Paulin Hountondji (1942 – 2024) Philosopher And Politician

Paulin Hountondji (1942 – 2024) Philosopher And Politician Posted on Sunday, Mar 24, 2024 7:57AMSaturday, March 23, 2024 by Morgan Meis | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 4 days ago

Frans de Waal (1948 – 2024) Primatologist And Ethologist

Frans de Waal (1948 – 2024) Primatologist And Ethologist Posted on Sunday, Mar 24, 2024 7:55AMSaturday, March 23, 2024 by Morgan Meis | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 4 days ago

Lyn Hejinian (1941 – 2024) Poet Associated With ‘Language Poets’

Lyn Hejinian (1941 – 2024) Poet Associated With ‘Language Poets’ Posted on Sunday, Mar 24, 2024 7:52AMSaturday, March 23, 2024 by Morgan Meis | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 4 days ago

Carlo Rovelli on White Holes

Carlo Rovelli on White Holes Posted on Saturday, Mar 23, 2024 11:52AM by Morgan Meis | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 5 days ago

An Exquisite Biography of a Gilded Age Legend

Megan O’Grady at the New York Times: Bright, impetuous and obsessed with beautiful things, Isabella Stewart Gardner led a life out of a Gilded Age novel. Born into a wealthy New York family, she married into an even wealthier Boston one when she wed John Lowell Gardner in 1860, o … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 5 days ago

The Virtue of Slow Writers

Lauren Alwan at The Millions: The world can be impatient with slow writers. Nearly a decade after Jeffrey Eugenides published Middlesex, Dwight Garner wrote in The New York Times, “It has been a long, lonely vigil. We’d nearly forgotten he was out there.” Garner’s 2011 article, “ … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 5 days ago

‘Organising is the best kind of antidepressant’: Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix on solidarity

Amy Fleming in The Guardian: Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor’s new book, a galvanising examination of the history of solidarity and how we can use it today to shape a fair and sustainable future, was born out of friendship. But the pair are from distinctly different background … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 5 days ago

Does AI Understand Things?

Does AI Understand Things? Posted on Saturday, Mar 23, 2024 10:47AM by Robin Varghese | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 5 days ago

Civil Society’s Proper Place

Lee Siegel in the Ideas Letter, with a response from Jonas Rolett: Contrary to the old saw, history never repeats itself as farce. History is too high stakes ever to be considered a farce. Rather, historical trends disintegrate over time into fragments of pastiche. Consider the r … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 5 days ago

Parties and Movements

Sheri Berman, Andre Pagliarini, Zachariah Mampilly and Nick Serpe in Dissent: For many socialists, the classic political model comes from the left-wing parties grounded in workers’ movements that formed in Europe over a hundred years ago. Today, many of the left’s broadest goals, … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 5 days ago

Is Kevin Hart funny?

Travis Andrews in The Washington Post: Kevin Hart insists he’s never written a joke. Which is odd, because he’s this year’s recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Hart is one the most famous comedians alive, but comedy is a mere sliver of his portfolio. He’s a rest … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 5 days ago

Why Your Diet Needs More Fermented Pickles

Matt Fuchs in Time: Maybe you heard somewhere that pickles are a “superfood,” and dutifully added them to your shopping list. Unfortunately, you may reach for the wrong jar, because many pickles at supermarkets aren’t especially good for you. Scientists have made progress in sepa … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 5 days ago

Saturday Poem

Crossings -xxxii Running water never disappointed. Crossing water always favored something. Stepping stones were stations of the soul. A kesh could mean the track some called a causey Raised above the wetness of the bog. Or the causey where it bridged old drains and streams. It s … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 5 days ago

Come to 3 Quarks Daily’s 20th Anniversary Symposium/Fundraiser in the Italian Alps — NEW POSTS BELOW THIS

What can we do about the coming economic uncertainty due to AI? We’re talking about risk here, and how to deal with it. This is something Mark Blyth has been thinking about for some time. Happily, he does his thinking with a good deal of wit and a nice dash of charm to boot. Char … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 6 days ago

The fading memories of youth

Sarah Reardon in Science: You might think you remember taking a trip to Disneyland when you were 18 months old, or that time you had chickenpox when you were 2—but you almost certainly don’t. However real they may seem, your earliest treasured memories were probably implanted by … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 6 days ago

