Happy New Year to the entire Iowa Writers' Collaborative family
Whether you're a writer, reader, or artificial intelligence, thanks for sharing in this journey.
As 2023 draws to a close, thanks for your time and support not only for this modest newsletter but for the entire Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. In a year and a half this experiment in community journalism and commentary has continued its organic growth—a pleasant surprise for those of us involved as much as anybody.
A major motivator for the collaborative is how modern society has devalued strong, well-funded institutions dedicated to community news and information—focus on “community” as the key, before the interests of any other stakeholders. So, our gaggle of experienced professionals forges ahead with our grassroots experiment, some of us working in slivers of spare time, duct-taping together a uniquely Iowa narrative from week to week.
I’ll keep it quirky for my last post of the year. First I present a list of 10 statistics in ascending order, from a single digit to 100 billion, offered for no reason other than to encourage all of us to stay curious. No, this list doesn’t touch on all of the most obvious or sobering topics (war, political campaigns, etc.) from 2023. I trust you won’t lack for hot takes or dire predictions as we roll into a contentious presidential election year.
Second, I share the results of one of my latest AI chats on what makes Iowa truly influential. Maybe this list will buoy your spirits as you count down to midnight.
10 stats to ponder at the start of the New Year
7
By my count, we can credit a minimum of seven different poets, musicians, and publishers throughout the last several hundred years with establishing the Scottish song “Auld Lang Syne” as our ritual New Year’s Eve soundtrack. Raise a glass and join the chorus.
17
Twitter and its little blue bird (2006-2023) lasted 17 years before Elon Musk’s rebranded X marked the spot. He also has launched his own AI for premium X subscribers, Grok, named after a fictional Martian word created by author Robert Heinlein for his 1961 science-fiction novel, “Stranger in a Strange Land.” “Grok” has come to mean an intuitive, profound understanding of something. Profound understanding doesn’t tend to be what I’ve encountered most on any social media platform.
46
Forty-six percent of American teens (age 13 to 17) say they’re online “almost constantly”—nearly double the number compared to 2014-2015 (24%), according to Pew Research. Nearly all teens (96%) are online at least daily. As a society we’ve been driving hard toward continuous connection for a generation or more. For a glimpse of the future I still recommend M.T. Anderson’s profound and prescient young adult novel, “Feed.” It was first published in 2002—ahead of social media and the iPhone—yet more or less nails our fraught relationship with the digital creatures we’ve already become.
63
There are 63 pages so far in the database of hundreds of books that have been removed from public school libraries in Iowa, as tracked by The Des Moines Register. Anderson’s “Feed” has been banned in at least four districts, including Mason City and Charles City. Iowa Senate File 496 was signed into law in May, but this week a federal judge blocked its enforcement. I’m a huge supporter of libraries and have proudly served on a public library board, but does anybody today think that library books are kids’ primary access to information? As I mentioned in the last item, we now live in an “almost constantly” online culture. Book bans are anathema to fans of the First Amendment, but in 2023 they’re clearly more political than practical.
174
Speaking of book bans, I know at which temperature book paper combusts thanks to Ray Bradbury’s dystopian 1953 novel “Fahrenheit 451.” While not approaching those temps, 2023’s climate is likely to be the hottest on record in 174 years of direct measurement—or the hottest in 125,000 years based on scientific analysis of tree rings and polar ice. This year I happened to read Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel “The Ministry for the Future,” which outlines a scarily realistic scenario of climate change in the near future that starts with 20 million people wiped out within a week by a heat wave. The book rattled me as much if not more than “Feed”—although Robinson also does his part to sketch practical remedies.
207
The number of orbital rocket launches worldwide reached a new record of 207, with the Unites States’ 108 launches also breaking the single-nation record that had been held since 1982 by the former Soviet Union. We frail humans haggle over petty politics and resort to greed every day, but remember that we also often overlook how much we continually push the limits and make progress without giving ourselves due credit.
