Aliens and America’s Crisis in Meaning
The Center - “What gives? Why are people so eager to believe wild tales despite a lack of hard, clear evidence?” 8/20/2023

Mark Goldblatt and the Art of Persuasion
Criticism - “I cannot argue with his characterization of Foucault, Derrida, and Barthes as a ‘triumvirate of stooges,’ but with me, he is preaching to the choir. How will he convince the postmodernists?” 8/16/2023

The Atheist Movement Has One Job
The Center - “This is the atheist movement’s one job: to help people navigate the world and find meaning, purpose, and community in a society that has long depended on a god-belief for these ends.” 7/27/2023

Doing the Woke
Personal Essay - “The more these women agreed to be shamed for their ‘whiteness,’ the more I wondered why doing so made them feel ethical. Feeling shame makes nobody ethical. Just uncomfortable.” 7/26/2023

Review: “Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang
Criticism - “Yellowface has its strengths. Kuang is terrific when parodying the loathsome impulses of social media and book reviewers. She also offers wisdom about the publishing industry and the inner life of a writer.” 7/21/2023

Plato and the Pursuit of Justice
The Center - “Those who do not make justice the central concern for Plato are not talking about Plato at all.” 7/11/2023

Could AI Become Angry at Humans for Causing Environmental Destruction?
The Center - “With artificial general intelligence (AGI) likely just decades away, there is an urgent need to consider the extent of environmental harm we are causing. AGI will likely question if humans are good stewards of the planet and quickly come to the conclusion that we are not.” 7/10/2023

Clay Routledge: Breaking Ground in Psychology, Outside of the Academy
The Center - “Regulating your own emotions is something most people are capable of doing…It doesn’t require you constantly expressing [a problem], thinking about it, [and] sharing it with everyone…There’s something about not fixating too much on your own problems and really dwelling on them but, instead, doing something.” 7/7/2023

Why “Longtermism” Needs Anti-Aging Science to Succeed
The Center - “Assuming anti-aging science shows results, then all of those hypothetical people living way off in the distant future may include some of us. And if that is the case, then people alive today have a practical, personal reason to care how our current actions impact the future.” 7/6/2023

Is the “Convenience Economy” Worth the Pain It Can Inflict?
The Left - “We live in a world where every conceivable product or service is instantly accessible.” 6/26/2023
