The Perils of ‘Innovator’ Mindset

“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


@currentaffairs.org | 10 months ago

The great mystery of our times: Why does anyone take seriously people who are so obviously full of it?

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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

We Live In The Age of The Bullshitter ❧ Current Affairs

We 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


@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

Why You Hate Your Job

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

NPR Is Not Your Friend

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

Defective Altruism

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

Lancet’s Covid Chair: US Gov Is Preventing Investigation into Pandemic's Origin

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

Jeffrey Sachs is pretty convinced Covid-19 came out of a biotech lab

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

The Dangerous Populist Science of Yuval Noah Harari

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

The Dangerous Populist Science of Yuval Noah Harari

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

The Libertarian Case for Abortion

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

The Strange and Terrifying Ideas of Neoreactionaries

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

The People's Tramp

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

The Strange and Terrifying Ideas of Neoreactionaries

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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@currentaffairs.org | 1 year ago

Noam Chomsky on How to Prevent World War III

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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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

Why Doesn’t California Solve Its Housing Crisis by Building Some New Cities?

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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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

Can We Have an Intelligent Adult Conversation About Russia?

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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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

On Experiencing Joe Rogan

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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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

Will Geoengineering Kill Us or Save Us?

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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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

Where the Gay Things Are

Gay marriage was a victory, we’re told—but a victory for what?

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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

The Dangerous Ideas of “Longtermism” and “Existential Risk”

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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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

Surely We Can Do Better Than Elon Musk

Getting past the cult of Genius and the bleakness of capitalist futurism.

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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

Professor Elizabeth Anderson on Workplace Democracy and Feminist Philosophy

A fulfilling life requires more than a certain amount of stuff—people also need control over decisions that affect them.

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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

We’re Not Alone in the Universe

Aliens are almost certainly out there. Let’s hope they’re not like us.

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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

The Stakes of Finding Covid-19’s Origins

Everyone in the U.S. should want to know whether U.S.-funded research could have caused the pandemic.

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@currentaffairs.org | 2 years ago

When is the revolution in architecture coming?

We need to build places we can’t stop looking at. It will involve lots of plants.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

Humanity Does Not Need Bill Gates

On everything from climate change to global health, the billionaire tycoon is a study in shamelessness.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

Libertarian Rex

How “the king” of St. Louis was defeated—for now—and how you too can topple your local hometown billionaire.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

Cryptocurrency Is a Giant Fraud

Speculators might make money on it, but the arguments for its usefulness fail completely.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

How the Media Cracks Down on Critics of Israel

I was fired as a newspaper columnist after I joked about U.S. military aid to Israel on social media.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

Data shows socialism works (2019)

People are better off to the extent that they live under democratic socialism.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

QAnon and the Fragility of Truth

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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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

The Grift of Online Entrepreneurship

Don’t like getting underpaid for your work? Hypercapitalist Instagram meme pages can help.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

Amazon Destroys the Intellectual Justifications for Capitalism

Amazon is becoming a giant private government with the power to direct the economy.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

Wendell Potter on How the Health Insurance Industry Manipulates Public Opinion

The former Cigna executive on how corporations protect their profits by lying to Americans about single-payer healthcare.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

The Sophist and The Magician, Understanding how we can be manipulated

Understanding how we can be manipulated helps us pull back the curtain on charlatans and can even protect democracy.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

SEO Is Gentrifying the Internet

Discover the one weird trick that’s ruining everything you love about being online.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

The Royal Jelly Problem of Modern Workplaces

In which predetermining the success of a few leaves the vast majority neglected and bound for failure.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

You Are Not Free to Move Out of the Country

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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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

Debt Strike, Employee-Owned Businesses, and Other Surprisingly Simple Tech Fixes

With over 44 million Americans in student loan debt, we may well be each other’s greatest resource.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

How to Pretend That You Are Smart

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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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

The political economy of bullshit.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

How to Pretend That You Are Smart (Featuring PG)

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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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

The Right-Wing Myth of the Left-Wing Mob

Trump is spreading delusions about a totalitarian “political correctness gone mad.” Nobody should help further this lie.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

Can We Save Facebook?

Is social media irredeemable? Or is capitalism, once again, the real villain?

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

Our concept of “development” is destructive and irrational

Our concept of “development” is destructive and irrational. It must be abandoned.

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@currentaffairs.org | 3 years ago

It’s Basically Just Immoral to Be Rich (2017)

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@currentaffairs.org | 4 years ago

WeWork and the Scam Economy

What the fall of WeWork tells us about the unicorn economy and worker exploitation.

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@currentaffairs.org | 4 years ago