Military Ethics
Considering the use of force.
A. Dr Michael A. Aquino’s 1987 seminar paper for the National Defense University called Psychological Operations: The Ethical Dimension is well known to me. I have for a number of years been working through other material on military ethics - having studied journalism ethics during my La Trobe University BA; meta-ethics in my Swinburne University MSc; and also studying the Just War ethics tradition in my Monash University MA. One example of this is the 2009 study by Major Paul Oh, Dr Don M. Snider, & Major Kevin Toner called The Army’s Professional Military Ethic in an Era of Persistent Conflict. Via the late Colin S. Gray, I also studied a range of classicist strategic studies ethics during my Monash University PhD - much of it Clausewitzean - that didn’t always make it into the final dissertation manuscript. I am personally influenced by Japanese Zen and Chinese ‘warring states’ period ethics - which go far beyond Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and Miyamoto Musashi’s Book of Five Rings - both of which were popular reads on Wall Street during the 1980s. China’s 36 Strategies and its emphasis on situational-based pattern recognition skills is notably important.
B. Naveed Akram the surviving alleged gunman of the Bondi mass shooting has been charged with 59 offences. Australian media coverage has moved (appropriately) to remembrance of the 15 victims and to major party jockeying for moral responsibility. The other major theme to emerge in the past 24 hours is a critique of the Australian Intelligence Community’s failure despite its (elevated) probable warning to prevent the Bondi mass shooting. This critique has focused on the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (in terms of both estimative assessments and early warning intelligence); it might be extended to the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission as well (in terms of firearms tracking). This backlash against the AIC is very normal for such incidents and occurs in the context of the Westminster system which is comparatively less open in terms of its declassification processes than the United States. I will comment on this further over the coming weeks.
C. What it feels like today to live to 100.
D. How US President John F. Kennedy and USSR President Nikita Khruschev dealt with nuclear weapons. Plus, why Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs stole the bomb - thus fueling the early Cold War.
E. Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have risen 120x in two years. They have attracted significant funding from growth-oriented venture capital firms. Now, Polymarket is licensing its content to CNN (and to the financial network CNBC) in order to shape narratives about the 2026 US election.
F. Retail trading book publishing is dominated in the post-Volcker Rule market by two firms: John Wiley & Sons (United States) and the disruptive challenger Harriman House (United Kingdom). A third (US) firm McGraw Hill had a smaller backlist that it has largely scaled down and let fade as the Volcker Rule has broken up the older trading desks at US investment banks and as prop firms have moved into relying on competitions and fees. Wiley’s backlist is influential yet its books range in quality. Harriman House has invested in cover graphics; book editorial design; and value migrating (Mercer’s Adrian Slywotzky) a number of authors from the incumbent to the challenger. The quality of books for retail traders thus varies. One that either looks good (or that has appropriate market positioning worthy of Jack Trout and Al Ries) is Ryan Wright’s The Art and Business of Professional Trading, out on 5th May 2026. All of the key messaging is there: a focus on statistical arbitrage / mathematics based approaches to cultivating a (positive expectancy) edge; a disavowal of chartist-based Technical Analysis (CMT designation) that was used in sell-side investment banks and mutual funds, and on brokerage platforms to drive overtrading activity; and mentioning equivalent books by major traders and quantitative trading firms.
G. In the United States, the entry-level hiring process is breaking down. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are replacing transactional roles. Back office checklists, processes, workflows, and role dependencies are being transformed. Further layers of interviews and work tasks are being added. It’s a very tough job market - that likely will continue to get even tougher.
H. The second Trump administration has defunded Planned Parenthood. The long-term impacts of this policy decision for blocking access to reproductive care is very concerning.
I. Today’s MIT OCW free course is on Bioethics created by Professor Caspar Hare and Professor David Jones.
J. Steven Spielberg’s new UFO themed film Disclosure Day is out in Australia on 11th June 2026. The just released teaser trailer.
K. Part of The Cure’s MTV Unplugged performance from 1991.
L. New York University’s corporate finance and valuation maven Professor Aswath Damodaran introduces the third edition of his book Investment Philosophies (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2026) out on 26th March 2026. I have the second edition. This six minute clip is useful for several reasons. Professor Damodaran explains how investment philosophies differ from tactical execution trade rules or portfolio management. It’s a good example of an effective book PR clip. Finally, it illustrates effective online pedagogical delivery: Professor Damodaran is a legendary finance lecturer. For Spring 2025, you can view his Corporate Finance (MBA); Valuation (MBA); and Valuation (undergraduate) classes and resources.
M. Investor Henry Ellenborg is “talking his book” in December 2025 via a Colossus profile and an interview (below) on finding the top 1% of stocks (equities) to invest in.
N. The full set filmed in July 2024 for Queens of the Stone Age released as Alive in the Catacombs.
O. Disinformation alumnus and Magick.me founder Jason Louv’s Ultraculture podcast archive (292 episodes).