First mailbag of 2023

Managing is hard, we’re more aware of viruses, and my dream of a James Cameron Moby Dick

We kick things off with good news!

French nuclear capacity is rising, German gas storage is high and rising, people are making pizza on the frontlines in Ukraine, and Avatar 2 is setting box office records. Here’s a good Nature rundown on the new generation of obesity drugs.

Let’s do some questions.

Baseball mom: I’m curious to her more about your negative views of elite universities. I understand the criticism that they educate so few of the college-going generation compared to community colleges, where attention on higher ed should really lie. But elite universities make scientific discoveries; employ thousands; run top hospitals; signal the prestige and power of American education to the world; and many actually try to do right by their communities. Why not keep growing Harvard’s endowment, if possible?

I have a specific criticism of the intersection of elite American universities and left-wing politics. There is a lot of self-righteousness on Twitter coming from people whose jobs a…