Asterisk Magazine Issue 06

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Are you a fan of engaging, epistemically rigorous longform writing about California’s most pressing problems? Interested in in-depth interviews with leading scholars? A reader of taste and discernment? Sick of drought?

Distract yourself with the latest issue of Asterisk Magazine, out now!

Asterisk is a quarterly journal of clear writing and clear thinking about things that matter (and, occasionally, things we just think are interesting). In this California-focused issue:

  • The Editors introduce the issue with reflections on California’s contradictions and its outsized impact on the world.

  • Dave Guarino talks about how to make a great government website and the challenges of public benefits administration.

  • Jan Sramek discusses his plans to build a new city in Solano County.

  • Susan Hough warns us about the pitfalls of predicting earthquakes.

  • Scott Kaplan explains the national import of Berkeley’s battle against Big Soda.

  • Devon Zuegel takes us back to California housing policy’s original sin.

  • Peter Westwick traces the history of California’s high-tech communities.

  • Casey Handmer lays out plans for an ambitious modern engineering project: desalinating the Salton Sea.

  • Nadia Asparouhova explores an old meditation tradition making new inroads among California techies.

  • Clara Collier and Jason Crawford talk through the differences and similarities between effective altruism and progress studies.

  • Timothy B. Lee explains why the people writing about California’s tech industry today have such a hard time getting it right.

  • Pradyumna Prasad and Jordan Schneider examine the rise (and arguable fall) of one of California’s preeminent intellectual institutions: RAND.

  • Mia Bird discusses California’s efforts to reduce its prison population.

  • Zvi Mowshowitz breaks down the debate around California’s proposed AI regulation.

  • Ozy Brennan examines the “TESCREAL” bundle of ideologies and its purported importance in Silicon Valley.

A huge thank you to everyone in the community who helped us make Asterisk a reality. We hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it.