Beyond Intractability in Context Blog
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Posts ordered from most recent to earliest.
- A sobering reminder of the immense suffering produced by the ongoing war in Gaza and an eloquent appeal for all concerned to take the steps needed to prevent a repeat of the tragedy. -- Gaza’s Suffering Is Unprecedented -- Oct 04
- A pretty sober assessment of the difficulties facing local news -- an assessment that, surprisingly, also contains good news about the successes that journalists are having in finding ways to continue their work. -- As Newspapers Fade, Journalists Are Finding New Ways to Cover Local News -- Oct 04
- An articulate defense of meritocratic institutions and ideas -- a defense that provides an important counterpoint to the more critical views that now dominate. -- Meritocracy and Its Critics -- Oct 04
- A reminder that at the heart of the United States' hyperpolarized political rhetoric, there is a real debate over hugely consequential issues like the role the government should play in our daily lives. -- Harris Puts Government Intervention at Heart of Economic Policy -- Oct 04
- A worrying account of Australia's new effort to legally prohibit disinformation -- an effort that could easily wind up criminalizing political criticism -- Australia's Misinformation Police -- Oct 03
- A thoughtful essay asking hard questions about the fuzzy relationship between elite promises to really do something about the plight of the less privileged and substantive actions that actually do make a difference. -- The Basics: Deference Politics -- Oct 03
- The geopolitical information war is at least as important as the emerging global arms race. This article highlights things that Western democracies can do to help protect themselves. -- The information war is critical. The U.S. must not lose it to China. -- Oct 03
- A description of ongoing litigation that might help overcome the "Section 230" problem and hold tech companies responsible for the content that their algorithms are pushing on users. -- Section 230 Catches Up to AI -- Oct 03
- Israel's ongoing war with Iran and its proxies (and Ukraine's simultaneous wa with Russiar) are opening up new arenas for conflict -- arenas that attack the vulnerabilities of modern, high-tech societies. -- Israel’s Pager Attacks Have Changed the World -- Oct 02
- From a thoughtful, conservative perspective, an example of how to constructively raise difficult and controversial issues without fear and hatemongering. -- The Real Questions of the Immigration Debate -- Oct 02
- A statistical analysis that strongly suggests that influence of "woke" ideas is declining in the US. -- America is becoming less “woke” -- Oct 02
- An announcement of Dartmouth University's new Polarization Research Lab -- an effort to move beyond anecdotal evidence and quantify the nature and magnitude of the hyper-polarization problem. -- Researchers to quantify political polarization -- Oct 01
- A reprint of an insightful, older article that explains why it is almost impossible to plan for the replacement of the despotic regime while that regime remains in power. -- Why Israel should NOT have a “day after plan” for Gaza -- Oct 01
- A practical framework for determining the degree to which media coverage of Israel's ongoing war with Iran and its proxies is actually reliable. -- How to Evaluate Media Coverage of Israel: A Guide -- Oct 01
- A review and overview of an important new book: "Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America’s Political Crisis," by James Hunter. -- A Renewed Union? -- Oct 01
- Hard data indicating that efforts to limit climate change are being threatened by our failure to effectively address the many conflicts that surround wind and solar development projects. -- Tally Of US Wind & Solar Rejections Hits 735 -- Oct 01
- A must read article exploring both the problem of disinformation and the ways in which elites (on both the left and right) are hijacking efforts to limit the problem. -- How Lying Became Disinformation -- Sep 30
- In the context of political persuasion, an exploration of the relationship between two activities -- "virtue signaling" and "vice signaling." -- Kamala Harris Said She Owns a Gun for a Very Strategic Reason -- Sep 30
- From Foreign Affairs, carefully considered thoughts about how we can deter war by modifying deterrence strategies to better reflect complex 21st-century strategic realities. -- America’s Crisis of Deterrence: How to Adapt an Old Theory to New Realities -- Sep 30
- The challenge for traditional liberals worried about the declining influence of their political philosophy -- think about the ways in which your actions may have contributed to this decline. -- The Grave Error of Old-School Liberals -- Sep 30
- An essay that explains why, with respect to the environment and so many other issues, it is critically important that we wisely and equitably balance costs and benefits. -- Where Environmentalists Went Wrong -- Sep 29
- A new word to add to the lexicon of parenting philosophies, lighthouse parenting (an option that has a lot to recommend it). -- Lighthouse Parents Have More Confident Kids -- Sep 29
- A thoughtful essay exploring the complex relationship between the violent language we often employ and the way in which we actually behave. -- Don’t Blame Political Violence on Political Rhetoric -- Sep 29
- A somewhat reassuring update on what we really know about US trends with respect to political violence. -- The Surprising Reality of Political Violence in America -- Sep 29
- A Steven Pinker interview with important food for thought on one of the most important "theories of change" -- the ability of ideas to transform the society in which we live. -- “There’s Nothing Mystical About the Idea that Ideas Change History” -- Sep 28