The Best of Trevor Noah on Netflix

The Best of Trevor Noah on Netflix Posted on Friday, Mar 22, 2024 5:59PM by Azra Raza | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 6 days ago

The Ghost of Gabriel García Márquez

Junot Díaz in the Boston Review: Gabo, as he is affectionately known by his fans, had the kind of impact that only a handful of artists in any century, in any genre, have ever achieved. No one better dramatized First World realism’s inability to cope with Third World reality (or … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 6 days ago

Michel Talagrand of France has credited a brush with blindness for leading to the work that resulted in his recognition by the math equivalent of the Nobel Prize

Kenneth Chang in the New York Times: As a 15-year-old, a month in the hospital helped spur his mathematical abilities. A decade earlier, he had gone blind in his right eye after the retina detached, the result of a genetic condition. Then the retina in his left eye detached too. … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 6 days ago

The Indian Giant Has Arrived

Mohamed A. El-Erian and Nobel-winner Michael Spence at Project Syndicate: India’s recent economic success, solid momentum, and promising prospects are making the country ever more influential both regionally and internationally. But the experience of other countries – most notabl … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 6 days ago

Dame Judi Dench’s Shakespeare Secrets

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@3quarksdaily.com | 6 days ago

Friday Poem

Leavings They sleep in one large room: Sonia, Tin, Zaida, Hectico, Roly. And I cut through Peralta’s Backyard to their tiny apartment, where at night Hectico and I find our way to the roof to count the stars. Zaida is almost fifteen, and Sonia and I take the bus downtown every Su … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 6 days ago

Paul Tillich’s Subtle Theology

Ted Farris at Aeon Magazine: One of the most difficult aspects of Tillich’s thought is the ambiguity that characterises much of his writing. Among the most puzzling and paradoxical ideas in his Systematic Theology (1951) is his statement that ‘God does not exist’ and that ‘to arg … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 7 days ago

A Dialogue with Carl Rogers and Paul Tillich

A Dialogue with Carl Rogers and Paul Tillich Posted on Thursday, Mar 21, 2024 4:17PMThursday, March 21, 2024 by Morgan Meis | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 7 days ago

The Last Crimes Of Caravaggio

Michael Prodger at the New Statesman: In May 1606, Caravaggio’s rackety life caught up with him. He already had a long list of misdemeanours against his name. He had been twice arrested for carrying a sword without a permit; put on trial by the Roman authorities for writing scurr … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 7 days ago

Tales From an Attic

Sierra Bellows in The American Scholar: In February 1995, New York Governor George Pataki announced plans to close the Willard Asylum for the Insane, a state-run institution that opened in 1869 on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake. Portions of the hospital would be converted into … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 7 days ago

Radioactive waste, baby bottles and Spam: the deep ocean has become a dumping ground

James Bradley in The Guardian: The discovery of animals around hydrothermal vents has led to a dramatic broadening of our understanding of the sorts of environments in which life can survive. This has significant implications for the search for extraterrestrial life – if life thr … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 7 days ago

Coleman Hughes on Colorblindness

Yascha Mounk and Coleman Hughes in Persuasion: Coleman Hughes: I think there’s a lot of people that might agree with some points I make about the prevalence of racism, the decline of racism, but they might think, “Well, what’s the harm in exaggerating racism a little bit? I can s … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 7 days ago

Andy Clark: How the brain shapes reality

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@3quarksdaily.com | 7 days ago

It’s Dante’s Hell—We’re Just Living In It

Nick Ripatrazone in Humanities: The Latin renders to “who is blessed for ever” and concludes an enigmatic, brief paragraph. First published in 1294, La Vita Nuova is a tantalizing prelude to the Florentine poet’s masterpiece, La Commedia, known today as The Divine Comedy. For cen … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 7 days ago

Why Do We Age?

Dana Smith in The New York Times: According to some estimates, consumers spend $62 billion a year on “anti-aging” treatments. But while creams, hair dyes and Botox can give the impression of youth, none of them can roll back the hands of time. Scientists are working to understand … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 7 days ago

Thursday Poem

Love is not Concerned Love is not concerned with whom you pray or where you slept the night you ran away from home love is concerned that the beating of your heart should kill no one. by Allice Walker from Her Blue Body Everything We Know Harvest Books, 1998 | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 7 days ago

Between machine and eye

Morgan Meis at The Easel: This photograph is the kind of photograph you’d throw away. If you’re working with a digital camera, you would immediately delete it. It’s a disaster. Trash it and move on. There’s a big metal bar in the middle of the shot. It must be from a gate or some … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

