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Adam Sneed
Can your mayor pass the SimCity test?
I published my first full article on Slate yesterday, looking at a question I’ve asked for most of my life: What can SimCity teach us about real cities?
It’s a question that often came up around the dinner table at home when talking about dysfunctional government. When state or local budgets were out of whack, it was easy to point to the lesson everybody learned from the SimCity games. Don’t spend more than you take in, never go into debt, and you’ll be able to do whatever you want.
I’m willing to admit that’s really simplistic, but when I got the chance to check out the newest SimCity, the question came back to me. With the amazing level of complexity in this game, and an added emphasis on the environment, data, and interconnectedness, this game could teach a new generation what matters to cities of the 21st century.
Check out the article here.
Posted on March 8, 2013 by admin
Longreads: Snapchat, the Plantagenets, Aaron Swartz, and more
On Snapchat and the power of temporary photography:
“The temporary photo will wrongly be called frivolous or trivial — after all, only unimportant images could be so easily parted with. But as we have seen, there is meaning in witnessing ephemerality itself, an appreciation of impermanence for its own sake. By carving a space away from the growing necessity to record and collect life into database museums, temporary photography encourages an appreciation of the importance of experiencing the present for its own sake.”
The story of the longest-reigning English dynasty, which met its end under a parking lot:
“John was an appallingly bad king, yet no less an authority on the English-speaking peoples as Winston Churchill believed that ‘We owe far more to the vices of John than to the labours of virtuous sovereigns.’ “
The enforced happiness of Pret a Manger:
“Pret doesn’t merely want its employees to lend their minds and bodies; it wants their souls, too. It will not employ anyone who is ‘here just for the money.’ Noting that one Pret worker in London got fired soon after he tried to start a union—the company maintained it was for making homophobic comments—Myerscough suggested the worker’s true offense was being unhappy enough to want to start a union, since ‘Pret workers aren’t supposed to be unhappy.’ The sin commenceth with the thought, not the deed.”
Aaron Swartz wanted to save the world. Why couldn’t he save himself?
“Aaron Swartz is a difficult puzzle. He was a programmer who resisted the description, a dot-com millionaire who lived in a rented one-room studio. He could be a troublesome collaborator but an effective troubleshooter. He had a talent for making powerful friends, and for driving them away. He had scores of interests, and he indulged them all.”
A mass shooter’s tragic past:
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