10,000
A clock under construction in a remote mountain in West Texas is designed to operate for at least 10,000 years without human intervention. The Long Now Foundation is the organization behind the clock, with at least $42 million in funding from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. I don’t think I grok the father of speedy Prime delivery leveraging this project as a way to encourage more long-term thinking by humanity.
32,256
The geodesic sphere of the New Year’s Eve Ball in New York City’s Times Square is illuminated by 32,256 LEDs—shining down on the throng that will belt out “Auld Lang Syne” and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”
4,350,000
Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour sold 4.35 million tickets for 60 shows from November 2022 to November 2023, generating $1.04 billion in gross sales. She also earned an estimated $200 million from merchandise sales. She’s the dominant entertainment personality and has crossed over to the NFL. Taylor’s version of “Auld Lang Syne” can’t be far away. (Wait—never mind: She already released a song titled “New Year’s Day.”)
100,000,000,000
Netflix this month revealed more comprehensive user data—namely the total hours watched for 99% of its shows in the first half of 2023. That’s nearly 100 billion hours viewed across 18,000 programs. The winner? A humble spy thriller series lacking major stars—let’s nickname it “Jason Rebourne”—titled “The Night Agent,” with 812 million hours viewed. I ran an AI analysis of the Netflix spreadsheet. The only interesting factoid I found: After removing all the articles and connector words, the most common meaningful English word among the 18,000 show titles—by a longshot—was “love,” with 334 occurrences.
If all of us are spending billions of hours hooked up to our streaming feeds, maybe the popularity of a “love” theme is a slightly positive sign for the New Year?
5 most important facts about Iowa?
One of my latest AI forays was with a digital personality named Claude from the company Anthropic. Here’s what I asked Claude:
“What do you consider to be the five most important facts about the state of Iowa? Answer this from the viewpoint of a historian who's reputed to be one of the greatest researchers and writers of history in the United States. Pay particular attention to how you account for inclusive and intriguing ideas in your analysis; don't just repeat the most obvious facts. Dig deeper to create a list that nevertheless remains academically valid.”
Claude not only generated a list but even provided an irreverent title: “Beyond Corn and Cows: A Historian’s Insight Into Iowa’s Richer Story.”
In Claude’s words …
As one of the most esteemed historians in the United States, I believe the five most important and intriguing facts about the state of Iowa are:
1. Iowa was at the forefront of desegregation in education. After the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Iowa acted swiftly to desegregate its schools, with most achieving full integration by 1960. This demonstrated Iowa's leadership on civil rights issues.
2. Iowa played a vital role in transforming the nation's agriculture. Advances in farming technology and techniques that originated from Iowa universities and farms, such as hybrid corn and contour plowing, allowed farms to become more productive. This boosted yields during a time of growing food demand.
3. The Iowa Writers' Workshop has been hugely influential. Since its founding in 1936, the prestigious University of Iowa program has produced nationally and internationally prominent writers like Flannery O’Connor, John Irving, and Marilynne Robinson. Its impact has been felt far beyond Iowa.
4. Grassroots activism has shaped Iowa’s politics. From the late 1800s, Iowa farmers organized into cooperatives and political lobbies. Such grassroots groups gave ordinary Iowans influence over legislation and policymaking on issues from agricultural subsidies to civil rights.
5. Iowa accepted refugees before most states. In 1975, Governor Ray welcomed Tai Dam refugees from Southeast Asia when few other states agreed to take them in. This set a precedent for Iowa being welcoming to later waves of refugees, upholding its progressive social values.
I aimed to highlight some of Iowa's most intriguing historical contributions while grounded in academic integrity. By mixing pivotal social, cultural, economic and political events, I feel this list provides depth and nuance to understanding this unique state. Please let me know if you would like me to elaborate or clarify anything.
Below is a list of the members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please support their work by sharing and subscribing.
Outstanding column, Kyle.