Of cultural interest
-
Rome redux
As I noted, I was in Rome last week for a day-long workshop (which was great), but also had an opportunity to be a tourist. My wife and I have been to Rome at least four times over the last 30+ years, so we long ago exhausted the “obvious” attractions. Here’s three we saw last…
-
“What if mental disorders aren’t defects”?
Philosopher Justin Garson has a new substack, which draws on his published work on these topics.
-
AI takes down “effective [sic] altruism” (and longtermism)
Produced, according to the author, with the help of advancedd LLMs, “Sol” and “Astra”: be mediscover effective altruismapparently normal charity is inefficientwhy donate to random sad thing when spreadsheet can tell you optimal sad thingfair enoughbuy mosquito netssave livesnumbers look goodfeel powerful couple years latersomeone asks an innocent questionwhy only count people alive todayhuhfuture people…
-
On the current “polycrisis” confronting wealthy capitalist democracies
Like the American Randall Collins, the German sociologist Wolfgang Streeck is a keen observer of the current situation, without too many illusions, and with a plausible analytical framework. An excerpt: Under an increasingly undemocratic capitalism, the countries of the rich world all confront a similar bundle of crises that have sprung up more or less…
-
Welcome to Rutgers! (Welcome to any serious university)
Via Alex Guerrero on FB, I came across this well-done “welcome” address by Rutgers President William Tate (it’s called “My Hopes for You,” September 8, in case it gets displaced by other “community messages” on the linked page). He even works in Dolly Parton, and in a nice way. Anyone starting college should read it.
-
Bureaucracy, capitalism, AI, and climate change
Reader Howard Berman called my attention awhile ago to this fascinating essay by sociologist Randall Collins, which I recommend to everyone looking for some informed “big picture” analyses of what we face. He makes many astute observations: for example, that LLMs produce “not a human-like intelligence at all but a statistical memory bank which estimates…
-
The declining “labor share” of income
A central forecast of Marx’s was that capitalism would produce technological innovations that would displace human labor, gradually immiserating those who have only their labor power to sell. Marx thought this would happen much sooner than it actually has, but it has started to happen. We discussed this in Chapter IV of our Marx, including,…
-
Profiles in real courage: Florimond “Duke” DuSossoit
He parachuted into Nazi-occupied Hungary, in order to be captured and then fool the Nazis into thinking the allied invasion was coming in the Balkans. It worked. (Thanks to Jason Bell for the pointer.)
-
Israel is now bad for the Jews
A more nuanced assessment (than my title) from UCLA professor Dov Waxman: 1. We must unequivocally condemn antisemitic acts against Jews and not make excuses for those who commit them. 2. We also need to acknowledge that Israel’s actions fuel much (but not all) of the anger and hatred directed against Jews nowadays. 3. Conflating…
-
Carney, Trump and Tariffs
An amusing assessment from an anonymous Australian.
-
Tyler Harper on the Arday affair…
…at The Atlantic, and worth reading.
-
If Abdul El-Sayd is smart and articulate, Francesca Hong (who, fortunately, lost the primary for Governor in Wisconsin)… (UPDATED)
…is not so much–she comes across as more like a flaky teenager. Someone who thinks the police “promote white supremacy” is not a serious person of the left. And her Twitter blather about Thanksgiving et al. is just embarrassing. Fortunately, the Milwaukee County Executive, David Crowley, prevailed (despite polls showing Hong with a big lead).…
-
El-Sayd, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan…
He is obviously smart and articulate, and it serves him well given the “shit” being thrown at him. And here’s a good ad that’s running: I’m worried, to be sure, how anti-Muslim and anti-Arab prejudice will affect the vote, but he seems like a skillful politician, so let’s hope he can pull it off.
-
On appeal, employment tribunal affirms that “anti-Zionism” is a protected “philosophical belief” under UK law
We noted the case of Professor Miller at the University of Bristol a couple of years ago. The appeals tribunal has now concurred with the lower tribunal’s ruling that “anti-Zionism” is protected under the UK Equality Law (see paragraphs 132 ff. in the opinion). (Thanks to Joe Cairns for the pointer.)
-
Umberto Eco on the Internet
Yes indeed: “The tragedy of the Internet is that it has elevated the village idiot to the status of a bearer of truth.” “Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak—people who once only talked at the bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community. They were quickly silenced. Now they…
As an international student, I honestly don’t know how good an indicator the GRE is, at least for students whose…