Beyond Intractability in Context Blog
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Posts ordered from most recent to earliest.
- For a time when our attention is dominated by the many issues that divide us, reflections on shared values that can help to bring us back together. -- Rediscovering Our Shared American Values -- Feb 18
- A thoughtful argument that widespread efforts to enforce increasingly aggressive changes in the use of language are making things worse rather than better. -- Inclusive or Alienating? The Language Wars Go On -- Feb 17
- For those who might think that spending money on a social problem means that we are getting closer to a solution, a reminder that the "industrial complex" effect applies to much more than the military. -- The Anti-Gun Violence Hustle -- Feb 17
- The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how very far we are from being able to sensibly and effectively respond to such crises. We simply have to do better and this article explains why we have to hurry. -- An Even Deadlier Pandemic Could Soon Be Here -- Feb 17
- Reflections on what the abandonment of objectivity would mean for academia (and society's ability to solve problems where solutions depend on true, not politically convenient, understanding). -- The Approaching Disintegration of Academia -- Feb 16
- A critical response to ongoing calls for media to abandon the quest for objectivity in favor of solidarity with progressive worldviews. -- How to Destroy (What’s Left of) the Mainstream Media’s Credibility -- Feb 16
- This thoughtful essay reminds us of what the social sciences could learn if they would aside political advocacy and objectively study our problems. -- What Economics (and Sociology) ought to be -- Feb 15
- A report on a major new inquiry into the mainstream media's trustworthiness crisis and a disturbing argument that the solution is to abandon objectivity and the telling of both sides of a story. -- Newsrooms that move beyond ‘objectivity’ can build trust -- Feb 15
- Noncompete clauses, especially for low and middle income workers, represent a kind of modern day indentured servitude. Hopeful news about efforts to ban the practice. -- Banning noncompete clauses would be an economic game changer -- Feb 15
- A look at a continuum between two very different ways of responding to outrageous and indefensible acts and reflections on how our politics affects our response. -- ‘Bad Apples’ or Systemic Issues? -- Feb 14
- Sound advice for young people thinking about how to fit into a world in which artificial intelligence technologies are going to do things that we used to think only highly educated people could do. -- In the Age of A.I., Major in Being Human -- Feb 13
- From Syria (before the earthquake) a heart wrenching story about the kind of dystopia that authoritarianism and civil war can produce (and another argument for fixing our politics). -- Go See What Happened to My City, Then You’ll Know How I Am -- Feb 13
- An update on the increasingly sad plight of Great Britain three years after Brexit's implementation. And, a cautionary tale for those considering sudden and radical social and political changes. -- Blankets, Food Banks, and Shuttered Pubs: Brexit Has Delivered a Broken Britain -- Feb 12
- A review of what political scientists see as the likely efficacy of the Democratic political strategy of emphasizing racial differences (and assuming near monolithic support from nonwhites). -- How Much Longer Can ‘Vote Blue No Matter Who!’ Last? -- Feb 12
- From the onset, it was clear that the Ukrainians, the Russians, and the West would almost anything to avoid losing. We are getting closer to the point where we find out what "almost anything" means. -- Year Two of the Ukraine War Is Going to Get Scary -- Feb 11
- For a time in which many people believe that radical social and political changes are the only way in which we can address our problems, a persuasive argument for a slower and more careful approach. -- Three Cheers For Gradualism -- The case for incremental change in a radical age. -- Feb 11
- For those trying to understand where A.I. might be taking us, a look at the nature of "intelligence" and the potential of the new technologies. -- Does the Textual Corpus for Large Language Models Have Enough Information to Train an AGI? -- Feb 08
- An argument that universities should focus less on being safe and nurturing and more on preparing students for a world of controversy and conflict in which things do not always go well. -- Life is Inherently Uncomfortable -- Feb 07
- An eye-opening look at the evolutionary history of humanity and the processes that selected for egalitarianism. -- Reverse Dominance Hierarchies -- Feb 07
- We need to do more than complain about the power of big tech. Here is somebody who's trying to find a way to control that power. Who can improve on these ideas? -- Congress Must Halt Big Tech’s Power Grab -- Feb 06
- A look at a little recognized but, quite probably, major threat to human society – the collapse of fertility rates. -- Five Rules for an Aging World -- Feb 06
- An example of somebody who is trying to come up with realistic ways of limiting the downsides of A.I while enjoying the upsides. -- I’m a Congressman Who Codes. A.I. Freaks Me Out. -- Feb 05
- As the war in Iraq slides further into history, we now have a chance to reflect on articles like this that offer a more detached and objective account of events (and lessons for the future). -- What Really Took America to War in Iraq -- Feb 05
- A compelling argument for strengthening the teaching of "civics" -- the underlying commonality that binds together US democracy's diverse citizenry. -- We Need a National Civics Requirement -- Feb 04
- A persuasive argument that universities should not, as institutions, take political positions -- positions that cut off critically needed debate on important social issues. -- When colleges take political positions, they show who isn’t wanted -- Feb 03
