People don’t have proper names; they are marked by a combination of letters and numbers, like the inmates of Nazi camps. They wear identical clothes, their hair is uniformly shorn, their food is synthetic and purely utilitarian, and their homes are identical and transparent. - The New Yorker
If biology can innately limit the mind of a cat, could we humans, also creatures of nature, be subject to a similar destiny? Could nature predispose us to innately hold certain notions and ignore others? Worse yet, could biology conceal from us who we are? - Psyche
Optimization cannot reconcile people’s conflicting world views. Though conflict has always been the meat of politics, political differences today mean that people not only disagree over solutions and precise settings of valuation parameters; they also clash over the fundamental terms. - Boston Review
In the old college system there were lists of books that every student was supposed to study—a canon. The canon was the curriculum. In the modern university, students elect their courses and choose their majors. That is the system the great books were designed for use in. The great books are outside the regular curriculum. - The New Yorker
We consistently see that longer education does raise our cognitive abilities: a person’s IQ gains one to five points for each additional year of education. The evidence also suggests these effects aren’t just flashes in the pan: they last throughout our lives. - The Guardian
Although the term is less than 400 years old, the phenomenon of propaganda is far older. The pyramids of Egypt, to take one example, are propagandistic, attesting to the power of the Pharaohs who could enslave thousands of people to erect them. - 3 Quarks Daily
It's said to be a “quasi-successor to the Internet,” with comparable impact and importance, that will give users an individual “presence.” - The Walrus
Regardless of whether we call our time “postmodern” or “neoliberal,” the present feels ripe for a more widespread understanding of the dialectical relationship between culture and politics—our lifestyles, beliefs, preferences, and tastes, on the one hand, and the material circumstances of our lives, on the other. - The Nation
"I think what happens in virtual worlds can, in principle, be very significant. You can build a meaningful life in a virtual world. We can get into deep social and political discussions and decisions about the shape of society in a virtual world." - The New York Times
Sorry to the Sudoku fans (not that it hurts to do Sudoku, or crosswords, for that matter) - but what makes people smarter is working on problems together. - Slate
No one really knows. "I have many ideas for how we might improve democracy in the United States, but it is genuinely difficult for me to envision the path from A to B, from the status quo ... to something more equal and inclusive." - The New York Times
Or at least some of us have, according to the reaction to a New Yorker profile of actor Jeremy Strong. There's "a sense that the emperor’s method nudity has finally been exposed for what it is: pretentious, performative, narcissistic nonsense." - The Guardian (UK)
In a higher education system financed mostly by tuition dollars, the customer is king. Colleges and universities have become full-service lifestyle stations, competing for students. But why is everyone is somehow finding their best selves in really nice gyms, dormitories, and dining halls? - Liberties Journal
“I would love to have a robot load up dishes into my dishwasher, and I’d love to have a robot clean my house,” says Zador, but we are far from making such helpful assistants. When it comes to household chores, we’re at the level of Roomba. - Nautilus
The challenge for the neoliberals was—how do you design institutions that safeguard the rights of property over borders, in an era when everyone is talking about national sovereignty, self-determination, and democracy in ways that might invalidate or cross out universal property rights? - Strelka
