The Healer", first published 2010, is Tuomainen`s first book and very different from the later publications ( amazon). Contrary to the above mentioned novels this book is not funny. Apparently the author tried to follow the popular Nordic Noir Trend (Jo Nesbø, Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson) and created a very sinister, dirty & rough plot set in a hyper-dystopian world. Everything is falling apart. Unfortunately he overdid it and the reader drowns in violence & disintegration.

"The Healer" is - like the later novels - written in first person. The wife of the protagonist is missing. She is a journalist who investigates the case of a serial killer & eco terrorist, known as name giving "The Healer". Tuomainen showed already some writing skill and tried to create interesting atmospheres, but the plot does make no sense. There are too many unanswered questions, the narrator is too naive and the other characters are unbelievable and unpleasant.

Fortunately the author changed his concept.