“It’s not surprising the WSJ is disinclined to entertain the real lesson of the story: that confident idiots who think regulation is for cowards can end up getting themselves killed, and taking innocent people with them.” #Society [Link] | Continue reading
The great mystery of our times: Why does anyone take seriously people who are so obviously full of it?
| Continue readingWe also have a culture in which arrogance is rewarded rather than kept in check, and people can see that with enough shameless bluster you might become the richest person in the world or the president of the United States. There is no quick fix for the problem—if I offered one, I … | Continue reading
A theory on the function of bullshit jobs: to maintain the illusion of meritocracy and to provide status and prestige for elites.
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National Public Radio began as a scrappy institution featuring the voices of average Americans. Today it’s a sterile, inoffensive corporate product that is produced, funded, and consumed by a narrow demographic of highly educated liberals.
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Socialism is the most effective altruism. Who needs anything else? The repugnant philosophy of “Effective Altruism” offers nothing to movements for global justice.
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Prof. Jeffrey Sachs says he is “pretty convinced [COVID-19] came out of US lab biotechnology” and warns that there is dangerous virus research taking place without public oversight.
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Prof. Jeffrey Sachs says he is “pretty convinced [COVID-19] came out of US lab biotechnology” and warns that there is dangerous virus research taking place without public oversight.
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The best-selling author is a gifted storyteller and popular speaker. But he sacrifices science for sensationalism, and his work is riddled with errors.
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The best-selling author is a gifted storyteller and popular speaker. But he sacrifices science for sensationalism, and his work is riddled with errors.
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As a libertarian, you should cheer when federal protections expand your rights and choices, and be concerned when they limit them. The latest Supreme Court decision over abortion decreases freedom and choice.
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Author Elizabeth Sandifer explains the dangerous ideas of the far-right neoreactionaries, who have ties to Silicon Valley and a hostility toward democracy.
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Charlie Chaplin’s films are insightful explorations of poverty, homelessness, and the callous moneyed classes. They also show cinema’s capacity to act as a small empathy-generating machine.
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Author Elizabeth Sandifer explains the dangerous ideas of the far-right neoreactionaries, who have ties to Silicon Valley and a hostility toward democracy.
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The eminent scholar on the worsening threat of nuclear warfare, how to end the war in Ukraine, the self-justifying myths propagated by imperial powers, why the Global South finds American moralizing laughable, and more.
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Around the world, when cities are overcrowded, governments have orchestrated the building of new cities. In the U.S., this seems absurd or utopian. Why?
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We should simultaneously condemn Putin’s criminal war of aggression and be careful not to slip into arrogant insanity ourselves. Wars bring out the worst in all sides, and creating a world without war will require the United States to be self-critical rather than self-righteous.
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The popular podcaster holds some ugly reactionary views and needs to do more research before he speaks. But his audience are people that leftists should want to persuade, and trying to stifle him will likely backfire. What we need is better, more trustworthy media.
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Geoengineering has been touted as the smart tech solution to climate change, or decried as a dangerous mistake. But which is it? Could it be that the answer is more complicated than we think?
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Gay marriage was a victory, we’re told—but a victory for what?
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So-called rationalists have created a disturbing secular religion that looks like it addresses humanity’s deepest problems, but actually justifies pursuing the social preferences of elites.
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Getting past the cult of Genius and the bleakness of capitalist futurism.
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A fulfilling life requires more than a certain amount of stuff—people also need control over decisions that affect them.
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Aliens are almost certainly out there. Let’s hope they’re not like us.
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Everyone in the U.S. should want to know whether U.S.-funded research could have caused the pandemic.
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We need to build places we can’t stop looking at. It will involve lots of plants.
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On everything from climate change to global health, the billionaire tycoon is a study in shamelessness.
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How “the king” of St. Louis was defeated—for now—and how you too can topple your local hometown billionaire.
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Speculators might make money on it, but the arguments for its usefulness fail completely.
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I was fired as a newspaper columnist after I joked about U.S. military aid to Israel on social media.
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People are better off to the extent that they live under democratic socialism.
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How can people fervently believe in something so transparently flimsy, and how do we preserve our connection to reality in a world of informational chaos?
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Don’t like getting underpaid for your work? Hypercapitalist Instagram meme pages can help.
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Amazon is becoming a giant private government with the power to direct the economy.
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The former Cigna executive on how corporations protect their profits by lying to Americans about single-payer healthcare.
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Understanding how we can be manipulated helps us pull back the curtain on charlatans and can even protect democracy.
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Discover the one weird trick that’s ruining everything you love about being online.
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In which predetermining the success of a few leaves the vast majority neglected and bound for failure.
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An American passport isn’t worth what it used to be—but it’s also never opened as many doors as you might’ve thought.
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With over 44 million Americans in student loan debt, we may well be each other’s greatest resource.
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There is a difference between assertion and argument, but a lot of highly credentialed people do not notice when they’re just stating their prejudices rather than proving anything.
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The political economy of bullshit.
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There is a difference between assertion and argument, but a lot of highly credentialed people do not notice when they’re just stating their prejudices rather than proving anything.
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Trump is spreading delusions about a totalitarian “political correctness gone mad.” Nobody should help further this lie.
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Is social media irredeemable? Or is capitalism, once again, the real villain?
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Our concept of “development” is destructive and irrational. It must be abandoned.
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What the fall of WeWork tells us about the unicorn economy and worker exploitation.
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