Newsletter #476 — July 30, 2026

by Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess

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Highlighted Links

A few suggestions about links that we think are especially interesting.

• Trust / Trust Earning
  Six-Chart Sunday – All Trust is Local, 2026 — An intriguing compilation of charts and statistics on one of the most important aspects aspects of society --the presence or absence of trust.
• Superpower Conflict
  Russia and America Are Rediscovering the Limits of Nuclear Weapons — First, the good news: The military utility of nuclear weapons is extremely limited. The bad news is that these limits are opening the door to other potentially devastating types of warfare.
• Progressive Left
  The Resistance’s favorite poker metaphor makes no sense — Thoughts about whether the emerging conflict between Democratic Socialists and the rest of the Democratic Party will overwhelm the larger conflict between Democrats and Trump-era Republicans.
• Social / Economic Complexity
  America's political economy is pretty bleak right now — An essay that explores the contradiction between the United States' apparently booming economy and its dismal politics.
• The Hyper-Polarization Threat
  Our Never-Ending Race to the Bottom — Thoughts on an all-important mystery: why is it that the dynamics of political competition are pushing us toward an ever more dysfunctional (and increasingly unpopular) government?
• Family / Gender / LBGTQ+
  Explaining Sex to an Anthropologist — The stunning report on the ways in which gender orthodoxies are taking precedence over traditional academic values in the field of anthropology.
• Developing a Unifying Vision
  Liberalism, Heal Thyself — Hard questions for liberals lamenting the decline of Western democracy (and they're diminishing political influence).
• Progressive Left
  Meanwhile, Among The Democrats ... — One perspective on the emerging fight for control of the Democratic Party -- a fight that, in many ways, resembles the fight between Donald Trump supporters and old line Republicans.
• Communication Complexity
  The Death of History — In the context of contemporary antisemitism, reflections on the way in which algorithms and artificial intelligence have sacrificed truth on the altar of spectacle.
• Civic Education
  Teach Your Children to Love Reading: Why It Matters More than Ever — A welcome call for parents and educators to teach the next generation about the wondrous window into the human spirit that reading provides.
• Developing a Unifying Vision
  A Guide to a Muscular Liberalism — For a time when liberal democracy is struggling to defend itself from populists on the left and right, thoughts on how to defend democracy more effectively.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  That One Time Israel Tried to Help Gaza — A story about a forgotten history (from not that long ago) when there was a serious plan for building a vibrant prosperous Gaza that lived in peace with Israel (and why that plan failed).
• Class Inequity
  I have never been working class — Honest and thoughtful reflections on the vast gulf that exists between society's working classes and its professional and managerial elites.

Colleague Activities

Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.

• Theories of Change
  From Protest to Policy — The next generation of civic technology isn’t about amplifying voices. It’s about helping societies make better decisions together.
• Networking
  Thinking Like a Network 2.0 — Networks are different from coalitions, collaboratives, or alliances. This article explains how networks are different, and why that matters for social change.
• Constructive Communication
  Clip Compilation on Courageous Citizenship for 2026 National Convention — A diverse group of speakers explain why they think that "courageous citizenship" is so important.
• Superpower Conflict
  Global Governance Innovation Report 2026: Advancing the Pact for the Future and a New Peace & Security Architecture — This report encourages ambitious thinking on renewing global governance, with innovative approaches for strengthening United Nations peace and security work.
• Networking
  Creating a Connected Ecosystem — No one organization can renew our society. Everything is connected. That means renewal must be connected as well.
• Media Reform
  Welcome to the GreenEarth Feeds — Social media algorithms built for people who hate social media algorithms.
• The Hyper-Polarization Threat
  The 34% Illusion: What the Topline Numbers Miss About American Polarization — The latest nationwide data shows a deeply polarized electorate, intense independent skepticism, and a shared exhaustion with structural games.
• Networking
  Weaving Networked Action for Systemic Change - A Practical Guide — This short guide synthesizes the practice of weaving for leaders, social entrepreneurs, and facilitators looking for holistic ways to co-create systemic change. 

News and Opinion

From around the web, more insight into the nature of our conflict problems, limits of business-as-usual thinking, and things people are doing to try to make things better. (Formerly, Beyond Intractability in Context.)

• US Politics
  How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life — From Pew research, a report on the differing ways in which citizens engage with news and politics.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  Trump Owes Americans a Better Explanation About Iran — A look at what is arguably the biggest mistake that the Trump administration has made in its war with Iran -- deciding there was no need to obtain domestic or international support for the war.
• Race / Anti-Racism
  The Racialist State — From a right-leaning perspective, a controversial, but thought provoking, critique of societies that attempt to address problems of past racism by creating a new racialist future.
• Saving Democracy
  The Price of Politicizing the Supreme Court — A report on one of the many downsides of treating the judicial system as a political body, rather than an impartial enforcer of the rule of law.
• Education
  A Crisis in the Humanities — The norms governing scholarship now often serve to protect a rigid orthodoxy on certain politically charged issues—with ideological tests substituted for proper academic standards.
• Interstate War
  Fighter Jets Are Passé — Yet another article that tries to come to terms with the fact that the United States vast arsenal of high-tech weapons is a rapidly diminishing military significance.
• Psychological Complexity
  The Selfie Generation Is the Baby Boomers’ Mistake — An argument that the boomers' parenting style with their constant efforts to offer their children every possible advantage wound up undermining their children's lifelong prospects.
• Psychological Complexity
  The Book That Changed How We Think About Thinking — An article for those interested in going beyond our current troubles and contemplating the nature of human thought.
• Freedom of Speech 
  The Principle of Institutional Neutrality Is What Matters, Not the Name — An Interview with J.P. de Ruiter, who helped lead Tufts in its adoption of “institutional pluralism.”
• Artificial Intelligence
  Six-Chart Sunday – The Bonfire of the Data Centers — Interesting charts and statistics on what is shaping up to be one of the most significant and divisive conflicts of our era -- AI.
• Constructively Addressing Complex Issues
  What Happens When the Public Record Shrinks — An article that explores yet another way in which our shared image of objective reality is being deliberately undermined.
• Culture and Religion
  See How Your Values Stack Up Against the Rest of America — An intriguing online questionnaire that gives us the ability to see how your values coincide with (or differ from) those of your fellow citizens.
• Education
  I’m a College Professor Inflating Grades. I Need Help. — An explanation why the higher education grading system (and the accompanied incentives to work hard) have almost completely collapsed (and what it going to take to fix this). 

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About the MBI Newsletters

Two or three times a week, Guy and Heidi Burgess, the BI Directors, share some of our thoughts on political hyper-polarization and related topics. We also share essays from our colleagues and other contributors, and every week or so, we devote one newsletter to annotated links to outside readings that we found particularly useful relating to U.S. hyper-polarization, threats to peace (and actual violence) in other countries, and related topics of interest. Each Newsletter is posted on BI, and sent out by email through Substack to subscribers. You can sign up to receive your copy here and find the latest newsletter here or on our BI Newsletter page, which also provides access to all the past newsletters, going back to 2017.

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