It’s Time to Reinvent the Rape Kit

Pagan Kennedy in Undark: I’ve spent the last five years digging deep into the history of American crime forensics, writing a widely read 2020 New York Times story about the origins of the rape kit and interviewing people for a forthcoming book. I’ve learned that the rape kit is t … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

How Capitalism Became a Threat to Democracy

Mordecai Kurz at Project Syndicate: Does free-market capitalism buttress democracy, or does it unleash anti-democratic forces? This question first emerged in the Age of Enlightenment, when capitalism was viewed optimistically and welcomed as a vehicle of liberation from the rigid … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

Geoffrey West: The Simplicity, Unity and Complexity of Life

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@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

Frans de Waal remembered for bringing apes ‘a little closer to humans’

Carol Clark at the website of Emory University: Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal — who pioneered studies of animal cognition while also writing best-selling books that helped popularize the field around the globe — passed away March 14, 2024, from stomach cancer. De W … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

Wednesday Poem

The Lark. The Thrush. The Starling. —Poems from Issa -excerpt In the next life, butterfly, a thousand years from now, we’ll sit like this again under the tree in the dust, hearing it, this great thing ~~~~ I sit in my room. Outside, haze. The whole world is haze and I can’t figur … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

Dunes aren’t just for sand worms. Here’s why they matter on Earth

Allyson Chiu in The Washington Post: The famed coastal dunes that inspired the shifting sand landscape of the desert planet Arrakis in Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel “Dune” are also under siege — from climate change and human development. Like many beaches around the world … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

These ‘movies’ of proteins in action are revealing the hidden biology of cells

Ewen Callaway in Nature: Since the 1950s, scientists have had a pretty good idea of how muscles work. The protein at the centre of the action is myosin, a molecular motor that ratchets itself along rope-like strands of actin proteins — grasping, pulling, releasing and grasping ag … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

James Baldwin At The Centennial

Lawrence Weschler and Rich Blint at Wondercabinet: Weschler: It’s interesting in this context, you mentioned a second ago Giovanni’s Room, where part of the story is clearly about a deeply closeted white figure, an American in Paris, who gets involved with somebody who is clearly … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

James Baldwin’s Another Country with Rich Blint

James Baldwin’s Another Country with Rich Blint Posted on Wednesday, Mar 20, 2024 8:01AMWednesday, March 20, 2024 by Morgan Meis | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

17th-Century Dildo Shopping with the Ladies

Annabelle Hirsch at Lit Hub: Set out in search of the history of women’s relationship with sex and you will—with a bit of luck—find a very amusing engraving from the seventeenth century lurking in the shallows of the internet. It shows three young women standing at a sales counte … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 8 days ago

Come to 3 Quarks Daily’s 20th Anniversary Symposium/Fundraiser in the Italian Alps — NEW POSTS BELOW THIS

What can we do about the coming economic uncertainty due to AI? We’re talking about risk here, and how to deal with it. This is something Mark Blyth has been thinking about for some time. Happily, he does his thinking with a good deal of wit and a nice dash of charm to boot. Char … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 9 days ago

Heloise and Abelard

Morgan Meis at Slant Books: It is one of the great love stories of history and therefore inherently interesting because who isn’t interested in a great love story? Actually, it is a terrible love story as well. That is also what makes it interesting. The love part of the love sto … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 9 days ago

Frans de Waal (RIP) and the Origins of War

John Horgan at his own website: I interviewed de Waal in 2007 while researching my book The End of War. At the time, high-profile scientists were promoting the notion that humans are genetically predisposed to war. As evidence, they cited the violence of our closest genetic relat … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 9 days ago

Frans de Waal: The surprising science of alpha males

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@3quarksdaily.com | 9 days ago

Acclaimed primatologist Frans de Waal dies at 75

Editor’s Note: I never met Frans in person but we exchanged scores of emails and he even wrote for 3QD for a while. He was, in addition to being one of the most distinguished scientists of our time, a brilliant writer and explicator of difficult science. He will be very much miss … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 9 days ago

Tuesday Poem

Portrait of a Romantic He is in love with the land that is always over The next hill and the next, with the bird that is never Caught, with the room beyond the looking-glass. He likes the half-hid, the half-heard, the half-lit, The man in the fog, the road without an ending, Stra … | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 9 days ago