What’s Alphabet Agency about?
I’m all about celebrating the ability of humans to organize themselves to build The Good Life (TM). But the question before us is: how do we do it, and how can we make sure we organize ourselves to guarantee the good life for the future?
My gut instinct is that there will be something for everyone here. I come from both the STEM and legislative/economics/public policy worlds, and my worldview is constantly refracted through each of these prisms. Wrestling with real analysis proofs and perusing the United States Code of Federal Regulations are both wonderfully entertaining to me. How Bell Labs and the Chinese state under Empress Wu Zetian (武則天) were organized in their day, and what insights they provide for us today, are intriguing questions. Prognosticating the effects of climate change-induced extreme weather on maritime trade and grid reliability is important, and it will take strong institutions to mitigate these risks. The world is complicated, and I (we!) can’t stay siloed to understand it.
My style modulates between the hyper-abstract to the infinitesimally granular. Quantitative data arguments and colorful graphs and animations will be profuse, and nothing beats FRED. But I also love the broad strokes of the longue durée approach to history and politics to the über-technical and -niche like Morton Horowitz’s discussion of the development of arbitration law in maritime commercial litigation during the 1790’s of the young American Republic.
How do I viscerally communicate this? Growing up in the late nineties and the aughts, I was an idealistic kid. I have a distinct memory of playing Pokémon Pearl as an 11-year-old, making it to the Battle Tower in the endgame, and being invigorated by the most triumphant track of music I know in the canon of video game OSTs. A gut feeling inside of me thought, if the future is great and optimistic, this is its tune. The burden (and fun!) is on us to realize that future.
As for the name of this publication? It’s my hat tilt to the alphabet agencies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal era. None of which is to say that this will be a publication exclusively towards the deciphering of U.S. government alphabet soup — although I suspect a great deal of my writing will serve this end.
Rather, alphabet agency represents to me the sheer fortitude and ingenuity of people solving problems together. We need more of that.
About David
David A. Lee (he/him) is an independent researcher, with investigative endeavors ranging between atmospheric and ocean physics, legal institutionalism and political economy, and applied statistics in the physical and social sciences. Most recently, he was an Adjunct Professor of Economics at the Adelphi University Robert B. Willumstad School of Business. In past lives, he has held roles as eclectic as Legislative Director to New York State Assemblymember Ron Kim, Research Intern at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and a Teaching Artist at the New York Philharmonic.
His work in New York State government and politics has been featured in national and local journalism outlets such as The American Prospect, The Guardian, New York Focus, The Christian Science Monitor, and Singtao Daily. Additionally, he has presented original legal and science research at venues like Yale Law School, the American Bar Association Section on Labor and Employment Law, and the Microsoft Technology Center in New York City. Lee’s media appearances include the Netflix-acclaimed documentary Knock Down The House (2019) and For Whom the Alarm Sounds (2022).
He is based in Queens, New York, where happily enjoys collecting LEGO® minifigures, reading vintage books, and cooking (like the misshapen rainbow mille crêpe cake pictured).
All writings, opinions, and offenses are the author’s responsibility and burden alone, and are completely nonrepresentative of those of his current and past employers.
Contact: dal.alpha.agency [at] gmail.com
