With “Common Sense,” published 250 years ago this month, Thomas Paine was just getting started.
Category: Bibliography
NYTimes: Trump’s Second Term Has Ended the Conservative Era
Trump’s Second Term Has Ended the Conservative Era www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/opinion/donald-trump-conservatism-nationalism.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
AI’s Memorization Crisis
***** How the Supreme Court Broke Congress
******* NYTimes.com: The Liberal Order Can’t Heal Itself
The Liberal Order Can’t Heal Itself
Our problems run deeper than debates about affordability.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/opinion/liberalism-postliberalism-affordability.html?smid=em-share
******** The Dark Psychology of Social Networks. From 2019
***** Reading Is a Vice
“When literature was considered transgressive, moralists couldn’t get people to stop buying and reading dangerous books,” Adam Kirsch writes. “Now that books are considered virtuous and edifying, moralists can’t persuade anyone to pick one up”:
****** Aphoristic Intelligence Beats Artificial Intelligence
“At a time when polarization is so amped up, aphorisms can serve as psychological circuit breakers, interrupting our comfortable assumptions and prodding us to open our minds, unclench our fists, and think for ourselves,” @JamesGeary argues: